Confession

[Reek]

Over the years I probably talked more shit about this place than any one else here. Some of you will probably remember how many times I said this place sucks and the people are all crazy, but the truth is that probably no one is sadder about how this place is dead now than I am.

For some reason few things back from my teen years make me as nostalgic as this place does when I think back on them. There was something really exciting about getting to know people from all over the world, not to mention the huge amount of laughs and wacky experiences I got from this place. It doesn't happen often that I wish I were a kid again, but for some reason thinking of this place really has that effect, even though it's just an internet forum.

It's weird, but there you have it. The saddest thing is, most of the members who come to mind when I talk about those times don't come here anymore. But I just felt like saying this for some reason.

[SpaceGuitarist]

Originally Posted by Reek

Over the years I probably talked more shit about this place than any one else here. Some of you will probably remember how many times I said this place sucks and the people are all crazy, but the truth is that probably no one is sadder about how this place is dead now than I am.

For some reason few things back from my teen years make me as nostalgic as this place does when I think back on them. There was something really exciting about getting to know people from all over the world, not to mention the huge amount of laughs and wacky experiences I got from this place. It doesn't happen often that I wish I were a kid again, but for some reason thinking of this place really has that effect, even though it's just an internet forum.

It's weird, but there you have it. The saddest thing is, most of the members who come to mind when I talk about those times don't come here anymore. But I just felt like saying this for some reason.

I can relate to this feeling.


It's quite a slow death, and things lasted much longer than I ever though they would, whenever we said it was dead suddenly there was a new wave of members who would get things exciting again. But now, even that, seems to have come to an end.


I've spent more than a decade in this place, talking to strangers, sharing my creations, and vice-versa.


It definitely means a lot to me.

[Darkflame]

You know if you use "New Posts" you would probably spot a lot of activity in the speed running section. Enough demand to warrant that section even existing at least.

Still get cool art occasionally too.

[ChaosFish]

MBN... it's been 18 years since the birth of the WOLBA community. Sad how time goes by...

[Lightwing]

I have many fond memories. I'm sorry I never got to meet any of you in real life.

[blueball]

It's really deplorable to read about the slow death of this incredible place..

I wasn't posting, mostly because of my poor english skills, but I really enjoyed poking around here every now and then..

But maybe there's some hope because of 2dark and prospective projects of Fred and his team.

[Darkflame]

Just because its going slow doesnt mean its stoped

Anyway, that fact we just got a post from Choasfish followed by Lightwing shows many "classic" users still lurk.

[Neko]

But two years ago this place errupted with activity. How come?

[DedalousDiggle]

I didn't go to high school and being in college classes with people 6-10 years older than me was pretty lonely. So when people talk about their friends from high school, you guys are the closest thing I can think of to compare to.

I loved these games and I would buy a new one in a heartbeat but that has absolutely nothing to do with why I still check back in on this place every now and then. It's because of all you creeps.

[Darkflame]

ahhh

Originally Posted by Jesse

But two years ago this place errupted with activity. How come?

Dunno, speaking personally I have just been a lot more busy so less time to post meaningfull stuff. I still reply a lot, but I feel I used to make more topics and try (with mixed results) to do forum games/activities/stuff.

Two years ago I guess we also had a bunch of activity from GoG and such? (or am I getting my timeline mixed up). Certainly I think we got some boast from LBA suddenly being avaliable (legally) again. And then again on mobile.

On the other hand...

It's because of all you creeps.

...maybe we arnt being creepy enough

[marcosmapf]

Originally Posted by Jesse

But two years ago this place errupted with activity. How come?

That's because I joined two years ago and you guys loved me

[Homeless]

To me MBN is and always will be a unique experience - truely one of a kind. I'm grateful to have had found this place when I were young and to have made many memories to cherish throughout the years attached to this place. Still believe the MBN holds great value even now and in the future

[Battler]

Of course this place is dying - it does absolutely nothing to reinvigorate itself. It still uses forum software that's almost a decade old, and the entire rules system is still designed to keep oldbies on rather than attract new people. Granted, a lot of the bad things have gone away now thankfully, but my point remains.
The target audience of this forum will always be youth, and that also happens to be the target audience that judges things by look and tends to be put off it looks or feels too old.
There's also the fact most people don't seem to care about new people that do go come. I remember someone from Japan joined some months ago but the welcome thread failed to get many posts, so no wonder the person ended up leaving.
People tend to get the fact that the first impression matters. And if people come here and see forum software and theme that look to be a decade old, and member introduction threads dying fast, that gives the impression of, well, a stagnating forum and tends to drive people away.

It reminds me of the RINGS Communities forum, which reopened some time ago (when Sadako 3D was released) and then closed, like, a month later because "noone was coming". When I pointed out that the reason the forum failed to attract people was because of using ages old forum software (free Invision 1.x from 2003!), free hosting (not even PHP hosting, but ForumFree which is essentially forum-only hosting where they run a preinstalled IPB), and the main site being on an equally free domain, I was essentially told to shut up and that it wasn't worth the effort. Well, if that's going to be the attitude of the administration, then do they seriously think people won't notice that by just looking at the forum and deciding not to join?

So in short, what the forum should do is update the forum software (maybe even switch to MyBB 2.0 whenever that comes out, or the MyBB 1.8 now, which is just as great, or, if possible to XenForo which while still paid, costs far less than vBulletin), make a new great theme, and of course, get all possible members to greet newcomes in their introduction threads.

I'd also recommend making a French-language section, as after all, the games this forum is about, are French, and if the Ring Forum had a Japanese-language section, why can't this forum have a French one?

Though, I will also admit, that for how much I loved to complain about certain things (such as gay orgy threads, #LBA-sponsored trollfests, etc.), they were pretty much what was keeping this place alive in the last few years. Part of the reason why this place died was that without drama, all the lulz went away.

[ChaosFish]

W00
Now just need Atresica, El and wacko to make an appearance and MBN is official back on track.

Diggle - Same here, you MBN folk is the first thing that comes to mind when I think "highschool friends".

[Darkflame]

Forum software version is outside of my control.
Normally upgrades can help spam and such, but I don't think people look at the version get turned off joining.
Of course, we could be more mobile suitable. Which might help activity.

entire rules system is still designed to keep oldbies on rather than attract new people.

The rule system is designed to keep things civil, nothing more or less.
--
Agreed that first impressions matter. Kinda surprised if we missed anyone though, I personally welcome everyone and I am not normally the first to do so

[SpaceGuitarist]

theme that look to be a decade old

Personally this makes me feel very cozy and comfortable when coming to the MBN. Please don't change. I like 2000's look.

Originally Posted by ChaosFish

W00
Now just need Atresica, El and wacko to make an appearance and MBN is official back on track.

And morshem!!! How could you forget morshem, your fellow countryman.

Originally Posted by ChaosFish

Diggle - Same here, you MBN folk is the first thing that comes to mind when I think "highschool friends".

Yay, for me too.

[Battler]

Originally Posted by Darkflame

Normally upgrades can help spam and such, but I don't think people look at the version get turned off joining.

Teenagers (which have always been the primary target audience of this forum) tend to judge everything by looks and if something looks to old, they tend to not give it a try. I am a moderator of another forum (BetaArchive), and a lot of the younger members there tend to complain that the forum looks too old. And that forum hasn't changed its looks for about as much as the MBN. So unfortunately, and much to the grief of forum Administrators, it happens.

The rule system is designed to keep things civil, nothing more or less.

The rule system per se is fine. However, its enforcement is a bit beh. For example, the rules thread say that putting certain things in your signature is against the rules and should be reported to a moderator, but when I did just that regarding A_LIPSTICK's signature, Jesse refused to do anything unless I asked her first to remove the stuff herself.
Granted, I no longer care now, she can keep that thing there forever if she wants, however if ever new members were to register, we *WOULD* have some people whining probably worse than I ever did (believe me, I had it happen on my IRC net that people would whine about the slightest rule not to their liking) about things like that.

Originally Posted by SpaceGuitarist

Personally this makes me feel very cozy and comfortable when coming to the MBN. Please don't change. I like 2000's look.

Then don't complain that new members don't come. If we want new members to come then it's time we the older members sacrifice some of the nostalgia in order to accomodate them. Things unfortunately have to change from time to time.
Heck, for example, I would personally love it if the Windows UI were still that of Windows 95, but I've accepted the changes that have come.

[Homeless]

Don't judge a book by its cover.

[ChaosFish]

I like the look of this forum. Please don't change it just to be mainstream. Also the less rule enforcement the better, we're just friends here, not a military.

Originally Posted by SpaceGuitarist

And morshem!!! How could you forget morshem, your fellow countryman.

Yes! I thought of that after I posted. Come back home morshem! MBN needs you.

[Darkflame]

I think if people are put of by old looks they are unlikely to be LBA fans to start with :P

However, its enforcement is a bit beh. For example, the rules thread say that putting certain things in your signature is against the rules and should be reported to a moderator, but when I did just that regarding A_LIPSTICK's signature, Jesse refused to do anything unless I asked her first to remove the stuff herself.

To be honest, yeah, Jesse should have had words with her himself about the sig. (would still just have been just a few words mind, sig pics are hardly a big offense).
But then again, She was a fairly new member. If anything that was overly catering too new members.

Heck, for example, I would personally love it if the Windows UI were still that of Windows 95

bah, it peaked at Windows2K
Windows10 UI isn't that bad though. Seems geared towards productivity rather then "omg lets make things "easier" !!!!!"

[ChaosFish]

Windows 10 looks and works great after many hours of disabling every useless/annoying/evil feature I could find (through group policy, registry, services, task manager and a great many external tools) and after installing Classic Shell.

[Battler]

- Darkflame: New member? A_LIPSTICK is Elliptic a.k.a. ShootTheCactus. She has been here more time than me.

[xesf]

Dead or not, this forum has huge part of our lives.
I can't simple forget this was the place where I met people with the same passion, very helpful and kind, and truly intelligent.

It was difficult at first, the language was definitely a barrier but it taught me a lot of important things, specially when you just turned 18. It help me define the track I've built personally and professionally in the following years.
I've changed country 3 times already, leaving behind friends, stuffs, live styles, things I carrie about. MBN was always there for me and with me, making things easier.

Even lacking a lot of old members that made this forum rolling for years, it's good to see we still have early birds around.
I'm pleased a had a chance to meet few of you already, but still think it's possible to meet even more.


Not being involved in any LBA related project that often and with the on-going day-by-day life, we always find an excuse not to come and share things in the forum.
I have to agree with Battler, with new forum features it may help newcomers or even us to boost activity. Link with social networking will definitely be a plus.

Thankful, we still have amazing people sharing LBA related works and keep the forum alive with decent thread topics.

[Streg]

Looks like I'm missing a family reunion here.
Ok, I've been surfing the forums, found old conversations, thought "what? I really said shit like this? I really meant it?".
It's weird. And I'm feeling a little nostalgic now. And it's 3 a.m. and I can't sleep. Memories, memories everywhere.
I was only 13 when I joined. Now I have a degree, I lost a few jobs and a few girlfriends. And this place is still here, with all its echoes from the past. I'm smiling like an idiot, and I'm feeling sad.
Fuck you guys.
Yeah, probably I know almost nothing of you and vice versa, but seeing your avatars is like seeing an old friendly face I really hoped to see again one day.
It's nice to see I'm not the only one checking the place every now and then.

Because I love this place.

[Bot13]

Same here; this feels like an actual almost physical place that had a big role in me growing up. I think I first went on this forum when I was around 12 and actively started posting several years later.
There's some stuff that I missed during that beginning period, mainly because of my age age and english speaking skills. The whole IRC channel thing kind of went over my head as did the very first MBN IRL meetings.

But as the years went by I kept my enthousiasm for LBA, making games, and of course you fine people. I remember the RMP project and how exciting that all felt, and the impact on me of seeing The_Hens artwork. Later there was Jasieks project and some collaboration I did with Lightwing. It all played a big part in inspiring me to become a game artist, which is thankfully something I ended up making my profession.

Then theres the amazing moments where I actually met some of you. Jesse for instance I wanted to meet for some time, which quickly turned into him coming over and sitting in my backyard talking like we'd always known eachother. There's a school trip I remember, to London, where Kit showed up and totally made my day. Then theres the quite recent and amazing night out with Alexfont and his girlfriend near my work in Amsterdam.

There are really no words to describe what this place has meant for me and I really hope it stays alive forever and ever and ever.