...really for me or for you guys?
Now of course I do not mean exclusively me vs. everybody else, but rather as a more general term to cover people who don't feel, or who are just aren't members of the Exclusive Gentleman's Club known as TotalWar.Org. For you see, I have never, outside of the Gameroom and EB Tavern (And even then that particular institution was defined by its rejection of what I'm about to discuss) really felt "part" of the .Org. What do I mean by part of the .Org you ask? It's simple; the Exclusive Gentleman's Club that defines itself by its rejection of people who are not already in it.
Surely that is too harsh I hear you say. Surely we are a friendly and welcoming bunch to newbies. Well, yes, as individuals. I personally do not have issues with most, if not all people in the .Org. I'm sure that IRL you're a bunch of nice guys. But the .Org is not. The .Org, outside of the Gameroom (When I refer to the .Org in the rest of this essay, it will be excluding the gameroom, as the gameroom is essentially a forum unto itself and which I love to bits), is fundamentally conservative in its outlook towards newcomers and people who challenge the rules and customs which serve to drive newcomers away, and even just people who disagree with the current direction of the .Org (I.e. a sad lonely death) and want to change it.
For example: ACIN posted a thread that was a joke, and essentially a pretty cutting satire of the prevalence of obnoxious girl threads that have spread like a fungus throughout the .Org recently. What was the reaction? Laughter? A compliment for ACIN on his ability to take the Frontroom for a ride (Save me and SFTS)? No, it was an awkward silence that suggested that the readers were confused and made unhappy either by the not-that-complex humour and/or the criticism of the .Org itself for permitting so many threads of that type, followed by a lock for no discernible reason (seeing as it didn't seem anyone else was going to post there anyway).
Another example: I spent an hour writing a 1,000 word essay in the Watchtower commenting on the specific problems that the .Org faced, and anticitpating such a problem, I summarised each two hundred word block into five word phrases in case people saw the text and were daunted by it. The response? One member who had not been here for some time and was horrified by the sickness within the .Org engaged in a discussion, and one completely wrong comment from a muppet that in itself generated more comment and controversy than my essay did. This is turn reflects a wider trend that I have often felt my posts in the backroom to be ignored (Save by a few, notably Furunculus, Beskar and fragony and probably IA and PVC), for whatever reason I genuinely do not know. Of course, the essay in the watchtower mentioned was ignored, to be replaced by a discussion about avatars. As if that would magically solve everything.
And you know what, I am convinced that the reason that the .Org is in decline is because those who are most committed and should be doing the most to save it have absolutely no interest in rescuing it. The .Org has changed from a forum about TW games, to a forum where a bunch of 20-something+ guys who sorta-know each other hang out and chat. It's like an Exclusive Gentleman's Drinking Club, only without the influence/power and without the booze, meaning it defines itself through its little in-jokes (GAH, Camels, everything after M:TW is utter crap etc.) and through its rejection of any means to change the situation. I mean, look at how much controversy there has been over avatars, sigs MORE than 400 px in length and the constant discussion tha goes nowhere about Senior/Junior members! That isn't something which would be as drawn out or as opposed on any normal forum - the admin would just say "Right, here's what you're getting BANG". How can any meaningful change be attempted or even wanted by those same people?
In short, it is pretty obvious that Org is doomed, those who could do the most to change that don't care and it feels a lot of the time like I (As well as others, though I cannot speak for them) are merely tolerated as opposed to welcomed.
Oh, and I deliberately posted this in the Frontroom, as putting in the Watchtower would mean it would get overrun by banal and pointless discussion about avatars or something daft all over again, and because it is much easier for all of you to ignore if it is in the Watchtower.