3 years later... what happened?

[crepesack]

I've pretty much stopped commenting here as well. Absolutely hate the community here now. It seriously needs a clean up. The 2008-2009 community was probably the escapist at its healthiest. It has utterly devolved since then.

I think they need to do a few things:
1.Forbid Image Macros and other ilk that doesn't belong here
2. Police their no flaming rules better
3. Create more user moderators. I know that the escapist lost a few employees when they went through a small financial crisis a few months ago but user moderators are free!

Other than that. The community can't be helped.

edit: Also if only they made one for 60 months lol.

 

[mParadox]

Yeah, things have changed and yes, maybe not for the better.

But I find that the best advice I devised for myself has proved to be the most hand...iest. Find your niche and stick to it.

Spoiler: ADVICE

Good at writing stuff up? Stuff which is good in grammar and good in replaying your thoughts? Go to User Reviews [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/index/326-User-Reviews]. Grammar Nazis over there but your English will improve for the better. And the reviews are a joy to read.

You like to exercise your imagination? The Role Playing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/index/540-Role-Playing] is available for you. And excellent place with brilliant people by the by. And i'm saying with only a cursory glance at the working of the place.

You like randomness? The Forum Games Forum [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/index/362-Forum-Games] has every possible situational comedy and intellectual comedy available. Same as with the RP forum, lovely people all around. Actually serves as a retirement home for the veterans. We're that cool.

The Off Topic needs no introduction. And neither does the Gaming Discussion. Because these two forums are more definitely the first places new users go to.

Religion and Politics is venom a place of intellectual discussion. Forewarning as it's filled with people with passionate beliefs.

Why am I writing this in a topic concerning an Escapist user reaching the 3 years mark(congrats!)? I'unno man... I like writing things. ;-; I just wanna be loved!

 

[Sexy Devil]

I know dem feels.

I don't know what happened to the forums in the last 6 months, but I don't like it.

I can't even put my finger on it, something just changed for the worse.

The forum kind of turned moved from one asinine controversy to another for all of last year. Personally, I'm just a little sick of the gaming community in general. I mean everyone got upset over fucking box art. There was a two month controversy over a shitty ending to a game. There was a one month controversy over Lara Croft kinda sorta looking like she was about to be sexually assaulted but she wasn't. There's a controversy that's still going on about some Youtube video series that ordinarily nobody outside of the feminist blogosphere would give a crap about, or even know existed.

Of course my options are this, Reddit, or not acting like an autist long enough to be socially functional in real life, so I hang around.

 

[JoJo]

3. Create more user moderators. I know that the escapist lost a few employees when they went through a small financial crisis a few months ago but user moderators are free!

I agree with this point strongly, often it takes close to a day or more from when a post is reported for it to be modded properly, especially at the weekend. I get that with every user moderator created there's a chance of letting a corrupt dickwad into the fold but surely there's enough reliable long-time users that the risk isn't that high, and the site would improve from faster mod action.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

3. Create more user moderators. I know that the escapist lost a few employees when they went through a small financial crisis a few months ago but user moderators are free!

I agree with this point strongly, often it takes close to a day or more from when a post is reported for it to be modded properly, especially at the weekend. I get that with every user moderator created there's a chance of letting a corrupt dickwad into the fold but surely there's enough reliable long-time users that the risk isn't that high, and the site would improve from faster mod action.

I've always wondered why there was so few mods.

Couldn't hurt to get a few more, I mean, they could always revert it if it doesn't work out.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

This is also how I feel.
I pretty much come here out of habit and I spend most my time in one user group nowadays. More fun, less hassle.

I know dem feels.

I don't know what happened to the forums in the last 6 months, but I don't like it.

I can't even put my finger on it, something just changed for the worse.

can somone tell me what it is?

seriously, mabye I haven't been here long enough I obviously just dont pick thease things up

in fact I'd say theres even less of the "PC elitist everything yahtzee says is gospel cynical Bioware are awful all games arw awful" schtick going on

I sort of agree, there's definitely a bit more diversity to people's opinions these days (which is a good thing), but on the other hand it kind of feels like the community doesn't quite have the same character that it used to.

I don't really think the forums are angrier than they used to be, but maybe it has something to do with more diverse opinions making people argue more. I certainly remember a lot of bile being spewed at people that held opinions against forum gospel. People seem to have rosier memories, everything always used to be better, apparently. Given all the different opinions in this thread, I'd guess it's more down to personal perception, rather than any meaningful change.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Yeah, I'm with some of the others who have said that the forums has become a bit more hostile over the last year or so, hence why I become more and more thankful for usergroups.

It's still better than the majority of forums out there, but there's something unsettling around the place now. Like everyone is on edge.

Congrats on the 36 months though

 

[Mr. Omega]

Biggest problem I really see is that nobody blatantly flames. Instead they just act like a passive aggressive dickweed and think that making a snarky or sarcastic remark is a suitable substitute for an actual argument. The forums haven't gotten angrier, it's just that certain individuals have learned that being snarky and writing essay-long posts tends to have the mods look the other way.

It's why I've just been sticking in the roleplaying section for fun. And that section seems to have shrunk recently to just a handful of users.

 

[Guffe]

Then again I barely posted interesting stuff anyway so I doubt people noticed.

Be careful what you say, I said this in a topic and suddenly all the 10k +, 3year + people started quoting me saying how they did know who I was... it was very, VERY confusing I can tell you

edit: Also if only they made one for 60 months lol.

Always thought they should introduce one for like 10 years also

I just wanna be loved!

Don't we all, don't we all...

 

[Pink Gregory]

I like to read what the regular posters have to say, can't say I've noticed any palpable change, aggressive and judgemental people have always been so, and are unlikely to change. I don't really feel like I'm part of a community here, but I don't contribute much, so...

Where was I going with this?

 

[Snownine]

snap

snip

snyp

snop

snup

All of you guys feel this way??
Holy crap what did I miss?
I get pretty seldom quoted from anything but I usually scroll through a lot of the material in threads and I don't find people more (passive) aggressive than before......

Well I just finished Batman Arkham City so I now have a degree in fighting bad stuff, I'll take care of this!!

Spoiler: Keep Calm

For me, I'm probably burned out and I've seen two sets of users I knew quite well come and go in three years. All of the posters who used to post good stuff, people like Root of All Evil and SimuLord, have gone or gotten less active and I'm just seeing more and more people around who I want to punch through the monitor. Admittedly yes, not everyone here is like that, there's a few cool guys around and they post now and then but really, the rate of people I want to punch out-weights the people I don't at this point. Plus, as Zhukov said, you can hardly post anything without someone getting in your face about it and saying you're wrong. I know, it's the Internet blah blah blah but still, you used to be able to post something and not have someone get on your case about it.

But on the plus side, everyone who's posted in this thread appear to be cool guys so yay for the cool guys thread.
If I'm cool. Which I'm probably not. <_<

Do you happen to know what happened to SimuLord? I took a long hiatus and when I came back he and several other of the more well known members of the community were gone.

 

[kasperbbs]

A lot actually, most of the shows that i used to watch here have disappeared and others have gotten stale. As for forums.. Well, at least the number of pony posts have declined.

 

[Sassafrass]

snap

snip

snyp

snop

snup

All of you guys feel this way??
Holy crap what did I miss?
I get pretty seldom quoted from anything but I usually scroll through a lot of the material in threads and I don't find people more (passive) aggressive than before......

Well I just finished Batman Arkham City so I now have a degree in fighting bad stuff, I'll take care of this!!

Spoiler: Keep Calm

For me, I'm probably burned out and I've seen two sets of users I knew quite well come and go in three years. All of the posters who used to post good stuff, people like Root of All Evil and SimuLord, have gone or gotten less active and I'm just seeing more and more people around who I want to punch through the monitor. Admittedly yes, not everyone here is like that, there's a few cool guys around and they post now and then but really, the rate of people I want to punch out-weights the people I don't at this point. Plus, as Zhukov said, you can hardly post anything without someone getting in your face about it and saying you're wrong. I know, it's the Internet blah blah blah but still, you used to be able to post something and not have someone get on your case about it.

But on the plus side, everyone who's posted in this thread appear to be cool guys so yay for the cool guys thread.
If I'm cool. Which I'm probably not. <_<

Do you happen to know what happened to SimuLord? I took a long hiatus and when I came back he and several other of the more well known members of the community were gone.

He pretty much just went "I'm done.", said goodbye in one of his posts and just left. Didn't make a thread, didn't make a fuss, just said in one of his posts he was going and he went. I think he still logs on now and then but doesn't post.

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

The 2008-2009 community was probably the escapist at its healthiest. It has utterly devolved since then.

Ouch? generalization much? And people are surprised at all the hostility.

 

[FEichinger]

This thread sure turned into nostalgia quite fast ...

Well, congrats, OP.

And, holy shit I just realized I'm actually an Escapist oldie now ... When did that happen?

 

[CrystalShadow]

Eh, hostility huh

New here. The hostility I've seen so far defies logic. People will get in your face, even if you agreed with something they said.

Interesting that some people seem to have noticed a change in that regard. To me, it feels much the same as it always has, but then I got so burned out on certain topics about a year or two ago that I stopped paying attention to the forums.

I have a low tolerance for that stuff anyway though, but the Escapist forums always used to be a lot more polite than several others I've had the misfortune of dealing with...

Polite I guess just translates to less outright insults and swearing though I guess.
Some things never change.

I guess I should congratulate the OP on their badge or something though. XD - I've been here marginally longer it seems, but I don't post much.

It alway kind of scares me to learn how long I've had certain accounts. This one is going on 4 years old now, but there's another forum elsewhere online that I went back to a while ago, and my account from 2001 still exists there.

Needless to say, posting there actually made me one of the longest-running members around, which is a weird experience. It's also weird to see someone else that I actually remember from the early days, since that place seemed to have mostly been taken over by newer members.

4 years is a long time on the net. Let alone 12...

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

Not understanding the people complaining about change. I've been here since '08 and the forums are the same except for the less draconian moderation. The forums always were full of passive-aggressive pricks and general snootiness... People need to remove the nostalgia filters from their memory search...

OT:Congrats

 

[Lionsfan]

Biggest problem I really see is that nobody blatantly flames. Instead they just act like a passive aggressive dickweed and think that making a snarky or sarcastic remark is a suitable substitute for an actual argument. The forums haven't gotten angrier, it's just that certain individuals have learned that being snarky and writing essay-long posts tends to have the mods look the other way.

It's why I've just been sticking in the roleplaying section for fun. And that section seems to have shrunk recently to just a handful of users.

I and other people have said something along those lines. With the whole "don't be a jerk thing", sure it takes away the blatant name calling, but that just makes everybody passive aggressive and negative feelings tend to simmer longer than if we all called each other fucktards once in a while.

It doesn't even have to be name calling, it's just that everybody is afraid to say something rude for fear it'll bring Mod Wrath down.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

can somone tell me what it is?

It just seems that lately, hostilities and vitriol here have been pretty bad.

I mean, I can't create a thread thesedays without boatloads of passive-aggressive snark, no matter what the topic.
And I can't make a post, no matter how innocuous, without getting an inbox full of angry quotes.

That's how my time is here, pretty much. I can't for the life of me remember where from, but I remember people talking about how they love to see their inbox light up. Honestly...I don't. I've gotten to the point I like being able to post and not have people respond to me because whenever my inbox does light up, my first thought is "Great, who do I have to ignore or defend myself from, next?"

 

[scorptatious]

Cool, I just got my landmark badge a little while ago.

But yeah, I sorta agree that it does feel like the forums have changed a little for the worse. But hey, now I try to avoid certain threads in favor of other ones.