Talk about just about anything else that is non-gaming here, but keep it clean
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by BoneSnapDeez Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:00 pm

That ain't it chief.
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Forlorn Drifter
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by Forlorn Drifter Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:46 pm

NotLuke wrote:No.
The lame discussions for the past seven years on this entire board has hurt participation.
Has forlorn made friends? Is repo making donuts today? Did noise make a black friend? DO TELL.

Seriously? We're talking about how this site is having trouble keeping people, so we should just attack people? One of whom (noise) is a huge contributor to the site?

@Nintendork,
I don't think we need to cut down as strongly as Resetera, but I know why you used it as an example. One thing would be combining Hacks and Mods and Emulation if we went that route.
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stickem
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by stickem Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:35 pm

NotLuke wrote:No.
The lame discussions for the past seven years on this entire board has hurt participation.
Has forlorn made friends? Is repo making donuts today? Did noise make a black friend? DO TELL.


I dont get the last one
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chuckster
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by chuckster Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:30 pm

I'd be inclined to agree that the current thread structure hurts the site but overall it is just one facet of the problem. I think if we had more frequent threads about a wider variety of things (or just established post limits for topics) and restructured the forum to be less segmented it would help, but it wouldn't matter if there were 100 new threads a day if the passion and traffic isn't there to discuss them. At this point I find the value in RB to be great on the site side, while the forums are bettered elsewhere.

That's hard to say as someone who once followed the forum closely and saw Racketboy as the premier place for retro discussion, but I drifted off a couple of years ago after traffic slowed down and (outside of a few) the topics being posted really weren't that interesting.

I also don't buy into the notion of it being a symptom of declining forum popularity. I certainly don't look to Reddit for quality discussion or very in-depth advice. I can't tell how many times I've seen a sickening title like "Does anyone even remember Super Mario World Anymore!?!?!" or "Can we talk about how games didn't need DLC to be good?" on it. Youtube is a great place for retro content, but it does not replace discussion on forums so much as engender it.

It just seems like RB forum has been superseded by other boards. RB once had it's finger on the pulse of the retro gaming community and somewhere along the way it feels like it lost that. Like others have said the major players in the community rarely mention or drop by the site, whereas I can see many big names on other boards.

And in the end, that's okay. The old guard are still here having a good time, and the articles and guides are still great. Since they are now being published more often, I find myself checking in on the site every now and again. Who knows, maybe RB is on the verge of a revolution! Here's to Racketboy becoming the best platform it can be!
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Nintendork666
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by Nintendork666 Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:00 pm

NotLuke wrote:No.
The lame discussions for the past seven years on this entire board has hurt participation.
Has forlorn made friends? Is repo making donuts today? Did noise make a black friend? DO TELL.


Sounds like you might be spending too much time online. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, especially not at my boy, noise.
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casterofdreams
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by casterofdreams Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:21 pm

It took me a bit of time to muster up the courage to post this reply, and I am glad this thread exists. And to make sure that I am clear with what I am about to type as this will be my last post on this site.

In my opinion, the main reason why this forum has gone to shit is because the people, who actually frequented the site and breathed life into it, left. Chased off because we veered too far from what this forum was known for: a bunch of people who shared a passion for games of yesteryear. I'm not going to sit here and list names but the people who have been here awhile know who those individuals are. It isn’t because of the structure of some topics, or the lack of a post limit, or any other thing mentioned here. It’s because we talked about a topic that I consider taboo, politics and religion (all kinds), plain and simple. I’m calling a spade, a spade.

When I started my new job at a retail store during my time as a senior in high school, I was given one piece of advice. It wasn't the typical "listen to your boss" mantra and "hard work pays off" bullshit. It was this: there are two things you should never talk about in a workplace environment -- religion and politics. As I got older, this little nugget of advice started to permeate into every facet of my life. I didn’t talk about either topic, friend or colleague. Passions involving the opinions within those two broader topics always devolved into utter disregard of mutual respect.

It’s no secret that 2016 was one the most tumultuous times in US history. And the topic of politics was the start and end of discussions across the media, the internet, the water cooler at the office, town meetings, and even our little corner here on the forums.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28654&start=10
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=30037
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=51562
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=38658&start=380
And even dumb shit like this: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=51390

A lot of shit was thrown around in those topics. Some really fucked up shit. Archived here for all to see.

Slack, the chat app the forum uses to communicate, turned into something utterly unbearable. I’m not here to mention names, but I don’t understand how one minute we talk about some new release of a game, for example, and the next we have a particular individual or two drop the “fuck Trump” comment just like that. This has taken place in the topic marked as “General,” not the one marked “politics.” Why? How do we go from point A to point B in a matter of seconds? I had to delete the app.

Make no mistake about me: I have no allegiance to any political party (I am not even registered to vote). I am not offended by the notion of politics and religion in general. Who you marry is of little concern to me. What you do, who you like, how you choose to identify is of no concern to me either. I will treat you no different. I will treat you the way I would like to be treated – with respect. And if you decide you delineate from mutual respect, I will simply mirror back the behavior you project onto me. I am not here infringe on anyone’s right to free speech or expression. I am simply stating that a site dedicated to a particular niche, delineated into other unrelated topics, topics that causes much malcontent, and broke up the community we had here.

I came on board a decade ago: February 7, 2009 because I was heavily into the Dreamcast at the time. Loved what I saw and decided to stick around. And now I will leave like the others before me have done.

Take this post however you would like. I won’t answer regardless.
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marurun
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by marurun Fri Apr 19, 2019 8:53 pm

Well, he may not stick around to reply, but this bears addressing. Too much politics did damage the forums, but after much reflection political discussions were ruled off-limits. And the forum continued to decline in traffic after that. So while it did some damage, it isn’t really the root cause. I would like to point back to the general decline in forums in general. Yes, there are still some prominent forums that draw in traffic in no small numbers, but even the bigger forums just aren’t as active. And the truth is, we’re aging out. Classic gamers are older than ever and have less time than ever to dick around on the Internet. I don’t post nearly as much as I used to because having a kid has hurt my ability to really indulge this fine hobby of ours. I remain because I think our regular users are awesome and want to stay in touch and at least reminisce about the games I used to have time to play. Our busiest threads are from and about people actually playing games. Go figure!
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MrPopo
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by MrPopo Fri Apr 19, 2019 11:15 pm

I don't think that many were "chased off due to the politics thread". But there was a chunk who left because we kept having the temerity to mix in retro game talk with modern game talk.
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Nintendork666
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by Nintendork666 Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:20 am

MrPopo wrote: there was a chunk who left because we kept having the temerity to mix in retro game talk with modern game talk.


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BogusMeatFactory
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Re: Have all the "Official X Threads" hurt forum participati

by BogusMeatFactory Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:31 am

So there are issues I see.

1. Yes, there are too many subforums. It is a mess and it is hard to find anything.

2. Clicking on New Posts does not show new posts. It constantly clears itself and says, "There are no new posts" or shows 1 or 2 posts before going back to there being no new posts.

3. Folks not engaging in those unique topic posts, by either not seeing it, or by choosing not to engage.

The reality is, engaging with others takes effort. Most times, folks posts are simply blog posts in style, without interacting with others to engage in discussion. We need to go out of our way to engage and encourage others. Enthuse with people! This is supposedly about sharing our love for games, not simply waving our knowledge around as if we are special for knowing about the most obscure games.

Take the time out to compliment folks, bring them up instead of tearing them down. It isn't always about debate and intellectual discourse. That stuff is exhausting and comes off as combative in the end. Sure, those things are important to have, but it seems like any actual talk we have is a debate and two sides just saying their opinion over and over again. It is never about active engagement with each other. It is just people talking to the void.
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