State of the Boards

[Rincewind]

Oh, I recognize this all too much...
I used to be frequent visitor of a swedish James Bond-forum for a long time, and both posting and reading posts was a joy.  I got lots of friends there, and I even met some of them in real life.
But recently my interest in those wonderful movies started to fade, and I saw other things in life. I didn't visit the forums that much anymore, except for the odd discussion about how bad the forums had turned out... And as the community started to grow, I also felt that everything had been discussed over and over again... It wasn't as fun talking about "Who is the best Bond-villain ever?" as it had been when I was twelve.
I still go there sometimes, and I might be seen as an "oldbie" there, but I am nowhere as active as I used to be.

Now I've discovered AGS in all its beauty, and since I'm quite new, everything still is fun - But I don't doubt that one day my interest in these forums will fade too...

Oh, now I'm all depressed. Great.
Let's just finish saying that I hope that it will take a very long time before I grow tired of this wonderful community and its games...
   

[remixor]

(some idiotic program just navigated to a different URL in this window and when I pressed "Back" I lost everything I'd written.  damnit!)

I'm just a newb, so I don't have the same perspective as many of the veteran members, but I have seen this type of thing happen countless times in many internet communities.  A notable example is rec.games.miniatures.warhammer, which has existed since, if I recall correctly, 1994 or 1995.  There are members who are still around from the first year, and even some who helped found it.  Obviously, there are fewer and fewer of these by the year, but the situation over there is much more extreme than the one over here.  People who have been around less than three or four years are seen as newbies, and aren't really acknowledged by the vets.  I think that here at AGS it's a slightly better situation.  I'm sure that this type of thing pops up every once in a while, but I'm really glad that the majority opinion seems to lean towards no oldies board, and that things aren't really getting worse but rather it's just a basically inevitable cycle.
Of course, I'm a bit biased, only having been here a few months, but as I've said I have personally seen these tendencies in at least three or four other communities of which I've been a part.  It's really no big deal, to be honest, and when all the oldies startto have such mentalities, it really makes things uncomfortable for newbies, and gives them the impression that they can never be part of the group.  I'm not saying I feel that way, I'm just saying I've seen that happen elsewhere.  Remember, everybody was a newbie once.

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

It's all a matter of perspective. Of course if you've been here three years then the topics will seem more jouvenile than when you joined- because you are three years older now than you were then. And of course the joke threads and the favourite ags game threads and the inane question threads and the angst threads will seem lame and uninteresting- because you've seen them all before, whereas the newbies will be having a whale of a time releasing all their pent up philosophical energies ^__^ or... something.

[Gonzo]

As for some of those regulars leaving, I can sort of understand it, despite the fact I've been here just less than a year.

I used to go to a Monkey Island newsgroup a lot, and there were only a few of us regulars, maybe not even 20, but it was a fun place. There was Skyfox from The SCUMM Bar, other website creators and big MI fans, and all we would discuss was Monkey Island, in great depth. In my simple-minded youth I wasn't getting bored of that. Anyway, eventually the board got more and more popular with some becoming very regular posters, but the topics became less and less MI-related and more to do with crazy fan fiction about time-travelling talking burgers etc., which was all a bit too much for us people who just wanted to discuss how great Largo's theme was, or why Guybrush's hair colour has changed, or what the 'secret' was (hoo boy, that always creates a long thread). Soon all the old regulars got a bit bored with the silliness of it all and left. I just think it's natural for someone who's got very used to the way things usually are to not really fit in with the big changes.

I only arrived here a little under a year ago, and I've not produced a game. I've posted on the forum quite a few times, but I have long times keeping away from AGS and everything to do with it (it's not my major hobby, it's something I just dip into when I have the time). The forums have always seemed kinda fun though, and don't get worse for me really, because I don't pay a lot of attention to the quality of the threads...I just log in a few times a week and see what interests me. Perhaps once you get absorbed in the forum (as is easy to do) it's inevitable it will turn sour over time. As Rincewind says about the Bond villains threads, it gets less exciting.

But yeah, some of those dudes do have other reasons for neglecting the forums, so it doesn't always apply. I'll definitely miss some of those guys if we see less of them, but that's the way it goes.

As for the 'oldbies forum', when it comes down to it, thats a really bad idea. It creates a nasty division of forum members that would probably worsen the situation if anything.