Remember when

[son of x-51]

So this is two topics in one. I'm efficient.

First thing, and a legitimate thought:
Etc etera used to movesuper fast. Threads were constanlty being pushed and new threads were all the rage. That was fun. If Etc cetera was not moving to your liking then you'd hit your lesser liked forums, and post in now playing, now wearing, now reading, now*whatever*, threads.

Second thing:
All this forum is, is now*whatever* threads. Have we moved on and are just hoping to take a step back through time here? I wasn't really expecting much, but I see a lot of us have signed up here, so kick it up! I'd like to hear great stories about random events that happened, and stupid comments about whatever again. Perhaps with age comes the loss of uniqueness? Are your stories not that great? Do you feel you will be shot down because we've heard it before? Create curiosity, son. Tell me about the trip you had to see *whatever*.

[A Contrarian Mufugga]

I think people just grew up and no longer care about "Wow, so random!" stuff that happens to 'em. That teenage need to talk and talk and talk about everything that happens to one in a given day is replaced -- at least in mentally healthy people -- by the realization that in the long run, nobody cares.

That's not to say idle banter is dead; it just shifts as we age, from literally useless and inane chatter, to small, concise, meaningful chats that have the capacity to grow into lengthy, adult discussions that have some bearing on our lives and growth.

That's why my friends and I talk about how much anime sucks while playing Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition at midnight on a Friday.

[VenusInFurs]

I don't know if that's it necessarily. But when we had the boards, we didn't have Facebook and Twitter to post all the little events that happened in the day. Now we have that and we can broadcast it to everyone we know.

I don't think that it's because we're older, because I see posts on Facebook from friends my age and older posting where they are in the city, what they eat for lunch, what their kid did or what their coworkers are talking about alllllll the time.

[DeadSkinMask]

I just sneezed and it made a terrible mess.

[hesitationblues]

My water heating leaked and now my the carpet in my room is a puddle. It smells pretty bad now. I am going to start moving stuff out of my room so the carpet can be ripped up.

[fork]

Goddamn it, what's the deal with all this newfangled 'social networking' nonsense? I did more actual 'social networking' through the boards than I've ever done through facebook, twitter, myspace, or whatevs. Seems like all that stuff is really just for saying things to people you already know. My Facebook is full of people from jobs who couldn't probably care less about any music or comedy or anything I've got to share. I've never met a new person because of facebook or because of twitter. And they call them 'social networking' sites? They haven't expanded my social network. They've maybe catalogued whatever ones already existed. I met more people online before social networking existed. I met people in my own town back when ICQ used to let you search for people by location. I met the people I talked to online through the Much boards mostly. YEAH, 'social networking' sites are very efficient at being diverting and time-wasting, and you can share funny pictures people have copied off the web, but I do sometimes actually miss the kinds of conversations and bullshitting that went on before we came up with these more 'advanced' ways of doing things. Sometimes it seems like the internet is going backwards. We started off with local BBSes where you'd meet and message local people, then you had Usenet where you could have all kinds of conversations on any topic with random people from around the world, then we ended up with The Web and message boards on web sites to do kinda the same thing but it looked better, and now... people go on Facebook and talk to people they already know? Isn't that what instant messengers and email did? Couldn't you just post random shit you found on the internet on your GeoCities or something? I don't know.
Anyhow, there's my nostalgic old man rant of the day. I still sometimes miss those old Much boards. I've been on some other boards since then, but never really got into another one so much.

[DeadSkinMask]

^ Good point, fork. Unless you're one of those people who randomly adds people to Facebook just to boost your friend count, it's pretty much just for sharing crap with people you already know. If anything, it's replaced face-to-face conversation but I don't find it aids in socializing at all, really. I never met anyone in person off the boards, but I definitely made some long-lasting connections with people I otherwise never would have. Can't say that about Facebook, etc.

It wasn't just the sharing of what happened to you every day that was entertaining, though. It was the stupid feuds, troll accounts, ridiculous comments, etc. that made it less predictable and fun. Plus, as you said, the sheer amount of people posting meant there was constant new stuff to read, even at 3AM on a Wednesday. Yet despite the large amount of people, it still felt like a small community among the regular posters. Man, I miss the M@ Radio days.

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