Feeling Lost!

Ok - it hit me the other day that I have been a member here for almost five years! (well, in October) And in the last say....three years, I've pretty much lost touch.

I see members who are obviously well respected, prominent members of the community and I look and think 'I remember when they were a n00b who typed leik dis omg!1!'. Established members who I immediatly think of as being hip and happening rarely post, if at all and many of this new breed of EoFFer has no clue to who they are, or merely think they are legends thought up by the old new breed of EoFFer to scare them. Namely the legend of the 'creator' - Sean. (Who incidently I think of as Cid)

No one seems to remeber the old in jokes (least of all me) and the new in jokes seem strange and threatening to me.

I've become overwhelmed by it all and lapsed into not posting, into ignoring these boards which I don't want to do.

In short, I am feeling lost and confused. This place scares me!
This old fogey needs to get with the times.

Chaos

They are some great, very true points. Sometimes I think about the "I wonder how everyone conducted themself when they first went on a forum" thing as well, cos I sure screwed it up :p I also try not to get too cheeky as well, cos although some people don't even see themself as a n00b when they've been here a month, I'll pretty much always see myself as one :)
Altho I cnt memba evr typin lik dis :( *hopes he didn't*

I know the feeling, even though I've not been here as long as you, it's hard to get back into posting here, though I think the odd few people remember me =P

I remember you from my first days, if only because of that gyrating possum signature that you had xD I remember some of the old in-jokes, though I think a lot of the 'legends' were well established as legends when I joined, though I noticed quite quickly who they were.

Yeah - I thought I'd always consider myself a newbie and just always be there.
But now I realise I'm a very oldbie with an identity crisis.

While I've never been a very prominant member I've always maintained some sort of presence, I just feel so lost now though. Hehe.

Chaos

I've been active for the past three years without many breaks, so I'm able to piece together what the heck goes on around here. Eventually I will probably be in your situation, though.

I know exactly how you feel, even though I'm obviously still a "newbie." Hell, I don't even have a custom title yet. I've noticed a massive swarm of newbies in the last two months of so, and it's not exactly a bad thing, but it does seem rather weird...especially watching them form their own cliques. I think the best thing to do is keep in touch with all the members you know and love, and try to get used to the massive influx of new members. It takes new members to keep a forum like EoFF alive, but it loses all sense of family, nostalgia, and uniqueness without oldbie members like you hanging around.

Yamaneko - I remember when you were a newbie!! *cries*

Chaos

I get confused a little bit too, and I post here everyday!

EoFF changes every day. Some of the old prominent members remain as just that, whilst others fade into obscurity. More and more newbies come, and once one group of newbies looks like establishing themselves, the next wave come piling in and overtake them. It's what I like about EoFF. Some things remain the same as they always have done, while some things change all the time.

And if you don't want to be lost, you can't stick to being with the same group of people. A lot of the newbies who you might not think of associating with are really funny and great, as I have found out by befriending them.

Nah, I'm still too new to get that feeling.

I remember you, if that helps you any. I feel that way sometimes too. Let's be friends! Come to #eoff, where all the fun happens these days. :p

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Originally Posted by Heath

I know the feeling, even though I've not been here as long as you, it's hard to get back into posting here, though I think the odd few people remember me =P

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who's Heath? o_O

I suggest you have a conversation with Raistlin, then you'll realize how crappy the old days really were.

Chaos, I remember when you were a newbie. Wahahaha.

I'm hardly in on any of the new in-jokes, so I just kind of stand off to the side and give input neutrally. If I don't get it now, I probably won't ever, so I don't see any reason to get involved.

Don't fear change, embrace it. While never forgetting the past, never cling on to it, if you do that, you do yourself & new members like myself an injustice. While an newb here, I'm by no means a net-newb, and even if someone is a net newb, everyone's gotta start somewhere, right? Including the old members of which you speak. It's the only way this forum will build & evolve if it's elders embrace the new blood. There is a danger of elitism, I've seen it so many times on other boards where new members are irrationally ignored or hounded away by old members with a God-Complex. I must note that this forum doesn't appear to suffer from that, everyone seems very approachable, old & new, tis why I've stayed & not floated off.
While I understand your sentiments (I've had the same feeling on other irc clients & board I was member of for years), you must realise that the world is constantly turning on its axis & if you don't ride the waves of social evolution (net or otherwise) you'll drown.

Just my 2 pence worth, hope you don't mind.

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING will ever beat that night where Bleys changed Nait's name/avatar/title/signature, and then proceeded to battle with Unne and both of them changed the names/avatar/title/signatures of everyone else who posted, who then proceeded to spam the hell out of the topic.

Unne changed Bleys' title to "I smell funny like liberal" and to some liberal's picture, and de-admined him, but Bleys came back pretty swiftly and changed Unne into Jean Chrtien (I think)

Can't remember it all, but I remember how fun it was.

Good times were had by all, I met Bonnie(Harlequil, Tokki[quil], >--heartshot-->) in the process of that too.

Things will never be as good as that, don't try and think they will be.

Im semi-new and i hear alot of jokes about Bley's croch and always wondered where it came from....

Too easy.

Im still a n00b.

Eh, it happens. In real life too.

Time goes by, things change, you change, people come and go, and suddenly the place you were so familiar with doesn't exist anymore, not in the way it used to.

You can can try and familiarize yourself with this new version of EoFF and take Psy's advice and befriend the newest crop of EoFFers, or you can move on. Either way, there's really no going back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chaos

Yamaneko - I remember when you were a newbie!! *cries*

Chaos

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When he was a newbie he was going by the name Vivi_FFIX, haha! Or maybe it was FFIX_Vivi.

I know the feeling well. I've been active enough to know who most everyone is though. :D

I was a n00b three weeks ago. Or two. And I never 'tYpD lYk DiS!!'
Lord god, that depresses me.
But I hope you get resituated, okay?

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Originally Posted by CloudDragon

When he was a newbie he was going by the name Vivi_FFIX, haha! Or maybe it was FFIX_Vivi.

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:shifty:























The former, actually. :cool: Everyone knows that the members who registered in Summer of '01 are the best. Well, except for Leeza.

BACK IN THE OLD DAYS!

Evolve, or be forgotten.

*timewarps back to the days of Britpop and Pokemon*

Nothing has changed except the weather.

I lack the ability to be a noob. As such, you can only classify me as a newbie.

Shoulda' kept up. I kept up this long and the only thing that confuses me is why no one sends me flowers anymore.

I think it happens in cycles, honestly. Sometimes you can come here and jump right into the fray whilst other times you can be completely in the dark and just lurk about a bit. In the end, as Paul said, the ability to jumpstart your experience again is in your hands, as you can make new friends and try your best to keep in touch with those you've known for a while as well.

Take care all.

Think of it as moving to your second house. You move away from all the people you planned on being neighbors with forever, and you've got to make new friends and learn about your new neighbors. But that doesn't mean you have to let go of your old friends that you made in the past. It's only a matter of making more friends. After a while (since I've moved every 2-4 years), you just have so many connections there's nothing but fun no matter where you are!

That's an excellent comparison good sir.

Take care all.

Best ways to keep up with everything at EoFF...

1) Chat in #eoff regularly.
2) Read all threads in the Feedback Forum and most threads in General Chat.
3) Have Raistlin on your LJ friends list. Warning: Raistlin may be extremely annoying at any time.
4) Have other EoFFers on your LJ friends list.
5) Actually bother to read the LJ entries where EoFF is mentioned.
6) Hook up with an administrator.
7) Be on Staff.
8) Make fun of people in a jokey kind of way.
9) Post regularly - more often than once per thread. You know, actually have a discussion and all that jazz.
10) Chat in #eoff regularly.

It'll all come together eventually. If all else fails, make threads like this or PM well known members asking for the latest gossip. Like Psychotic or ShlupQuack or Raistlin or cl_out. They're the ones you want to PM. Between them, you should get all the info you need.

That's far too much effort, it should be handed to everyone on a platter.

I say you make a gossip forum that random "popular" people update, then I can actively choose to avoid it and feel good about myself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lindy

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING will ever beat that night where Bleys changed Nait's name/avatar/title/signature, and then proceeded to battle with Unne and both of them changed the names/avatar/title/signatures of everyone else who posted, who then proceeded to spam the hell out of the topic.

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That was great, I remember that, Tang.

I love you too Kuja's Pants.

Hehe, I do try. ;)
I just tend to see new faces and lurk. That, coupled with an insanely slow browser that doesn't like forums makes it hard to post. But I try.

I have ventured in chat on the odd occasion. Last time I went in properly though there was someone else called 'Chaos' who everyone kept confusing with me. He tried to claim I'd stolen his name - despite well....he hadn't.

I can only get on to the java chat (if it still exists) as the uhm..IRC (Is it, I don't know) confuses me and makes me scared. I can't work it.

See, I am an old fogey! Technology makes me scared.

It would be so much easier if everyone started talking to me and saying how great I am.

I could really do with one of those cult of personality deelies.

Chaos

Quote:

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1) Chat in #eoff regularly.
2) Read all threads in the Feedback Forum and most threads in General Chat.
3) Have Raistlin on your LJ friends list. Warning: Raistlin may be extremely annoying at any time.
4) Have other EoFFers on your LJ friends list.
5) Actually bother to read the LJ entries where EoFF is mentioned.
6) Hook up with an administrator.
7) Be on Staff.
8) Make fun of people in a jokey kind of way.
9) Post regularly - more often than once per thread. You know, actually have a discussion and all that jazz.
10) Chat in #eoff regularly.

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It's true. I do all that except for 3 and 6 (if you count site saff as staff) and you pretty much get a feel for all the new stuff. There is always the nostolgic feeling of the old days if you've been here longer than even 3 months, but you just keep going. It's like a constant in your life thats always changing.

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Originally Posted by theundeadhero

It's like a constant in your life thats always changing.

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*giggle* I like that.

Chaos