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Wasn't sure where else to put this, so to OT it goes! Today is my 10 year anniversary with this site, and I wanted to take the time to express my thanks and gratitude to yakface, legoburner, the mods, and all of the wonderful people who post here that make Dakka what it is. This place has been my port of call on the internet for so long and I hope it keeps going for years to come!

Cheers, my fellow Dakkalings!

Huzzah

Hoo-ray!

Actually, mine should be around now too. Unfortunately, I find myself more and more frustrated on here with excessive negativity, entitlement (large amounts going on during Covid-19 from childish posters) and how much people just seem to like griping about the hobby.

I remember pre-messaging boards where your lists were your ideas, no meta was up online for people to chase, no “if you take this, you’ll auto lose”. And as much as I enjoy seeing news in a thought-bubble or enjoy planning with like minded individuals, I’ve stopped making topics and army lists because I get maybe one person commenting and that’ll be it. I don’t chase the meta. I put what I want on the table. Yes, I want it to be good. But I’ve learned over the years that you can put the worst list on paper down against the best, and if the best-list general doesn’t mesh with his list, he’ll still lose (I had 7th edition fantasy daemons lose to Wood Elves, FFS).

That’s what I miss. But now it’s just rehashing meta lists with maybe one magic item swap to make it “yours”. And...that doesn’t work for me. So ten years is up for me too, and it might be my last. I think when the Pandemic ends, so too will my tenure here.

Huzzah, creeping! Nice milestone

Timetowaste - Times are definitely changing, although I've seen those kind of comments since I first started here . One thing to do if you're seeing too much negativity - just only read/post in the miniatures-related areas. That can really refresh things, I too got a bit tired of the COVID-19 debates

Also, to be completely honest, Dakka is now a great place for some discussion, but other things have migrated to facebook groups and the like. I like to focus on what Dakka is still great for (i.e. any kind of persisting conversation ) and use facebook for the things it's best at. Win-win!

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Actually, mine should be around now too. Unfortunately, I find myself more and more frustrated on here with excessive negativity, entitlement (large amounts going on during Covid-19 from childish posters) and how much people just seem to like griping about the hobby.

I remember pre-messaging boards where your lists were your ideas, no meta was up online for people to chase, no “if you take this, you’ll auto lose”. And as much as I enjoy seeing news in a thought-bubble or enjoy planning with like minded individuals, I’ve stopped making topics and army lists because I get maybe one person commenting and that’ll be it. I don’t chase the meta. I put what I want on the table. Yes, I want it to be good. But I’ve learned over the years that you can put the worst list on paper down against the best, and if the best-list general doesn’t mesh with his list, he’ll still lose (I had 7th edition fantasy daemons lose to Wood Elves, FFS).

That’s what I miss. But now it’s just rehashing meta lists with maybe one magic item swap to make it “yours”. And...that doesn’t work for me. So ten years is up for me too, and it might be my last. I think when the Pandemic ends, so too will my tenure here.

I'm sorry to hear that, man. If the negativity is getting to you, it's important to remember that places like this can definitely be echo chambers. If you enjoy the hobby on your own time with your own friends, it's a lot easier to tune out the hatorade you find online. At least, it is in my experience. Even when I first started using this site ten years ago, there were plenty of people around that just wanted to rain on everyone's parade. It just comes with the territory, I guess. I know exactly what you mean about posting army lists and chasing the meta dragon. My early post history is almost all in the 40K Army List section, but I haven't made a post there in years. It's not that there isn't helpful advice to be had, I just realized one day that I didn't want to be stuck in a never-ending arms race with my buds as we tweaked and tooled according to what was working in the meta. I've enjoyed a more relaxed atmosphere in the group since then.

Just my 2 cents bro. Dakka is still a wonderful place IMO, don't let the trolls get to you. They lurk in every corner of the internet now anyway.

I first poked my nose into Dakka sometime around the year 2000, although didn't start visiting regularly until 2001, when I got my first PC. If you think things are negative now, you should have seen just what people thought of 3rd Edition 40K for the first couple of years after its release...


Discussion changes a lot over the years as the games evolve, and as posters come and go. Forums do unfortunately tend to lean more towards the negative, as it's human nature to make more noise about the things that make us unhappy than the things that we like. Although I don't think I've found any forums over the years that were as toxic as Facebook discussion can be at times.

The one thing I've been saying on this for a long time now is: Be the change you want to see! Forums are ultimately a collection of people posting their views. If you want to see more positive discussion, post more positive discussion! While it can certainly be discouraging when something you're passionate about doesn't get replies, it doesn't mean people aren't reading it and enjoying it. And the more of that sort of content that people see on the site, the more likely they are to add to it.

Dakka hasn't been hit as hard as many other forums by the slowdowns caused by so many people migrating to social media platforms, and that's entirely down to this wonderful community. Keep being awesome, people.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I’ve stopped making topics and army lists because I get maybe one person commenting and that’ll be it.

I too have been here just a little over 10 years. For me, the one thing that has changed dramatically over my time here is the kind of results I see when I post work in the gallery and make a showcase thread. I used to have tons of comments and feedback and now I'm lucky if it's 2 or 3 responses tops. That seems pretty common in the showcase now. I wonder if that sectrion is no longer heavily trafficked.

I get more reactions on facebook, but they mean less to me since they are not as qualified - my personal friends have no context for what is or is not a good paintjob or conversion the way the people here do. I mean, to my mom, everything I do is incredible.

It's strange that you found that the forum is much more negative in tone, since my perception is that it is much improved in tone since the politics ban went into place. Dudes who I used to not be able to stand I have plain old normal discussions with since we don't have access to the same hotspots.

Que sera, sera.

 Ouze wrote:


I too have been here just a little over 10 years. For me, the one thing that has changed dramatically over my time here is the kind of results I see when I post work in the gallery and make a showcase thread. I used to have tons of comments and feedback and now I'm lucky if it's 2 or 3 responses tops. That seems pretty common in the showcase now. I wonder if that sectrion is no longer heavily trafficked.

Threads tend to still get views. The problem is that social media has been training people for the last decade or so to just hit a 'like' button and move on instead of commentating, and that's spilled over somewhat to forums. Some forums tried to go with that flow and implement similar feedback options, but the admins here didn't want to go down that path for fear of just encouraging a further slide into that click-and-move-on mentality.

Various sections of the forums have also waxed and waned over the years depending on the userbase. At various times, there have been certain active posters who tended to keep their favourite sections pumping along, and as those posters move on things can sometimes go a little quiet for a while until someone else steps into the void.


A thought on the perception of negativity - I wonder how much of it is just perception changing as we all get older. There are various discussions that have been going on over the years that I used to just take as perfectly normal that I now see as being needlessly negative. And some, like GW pricing discussions, that haven't really changed in 20 years, but have become rather tedious precisely because they've been going on unchanged for 20 years...

I had typed out a reference to that, even - how that was a discussion that could have been dropped here in time from my very first day here until today, perfectly preserved in amber.

As Ron Perlman said, griping about prices - griping never changes.

Many happy returns!

 insaniak wrote:
I first poked my nose into Dakka sometime around the year 2000, although didn't start visiting regularly until 2001, when I got my first PC. If you think things are negative now, you should have seen just what people thought of 3rd Edition 40K for the first couple of years after its release...


Discussion changes a lot over the years as the games evolve, and as posters come and go. Forums do unfortunately tend to lean more towards the negative, as it's human nature to make more noise about the things that make us unhappy than the things that we like. Although I don't think I've found any forums over the years that were as toxic as Facebook discussion can be at times.

The one thing I've been saying on this for a long time now is: Be the change you want to see! Forums are ultimately a collection of people posting their views. If you want to see more positive discussion, post more positive discussion! While it can certainly be discouraging when something you're passionate about doesn't get replies, it doesn't mean people aren't reading it and enjoying it. And the more of that sort of content that people see on the site, the more likely they are to add to it.

Dakka hasn't been hit as hard as many other forums by the slowdowns caused by so many people migrating to social media platforms, and that's entirely down to this wonderful community. Keep being awesome, people.

I get that. I mean, to name drop, auticus and I have argued on stuff in AoS over the course of numerous topics. But we recently found a discussion that put us on the same side for gaming improvements instead of just “game sux, no good”. I speak of his suggestion to use GW’s own rules of sudden death to be worked in. Great! We’ve argued over his negativity to the game and found a point where I complimented him for his ideas and not making up rules to fix the game, but to implement GW’s own rules back in. Awesome. A negative became a positive.

Some prices (paints and limited edition items) are a thing of ignorance, as I discussed before. The other price stuff doesn’t bug me. What really gets me is the fact that independent ideas for lists tend to get largely ignored because Joe-Bob McAoSAWESOME doesn’t play it at tournaments. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

And the entitlement. When an ex-mod from Australia complains that GW isn’t just opening a small amount of places up for him when they’re focusing on employee safety or a Broney turned internet tough guy whines that people are buying masks during a pandemic for safety and he can’t airbrush...these entitlements make me ashamed to be part of a community that includes them.

Are they the worst offenders? No. The high-speed bird who thankfully left (for a second time) was the most disasterous posted on here, insulting people’s’ lists if she didn’t like them, claimed they couldn’t work because she didn’t like them...fought with everyone. Im glad she left. I’m glad I lasted longer on here to see the bird leave. But some of the ugliness from some childish posters (people I know are in at least their 30s behaving like the snot nosed brat from Willy Wonka) just leaves me feeling down. So hopefully it passes. But if not, I do think my tenure will end. Just because I don’t need that garbage. Dakka is a place for me to relax online and is my most utilized website. But it feels more and more like a chore to be here some days.

Jesus man......same for me....almost, this is my second account here, used to have one I abandoned due toooo, cringyness.
I feel like I have changed on dakka, for a long AF time, I used to be known as a stupid college liberal moron here who though he knew the world, and dakka tore me to shreds over it. There was a time I was a prolific poster.....but not anymore. Not sure why, sometimes I just feel like I have nothing to add to the conversation.
Anyway, I know people say forums are on the way out but I don't see it, here to more years of dakka.

I know some of my "Hot Button" issues have changed over the years too. Therefore, the threads I use to engage in a lot I generally do not any more.

My main haunts are NON-GW game sections, Dakka Discussions, and Off Topic. I use to love talking about creating a Codex: Tournament and Casual v Competitive, and the nature of the game being Collaborative. I also used to love to talk about re-booted Squats. Now, I really do not care to talk about any of those things on Dakka.

Strange.....

Timetowaste, I'd respectfully disagree with your take on what I assume is this portion of this thread:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/787344.page#10773309

Waaagh_Gonads, although not a mod, is both a doctor in real life, and a really good person who I was fortunate enough to meet in-person at AdeptiCon one year.

I also have family in Western Australia, and they just updated us that in their area, some schools are opening next week, and some restrictions are being scaled back. The outbreak is at different stages and levels of severity in different parts of the world, and the level of response needed at any given moment will also be different.

I think you're reading an attitude or tone that isn't there. Again, this is a user that is actually a doctor! I know this is a passionate issue, but I think that's part of the problem - from dealing with knuckleheads, sometimes we see knuckleheads everywhere and I can tell you for sure that Gonads is most definitely not one of these (it's also worth noting that GW is now altering their worldwide policy, while still keeping lockdown on their operations in the US and UK).

Anyway, not to make this yet another thread about *that* but just wanted to address what I think was a misunderstanding / misreading of intent there...

Personally, regarding site activity, I've recently had a bit of a resurgence and while I can tell people don't comment as much (lots of people reading on smartphones and not typing as frequently), I am really appreciating all the resources that are here. That said, there is definitely a place for facebook groups - I just wish everything wasn't so splintered and hard to track! One day, I'd dream of a Dakka / social media hybrid, but that'd take lots of $$$ and is one of the great things about Dakka as-is - it's free, open, and mostly without ads that are plastered all over social media (but which also bring in revenue for lots of new features there).

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
Wasn't sure where else to put this, so to OT it goes! Today is my 10 year anniversary with this site, and I wanted to take the time to express my thanks and gratitude to yakface, legoburner, the mods, and all of the wonderful people who post here that make Dakka what it is. This place has been my port of call on the internet for so long and I hope it keeps going for years to come!

Cheers, my fellow Dakkalings!

excellent young man.

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
Wasn't sure where else to put this, so to OT it goes! Today is my 10 year anniversary with this site, and I wanted to take the time to express my thanks and gratitude to yakface, legoburner, the mods, and all of the wonderful people who post here that make Dakka what it is. This place has been my port of call on the internet for so long and I hope it keeps going for years to come!

Cheers, my fellow Dakkalings!

Jesus Christ, I've been here about that long too. So yeah, took a bit of hiatus from DakkaDakka preferring Reddit for awhile but came back to DakkaDakka as I feel a sense of community (you actually know and have a history with the users here) whereas with Reddit I don't even remember any

of the posters, plus the Karma system makes me skim read more and not be as engaged with the topic. I'm glad to be back.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Jesus man......same for me....almost, this is my second account here, used to have one I abandoned due toooo, cringyness.
I feel like I have changed on dakka, for a long AF time, I used to be known as a stupid college liberal moron here who though he knew the world, and dakka tore me to shreds over it. There was a time I was a prolific poster.....but not anymore. Not sure why, sometimes I just feel like I have nothing to add to the conversation.
Anyway, I know people say forums are on the way out but I don't see it, here to more years of dakka.

I try to read as many posts as possible in a topic before discussing, but by that point I often don't feel like commenting as almost everyone else has said something better than I would have.