Spleeh

[Otzlowe]

Things've been too quiet lately.

I don't know how it's possible, but the internet feels nearly dead to me. Never anyone to talk to, not nearly as much going on, things are just going really slowly lately.

Not entirely sure of the purpose of this thread. As much as to say that I kind've wish TOG hadn't died, and that The Big E wasn't kicking futilely.

I was still such a douchebag two years ago, and that's the best memory I've got of both of these places. (Though, The Big E came a little later than that.) That particularly bothers me. Two years ago rocked for me, the stuff that was going on was awesome. I mean, I've got a girlfriend now, and I'm happy about that... but everything else seems to have just keeled over and died. I hardly even walk to my friend's house anymore, which was one of my most favorite things to do.

Bleh, anyways. Rant post, kind of just felt like I needed to get that out there. It's been hanging over me, and I feel less enthusiastic about nearly everything because of it. (Since most of the stuff I enjoy has a memory tied to these sorts of things, and remembering them, and realizing that it's only a shadow of that now is kind of disheartening.)

Well, I'm done. Hopefully something'll happen to fix this... to some degree.

[Richard El Britannia]

Everything in life has been getting like this for the past couple of years, so I get what you're saying here completely. The internet really does seem dead at the moment. >_>

[Surreptitious Cardboard Box]

I think it's because we're grown up. I really miss what I had on the Sirius board, four and a half years ago, but I mean, I was thirteen then. Like you said, we were just kids. We demand other things from our online communities now, and we're more aware of and resistant to immaturity in other members.
Nowadays, I just can't be arsed with most people online. I want my own insular little community, where the only people that talk to me are those that I screen beforehand, so that I can ensure they're actually worthy of talking to me. Call me a grumpy ol' grandma, but all kids ever talk about these days anyway is that cake-emu.
I'm happy with things as they are now, though. I much prefer myself now than as I was four years ago. Hell, even two years ago is occasionally just embarrassing to remember.

So to conclude:
1. The internet seems dead because we have grown old and grumpy and are no longer interested in the going-ons of most communities.
2. However, we are cooler now than we were several years ago, and life is better. We just feel like we're missing something, 'cos we also have good memories of the olden days.

Hooray for Dr. Sophie knowing all the answers.

[Otzlowe]

Yes, but I feel like since we've all grown up as such... we'd still work as a community. If we all got along as we did before, we probably still will. Thus it's disappointing to see our once glorious communities slowly deteriorate into nothing, due to a lack of activity from basically everyone. We still could have it thrive, and have it be awesome.

I suppose my issue is that, after ninth grade, I thought the things I did back then were amateurish and stupid, so I tried not to do them, and replaced them. Since then, I've gone my own way, and found things I like in place of those things. The only issue is that I was giving up a lot of stuff that was still awesome, despite how dumb I thought I was back then.

Damn the fact that we have to get older, and that doing so messes with our awesome old memories, and is the cause of them actually being memories.

I've never actually disliked any part of getting older before now. Now I do. =/

[Surreptitious Cardboard Box]

O.o
I much prefer life as it is now. If you're talking about TOG, then
1) I don't like most people on there, so I wouldn't talk to them anyway
2) I've developed more interests since I was a kid, so I've got to apportion my time more than I did then, between all the things I want to do.

[Otzlowe]

I got along with quite a few people there, and stuff was always happening. I liked it because I had a place to go on the internet, with people I didn't really know, but was still familiar with.

There was always something interesting, and it made me feel like I wasn't wasting away my time doing nothing.

I've got more interests in my life now too, but I seem to just be doing less and less, that I wish some of the more social stuff that I did, didn't just stop for some reason. That includes walking with my friends back to their house after school. (That's a big deal for me, because we have to walk far to get to nearly anyone's house.)

[Surreptitious Cardboard Box]

Well, is anybody stopping you from walking to your friends' houses? Because I don't think the inactivity on TOG is linked to that, somehow.

[Otzlowe]

When I made the first post, I also meant other things in general.

And no, it's clearly not linked to TOG. >_O

But yes, someone is. I can't walk back to my house after. That'd take hours, and I'd be hit about twenty times before I made it.


Basically... all I meant when I made the first post is that I just want someone to talk to.
I used to always have someone to talk to. No matter when. Now, I've got someone to talk to all the time, but it's not as though she can be the only one I ever talk to. She has to sleep some time. Every time I seem to just be in a slump, there never seems to be anyone around, when there used to be. It's all linked, in that sense.

[Richard El Britannia]

I need to rant and this is the place where I can do so.

Right, I've spent the past couple of hours looking for a nice community. They don't seem to frigging exist anymore. It's like Erik said, the internet feels dead. All of the active forums seem to be either design, RP or full of noobs. Really, all I wanna find is a general forum with a nice design and nice members like ToG was, but alas, they don't seem to exist.

Thing is, I feel really kinda crap about this. At the moment, I'm not getting out much aside from college. Everyone seems too busy to actually see me outside of college and it's annoying. So, I thought I'd try and find some active communities to try and fill the gap, but no, they don't want to be found, it seems.

Aside from the members here - whom I can't physically be with, really - I seem to be alone most of the time and it's f**king annoying me now.

/rant

Sorry about that, but it had to be said. Or rather I had to say it or I'd go crazy.

[RAND_AL'THOR]

Apr 11, 2008 18:19:59 GMT Richard El Britannia said:

Everything in life has been getting like this for the past couple of years, so I get what you're saying here completely. The internet really does seem dead at the moment. >_>

I think that, for me, my passion for Internet forums took a major hit back in early September of last year when Nintendo of America shut down their NSider Forums. I had been a member of those forums ever since 1998, back when it was a much smaller place, called Nintendo's Online Community, back before even Hyrule Town Square was in operation. It really took away a lot of my passion for forums, having lost an online community I'd been a member of for about nine years, at that point. I lost a lot of online friends, and am thankful Joseph, aka MegaCutMan, and I had exchanged AIM contact info.

Lately, there's just been a lot going on "IRL" for me. Classes, friends, emotional crap, everything's just been a bit too much of late.

But I've been coming onto this forum more often, of late. But here's a sign of how desperate I've been for a replacement for NSider (besides NSider2, which I guess is working): I've been visiting 4chan. Nothing more about that shall be said.

[Surreptitious Cardboard Box]

Oh deary me. People, people, people. You guys are so hopeless. There's a big wide world out there. Go and do something in it. Pick up a sport. If your friends are too busy to go out, go out without them. Go for a walk, if you have to. If it's a gorgeous, sunny day, go out to the back garden and sunbathe for a bit, whilst reading a book, or writing a story, or - hell - playing on your DS if you have to.
The last thing to do is resort to online communities >__<. Richard, you said that you barely get out of the house, other than when you go to college, but looking for a new forum to join is not the way to solve that. It's not always company you crave. It's fresh air.

[Richard El Britannia]

Believe me, it's company. I mean, I came home feeling quite shit, then as soon as I went round to Hayley's this evening, I got loads happier.

Also, you speak as if playing on a DS is a last resort. Hell no!

[Surreptitious Cardboard Box]

Not a last resort, but it's still not the healthiest option, when the point in being outside is to be healthy at least for a short while. Writing or reading, or just plain lying there provides no strain on the eyes. Besides, the screen is kind of hard to deal with when the sun's glaring down on it.

[lycoris]

My activity on forums always varies I have to say. I mainly spend any forum time here or on the MCM Expo site, which only gets really active about twice a year. Really,I spend more time on my blog now, which is a little sad I have to say.

No mentions shall be made as to what happens on 4chan.

[Otzlowe]

Apr 22, 2008 18:56:21 GMT Surreptitious Cardboard Box said:

Oh deary me. People, people, people. You guys are so hopeless. There's a big wide world out there. Go and do something in it. Pick up a sport. If your friends are too busy to go out, go out without them. Go for a walk, if you have to. If it's a gorgeous, sunny day, go out to the back garden and sunbathe for a bit, whilst reading a book, or writing a story, or - hell - playing on your DS if you have to.
The last thing to do is resort to online communities >__<. Richard, you said that you barely get out of the house, other than when you go to college, but looking for a new forum to join is not the way to solve that. It's not always company you crave. It's fresh air.

Internet Communities are a plenty viable option, assuming that you've found an established one with people you've come to know, and trust (as far as one can on the internet.) Because of the fact that you end up having a different relationship with people on the internet, there's something to be desired from the normal world, that it doesn't have, but the internet doesn't. You can rattle off your problems in complete anonymity on the internet, and if people don't care, they won't respond. If you rattle off to someone you know, they're obliged to say something on the sole basis that you're real life friends, and people have come to expect that sort of thing in life. When people do respond on the internet (assuming that it's an actual response, and not a troll), it actually has the potential to be a bit more rewarding; here's a person who doesn't know you, but they don't feel so up on themselves that they can't be arsed to take a minute out, read what's wrong with you, and actually try to give some sort of support.

Also, with the fact that people from the internet can be from any place on the Earth, it's a nice thing to have, because you can potentially find some company at any time, which is a nice change from real life, where the same isn't entirely true. (There are exceptions of course, but not nearly as many.)

I mean, I go on walks with my Girlfriend, I play D&D with my friends on Saturdays, I go to Kung Fu during the week, and I spend my Fridays and Sundays with anyone else, or doing whatever I feel like doing. Logically, I should be feeling completely fine, and not have any issues what so ever. I'm living up all of the world I can reach, right now, but there's still something wrong.

I mean, it's clear that the three of us desire some sort of stable internet community. There has to be a reason why all three of us want such a thing. It's not like it's new and exciting to any of us. It's something we're used to, but that doesn't make it any less important, or good. It's not like internet communities are just big, archived conversations. There's something more to them, or else the three of us wouldn't care. We're pretty smart individuals too, all three. It's not like we have some unexplainable and irrational desire for such a thing.

My internet friends are important to me. It's not like my life is going on pause as soon as I get on the internet. I'm still living it, just with anyone potentially, from anywhere, and in a different form. Hell, I wouldn't even be into Graphic Design if not for you guys. These places have made changes in my life, even if they aren't huge, but it's not like I'm ashamed to admit it either.

The last resort is to look for a new community, but there's no issue with it being one of the first, if you're already part of one. We're all still friends, if in more limited ways. =/

I'm starting to think that my issue might have something to do with Religion, as well, oddly enough...