I'm out, I'm done, that's it.

Hardly. Jazintha Piper is about as present as my father; she has nearly two years on me and my post count has already eclipsed hers. I am not even a regular contributor as far as being a Lord here goes.

I can see the community falling apart without a common cause or at least a common theme. Not that the lapse of one Internet forum over any other is that grave of a loss, but I for one would like to continue to come to The House and find something new from time to time. How about more of a steampunk focus?

 

I don't even know if following the progress of former Troika employees would do it. We were able to stay afloat relatively well when both Drog and Rroyo were producing mods here, but it's certainly died down a bit since the last update.

A steampunk focus might work. Even a general Western RPG focus might work. Nobody cares about Arcanum anymore, though.

 

Heck, HoL isn't even half the place it was 12 months ago when I finally joined.

I know we've been over this before, but a large part of the trouble is due to the hostile attitude of current members towards new ones. New members mostly sign up for advice on Arcanum, that's all well and good but the uptight, self-righteous attitude of a lot of the members here (self moderating types, most of the time) forces them into a position where the constant berrating and often infighting makes them leave. Those that aren't frightened off just aren't interested in staying beyond asking for advice, either.

And then they hit GD, where as before there was a reasonable large member base full of cynicism and "witty" one-liners, now it's more a handful of members circle-jerking in the corner and laughing at each others jokes. It's no longer all that appealing to be honest, having to log in and find one more pointless video posted or another pointless argument strike up feels more like a waste of time than actual entertainment. To be quite frank I think a lot of the current members (not nearly all of them, mind you) need to grow up - being little more than e-tards with a waning interest in steampunk.

In short, the hard-line HoL takes towards various activities has drove the community into ruin and has left us with a memberbase of tossers and whiners; many of which are too nostalgic to get off their ass and do something about it. We need something new to discuss, whether that be a community-organised arcanum project (one thing we'll agree on is that everyone here has an opinion), steampunk or just games in general. Perhaps Terra Arcanum should be merged into another site with a different focus, I don't know. But unless something happens we're going to lose a hell of a lot more members before descending into a bizarre mix of 4chan and RPGCodex.

 

I agree with you Charonte on the hate towards new members, I think over the year I have been here we have all at one stage mentioned how we don't want to keep doing that. One culprit who took great pleasure in her *Huff puff errrrrggghhhh 'throws shovel at face'* smashing new members is now gone.

 

I hate to step in and say anything, given how I just got a mild promotion, but I've been trying for awhile to stop two things, even without power: flaming the newbs in the Arcanum sections, and gravedigging.

I don't like admitting it, but to survive, T-A has to take a softer line, and be kind to those whom come.

Also, am I the only one who think it'd be interesting to take the staff list from Arcanum, and start trying to track down (in one form or another) what they're working on now?



I also have a different line to take. A change in stance: we shut Caity down. She was trolled and flamed into oblivion. I'm not saying she didn't have her faults, but nobody, these days, should be shut down like she was. I'm not saying that she was without her faults, or that we need to make this place into a den of bastards who lick ass at the merest mention of anyone who may possess anything closely related to breasts, but that we need to be more tolerant. I want to see Terra Arcanum survive. August will make seven years I've been a member of this forum. I won't get gay and nostalgic on all of you, but I'd like to see it continue. There are two things in my life that I always been able to rely upon: Terra-Arcanum and my car... I apologize if my post has wavered from one topic to the next. I'm a tad scatter brained at the moment.

 

I'm surprised to see that you lot think I'm a 'regular' member. Gosh.

The only reason that I (and possibly a few other semi-regular members as well) have strayed from the forum is that one: I hardly ever play the game anymore and two: the most amusing thing about HoL are the random threads become one long bash-fest similar to a chat-room with intelligence.

I do have to admit that it's mrnobodie's threads (and others of the ilk) that I keep coming back to, but being the nice person that I am, I don't really like participating in the flaming etc.

It's now really a source of entertainment for me, and if it weren't for the fact that I get bored during my increasingly torrential schedule, I wouldn't be back as often as I am. But it is also the fact that I have little to say in these forums that equates to my apparent lack of commitment.

Thar be my two cents (or ten if you count inflation, since I first joined).

Off to the threads I go!

 

When I came, I was brought here by Wolfsbane in order to participate in his "Die Hafen" RPG. It was all and well in the RPG section, which I didn't stray from at first. But in the GD I was getting an harsh beating, mostly for my bad use of the English language. But I kept going. I started to check my posts for any spelling errors, bad grammar or such. So that noone would find anything to complain about.

And eventually people did. I survived. And I still dno't see that flaming as a bad thing. Those with thick skins survive. People are mostly being flamed because they come in here and starts posting and arguing without having read the rules, and without understanding them. So those that know the rules starts to bash, in order to learn the new ones how to behave. And find this perfectly alright.

Now, I have rarley visited the Arcanum section of the forum, but from what I gather, that is the best place for newbies to start, since the rule enforcement in there are lower than in the GD.
Of course, I might be wrong.

And I don't think this forum will ever trully die. It has had it's fair share of times when there were near to zero activity, but this isn't a time like that.
It has had more activity,yes. But it has also been much less.

And I know that I would be willing to pay in order to keep this forum going. In the near future I might even increase my activity on these boards, in order to keep it going. But it all lies in the future. And the future does not concern me, because the future will come wether we like it or not.

 

It is like a flashback from a random anime/teenage movie.

 

That can be prevented by having at least two admins at a time, so we'll be pretty sure that even if one disappears abruptly without giving any signs of life, the other will recruit a new admin, so that the continuity of the forum's existence will be preserved.

I'm not commenting on what could possibly be going on on the backstages, not having insight into everyone's PMs and such, but talking about what was happening in the forums, was Xiao really such a victim of everyone's hatred? I didn't really see any excess in that matter. Sure, some people took great pleasure in trolling her, but who can blame them - (s)he who gets easily trolled, gets trolled. All it takes when being attacked is being able to survive the attacks and proving, that you're not impressed with them. This place was always a battlezone, but would it truly be TA if it weren't one? Like wobbler said, the strong survive. We should have a certain dose of leeway for the newcomers, naturally, but what's better than knowing, that we can punch a senior member in the balls and be sure, that he'll kick back with all his might? It's makes this place a Valhalla of sorts. Simply beautiful.

Also, I don't get it. Judging by what I've seen in the box, we call The Bob an admin even though he's technically a mod and DE says your a mod even though you're technically an admin? I seem to be at a loss here.

You may not be here very often, but you pop in every now and then bringing a little Piperish Piper while you're at it. Not really sure what it is, but it works, so who really cares? You may not be a regular, but as long as people remember you as part of the forum, you are a part of the forum.

no one

don't

rarely

truly

its

A space after a comma.

whether

That was truly a relieving thing to hear, I'll give you that.

 

Ok. Almost everyone with more than 1000 posts has been bashing Wobbler more than once over the time he has been here, and he deserved it in most cases. Members have been more hinting things when it comes to criticizing Caity, more or less up until now. Wobbler is still here and Caity has left.

Wobbler is a stubborn bastard and Caity is a whiney bitch.

This post doesn't contribute much, but that is more or less my trade mark anyway.

 

Well, I am going to stay here forever, because I never have been a quitter, I love this place too much, and I am very loyal.

I am for two admistrators as well, perhaps it is a job for The_Bob? Also, Xz and Vorak stands still in the Jarinor and Snowmane usergroup as moderators. Will there be someone else who become one of the staff?

PS: Congrats DarkFool for becoming a moderator (I think Jarinor will have a heartattack when he sees this)

 

We are doomed.

 

Things always change.

Sayonara, Xiao.

 

I preferred you more when you used to be a penis Transparent Painting, you had that certain 'zing!'.

edit: I shouldn't of said preferred, comes across the wrong way, I still like you, just not in a I wanna ram your ass way.

 

It is alright, I will just save myself until the day you change your mind.

 

I swear I saw the statues move, I SWEAR IT!!

 

Despite what was actually said, it's true that Xiao left after being flamed, but really I expected if she was going to get some heat her way she'd fight back if she was opposed to it. I think she used it as the final straw and simply left after Zanza's post rather than stay on the forum and duke it out.
I'll stay here, I've got no other forum I like.
I do think we should ease up on the hazing of new people, it just makes us look like a bunch of snobs. Grumpy, xenophobic, Arcanum snobs.