grangran
Airbender
"There is no shipping war in Ba Sing Se!" ~Long Feng~
Posts: 83
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Post by grangran on Mar 29, 2009 19:35:47 GMT 1
no, you've got it all wrong. When a forum is popular, even if it is about a dying franchise, the community will maintain itself and take one of the natural laws of internet posting into effect. Things will gradually become off topic and people will start talking about everyday things and it will dissolve into a chat forum.
Or, like in this case, the community will dissipate for unknown reasons, and then aye, the forum will die. Otherwise, when a franchise dies, the staff might make one last shot at maintaining their community, and turn it into a general chat forum. those are immortal when run properly, because as long as there is a subject of anything, it can be talked about.
but then that gives rise to the question of why you still come here, but that's not really my concern.
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Orophin
No life Poster
Crikey! Dragon of the South, mate.
Posts: 44,407
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Post by Orophin on Mar 30, 2009 10:51:56 GMT 1
I still come here because I gave a lot of time to the site, and when I chose to withdraw, it died. I want to keep an eye on it.
But anyway, a chat forum isn't exactly going to work out in the long run. Communities can't function well without something to talk about, and eventually, you just run out of subjects. With nothing to talk about, people will have to talk about each other, in which case they might as well go to a chat room and leave the forum alone, as it's a far easier method of talking about such things. Still, that can take years, so I don't think you have anything to worry about.
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grangran
Airbender
"There is no shipping war in Ba Sing Se!" ~Long Feng~
Posts: 83
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Post by grangran on Mar 30, 2009 16:37:43 GMT 1
Well, seeing as I'm not really worried about it at all, I'm all okay.
pretty much all the active people left... even Tera's posting splurges have all but stopped.
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Katarafan
Airbender
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8428/avatar31ym3.jpg
Posts: 73
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Post by Katarafan on Mar 31, 2009 2:46:09 GMT 1
I only got to know about this site's reopen today... I'm really happy to be back. I wont be online every day, but I'm want to "keep an eye" on this site too. AVATAR is over, but I'm not tired of seeing it yet. Sometimes I watch it on my computer. Anyway, who knows what will happen in the future?
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Orophin
No life Poster
Crikey! Dragon of the South, mate.
Posts: 44,407
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Post by Orophin on Mar 31, 2009 4:26:59 GMT 1
Well, seeing as I'm not really worried about it at all, I'm all okay. pretty much all the active people left... even Tera's posting splurges have all but stopped. I'm just constantly surprised by the way this site seemed to react to me personally... for instance, any time I leave for a while, something always happens. When I stopped thread-hunting, the site began to really die... But really, this is the fate of sites like this. It can't last forever...
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grangran
Airbender
"There is no shipping war in Ba Sing Se!" ~Long Feng~
Posts: 83
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Post by grangran on Mar 31, 2009 5:52:51 GMT 1
looking at the history, I'd personally say that Tera253 had a much greater impact than you though, since it's his name that I usually saw plastered around the forum before I joined.
again, judging from the past things that I've gone and looked back on, I don't see very much reaction to your departures, so I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about.
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Orophin
No life Poster
Crikey! Dragon of the South, mate.
Posts: 44,407
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Post by Orophin on Mar 31, 2009 12:31:11 GMT 1
Well, for instance, the most recent event of this type was when the entire site was closed. I wasn't here then, and then I come back and ask what happened. Then I find that "Tera tried to help". Good intentions, not very well thought through. But, hey, what can you do, some people just aren't good at that sort of thing, while being incredibly good at other things. Besides, I was merely commenting on the fact that the site just never seemed to go well without me... Like when I decided to stop spending all my time here. That's pretty much when it died. I didn't notice that until I looked back, but yeah, I suppose the sites death was my fault. And then there's Blue... I liked most of his additions to the site. The changes, however, were what caused some serious undesireable outcomes... Some people need to learn to leave things alone. But then, I'm assuming they're smart enough to know that. They wanted change. Again, looking back, I could have prevented it... but there was no way I could have seen that coming. I did have a chance, though... if I'd taken it, none of it would have happened. So, I suppose when it comes right down to it, I can trace most problems on this site right back down to me. I could have prevented or solved them all at one point or another... All I really did, though, was help get the site back up and running again. Mainly because I invested a lot of time here, and didn't want to see it mod-killed. Still, some good came of it. A new site, which starts the forum cycle anew. Some insight into certain peoples motivations and inner minds... (even yours, though this was mainly due to attitude and actions that were displayed)
But yeah, I guess my main point was just about how connected this site and I were, that I can be directly linked to all its problems... In no small part merely as an allower.
I never said I was the only one to affect the site. Far from it. Just that I'm surprised... when I first joined here, it was mainly because certain people's views of the Avatar world needed contesting, and I was the guy for the job. Then I went through my Ember Island phase... Fairly well-documented, that one, asside from one key thread, which, due to an error in judgement, is gone forever. There are many other people that were a major part of this site. Some departed, which eventually lead me to stop mass-posting... I just couldn't see much of a point when the same person answered them all anyway. It ceased to be a forum in my mind... and then the aforementioned dying occured.
And once again, I find myself in a position where I could act... if I invested myself into this site right now, I could probably save it... I probably could... But I wont.
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grangran
Airbender
"There is no shipping war in Ba Sing Se!" ~Long Feng~
Posts: 83
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Post by grangran on Mar 31, 2009 17:54:20 GMT 1
...because you can't. words and even witnesses, can only prove so much. deeds though, prove everything. the site actually seemed to be going perfectly well without you though, with the possible exception of perhaps this board, and maybe Ember Island to an extent. I'm not sure where you obtained that delusion, because even if you DID keep the site running, it takes two to tango. ultimately, I'm pretty sure that the site's death was by no means your fault, but, in fact, mine, and the help of admin. you see, I was there for Tera's attack, because, as you probably figured out, I am Tera. Blue's coding changes were actually what started drawing people in. How do I know this? because the days just before the attack [the days when you were gone in fact], there was actually a slight hike in activity. I always monitored this forum closely. Ultimately, you are giving yourself way too much undeserved credit/blame. You see, the Blue using aike's account thing was all in all, just a huge misunderstanding as well. Again, ultimately, this site's death is not linked to you by any means, but rather, me, blue, and aike. It's a simple task to elaborate. aike and blue were not on the same page when the account was used by blue. apparently the "administrative functions" that blue wanted access to were not the same ones that aike thought he wanted. He already had everything but the ability to alter member groups, which, as all smart proboards users know, is a feature unique to the main admin. Ultimately, that was how the chaos erupted. some of Blue's changes were actually my idea, but since he was the admin, I'd just tell him "hey check this code out" or whatever. It was ultimately pretty simple. NOw here comes the part that confuses everyone, and I'm 95% sure that only me and blue know the true story, because it was discussed in an MSN convo on January 3rd, 2009 at about 9:30AM GMT-7. the hostile takeover, as we called it, was actually both of our ideas. It was originally a joke in the chat that I know you didn't see, because it was during the period where you were again gone. aike was actually in the chat, and we actually just joked around with it. I was the one accused of being in charge of the hostile takeover, because (a) in a way it was me who did it, but also because I was the one who said the joke. At that point though, I had no admin powers at all, so even if I wanted to take over, I couldn't. it was after blue PM'd me about it on MSN that we actually thought about taking it further, and then with one fell swoop, we took care of business in less than 15 minutes, and the deed was done. Again, looking back, I could have prevented it... but there was no way I could have seen that coming. I did have a chance, though... if I'd taken it, none of it would have happened. So, I suppose when it comes right down to it, I can trace most problems on this site right back down to me. I could have prevented or solved them all at one point or another... All I really did, though, was help get the site back up and running again. Mainly because I invested a lot of time here, and didn't want to see it mod-killed. there was absolutely no way you could have prevented it, unless you somehow had gotten word of the deed from blue or I. You were gone during the week of the attack, which probably worked to our advantage nonetheless. Sorry, but you're giving yourself too much praise. Then comes the fun part--the part where aike's seeming incompetency set in. When blue and I took over, the only difference was that blue had aike's account, and a few other sprite names showed up. the codes and boards had all been there during aike's time, because I distinctly remember aike giving me the password. What happened after he got his account back was all his doing. All he had to do was ban blue and I and restore his account setting back to normal [the only change was that we had given him a more realistic amount of karma, which was actually closer to the number he actually earned].
But what does he do instead? he tears everything apart and closes the site. The only flaw in our intentions was that we had overlooked the proboards admins and what they could do if you know where to run. But just because we got banned and that plan flopped, didn't mean we were done. after all, I always have a well-thought out plan. That one just happened to be very rushed, as it was put into play only about 5 hours after creating it.
I think the flaw in your statement was that you were looking at the forum on a more inner level, as opposed to as a forum as a whole. You might have been responsible for the death of this board, but at that point, there was very little else that you impacted on this site from about November/December onward, give or take a month or two.
As for the mod-killing, the only one to blame is aike for his 'incompetency'. If he knew what he was doing, he would have just banned the offenders [blue and I] and then checked his security log for changes that we made during our "reign" if any. [which, other than changing some accounts, there were none that I remember]. instead, he takes down a whole board, removes all the coding, including the chat for a while (which, I notice, still isn't the way it used to be at all) and a bunch of other things that ultimately result in the site being closed for an extended period of time.
So all in all, if anything, this site's death is linked to me, and the crimes I've done both for and against it.
And then of course, there's the a09 story. That was simple. The reason I still go there ant not here is not because of a pride thing, but rather, there are things to do over there that I still find entertaining, namely, fanfics, RPs, and the occasional games, which were actually the same things that happened over here, that have obviously died. It's not just because "oohh im da admin lolz" or anything of that calibur. Honestly, that has done little to impact the behavior that I had from a10 and brought to a09.
I put a lot of time into this site as well, and after seeing it mod-killed, I pretty much decided that it was just not worth the time. I might start posting again if I get bored enough, but that's not likely, unless some killer RP shows up again.
So that leaves one final question... if I'm Tera, why did I go under the name grangran? well, that was another part of my tactical planning, this one thought out long ago. It was actually an account used to sidestep an IP ban [and how I changed my IP is another slightly irrelevant story at this point] and that was before aike and I made restitution. However, I was bringing back the old respected name that I once had here, which is why I continued to use it. However, after I got my old account back, I saw little purpose in keeping it, save one or two things, one of which was proving a theory, which turned out to be correct.
nowadays though, it was mostly just to talk around this board, and now I believe that its purpose has been fulfilled.
so in a nutshell, I guess what I'm saying is that you're taking credit and blame that belong to me
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Orophin
No life Poster
Crikey! Dragon of the South, mate.
Posts: 44,407
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Post by Orophin on Apr 1, 2009 4:33:13 GMT 1
Doesn't mean I couldn't have prevfented it. If you recall, it was my fault Blue got the mod-job in the first place. Not only did I turn said job down, but I suggested him for it. Suggested with a lot of words and a convicing argument. (Kinda the same way I told Aike to get the site back up.... ) If I had accepted, then the whole situation was preventable. Hell, it may have inspired me to apply myself to the site, and administrating it. I may be lazy, and I may prone to settling where I am, but never doubt that I can get things done when I want them done. See, if you wanted the site changed, it would have been easy if done right. All it would have taken would have been patience... and a solid plan. And maybe a bit of insight...
But, that's not really the point. All I'm saying is I'm surprised that I, of all people, could have had such an effect on a tsite... But, there I was... in a position to easily manipulate the whole thing if I wanted. It's just kind of weird... like climbing the ladder of an organisation. I just wonder why it was me, and not someone else, who held that position. You held a different one, of course.
One thing that confuses me, though, is why you bothered posting under that username here, where I'm the only one who would realyl read it. I mean, after all this time, do you really think I don't know how you type? And, you spoke to me with a flare of familiarity. It's like you weren't even trying to hiode it. And yet, as you reffered to yourself in the third-person, I just kinda figured you were playing around, and decided to play along.
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grangran
Airbender
"There is no shipping war in Ba Sing Se!" ~Long Feng~
Posts: 83
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Post by grangran on Apr 1, 2009 6:11:23 GMT 1
no, it wasn't your fault that blue got the job. Maybe it was, but with the sequence of events that followed just before that, I'm pretty sure that again, it was me. You see, in the literal MOMENTS before blue was made a mod, I had not only recommended it to aike as well. Besides, originally, he was just going to be a bloodbender, which was the same position that you would have gotten. Having had access to the admin account, I know what powers they had, and assured, you would not have been able to do much. Again, that was my fault. blue was greedy, and I was willing to help him campaign for more abilities, and apparently they succeeded. you? get things done? don't make me laugh... as for the site, it WAS easy, and it WAS done right with one fatal exception, which, there turned out to actually be an answer to that I remembered after the fact. So sorry to pardon the drama story, but no, you were maybe in control of moving and locking threads at the very best (bloodbender powers). lol. Because rest assured, it took a mighty long and strong campaign from Blue and I for him to get all the powers that he did. So fear not, you don't have to worry about thinking why you were so special, because all in all, you really weren't very--just another person, whose impact on the forum lessened into just about nothingness when the forum was declared "dead". As for this account, I wasn't trying to hide it, because I didn't really have anything to hide. If you ever went to any of the other places you know I frequent, you would have known that I said "lol I rejoined a10 as grangran". If you want to find out about people online, it's good to find places that they visit. Regardless, that's off-topic. Ironically though, I even told aike that I was grangran, and that meant that it was done here. that just proves that you really aren't aware of as many things as you like to think you are, and that your impact on the forum is actually close to zilch at this point. As for my reasoning for doing what I did with this account, those are my own, but it proved several things and effective methods for forum life. Of course, it became obvious who I was after Is tarted talking in 3rd person, so I'm glad that you finally figured out who I was ;D. Sanaki would have been ashamed. You see, I operate exactly like this woman... I try a various amount of schemes on people in order to get them to do what I want, and then I start using things that I receive from them to my advantage. In this situation, I wanted you to start talking about something that I wanted you to talk about, because I knew you well enough to know that it would eventually get off topic of fanfics, and we would start some sort of crazy "philosophical" discussion. So basically, it was my shot at getting you to do what I wanted you to do. When I want to manipulate someone, I will always think of a way to do it. Some ideas are better than others, but all in all, I never stop until the job gets done. Some take longer than others, and I do admit that there are still some that I am working on. Regardless though, it gets done, because I always find a way. It's how someone of my calibur also gets through in society. all the best,-->GranGran<--
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Orophin
No life Poster
Crikey! Dragon of the South, mate.
Posts: 44,407
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Post by Orophin on Apr 1, 2009 12:21:05 GMT 1
Several of those paragraphs confused me. You don't seem to have gotten what I was saying at all. It was only when you started reffering to yourself in the third person that I decided to play along, because before that, I had no idea you would assume that it wasn't as blatantly obvious as using your own username...
And as for what happened, if I had taken the mod job, it doesn't matter what powers I would have had. Blue wouldn't have gotten the job. Because I would have. It doesn't make me in any way important. It just means I could have prevented it, if I'd just taken the job. I never expected this site to be much more than an informative place to find out when the new Avatar was out/would be out... Then I joined to join in some discussions... then I discovered Ember Island... And you pretty much know the rest.Well, a fair bit of it, anyway.
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grangran
Airbender
"There is no shipping war in Ba Sing Se!" ~Long Feng~
Posts: 83
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Post by grangran on Apr 1, 2009 16:12:23 GMT 1
because like I always say, you never say anything clearly, so instead of asking you to tell me more stuff in your riddling methods, I decided to make of it what I saw, and therefore did. it's something you clearly need to work on. and again, no, just because you might have gotten the job doesn't mean that blue would not have gotten it as well. I in particular recall him looking for at least one more staff member [AKA a total of two], but that they couldn't find anyone for the job. As for the paragraphs being unclear, it's written in English. Surely American Spelling and bloke spelling don't differ that much, and so if you can't understand it, then go back to first grade. Really, it's not that difficult.
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Orophin
No life Poster
Crikey! Dragon of the South, mate.
Posts: 44,407
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Post by Orophin on Apr 2, 2009 12:42:39 GMT 1
No, I get the words... It's just that there's no way that what you said matches up with what I said.
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grangran
Airbender
"There is no shipping war in Ba Sing Se!" ~Long Feng~
Posts: 83
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Post by grangran on Apr 2, 2009 16:47:16 GMT 1
duh. usually in an argument, words are supposed to be uh... different?
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Orophin
No life Poster
Crikey! Dragon of the South, mate.
Posts: 44,407
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Post by Orophin on Apr 3, 2009 13:47:25 GMT 1
Alright then...
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