Dear EE...

[Romero Anchovy]

What happened to the forum?

It seems like the whole forum here is on the decline, and i don't wanna see that. I dunno but lately it seems like either ppl are at ends with one another or that certain situations have been over blown and changed into some weird internet battle. I'm not naming anyone or anything Mods, all I'm saying is that I thought this was a place for ppl who love SPC/KNT to come and talk and chill, and to discuss other similar interests. i had recently told an Australian associate of mine about the site in hopes of him joining but he can't cause the site isn't allowing new members still. Yeah SPC/KNT might be 20-something years old and source for new things SPC related might be drying up, but that doesn't mean the forum has to.

[Purrcat]

For the last 1.5 - 2 months now EE has been open for new members, but the registrations are being moderated.
In the light of your subject I'd like to stress that we've come to this solution due to the wave of spammers hitting the forum every day.
Automated anti-spam measures take care of roughly 3 quarters of spammers by consulting credentials and IP addresses with online lists of known spammers, however that still leaves 1/4th to be manually verified.
I've been doing registration moderation for roughly 2 months now and although it's not too difficult to spot spammer registrations, I'm bound to make mistakes sometimes. Please PM his/her emailaddress and nickname and I'll try to figure out if it's due to me or the automatic anti-spam measures.
Nowadays, it seems impossible to have a forum without elaborate anti-spam checks in place. Goes to show how just a few people can screw it up for all... Without the automatic anit-spam stuff I'd be literally going insane by now and without the manual checks you all would

[ANE]

Hmm. A number of points there. Let's see:

1.Low forum activity
I'd say it is cyclical. I may love the Pizza Cats but I'm not (logged) on here every day or anything. People can just end up taking a break from stuff from time to time, and, by coincidence, sometimes you end up with a lull.

2. "certain situations"
[TV Trope's "Rule Of Cautious EditPosting Judgement"! I Choose You!] but in the most general and generic terms I can think of, I'd just say that any forum on any topic would get to points where some kind of change is made. You should see some of the bun fights on Amiga forums . I'd say this too is cyclical.

3. EE / new members
See Purrcat's post

4. and ending on a high note, "Pizza Cats are 20 something years old."
At the end of this month will be 20 years since Pizza Cats was first shown in the UK. Until some kind of Radio Times archive is up, here is a link.

[sans soul]

Dear Romero,

20 years and yet still here we all are.

Perhaps when the new Impromanga starts up we'll get some additional healthy contribution and member influx. It may seem a little slow, but I think some of the new threads have sparked a lot of good thought about how we all perceive the show. Maybe we can have a fanfic contest at some point, also...anything to remind us about how much we still love this show, and how we're all here together for the same reason.

Sincerely,
*Aster

[Mechadon]

Hey. Doesn't my new What is That? game count for anything?

oh.. wait.. yah. I gotta get a new picture for that.

I'll get right on that as soon as I... oh will you look at that, I think I hear my laundry calling me. *runs off, squeal of tires*

[Threaux]

A forum is only as healthy as it's 1. structure and 2. membership allows.  With relevance, focus, and an intelligent yet genuinely friendly community bonds will surely form and a sub-community will always thrive.  No matter how myopic the subject matter.  In fact people will go out of their way to "join the party."  They get value, real or perceived,  from belonging to that specific community. 

This is why we cannot have nice things and why the majority of the "old guard" doesn't stop in to say hi and why new members don't see the value of joining in any appreciable way.  SPC is a warm fuzzy nostalgic fur-ball for everyone - yes?  Okay but why does a good childhood memory warrant active forum participation?  It doesn't, not really.  I have to find value without relevance.  Strike one. 

Well how about focus. Value here right?  Wrong. You may think that "lets just focus on having a forum about Pizza Cats, shows, comics, music, videos, maybe some stuff on the side and related early 90's euphoria" would be the prevailing dogma.  Great!  Well I wont find it here.  It seems to me like this forum is an echo chamber of off topic and now verging onto mindless banter.  The reverberations and echos are saying things like "look at how much I can post, ponies, posting to post for no reason, ponies, blah, blah, blah."  It's funny the first time, silly the second, immature the third, and just plain stupid unfocused worthlessness after that. There has to be a little pony forum somewhere, post ponies there.  I get it guys I really do - but really now?  Save that for IM, Chat, and E-Mail small talk.  Because that's all it is, talking to talk.  You're beating a dead horse - er - pony. So there is Strike two - and this brings me to the final aspect. 

Intelligence.  IQ should not decrease as post count increases. Quite the opposite should happen.   For some reason, barring the obvious exceptions, this is not a trend here.  And why I, personally, don't really feel invested in this community.  I'm half-way embarrassed by it.  I'm sure more mature members may share my sentiment.  I cannot speak for them.  We must all be in our 20's and 30's by now if we remember SPC.  Act like it.  Be IRL friends, find things to do, get active but for goodness sake stop acting like you are still in 3rd grade.  Exercise critical thinking skills, respect each other, and play nice.  Be genuine, be intelligent, and remember why you are here.  If you don't like the punch being served don't drink it.  If you don't like the music leave the party.  Strike 3.

I'm out for now.  Take care and all my best,

-Threaux

[Teyandee]

A little Counter-Strike 2

We do love SPC and that why we still watch it and want to talk about it. The problem is - it is hard to keep interest because of:

1) The show has been off the air for 20 years
2) Not so big community here.
3) Active EE members do not post much SPC/KNT-related material.

And here goes MLP - a fresh wave, a cool currently ongoing cartoon. Some EE members (including myself) are watching it. And we want to talk about it. I see no problem with that as soon as we keep in it My Little Pony Friendship is Magic topic.

The problem? While it so keeps the forum active it does not add SPC/KNT-related posts.
The solution? We need more active EE members.

Secondly, I do understand the reason to keep non SPC-related material in not so huge amounts (it is a SPC forum after all), but you should not set high limits or restrictions for off-topic section. When people are limited in something (even if is for the offtopic section) they may not be happy about it. I think it is a how human psychology works - the fact that there are limits and restrictions will prevail over the fact that they are related to non leading forum topic.

[Razgrizblaze1]

A little Counter-Strike 2

We do love SPC and that why we still watch it and want to talk about it. The problem is - it is hard to keep interest because of:

1) The show has been off the air for 20 years
2) Not so big community here.
3) Active EE members do not post much SPC/KNT-related material.

And here goes MLP - a fresh wave, a cool currently ongoing cartoon. Some EE members (including myself) are watching it. And we want to talk about it. I see no problem with that as soon as we keep in it My Little Pony Friendship is Magic topic.

The problem? While it so keeps the forum active it does not add SPC/KNT-related posts.
The solution? We need more active EE members.

Secondly, I do understand the reason to keep non SPC-related material in not so huge amounts (it is a SPC forum after all), but you should not set high limits or restrictions for off-topic section. When people are limited in something (even if is for the offtopic section) they may not be happy about it. I think it is a how human psychology works - the fact that there are limits and restrictions will prevail over the fact that they are related to non leading forum topic.

Yeah, but the problem is your off topic discussions have been leaking into spc related sections. Besides, if you're so unsatisfied with the restrictions surrounding your pony posts, you're more than welcome to join a forum that embraces your present interests but don't place your justification soley on the lack of spc related activity. I didn't join the forum to partake major pony related conversations...

[Teyandee]

Noone is forcing anyone to participate in MLP-related conversations. We need more fans for the grow of SPC-related discussions.

[Razgrizblaze1]

Noone is forcing anyone to participate in MLP-related conversations. We need more fans for the grow of SPC-related discussions.

Pulling in members by catering to another fandom will not boost productivity, it just brings in a new crowd not interested in participating in this forum's core attraction. We don't need any more bronies.

[sans soul]

Noone is forcing anyone to participate in MLP-related conversations. We need more fans for the grow of SPC-related discussions.

Pulling in members by catering to another fandom will not boost productivity, it just brings in a new crowd not interested in participating in this forum's core attraction. We don't need any more bronies.

I second this notion.

Please stop making a big deal about the ponies and go somewhere else with it. Can't you see the amount of trouble it has already caused to this forum? Just stop already. Please. And I don't want to see another reply defending it, because clearly there's a majority that wants it to end so we can focus happily on our show and not have any more negativity.

*

[Blackcat]

The fact is, we aren't using the internet the right way. Lets say someone here makes a spc video or a remix of a knt tune, how we react to that? We dont promote that video or audio file, at all, or at least link it in the forum.

In fact any of my atemps to encourage people to post in this forum are meet with A) lack of interest B) sorry, but "We have a huge topic" to post youtube videos and stuff like that.

Want to keep this forum active? Lets get more organized, any spc stuff that is not a fanfic should go to General SPC Discussion. We have about 3 people who made new spc music videos? lets make a topic for spc music videos! You have made like 5 remixes of knt, lets have a tread about knt remixes!

Any SPC video that's not an episode shouldn't go in "Weird videos... I just love YouTube."  but in a topic in the General SPC Discussion. Have something vaguely spc related? It should go to the  General SPC Discussion.

SPC is a 20 year old show that havent been continued or has a remake,  new movie or new comics, there wont be any new stuff unless is fan generated. Back when we only had a message board we where way more active. This forum tends to go by times when activity is low, but this whole spam stuff and closing of registration didn't help.

when we where stuck with SPC_FAN mensage board, way back before youtube, I always new if someone had done a new fanfic, fan art, music or a music videos. Nowadays we take everything for granted, we don't promote the spc stuff we make.

In other words, if I make a topic with less say, the last five spc videos uploaded in youtube, you could reply to it instead of saying "This doesn't go here"

[Anonymous]

Amazing that '4 people complaining' are the majority aster.

I was not going to post about the changes on EE, because I support both shows.

Yes ponies needs not to be on an SPC centred forum, I agree wholeheartedly. If people wish to go headlong into the fanbase, there are other provisions available for people to interact on a level they won't be hated or chastised for on this forum.

Secondly, The way people/mods have reacted and treated people that are a fan of both shows is completely out of order in my book. It should have been dealt with a lot more tact than some sarcastic comments from a mod trying to talk down to people for letting their love of a different show 'infiltrate' the forum.

The off topic forum is just that OFF TOPIC In my opinion the definition of that is simple, anything not SPC related goes in that forum. I don't force anyone to read those topics, nor do i expect members to directly attack people that like a show which they do not. What happened guys? People seeing this behaviour will not be enticed to join up if they see how the 'majority' of people are treating others.

I feel there are other issues underlying in this forum that need to be dealt with long before a thread on ponies drives this level of hate and bitterness towards people. the hate and bitterness has been on this forum A LOT longer than ponies.

Now for the forum to 'grow' we need people who are trying to actively promote the community, not slam rules down peoples throats on a forum which has been going for 6 years without the need for childish behaviour level rules. Sort this out, or you will ruin the last hub for SPC fans we have.

just my 2 cents.

Neko

[sans soul]

Hm... okay Tsuneko, maybe I wasn't expressing myself clearly enough. I meant that the majority of the members on this board want the trouble being caused to end. I don't know where you got this figure of "4" people from, but I'm pretty certain that if we had a poll, most everyone (if not everyone) would vote in favor of all the negativity to stop. Don't you agree?

And I'm not talking about people on this board not liking each other, I'm talking about complete lack of respect for other members, moderators and this entire forum in general. It seriously has to stop, and at this point if a current member feels that they cannot continue on right now with saying something positive and respectful, then they should leave EE for a while and cool down.

This whole pointing fingers and trouble-making, harassing and provoking is what is destroying us, not the fact that the show is 20 years old. Mickey Mouse doesn't seem to care what his age is, and no one here should care about age either. If you want to pull in new fans, then why don't you do something about it? Go out to other forums and post in their "off topic cartoon" section. Post some more stuff on youtube, make some blogs, do some art, write some fan-fiction.

And to settle things on my opinion once and for all, I don't mind MLP being here, but the negativity that has literally stemmed from it must stop now. And people need to be smart about it. Why bother posting it on an SPC board if that's the ONLY thing you're talking about? If you get to that point, then you should go join another forum. Realistically, no one who is a MLP fan is going to come to this board as a new member just to talk about ponies and "get interested in the show that way". Don't be ridiculous.

So then, can we all stop the foolishness now? The harassment, provoking, instigating, talking about people behind their backs and plotting ridiculous schemes to create negativity? I'd like to get back to enjoying being here again.

*Aster

[Violet]

Lets compromise here:

People that want to talk about MLP or anything else non-SPC related can do so to their heart's content in the appropriate threads and following EE rules.
I would ask that you be respectful and keep any off topic posts where they belong.  Really, SPC/KNT threads being turned off-topic hasn't happened enough to get worked up about, and if it does happen it's easy enough to fix. 

If you have no interest in SPC anymore, then, yes, you should go find somewhere else to hang out.  If you are an SPC fan who happens to also like other shows, then you are still welcome here.

People who are tired of seeing MLP everywhere they turn, just stay out of those threads.  It's the trendy thing right now, so people are going to talk about it. 

I think all of you actually agree on more things than you disagree on.  In any case, EE isn't here as a place for you to argue. 
http://www.edoropolis.org/forums/index.php?topic=14.0