The beginning and end of communities

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

Been thinking about this for a wee while.

If you’ve been around the internet for longer than a day, no doubt you’ve at least heard of forums, if not joined them. They are the places where you can go chat to people all over the world about stuff……… or in the case of 4chan, chat to people and make up memes and other stuff……. less said of the /b section the better.

So, where was I, oh yeah, forums…….. Now, I’ve been around the internet long enough and a few forums to pick up a…….. 6th sense if you will, in that I can sense that soon something is gonna change. And probably not for the better.

To pick a few examples of forums, let’s pick Facepunch and PHWOnline. Freakin’ huge places they are, tons of members, threads for lots of stuff… and they both have a comics section. For comics made using a game called GMod.

I don’t see Facepunch going down anytime soon. PHWOnline on the other hand,I’ve lurked around there for a few weeks but already I can tell it just doesn’t work any more, it needs change soon and fast. People who’ve been there since the beginning are leaving, others heading off for new pastures because they find it’s just not worth it sticking around. Then there’s the new people, feel sorry for them. A case of bad timing?

So as I was thinking about that, I began to think about how these communities start out, when it’s all new and exciting and fun really, before it inevitably becomes too serious.

I might have been thinking about this stuff because I’m a member of a small forum that was made for a comic made in GMod, a comic called Intelligence Silliness. And it’s relatively new. I’m the 8th member. Hopefully it wont stagnate for another good few years.

So, a question for you, reader. See if you’ve been or are in a forum/community that’s new, do you think you’ll be there until the end? Think about it, Cos I don’t think I will.

And on a random note,where the ruddy hell are the other bloggers and their blogs? I feel so alone here!*

*yeah I’m kidding, still, this will be my 3rd post in a row most likely.

**If you’re wondering why or how I even thought about this, I have no idea, it just sprung to mind about 20 minutes ago.

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