PaulExcellent
Member
Oh, man. AltimitOS/The World Online and dot.hackers were my first experiences online. My first MMORPG and forum. Great times.
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Ever been a part of an online community that lived, thrived, and then slowly died?
- Thread starter Slayven
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Stereogatari
Banned
QJ Net and PSX-Scene.
Kotaku after the redesign.
Sad times.
Hope GAF never dies. GAF has existed throughout all of my time on the forums above. So I doubt it will.
Edit: Oh wow. Just decided to search up the first forum I ever signed up to. GTAWH. It went offline 2 weeks ago. RIP, the site that introduced me to internet forum posting when I was only 13.
Kotaku after the redesign.
Sad times.
Hope GAF never dies. GAF has existed throughout all of my time on the forums above. So I doubt it will.
Edit: Oh wow. Just decided to search up the first forum I ever signed up to. GTAWH. It went offline 2 weeks ago. RIP, the site that introduced me to internet forum posting when I was only 13.
Glass Shark
Banned
During the height of the Pokemon card craze, I was really involved in the community for a site called Pokemon Aaah!
It was fairly obscure but active, and I was a part of it until the owner decided to change direction for the site and interest fell off pretty quickly. I think there are still remnants of the forum on the web somewhere...
It was fairly obscure but active, and I was a part of it until the owner decided to change direction for the site and interest fell off pretty quickly. I think there are still remnants of the forum on the web somewhere...
Ventilaator
Banned
Sarcasticgamer.com was pretty cool and unique. It had a neat small community where everyone knew anyone.
Then all sorts of shit happened and kept happening and now it doesn't exist anymore.
Thanks you bummed me out now.
Then all sorts of shit happened and kept happening and now it doesn't exist anymore.
Thanks you bummed me out now.
Heh, not too many people from my guild's old board here, nice to see one. A handful of FoH members still have our IRC running and lurk GAF though. It's too bad the board went to shit, especially after it transitioned into Rerolled.
cr0w
Old Member
I ran a board dedicated to comic/toy collecting way back in the early '00s for a few years. At one point it rivaled Spawn.com for traffic, but being that it wasn't affiliated with any companies it was much less stringent in terms of rules. It got real popular in the community for a couple years, but the lack of rules made it really hard to get a handle on things once I and others got tired of people basically acting feral toward each other.
One day after trying for a few months to rein people in and have them act like human beings only to be met with constant resistance, I just shut the monkey down. It was small potatoes compared to a place like this, but within that community we were pretty big.
One day after trying for a few months to rein people in and have them act like human beings only to be met with constant resistance, I just shut the monkey down. It was small potatoes compared to a place like this, but within that community we were pretty big.
I used to first be a part of an Animal Crossing Wild World Forum when I was younger. I used it to meet with other people online and talk about random stuff. Eventually it shut down, only to be bought out by someone else a bit later on. I never went back to it and it appears now it is down for good.
PE2K was another site I was on for quite awhile. Pokemon's my favorite franchise and I figured I would go hang out there to talk about it. I left once things began to die down and the forum closed down for good a bit ago.
Lastly, I was on the battlelog forums for Battlefield: Bad Company, although it appears those forums are about to close down as well.
PE2K was another site I was on for quite awhile. Pokemon's my favorite franchise and I figured I would go hang out there to talk about it. I left once things began to die down and the forum closed down for good a bit ago.
Lastly, I was on the battlelog forums for Battlefield: Bad Company, although it appears those forums are about to close down as well.
http://www.planetside-universe.com
Planetside was my shit from release until about 2006. I played on and off until 2011, but that was the period where I had peak interest and was on message boards constantly. The site had a very slow death and even Planetside 2 didn't really bring it back to it's glory days. Apparently it has been officially put on life support by it's creator in December last year.
Planetside was my shit from release until about 2006. I played on and off until 2011, but that was the period where I had peak interest and was on message boards constantly. The site had a very slow death and even Planetside 2 didn't really bring it back to it's glory days. Apparently it has been officially put on life support by it's creator in December last year.
Was part of a forum of Kubrick collectors. Was going well and people shared collections and info. Site started to go bad when scammers appeared and the admin did nothing to stop them. I was scammed by a seller along with a group of other collectors. Got my money back from PP tho. People eventually gave up on the site and I think the site died. Pretty sad since it got me into Kubricks and wasted a lot of money. Haven't checked if it still exists but it was good for a while.
Yeah Gidz. I've known Nathan online for almost 20 years
He moved to another state and got a good job (finally!). I saw he got a girlfriend a few months ago on Facebook so i figured he's happy enough to stop working so feverishly
Even Pachuka?
Matrixfans.net for the movies - i was suprised to find out it's still going i left not too long after the last film came out, was sure it would fizzle out seeing as there was no more films, they probably stuck around for that matrix MMO though.
And there was another matrix site, it was just forums i think, but i cant remember the name, im sure it was thematrixonline before the game existed though, and they had to give up the name for the game website.
And there was another matrix site, it was just forums i think, but i cant remember the name, im sure it was thematrixonline before the game existed though, and they had to give up the name for the game website.
Been part of a few guilds that have died, but I've never been in an MMO all the way to its death.
Although I did play the hell out of this game all the way to the end. As someone who usually isn't a competitive gamer and can be tepid to interact with randos on the Internet, I was weirded out by how tight-knit the community was, but once I was in I made some good acquaintances and witnessed really entertaining rivalries. Still the best RTS on consoles. Shame about whatever that half-assed F2P sequel was.
Although I did play the hell out of this game all the way to the end. As someone who usually isn't a competitive gamer and can be tepid to interact with randos on the Internet, I was weirded out by how tight-knit the community was, but once I was in I made some good acquaintances and witnessed really entertaining rivalries. Still the best RTS on consoles. Shame about whatever that half-assed F2P sequel was.
ZeronosVega
Member
The Cardfight!! Vanguard community, while rather concentrated, is also very active on Pojo.
As for me, I suppose Neopets would apply. It was the first online community I ever joined. In fact, it was what led me to create my first e-mail account! I recall various things about it, but now it's but a shell of its former self.
Dark Orchid
Member
Not going to name it, but I was a part of a moderately-sized Battlefront 1/2 site for a while. Was mostly about modding the game but there were a few other boards there, as with most game sites in the 00s. I don't know how or why they thought bringing on an incredibly depressed 14 year old was a good idea but I was made a moderator there pretty soon after joining. It's not dead yet, as there's been a recent boom of activity for the old games after EA took the series in a different direction, but most of the social aspects are gone with some of the newest posts on the off-topic boards being over 3 months old.
Most notable time was when an anonymous Pandemic employee donated the entirety of the Xbox DLC's source code to us for use in a certain mod. Only Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress were used really, but even then it turned out Ventress' saber cord was hard-coded to the Xbox and wouldn't show up on the PC at all, so we cut one of the sabers from it and gave the weird fighting style to someone else. I don't remember if Fisto's bubble attack was also broken but I do know the main reason that it was remade was to help throw off the trail. We were all told to say "they are very faithful recreations of the Xbox characters," despite custom animations like that not being possible at the time.
Fun times, really is a shame most of the smaller communities out there are dying off.
Most notable time was when an anonymous Pandemic employee donated the entirety of the Xbox DLC's source code to us for use in a certain mod. Only Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress were used really, but even then it turned out Ventress' saber cord was hard-coded to the Xbox and wouldn't show up on the PC at all, so we cut one of the sabers from it and gave the weird fighting style to someone else. I don't remember if Fisto's bubble attack was also broken but I do know the main reason that it was remade was to help throw off the trail. We were all told to say "they are very faithful recreations of the Xbox characters," despite custom animations like that not being possible at the time.
Fun times, really is a shame most of the smaller communities out there are dying off.
Rosenskjold
Member
I used to be involved a lot with an anime/manga forum for Love Hina called animeb.com, funny thing was that the manga pretty mediocre but the community was great, we had a lot of fun.
I was a part of the webcomic collective drunkduck, which was the best on the web at the time. The owner Volte sold the site to Platinum comics(owners of the witchblade ip), who then immediately bungled everything before going out of business. The site was sold off to someone else and is still technically functional, but almost every major feature is broken in some way.
The story about it was so big at the time Penny arcade made a comic about it:
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/27
The story about it was so big at the time Penny arcade made a comic about it:
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/27
AstroNut325
Member
Team Xbox forums. I left well before the demise. The mods were hardcore conservative. Often even borderline white supremacists.
I even recall a debate with a mod that basically said gay people don't have the "politic" to run for office. And another mod thinking racial profiling was badly needed in the USA. Anything and everything from the government was considered bad.
I even recall a debate with a mod that basically said gay people don't have the "politic" to run for office. And another mod thinking racial profiling was badly needed in the USA. Anything and everything from the government was considered bad.
EchoChamber
Member
The bungie. Net forum before destiny I loved that place
Pimpin Portobello
Neo Member
Across The Waves Productions Website
Across The Waves was a Machinima group that was most notable for their machinima "Gameplay May Change During Online Play" It was just a simple forum like NeoGAF where people talked about new and old video games, machinimas that we liked, along with current events and off topics. I loved machinima during this time and being able to talk to others about it was the best. I even auditioned for a character in their sequel machinima and helped set up scenes over Xbox Live. The sequel never came out though. It kept getting delayed and eventually people stopped coming to the site. It no longer exists in any form.
I've never been into an online community as much as that one. It's probably just a combination of having a lot more free time when I was younger, along with having different priorities in my adult years. Hope all those involved with the group and site are happy and doing well.
Across The Waves was a Machinima group that was most notable for their machinima "Gameplay May Change During Online Play" It was just a simple forum like NeoGAF where people talked about new and old video games, machinimas that we liked, along with current events and off topics. I loved machinima during this time and being able to talk to others about it was the best. I even auditioned for a character in their sequel machinima and helped set up scenes over Xbox Live. The sequel never came out though. It kept getting delayed and eventually people stopped coming to the site. It no longer exists in any form.
I've never been into an online community as much as that one. It's probably just a combination of having a lot more free time when I was younger, along with having different priorities in my adult years. Hope all those involved with the group and site are happy and doing well.
I used to lurk pretty heavily on the original official forums for Namco's Tales series. After a certain point Namco began ignoring the forums pretty hardcore. They used to have official "ambassadors" from the localization teams posting on the forums and also handling some forum admin-level tasks, but when those individuals left the company they stopped replacing them, which also meant that said admin-level functions could not be performed. For example, changing the forum header banner, the very first thing that new members to the forums world see; at one point, the banner was several years old, advertising games that had been out forever, but no one could be contacted to replace the image with something more current, which was pretty much unacceptable for the official forums of a game series.
The forums, near the end, would also experience constant downtime, sometimes for days or weeks, and eventually one day they just didn't return, which is when i left and started lurking other forums, like GAF.
I guess at some point they completely deleted the megaforum and replaced it with a single unified board at Bandai-Namco's new, all-encompassing forums, but I don't think the community ever really returned.
The forums, near the end, would also experience constant downtime, sometimes for days or weeks, and eventually one day they just didn't return, which is when i left and started lurking other forums, like GAF.
I guess at some point they completely deleted the megaforum and replaced it with a single unified board at Bandai-Namco's new, all-encompassing forums, but I don't think the community ever really returned.
Yep, myresistance.net. This is the site that got me posting in gaming forums. I really loved that place before 2 and before it moved to being a playstation community site.
Awesome. He probably has full gray hair by now, considering he was learning/working and then job-hunting (later working 50 hours a week) and looking for an apartment while also doing some hacking in between. As long as he is happy now, it's all good.Yeah Gidz. I've known Nathan online for almost 20 years
He moved to another state and got a good job (finally!). I saw he got a girlfriend a few months ago on Facebook so i figured he's happy enough to stop working so feverishly
By the way: Looking at your nickname (which isn't that common - at least I've only seen it twice), you didn't use to be an admin of a browser game some 10 years ago, right?
| Praxis |
Banned
Ogrish forum.
Probably for the best that forum is on its last legs. It's full of nazi sympathising nut jobs now. Not that it had the healthiest community in the past, it's a gore forum after all.
Probably for the best that forum is on its last legs. It's full of nazi sympathising nut jobs now. Not that it had the healthiest community in the past, it's a gore forum after all.
I was part of a Ragnarok Online private server that got advertised through Nuklear Power. It wasn't one of the more huge ones, but it had a decent enough following, especially after that advertising campaign. The regulars were very close knit, and even managed to stay together to an extent after a couple management changes, but eventually I guess people got bored once they had reached endgame status level/gear-wise for too long.
Lightningboalt
Neo Member
I was one of the first forum members for the Smash Bros webcomic Brawl in the Family. From the quiet early days to the lively heyday to the creepingly slow demise, I was a part of all of that. I was in a strange position of being one of the most influential people in terms of shaping the community, eventually ended up becoming a moderator there even.
The longtime members, we kinda knew the site was on its way out for about two years before the comic itself officially ended. We just sensed that the twilight years were upon us, to the point that I actually called it a year in advance on when the comic would end and I was right on the mark. It was a bit of a downer, the feeling that this place we basically molded on our own was on death's door. The guy who made the comics, Triforcebun/Matthew Taranto... the quality of the comics was decreasing towards the back half of the run, and he kept taking extended breaks while seeming to be progressively less interested in it. For a long time the forum members seemed to forget that the comic existed on a regular basis, myself included. In fairness, the second half of its run was pretty mediocre. While it would have an occasional gem, by then the comic was getting repetitive and quite a bit less outwardly creative. I remember a lot of us even noticed that we weren't the only ones losing interest in the comic, as we'd do some sweeps of the internet to see how much recent strips were circulating and they were universally less shared than earlier strips that were able to spread like wildfire.
That forum had quite a rollercoaster ride of a life. We had a lot of strange people there; we dealt with some pedophiles and sex offenders, and the trolls there were seriously the most dedicated I've ever encountered on the internet. It's not often that you ban someone from a small forum and you have them trying to get their revenge on you for literally several years. But of course it had its good times too, I mean that's why I was there so long. Met some awesome friends who at his point I will always remain in contact with, and I even met my girlfriend of now about 6 years there. There just really is something bittersweet about seeing that site in my bookmarks and maybe taking a cursory glance, seeing it lie dormant with an occasional post from the very few people who just don't want to face reality and move on.
The longtime members, we kinda knew the site was on its way out for about two years before the comic itself officially ended. We just sensed that the twilight years were upon us, to the point that I actually called it a year in advance on when the comic would end and I was right on the mark. It was a bit of a downer, the feeling that this place we basically molded on our own was on death's door. The guy who made the comics, Triforcebun/Matthew Taranto... the quality of the comics was decreasing towards the back half of the run, and he kept taking extended breaks while seeming to be progressively less interested in it. For a long time the forum members seemed to forget that the comic existed on a regular basis, myself included. In fairness, the second half of its run was pretty mediocre. While it would have an occasional gem, by then the comic was getting repetitive and quite a bit less outwardly creative. I remember a lot of us even noticed that we weren't the only ones losing interest in the comic, as we'd do some sweeps of the internet to see how much recent strips were circulating and they were universally less shared than earlier strips that were able to spread like wildfire.
That forum had quite a rollercoaster ride of a life. We had a lot of strange people there; we dealt with some pedophiles and sex offenders, and the trolls there were seriously the most dedicated I've ever encountered on the internet. It's not often that you ban someone from a small forum and you have them trying to get their revenge on you for literally several years. But of course it had its good times too, I mean that's why I was there so long. Met some awesome friends who at his point I will always remain in contact with, and I even met my girlfriend of now about 6 years there. There just really is something bittersweet about seeing that site in my bookmarks and maybe taking a cursory glance, seeing it lie dormant with an occasional post from the very few people who just don't want to face reality and move on.
ConfusedOwl
Neo Member
The first forum I ever visited regularly was a .Hack//G.U site called altimitcorp. The site was a marketing campaign for the games with a message board. When the last game got released the site shut down and a few members migrated over to another forum but it eventually died. Last I checked only 4-5 members still post infrequently.
butzopower
proud of his butz
I was a part of this small community for a Multimedia Fusion game called Cruddy Quest something like 17 years ago. Last I checked the dude got arrested for sleeping with his high school students.
clearacell
Member
Actually a couple of years ago neogaf had a crazy amount of meet ups throughout the world and that enthusiasm has since died off. I wouldn't mind doing another one but life usually gets in the way.
CloudyTuba
Member
Multiple times. Most notably in my mind are Gearbox Software Halo PC community and Don Murphy Message Board.
That community at Gearbox got really big in the modding scene. It enjoyed many years of activity. Last I checked, GB doesnt even have a Halo PC section anymore. The only remaining relic from those days seems to be CMT, which I did a few textures for back in the earlier days.
Don Muprhy was one of the producers of the first couple Transformers movies. Before the first movie was released, his board became a hotspot because it gave fans a chance to actually talk to someone involved in production. One of the writers was also a frequent poster. After a while, registration was closed to keep the place from getting too out of control. That community went on for many years but without any new blood, and with lack of excitement for future installments, it eventually went quiet.
That community at Gearbox got really big in the modding scene. It enjoyed many years of activity. Last I checked, GB doesnt even have a Halo PC section anymore. The only remaining relic from those days seems to be CMT, which I did a few textures for back in the earlier days.
Don Muprhy was one of the producers of the first couple Transformers movies. Before the first movie was released, his board became a hotspot because it gave fans a chance to actually talk to someone involved in production. One of the writers was also a frequent poster. After a while, registration was closed to keep the place from getting too out of control. That community went on for many years but without any new blood, and with lack of excitement for future installments, it eventually went quiet.
Shrike_Priest
Member
IGN at it's prime had some killer boards. The Metal, Mac, PS2 and PAL-boards were my hangout.
With increasing corporate bullshit, paywalls and whatnot, the communities kinda died down. Saved a bunch of the contacts via Facebook, and moved my gaming discussion here. But this place could never really fill the same role as those smaller sub-boards.
With increasing corporate bullshit, paywalls and whatnot, the communities kinda died down. Saved a bunch of the contacts via Facebook, and moved my gaming discussion here. But this place could never really fill the same role as those smaller sub-boards.
AbsolutBro
Member
I use to post at TTR all the time. At one point there were thousands of concurrent users and everyone had a geocities page and stuff.
I've also been part of a dozen or so MU* communities over the years, but that all sort of fell by the wayside when MMOs made it big. Started with EQ, but really WoW is what killed them.
Man I feel old now.
I've also been part of a dozen or so MU* communities over the years, but that all sort of fell by the wayside when MMOs made it big. Started with EQ, but really WoW is what killed them.
Man I feel old now.
Seductivpancakes
Member
Was part of a Counter Strike Source clan for a while before getting promoted to one of the Admins and Senior Admins. We only had like two servers but they were almost always active. We also had a big clan with just casual pubbers and people trying to make it in CAL and than to CPL.
Our clan leader, who was actually not the founder, owned the website and the servers, went ape shit, I forgot for what reason, I just remember it was petty and out of the blue. He shut it all down in hopes of killing the clan. I managed to keep the clan together via emails, and got a friendly clan to let us stay on their servers and forums till we got our own running again. When we did, I was voted into be the next clan leader. I stayed for a while before resigning cause it as a lot of work. I haven't checked in a while, but I think the clan is sort of dead now.
At one point, this clan was a big part of my life.
Our clan leader, who was actually not the founder, owned the website and the servers, went ape shit, I forgot for what reason, I just remember it was petty and out of the blue. He shut it all down in hopes of killing the clan. I managed to keep the clan together via emails, and got a friendly clan to let us stay on their servers and forums till we got our own running again. When we did, I was voted into be the next clan leader. I stayed for a while before resigning cause it as a lot of work. I haven't checked in a while, but I think the clan is sort of dead now.
At one point, this clan was a big part of my life.
A fellow N-Phile. I completely forgot about N-Philes. Who were you on there?
Coffee Dog
Banned
4chan at 2008, 2012, and 2016 all feel like different websites.
radios shipping overview
Member
/b/ is so weird now. It seems downright polite. It's like all the fuckery moved to /pol/ and now /b/ is just a bunch of normal kids posting porn.
MrSaturn99
Member
Hmm, now that I think of it, I don't think I ever watched an online community/forum die. And I've participated in quite a few. For whatever reason, I always found myself ejecting right at the peak of their popularity.
I grow sad at abandoned websites/forums I used to browse, though.
I'm still so conflicted on this. On one hand, it was the most abrupt, terrible closing ever, but I'd probably die of embarrassment at seeing my old posts that aren't already on archive.org (<3)
I grow sad at abandoned websites/forums I used to browse, though.
I'm still so conflicted on this. On one hand, it was the most abrupt, terrible closing ever, but I'd probably die of embarrassment at seeing my old posts that aren't already on archive.org (<3)
jetsetnickradio
Member
I was hero_of_hyrule on 1up.com and actively posted on their forums from 2003 to 2011 or so.
In those 8 years other users watched me grow from an annoying 14 year old Nintendo fanboy to an annoying 22 year old anime, JRPG and iCarly fanatic
In those 8 years other users watched me grow from an annoying 14 year old Nintendo fanboy to an annoying 22 year old anime, JRPG and iCarly fanatic
I was a mod there, lol. I still talk to a few former admins as well.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Same. Bob and George, Doc Cossack's, Superbeast Lair... you name it. I was known as Freezeman back then.
Spent a lot of time at the Mega Man Outpost in my middle school years. One of the members (Dark Zero) got fed up with the administration and changed his name to Nova Triton, then going on to make his own forum (Delta Star) which persisted for years afterwards. It was like the wild west of the Mega Man, spriting, webcomic fandom. I became an admin on those forums and spent a long time with that group of people. There was a LOT of drama back then. I still know some of these people and have even met some of them in real life. Mega Man X Prime and HollowZero still post on Somethingawful and XP is somewhat notorious in the Dark Souls community. They're two of my best friends. The community is all but dead, however. I remember it very, very fondly. Hypershell is another member who is still in the overall Mega Man community and uploads videos on Youtube these days.
I used to run a Naruto RP named Autumn Rain in my high school years, which got fairly popular for a while. My name there was Mizou Shu. It's embarrassing in hindsight, but I got a huge kick out of running a creative community with likeminded others.
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