The State of AD

[Ahriman]

I don’t post too much anymore mostly because it’s somehow not as attractive a place to post anymore, at least not to me. This isn’t a post to say “turn AD back to the way I liked it”, it’s merely observation.

Humour seems to be one melting pot of argument; now I make no pretension to ever having been well spoken or polite to anyone on AD – I thoroughly enjoyed ridiculing whoever opened themselves to it, or arguing whatever perspective would infuriate most. Strangely though it all seems to have become a little more conservative. I’ll take the famous Rumad as an example. I argued with Rumad over plenty of things, most of which I really didn’t care about and I suspect that he wasn’t particularly bothered either. I think most people considered Kj his… successor(?) at least, as far as Rumad’s verbal battles for FAnG go, now, far be it for me to criticise someone openly on a public discussion forum (yes I am grinning) but I think Kj takes it a little too far, an example being some joke at the expense of FAnG I made and Kj’s mercifully censored reply. In my opinion Rumad made it all a little more fun. Note: I don’t actually judge people by AD, Kj(el) is as fun as anyone else to speak with on IRC, I’m just using these two as an example.

Further to my example of Rumad, I think it’s fair to say that Rumad’s recent posts have been rather below par really, even considering the gay (I mean ‘FAnG’) pride posts he so joyously used to post. This is one sign of change, but another is the really quite amusing neutered hatred of Titans; neutered since they ascended from this mortal plane of existence. Somehow Titans have muscled in on the classic Legion/Fury real-estate to take the brunt of bashing/cheating/whatever accusations – don’t get me wrong – go right ahead. Perhaps this will end up with Fury/Legion finally getting some good feeling from the masses which is a good thing I think.

Back to humour, I thought I’d make reference to one of Rumad’s spectacularly bad threads; the Jerry Springer one. Not only was Rumad’s original idea utterly ghastly, but Jester managed to make the thread ever worse by apparently taking cbk too seriously. I didn’t read his posts so my comments are purely complete rubbish (but when has that stopped anyone), but it looks like cbk was ‘pushing’ the thread and Jester got it all terribly wrong – do correct me. From my perspective I get a little confused when this sort of thing happens; I just don’t get that insulted by people who don’t know me – in fact I rarely feel insulted by anyone, make jokes about whatever you please from my appearance to my sexual orientation and I won’t be phased, rather I’ll be quite ready to use it against whatever your original argument was. It’s all a game to me.

Perhaps this all reflects the growing negative feeling I get from AD and the community at large, it’s not as good as the good old days and for some strange reason the creators don’t seem to be reverting to the perfect stats of old. The new alliances are bastards, born of the old ones in an attempt to steal that legacy from a limping alliance. The numbers are fewer, there are less and less newbies in supply as fodder for your cheap shots.

Even Scouse has turned into something more bitter than his previous AD persona, I think I have too, but that was probably more due to my having been alliance less and therefore at a loss for decent loyalty to a cause and it’s obvious twin; the natural enemy. It’s also been quiet. I know it’s quite usual for a bit of peace to settle over AD between rounds, but is it only my rose-tinted glasses telling me that it used to be more active? Perhaps that just goes hand in hand with these new alliances, the buying out of FSAS and the general ‘unknown’ feeling aimed at the future.

Do I have a biased perspective? Certainly. Will I continue to tell people what I think of them (hopefully going back to a more subtle approach to humour Kj)? Probably. I think that if people took insults a little less seriously then the atmosphere around here would be a lot more breathable; you’re all pathetic geeks who at some point played the online version of a spreadsheet in order to gain imagined kudos from shifting allies. Lighten up.

My mentioning of Rumad, Kj, Jester and Scouse in no way reflects their apparent or imagined ‘fame’ within this game world of ours. I happened to notice their names in the last few threads I read, so it’s probably just down to their being idiots rather than actually being worth knowing. I’d probably better include a “hahaha” just in case someone actually takes this seriously… Sad, innit?

Don’t mod this post.
Or I’ll eat your pets.

[Editted one word, as it was the wrong one (it's far too late/early to make sense )]

[Aryn]

AD has been slowly degrading to a pitiful cesspool of hate for a while now :P
while i still love you guys etc etc i don't think writing threads about it will do anything. we've had lots of threads about the 'attitudes of AD' but nothing has ever come from them besides most of us agreeing that things are bad.
i really don't think it's going to get better since most users just aren't interested in making it better

the jerry springer thread had a funny idea but it just doesn't work in a place like this. this is a forum where people take potshots at each other and that was a golden opportunity for some :\

mods have to take on a different viewpoint about offensive things. not only do we think 'is this offensive to me?' but 'will it offend anyone else?' i don't get offended easily.. but there are certain things you KNOW someone else will eventually complain about :P

[Ahriman]

I'm not blaming the mods; while I hate this PC crap of trying not to offend anyone (be offended by me, and you'll be laughed at by me), I understand that them's the rules and you really have no choice in the matter.

I unoquivocally blame the AD regulars such as myself for allowing the forum to degenerate into what it is. Everyone is quite happy to 'use' it to take shots at an enemy without risking their account in the process, couple this with humanity's innate ability to bugger up a good thing, and you have AD and it's current woes.

[Cochese]

I think it's a combination of the changing universe, (no more furby to bastardize...who is the bad guy(s)?), the unsatisfying "end" to r8 (who *really* won? imho, we all ended up losing), the uncertainty that followed prior to PA being sold/saved (is there a PA or isn't there? What's going to happen now!?!), and the drugdery of nothing to discuss except speculation about the coming round, and of course bringing up old arguments for lack of anything better to do.

We're all trying to figure out what is up/down in this post-old alliance era, and nothing is really clear anymore. That, coupled with boredom and frustration, and you have AD in a nutshell. There's no politics to discuss, no goings on...hence we all resort to petty arguments and potshots, and anything offbeat that gets posted in an attempt to break the monotony is overrun with crap replies and get drowned out in the noise we're all making.

New players to bring some fresh perspectives would seriously help, but so would getting the damn show on the road already.

I think we're all just tired of sitting in limbo and want to start playing.

[HobbieRogue4]

Take a break. Really. Mine was a forced one, but it did me well, and it'll certainly do a good number of others the same.

[Ahriman]

Originally posted by Rumad
SOrry ahri you never saw the humour in it, i think even jester would have chuckled at my comment about him

But some are too bitter.

I saw humour in a lot of the things you posted, both in the way you wanted and from my own slightly jilted prespective, the Springer thread was in my opinion ghastly as it was predictable that it would fall so quickly. I'm glad you can see that you were only singled out as an example of the rest


Actually I just remembered I was going to use you, Hobbie, as an example of one of those people who left, became bitter, and got their pic banned on PAG


Allfather's pic still scares me, so I'm not going to say anything about his strange bitter backlash against Titans, or his silly beard. Not a word (pssst... don't tell him that he's the cutest hells-angel wannabe out there!)


Cochese, it's quite clear that Titans won r8, Eclipse will turn that Fury angst at being beaten last round into a winning formula for r9, and that new people just aren't bitter enough to be accepted into this community - it's all so clear!


As a final point (before I go to bed), I haven't spoken to any of you 4 on IRC for ages (except Hobbie, who was too weirdly un-Hobbie-like to count). So you're all bitter, and I hate you all. (I'm 'in' with the AD crowd now... aren't I?!)

[Cochese]

Get your arse into #madcows sometime then Ahri.

I'll be sitting on the front porch, grumbling.

[K03N]

*throws a rotten tomato*

[Hardin]

Well put Ahriman...

I agree that people should lighten up a little but unfortunately I don't think the mods will now let them.

Regarding the Jerry Springer thread maybe it wasn't relevant to AD and had to be moved...but at least it was a little more fun than the usual fare. In fact it was one of the only threads that made me feel like posting for the last three weeks!

(Where has it gone btw? Deleted or moved?)

Jester's overreaction to CBK's post (which was clearleh tongue in cheek and made as much fun of himself as anyone else) is just another example of this.

In fact I was surprised that with their political correctness gone mad that the Mods didn't delete my post as well - hinting as it did at a gigantic gay conspiracy in Planetarion involving Rumad, Scouse, Parracida, Zh|l, Lockhead, Kjeldoran as well as CBK and Sirad

I guess irony doesn't work on AD anymore!

[cbk100]

Us writers here on AD has to respect that this place is a place for serious conversations, BUT from time to time a thread of some laughter and utter crap talking is appropriated here just to make ppl get a little laugh.

The respect for AD has to be accepted and that goes both for us and for the MODS(or whatever you call them).

Conserning the Jerry Springer thread it was obvious just by the headline, that what was in it, would be nothing but some mud trowing. Mud trowing in a very unserious way and in a way that noone could take it serious and noone should take it serious.
As far as I know the thread made ppl get a cheap laugh and that was what it was there for. Maybe that is not allowed on AD....I don't know cause I don't make the rules here and noting is specified about it, but if it is not allowd to get a little laugh once in a while here on AD which more or less is the outside face to the public world then I think PA has lost a lot of what it is really about.

cbk

[Jester]

You're just noticing this now?

Jester

[Kjeldoran]

Originally posted by Ahriman
Humour seems to be one melting pot of argument; now I make no pretension to ever having been well spoken or polite to anyone on AD – I thoroughly enjoyed ridiculing whoever opened themselves to it, or arguing whatever perspective would infuriate most. Strangely though it all seems to have become a little more conservative. I’ll take the famous Rumad as an example. I argued with Rumad over plenty of things, most of which I really didn’t care about and I suspect that he wasn’t particularly bothered either. I think most people considered Kj his… successor(?) at least, as far as Rumad’s verbal battles for FAnG go, now, far be it for me to criticise someone openly on a public discussion forum (yes I am grinning) but I think Kj takes it a little too far, an example being some joke at the expense of FAnG I made and Kj’s mercifully censored reply. In my opinion Rumad made it all a little more fun. Note: I don’t actually judge people by AD, Kj(el) is as fun as anyone else to speak with on IRC, I’m just using these two as an example.

heh, you'd probably say "here he goes again" but I like I said to you in pm aswell, I take things rather personally esp when it comes to FAnG and friends. That's how I am, in real life aswell. I'm not gonna change or pretend I don't care cause that would be like faking who I am.

Also my lack of certian english phrases and expressions often makes me missunderstand a thread or a joke. But as most of you know I always pm pple on IRC when I got an issue with/about them in AD so ....

nway good post ahri and ofc I'm as fun as anyone else on IRC, I'd even say I'm MORE fun then the avg IRC user

rgds Kj

[Scouse]

AD has been the same for ages, I don't think it's getting any worse, but it certainly isn't getting any better.

Alliance loyalties has a lot to do with it, and lots of people take a dislike to someone just because of their alliance or PA history.

People should be judged on the content of their character and not their alliance. However, people's AD character does not always reflect their true character.


PS. There are only 2 people who post here who I don't like.

[Kjeldoran]

Originally posted by Scouse

PS. There are only 2 people who post here who I don't like.

*cough* names *cough*

rgds Kj

[Teh_Necro]

AD posters have not deteriated, the discussion itself has.

Things may pick up once pa gets back underyway, and yes your terribly right, never take anything personally on here.

-Necro

Just all of you should remember AD in the days of early rounds when spamming, hardcore personal insults and the "heh i´m proud to be ..." was normal.
More ppl commenting those days, and it weren´t better just different. Today roughly 30 ppl posting in average most topics were commented by the same bunch of people. What do you expect ..... the community is smaller then ever.
However any communication is better then none. So i´m awaiting more lovely posts about alliances and their folks.


A PA Veteran retired round 4, in beloved memory of SL and Lantador

[cbk100]

Originally posted by Jester
You're just noticing this now?

Jester

No but it seems like you still haven't noticed it which this comment obviously show!!!

Actualy I think its quite sad when the moderaters begins to act in the way you act now, cause that is EXACLY what is complained about in this thread.

Sorry to say it, but how can you expect other to keep a high level here when you begin to talk on the same low level as most of us other do from time to time here?

cbk

[KaneED]

I did one of these before!

I wonder if you copied it, hmm...


anyway, do you want the one with the jukebox or the one without the jukebox

I'd ask you on IRC but you're away all the time.

[Norseman]

why? because....

most alliances doesnt legitimate AD as a proper tool anymore

+ most ppl have allready been in x alliances, hence their bonds to their current alliance isnt as strong as it once used to be (in most cases) - which again influences those ppls will to fight for the pride of his/her alliance

imo

[Ahriman]

Originally posted by KaneED
I did one of these before!

I wonder if you copied it, hmm...


anyway, do you want the one with the jukebox or the one without the jukebox

I'd ask you on IRC but you're away all the time.

I don't remember reading yours, but I probably did subconciously copy it

If the one with the jukebox will fit on one piece of media I'll have that, otherwise I'll opt for the one without, as I'm not that greedy.

[K-W]

The boards are almost always crap between rounds. You shouldnt judge them until the round gets going, the people are active and there is allaince stuff to talk about.

[laputa]

Originally posted by K-W
The boards are almost always crap between rounds. You shouldnt judge them until the round gets going, the people are active and there is allaince stuff to talk about.

that plus so many good posters have quit PA and lost interest in the boards....

[K-W]

Originally posted by laputa
that plus so many good posters have quit PA and lost interest in the boards....

Along with many bad posters and trolls. But you do have something of a point. The lack of many players has removed the people invovled in historical discussions, and its taken away the contiguity of last round to this round. Thus the between round time has nothing to talk about more so than usual.

When the round starts, new people who are leaders in the game will post. New good posters will emerge and new trolls will emerge. Its not like there were only 10 good posters in the world and PA just happened to have them.

[Kjeldoran]

Originally posted by K-W
Along with many bad posters and trolls. But you do have something of a point. The lack of many players has removed the people invovled in historical discussions, and its taken away the contiguity of last round to this round. Thus the between round time has nothing to talk about more so than usual.

When the round starts, new people who are leaders in the game will post. New good posters will emerge and new trolls will emerge. Its not like there were only 10 good posters in the world and PA just happened to have them.

lol, 10? so many ...

rgds Kj

[Goatie2k1]

Originally posted by Ahriman
I don't remember reading yours, but I probably did subconciously copy it

If the one with the jukebox will fit on one piece of media I'll have that, otherwise I'll opt for the one without, as I'm not that greedy.

They'll both fit on one piece of media! :P

if I am interpreting what your saying correctly..:P

[Ahriman]

Originally posted by Goatie2k1
They'll both fit on one piece of media! :P

if I am interpreting what your saying correctly..:P

That settles it then