Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello!

Posts : 29 Join date : 2022-05-03

CHUD/TC has a massive legacy, to the point that the sheer tonnage can discourage and intimidate long-time lurkers like me. Not because the atmosphere there is unfriendly, but because I feel that the place "belongs" to the long-time voices with their instantly recognizable banter patterns, so that it's bad manners to pipe in. Add to that the seemingly permanent melancholy of a place that is forever winding down like some last elven refuge, and it's not hard to see why it hasn't attracted a lot of newcomers.

This could become a more lively place that can keep going until the polar caps melt. All it takes is for a critical mass of vital voices to make the switch.

Posts : 46 Join date : 2022-04-29

Wait, am I missing something?

Did Nick backpedal to try to bring Trouble-City back?

Tried the boards just now and said it no longer exists.

Glad this place is here, just wondering if Nick had a change of heart…

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Thu May 05, 2022 3:20 pm

Call Me Roy Again wrote:: Wait, am I missing something?

Did Nick backpedal to try to bring Trouble-City back?

Tried the boards just now and said it no longer exists.

Glad this place is here, just wondering if Nick had a change of heart…

It's still working for me. But yeah, he's considering keeping them going. Although I'm sure he'll decide again sometime in the next year that he wants to close them.

Posts : 2 Join date : 2022-05-04

Huh, I have a feeing we're not in Kansas anymore.

Posts : 153 Join date : 2022-05-01

Aaaww yeah, ska oreo made the trip. Glad you're here!

Posts : 46 Join date : 2022-04-29

ska oreo wrote:: Huh, I have a feeing we're not in Kansas anymore.

Ska, no lie. I watched Halloween 78’ the other night with 2 first timers ( both late 50s and they loved it) and legitimately thought about you and how you have never seen it.

I eagerly await that review…

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Thu May 05, 2022 10:51 pm

I've made my last post on TC and logged out. It was finally time to let go.

Looking forward to seeing more familiar faces pop up on here.

Posts : 46 Join date : 2022-04-29

I had realized I had typed in Trouble City manually and just spelled the URL wrong.

It’s a weird scene over there.

Why is Nick asking “so do’ya guys reeeeally want me to keep the boards up?”

Like, yeah man… if you actually are… but if you’re gonna get a bee in your bonnet in 16 months and be like “ya know… not feeling these boards AGAIN…unless, you guys want them to stay up…..?” then just pull the plug already.

This teasing a 3 legged dog with a treat is a weird look and seems like he is trying to work some emotional stuff out and using the site as a means of expression.

Posts : 66 Join date : 2022-04-28

I'm pretty much done with TC now. I'll check it out to a limited degree but I'm pretty much committed to this place and Discord now.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 3:52 am

This post kinda pissed me off, especially the bit about not wanting to fragment the community.

Quote :: Let me ask a few questions of the gang:

1. There’s Dischord and a new MB. Are those suitable replacements? Because, if we give this an injection of love and attention it needs to be something that would keep the majority here and active. I don’t want there to be division and fragmentation. If this is home base it makes sense.

2. The Patreon has been helpful in keeping the lights on. I can’t justify the expense without it but that’s a good asset if folks want to continue. Cool?

3. I’m going to relaunch the main site and there’s the Microscope. You think you might participate in that or just the boards?

4. I have no problem deleting accounts. I would assign a small group of moderators but I’d prefer they be folks I can talk to and get to know as people and not random names on an MB. Cool?

5. I’d ask a “clean slate” vibe. No more assumptions on folks but rather lucid communication and no pack mentality stuff. Most of us who have been around are now on the cusp of being old fucks. Let’s be civil and not resort to the old petty stuff?

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 4:41 am

From his waffling on closing/not closing to this lame response? Yeah, total bullshit.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 4:57 am

I just wish he'd gotten to know us all better. He popped onto Discord a few nights back and actually conversed with people. People who've been posting on his boards for years but who he's never previously interacted with. And most peoples' reactions were "Well, that's was really cool!"

Imagine if he'd gotten involved in Knockouts and Drafts with us, or gotten to know our in-jokes, or just spoken to us. A lot of us are thankful for the community he's given us and would have loved to know him better. I think he'd have a better understanding of what those boards mean/meant to some people and why they were worth saving. And we might have avoided the recent frustrations on both sides which have emerged.

Posts : 29 Join date : 2022-05-03

As an outsider looking in, I've often wondered what Nick's relationship to the forums really is. I'm not sure about the dates, but I think it's been a full decade since he first announced CHUD was winding down.

Are they a last vestige of youthful dreams that he can't let go of and loves and loathes in equal measure? Or weirdly wonderful side effects of dead-end ventures that he doesn't have the heart to kill, even though they are populated by ingrates who never visit the site proper?

Posts : 33 Join date : 2022-04-28 Location : Shanghai

Hell, I wrote stuff for the main site under the MCP section and I don't think I ever spoke to the man personally. Not blaming him, just seemed like the whole CHUD endeavor was weirdly compartmentalized.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 7:56 am

Just wanted to say to stocks and other folks: sorry about not being super active on these boards this week. Work's been rough and it's felt like every evening has had multiple RL obligations.

I'm really appreciative of stocks doing this, and glad for the folks who are here. I'm around but it may be a bit before I post as often as I did at TC.

Posts : 46 Join date : 2022-04-29

Headless Fett wrote:: From his waffling on closing/not closing to this lame response? Yeah, total bullshit.

Agreed. He’d be quiet for months while he just watched from a distance, make up his own mind, say he was going to close, wait forever to close, get CLOSE to taking away the boards, then say, ehhh maybe not, but here are conditions and things I’ve had problems with and NEVER discussed and I only want you guys here and nowhere else KAYYY?

Seems to be some passive aggressive, avoidant behavior.

I don’t buy into that stuff, sorry Nick.

Keep the boards up or not, take the leap and make a permanent decision. And don’t be pissed if actual posters take the initiative to start something else.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 8:48 am

It's the girlfriend who dumps you then wants you back when they see you with your new girlfriend.

Posts : 46 Join date : 2022-04-29

A cute girl with a decent body that didn’t do anything but lay there when you had sex.

Then got mad when you wouldn’t spice things up so dumped you.

Then wanted to get back together when you found someone not only cute, but receptive.

… but would only get back together if you made a few adjustments as to how you handled yourself in the bedroom.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 10:22 am

Nick: "I'm closing this place for good. It's all going away, and no, I'm not interested in reconsidering or handing the reins over to someone else."

Also Nick: "HEY WHERE'S EVERYBODY GOING!?!?"

Posts : 46 Join date : 2022-04-29

commodorejohn wrote:: Nick: "I'm closing this place for good. It's all going away, and no, I'm not interested in reconsidering or handing the reins over to someone else."

Also Nick: "HEY WHERE'S EVERYBODY GOING!?!?"

*Ned Ryerson “BING!” GIF*

Posts : 66 Join date : 2022-04-28

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice....well, fuck you then.

I will not be strung along on the emotional vicissitudes of Nick, especially when he changes his mind at the drop of a hat.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 11:53 am

It'll be all kumbaya for a while, then the "new main site" won't be getting the traffic he wants and it'll somehow be the boards' fault for the members not acting as free viral marketing, or for not breathlessly discussing every single article, and he'll muse about whether it's all worth it until he gets his requisite "Thank you Nick!" posts, and this whole cycle will repeat again.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 1:11 pm

All I know is I don't particularly like the way this has transpired from Nick's end, and now I feel like I don't know where to be posting things.

Posts : 46 Join date : 2022-04-29

Belloq87 wrote:: All I know is I don't particularly like the way this has transpired from Nick's end, and now I feel like I don't know where to be posting things.

Neither do I, that’s why I think staying over there will just encourage his inconsistent behavior.

The dude is weird.

I like the boards, but he has next to nothing to do with them, other than just making them available .

It’s just as easy to do the same thing over here without the “well, you guys just don’t appreciate ANYTHING” attitude.

If he wants to take his toys and go home then he should just commit and put his damn shoes on.

Subject: Re: Oldies and Newbies Unite and say hello! Fri May 06, 2022 1:45 pm

I came into this much too late to properly understand the dynamics, but I get the impression that he's always thought of the boards as an accessory to the main site, and never been comfortable with the way they became a whole separate entity. It reminds me a lot of the way the staff at the Agony Booth felt about the forums there (funnily enough, the shuttering thereof was what drove me to CHUD, courtesy of LaurenOrtega,) though Nick has never been as semi-openly hostile towards the boards as Albert was. Just a weird, weird dynamic all-around.