Absence

So, I've been away for a while. Not in the 'boo-hoodle-no-one-likes-me' way a few members left around the time of my more mediocre departure, but I was gone for quite some time, only popping in now and then to say hi or just to keep myself updated.

I'll note that when I was leaving, a whole mess of crap seemed to be pouring down/on/in/through the boards, making those aforementioned goodbyes understandable to a certain degree, if still mock-worthy. I was sort of sorry to go, but not as much as I might've been had I needed to leave a month or so earlier.

And it's been over a month, and things seem to have been corralled into something resembling order again.

So what happened when I was gone? Or is it just the natural ebb-and-flow of the board?

If possible, they're getting worse... Slave-of-Kedisar is gone, but the boards are somehow.... Low-quality. We need some fresh, new good stuff.

Topics like this:

Shot to Hell

.. And this:

Complaints against me.

... Should help bring you up to date. I may be missing a few valuable resources, though. I think most of the discussion for new order has been in the Staff forum. It's mostly how the forums flow, at any rate. Momentum swings in both directions, so there are always changes from month to month; minor and major.

Haven't seen you around for a while...

Generally speaking, the Zelda forums have gone to hell. You remember all the good discussions that went on? Well, they don't seem to exist anymore. And thay is a damn shame.

Ah, so what you're saying is that there's work to do...

*pipking dons fedora... tilts at rakish angle*

I'm on it. Thanks guys.

Yeah, the forums are in quite a bad state right now, primarily due to the temporary loss of members like you and Mute. Hopefully, we'll be able to get some good debates going on...just like the old days. Another problem is that there are tons of new members that generally go around posting as much as possible, creating complete BS topics that drown out all of the other good ones.

Good to see you back, by the way.

Generally speaking, the Zelda forums have gone to hell

It's not quite that bad is it :S

And while I have noticed a few more new people than normal it's not like it's catastrophic or anything. I say that it's just our state of mind.

only 45 more posts till your 5 thousandth Sear!

Although it isn't quite as bad right now as it was, it's still pretty bad. Spam is rampant. Just take a look at the threads on the General Chit-Chat forum. There are...maybe, three or four useless topics on the top of the first page...and the annoying thing is that they just turn into spam threads after their purpose is served.

So what happened when I was gone? Or is it just the natural ebb-and-flow of the board?

School?

Have things truly improved? The only notable improvement I've observed is a "corralling" of all the wedding topics and the like. Otherwise it seems to be business as usual.

I'm curious myself, as here I am on the verge of leaving myself. I won't delve into my justification, but it is primarily due to the reasons you've observed in the past, pipking (i.e. the c***).

That would be a shame. A true shame. But understandable, to a point. I saw Some Girl on here the other day, but I don't think she posted anything. Just swam right on through, with barely a ripple. I have a sense the board is in transition, though what its turning to I can't judge. I hope you stick with it, at least perhipherally. Or maybe I'll have to drop by Indie Zelda once in a while.

I didn't really want to redirect into my own decision, heh, but just know that I won't make it a public issue beyond what I've said here. At the very least, it makes me seem less fickle if I ever re-appear in the future.

They probably aren't the only cause, but I can't help but believe that the seasonal aspects play a large part in the issue. It's around this time of year that school kicks into full gear for most students. Further, being in a lull between Zelda games, it makes sense that fewer ravenous "noobs" are randomly joining the community.

But then, that's speculation on my part.

Perhaps the spam patrol is working? I'm not sure if that's a good thing, necessarily; It seems each instance of spam is now followed by six instances of spam-condemnation.

Well, the Spam Patrol isn't doing a whole lot right now. Mrs Ganondorf, our leader, hasn't been on lately, and Remus has yet to open our forum. I'm not sure exactly what's going on with us, but I know that I've been reporting spam posts, especially when nobody is online to see them (e.g., they'll see a PM from me when they login next time).

There's a lot of righteousness, for sure. And when I first posted this thread, I hadn't had a really good look around. After I did, I posted 'Baby Wah-Wah' in G.C.C. On the surface things seem better, but I think revolution is stirring - either people will up en-mass and leave ZU for good, or people will take over ZU, in essence - I hope for the latter, but also hope that it means better post-quality and more interesting threads. Already the boards are over-run at times, but its the wrong sort of revolution - one that deteriorates the community, rather than build it up.

I expected you had already left, Dryth, because until recently I haven't seen you around since I returned. And if you started a goodbye thread, I might have died of shock.

The forum for Spam Patrolling IS set up, but apparently no spam patrol people can see it... but I didn't tell you that...

I have first post in it... and if you guys need some help, I will TRY, keyword TRY to help in the fight...

It's true, loz. Remus gave me access to it for a day or so, but in doing so, he also gave me access to all of the restricted boards, so he's trying to fix that right now, as far as I know. He might even need to create an entirely new subsection for it, so that we can't get at the Trash/Staff/etc. boards. Then again, it also works fine for the Clan Forums, so maybe he'll do the same thing as with that.