I’ll admit, I haven’t been the most prolific poster in the 7 years that I’ve been hanging around. I haven’t participated in many of the games that populate MPSIMS, the intense debates in GD, or the massive meltdowns in the Pit.
I began posting here because I enjoyed the atmosphere. The people were intelligent, witty, sometimes outright insane, and the riff raff was typically run off in the downpour of criticism that resulted when the social norms were violated. The administration and moderation was even-handed, and better yet, it was rare.
Warnings were well placed and bannings were almost unheard of. When they did happen, it was typically socks or newbies who came to start shit.
I’d encouraged several of my friends to start stopping by because I thought they would enjoy the place. Even given my general wallflower-ness, I felt very comfortable here.
Gradually, and unbeknownst to many of us, the atmosphere began to change around here. It was around the time we went pay-to-post, and many of our long standing members left. It was obviously not purely for financial reasons, but I don’t think anyone who’s been paying attention would argue that we didn’t lose a great deal of the value of our membership here.
The board slowed down. New threads were rare, redundant, uninteresting. Many threads were closed when it seemed that their intended purpose had been outlived by the silliness that they were being overtaken by. Nevermind that many of the most entertaining threads came about spontaneously when they were allowed to do just that, devolve into silliness.
A lot of big posters were banned. The reasons for their bannings were addressed by the administration, and many people agreed, and many disagreed. But the truth of the matter is that you can’t create an exclusive club that discourages new membership (by paying) and a feeling of overmoderation and not stagnate the intellectual value of this place.
So we’re back to free posting, and in just a week’s time we’ve seen the influx of old posters returning to a place that probably isn’t what they remember it to be.
Now we have the banning of another long-term member, and are essentially being told not to push our luck right now or we could be next. This is evidently “not the time” to be asking the questions. And, if we’re unhappy, we can find another place to go if it’s so bad here.
Regardless of your opinions of the individuals in question, if you keep chopping off the outliers, all you will end up with is an extremely stagnant and boring middle ground. The cacophony of posters that suggest those who disagree should “get over it or leave” is a predictable outcome to any criticism here, and frankly it’s a ridiculous proposition. You don’t criticize something if you aren’t concerned for its survival. If it really is that bad, then yes, you leave. But if you think it could be better than what it is now, you say so.
This is not the same place it was even a couple years ago. It’s not the same place it could have been if different decisions were made, and it’s not the same place I ever would have anticipated it being.
This is not a goodbye thread, and I am not throwing myself atop the funeral pyre. Perhaps I can’t quantify the perceptions I have, and I’m wondering if I’m the only one noticing. If I end up on the chopping block too, so be it. I just wonder if I’m the only one with this feeling lately.
