I was skipping through the school shooting thread, and at a certain point Brian stepped in and scolded everyone for being rude and accused some folks of being close-minded. I didn't read the whole thread, so I won't speak to the veracity of his claims, though I've been here forever and I don't doubt their truthfulness.

This led me to wonder... why do I still post here? Why does anyone post here? The only threads we see are politics or FGR nonsense. The politics threads are just Jonk, Reid, Jones, and Eversor arguing among themselves or teaming up to argue against Wookie, and the FGR nonsense threads are... well, nonsense.

Please don't take this as criticism toward anyone in particular, as it is not my intent. I'm truly interested in what keeps you posting here. I can understand that some folks enjoy the political/economic/social discussion. I also understand that some people have nothing better to do with their time (FGR). What about the rest of us?

I don't know why I come back here. Mostly out of some sort of strange nostalgia or habit, I guess. This was the only forum I posted on with any regularity, and when I was a teenager my family moved and I had no friends at my new school or new neighborhood, so I found social fulfillment here and the chat. Eventually I made friends and visited here less. I disappeared for a few years, but I would still check in from time to time. I don't post much now, as I don't have much to say on the topics at hand, but I still like to read what others have to say (except in the politics threads, I don't usually look at those).

I like Jedi Knight

^^ Agree with both previous posts.

There's not much left to talk about regarding Jedi Knight. The political threads almost instantly turn into garbage. And even when they don't, arguing politics online is pointless. I'd like for everyone to at least be civil but maybe it's too late. I dunno. The whole site is kept running only out of nostalgia. Mostly the rest of the site is visited by crawlers. And they don't do a very good job of crawling it because of the frames. And also, browsers are deprecating frames so in a few more versions I'll have to actually do something about that or the site won't render at all anymore.

It's largely nostalgia for me. Also some of the people here make be lol.

I have fond memories of having heated political discussions on this site as a young teenager. I regret that the political discussion here has gotten so one-sided, because when I first came back to this site after years of absence, the thing that drew me in was remembering how diverse the opinions were. Facebook brings people together who likely have similar beliefs, but this website brought people with diverse beliefs together, where the lowest common denominator was interest in a video game. So the range of opinions were wide-ranging when we got to talking about other topics, at least back in the day. I was sad to hear Brian say that he was discouraged from participating in the gun control thread, because I'm more interested in hearing his opinions (and those of anyone else here whose views are more conservative than my own) than witless complaining about Republicans.

To be frank I'm a little annoyed that political discussion has taking over the entire forum. It's becoming a little too rote, and I think it's discouraging a lot of people from posting, which is bad.

Poor impulse control. I'm sorry guys.

In the future I will make a clear distinction between serious discussion and banter, and think harder about pressing submit.

For what it's worth, when I'm being serious, I try to use proper grammar, punctuation, and "intelligent" words.

when im being silly i type like this and most people are able to tell the difference

That... might actually work. I think I'll adopt that convention from now on.

Serious answer: this site was my introduction to modding at age 11-12, I work as a game artist now and I feel like I owe a lot to Massassi, even if it's a lot quieter now. It's just nice that it's still around.

Also still hoping some more of you guys will play the new LoG

Regarding the politics takeover: it’s a consequence of the fact that the only active posters are most interested in discussing politics.

People have started threads about other subjects. They fall off the main page with zero replies mostly because RJ, Reid and I aren’t interested in replying to them. This isn’t a change for me, at least; in the whole lifespan of this forum I rarely ever participated in discussions that weren’t political. I participate where I am interested in the subject (politics) and avoid it otherwise.

This is the fate of all forums once the population gets low enough that one interest dominates. If it weren’t politics, it would be music production, cars, or sharing porn — I’ve seen once-broad community forums turn into all of those things.

The antidote, if you care, is to start more threads about the things you’re interested in discussing. Or just accept that times have changed, forums have been eclipsed by Reddit and social media, and there’s nothing you can do to reverse that.

Regarding why I still post here: because people are still talking about the stuff I like to talk about. If that changed, then obviously I wouldn’t have any reason to post here anymore.

The Interactive Story Board, specifically the Never-ending Story Thread. Surprise, I know.

I'm actually in the process of setting up a site of its own, largely so it has a place of its own. After that, any time I'm returning here will likely be out of habit.

I like you people.

I like reading the threads that we got. They're all that's left, and as Jon says the focus is extremely narrowed. But while I'm not too interested in discussing those topics, I am still quite interested in reading the discussions, even if they're only between a handful of people.

And there's still a bit of generally interesting or entertaining BS getting posted outside of political discussions. Enough to feel that this forum still has at least a flicker of life beyond the Inauguration Day Thread. I'm glad that Echoman, Steven, Brian, Thrawn, Geb (just to name the ones who've posted in this thread) and others like them still drop a word once in a while.

I am particularly proud of not having completely driven you guys away.

Although the title of this thread raised the hair on my neck a little. :v::o

Hmm.. a proper interpretation of what's going on with those two little guys probably deserves its own thread.

Tacking onto this, forums are a form of posting that's nearly dead. But it's nice. Because it's populated with identifiable people, with personalities and views. It makes it feel more human. Nearly all social media now (Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, whatever) are just aggregates of unidentifiable, random people posting memes and videos. There's nothing human there. For as awful as discussions here can be, they can also be illuminating, as you slowly learn and adapt to how other people perceive and process the world.

I'd be lying if I said my world views haven't been influenced by the other people on here.

Same. I'd like to effortpost here more, and write longer things from a more balanced, thoughtful perspective. Those posts are the best to read from anyone.

Originally I joined because Spook told me to. I had some lofty hopes of making JK levels before I realized I would have to actually learn stuff. I guess I stuck around because I like the variety of opinions here. I grew up in a really conservative bubble and Massassi was my first real look outside of that, which I'll always appreciate.

These days I've been using my posts as practice to convey my ideas into a concise response. Since no one responds to those it helps with the fear of putting my thoughts out there, but makes it a bit more “real” than just writing in notepad. Also, sometimes I like drawing caricatures of people from the camhoez thread for practice and posting the results there.

Why would you do that?

One of the continuing reasons for my interest in the political threads is that I don't have confidence that I understand just what is going on in the world, and neither social media nor traditional news media really seem to do a good job at alleviating that. I need the tl;dr from Eversor / Jon`C / Reid / Spook.

Also, I would say that Eversor has profoundly influence the direction my interest in music has taken, by reminding me that R.E.M. exists, and that the Velvet Underground made at least one good album. In particular the interest in R.E.M. led me to discover a three other similar bands from around the time of the `80's. Actually to this day I'd say that the dB's are my favorite band.

Also, this board is definitely a window into my dark side. In particular, because of my interactions with Jon`C (and a few others), I have hopefully become less sheltered in my views. I've said a lot of sketchy things that revealed some assumptions that were very much worthy of being disabused.

I don't imagine how this would be possible on other platforms like social media, because most people are too afraid to say what they really believe, unless they already don't care anyway and have no interest in changing.

Reid has helped me learn to pick my words more carefully, and not just assume that everybody is going to agree with me. I think I will become a better writer as a result of this.

I like you guys the same way I miss my best friend that moved away in 4th grade, i just hope you're all fine and i miss the great times. you introduced me to many things and i'm grateful.

you idiots are the ones i want to succeed.

I'm going to try to post more. Not necessarily to generate discussion, but because several people have mentioned that seeing different perspectives and learning about new ideas is something they enjoy. I also need to practice writing and condensing ideas into brief, concise words; at a previous job, I did quite a bit of public speaking and writing. I was very good at it, but I haven't done that in years, and I can feel those skills becoming dull. Writing here will help, and I know you folks aren't short on the constructive-ish criticism.


that's the second nicest thing I've heard all week, after my wife telling me "you didn't burn these pancakes as much as you usually do, thanks" yesterday morning

Although I don't post a lot, I still stop by on a regular basis and read quite a few of them out of habit and for the rare thread that I may actually post in.

.

I stick around because Massassi was my first real home on the web after discovering how to break out of AOL's walled garden as a kid. I've spent more than half my life now considering this my digital home. It's novel that it's still up and running.

Besides, social media is garbage and most of reddit is too. Subreddits that are small, niche, or well-moderated are okay though. It makes me a bit sad that forums seem to be waning in popularity. Are there even any decently-populated general forums anymore?

I like some of you.

Then why don't you marry some of us. Jeez.

My posting dropped off when I realized that discussion around here tends to quickly devolve into petty semantic bickering rather than actual engagement with the subject being discussed. I just can't be arsed.

dibs on sab

theres one of you that i want to ****

check ur PMs

This is really one of the few communities that I could really "get in to." All of the rest are gone. My few and far between posts are about how much I am able to participate in a community.

oi bby u no wat i like

I don't post much but every now and then I swing by and check it out for the nostalgia bump.

woah, long time no see, Overlord

I mostly just lurk now and post seldomly. I do it for the nostalgia, I suppose. I became infatuated with Jedi Knight / Mysteries of the Sith back in the late 90's and early 2000's, and this community was a huge part of my life at the time. I went from middle school, high school, college, and marriage while this forum has been a constant in the background. I usually check the boards at least a few times a week, but skip most of the political or religious discussions - which as you mentioned leaves me with very little else to engage with.

I got pretty upset a few years back when it seemed like these forums were shutting down for good, as it legitimately felt like a large part of my life was coming to a close. I suppose I haven't really contributed much since that point, and from a community standpoint not much else has happened either, but nostalgia is a hard thing to shake.