Of late, I'm appalled at the shape this forum is taking. I never thought we would be the kind of people - or fans of the kind of band - to attract many spammers of pre-teen quality, all aboard with their seemingly endless supply of typed laughter, emoticons, broken english and cheap sexual jokes. Even though I'm not reminiscing nostalgical about some hazy golden age, I have to say I let myself doze off in the false conviction that the Villains, hyenas, Sirens, King Chaoses, Taliesins, VultureCultures, TheFourthHorsemen of this world would always outnumber (or overpower) Opeth forum-level chit-chat. Even many of those whose posts I used to think of as a woe to human kind are now topping my list of "users I would like to see in bold when I hit refresh", because at least they knew/know when and how to stop.
Is it the band that has changed? Is it the intended target? Is it the Internet that is steadily turning from haven of the geek to two-bit arena for the new barbarians?
It used to be like this: a few of the new users were just stopping by on their way to FillMyHole dot com, and were gone before you could say the sun fired blanks. Others meant to stir up some trouble and were either accepted, used as a preposterous provocation to stimulate discussion, or banned when they plunged into midget-porn arguments. The majority remained, enticed by either what they could see in Dark Tranquillity as a band - do you even remember all the clever lyrics and though-provoking atmospheres and imaginative artwork? - or by what they could see in the community, an often welcoming bunch of Terry Pratchett-reading, heavy metal-loving, sassy young men and women. Now the old regulars leave their occasional mark while moving on to better things - as is good and right - but no new generation of enthusiasts has taken their place. No: it's a "kekeke ^_^" disaster waiting to happen around every corner, a banquet of bastardized, banalized, cheapened affection for Mikael's schlong or Niklas' new hairstyle.
I contend that Dark Tranquillity haven't changed (much). They write compelling music, interesting lyrics, and package their merchandise in what is not an unoriginal, trendy fashion. They're still trying - unconsciously, I suppose, but they weren't being elitist in 1995 either - to appeal to finer senses and acute minds.
The potential fans could still look for (and find) something different than a metal band or some generic wish-wash of emotional inspiration to paint their toenails black. They could still decide to check this place out and talk about something, anything other than band members masturbating furiously or their unquenchable thirst for some other user's attention. They could still help me find the strength to stop this, because as of now I can't even make myself close all the threads promptly derailed by the troops of mindless banter, or remove all the vulgar, incomprehensible, utterly useless one-liners that prevent me to even understand what it is - for instance - that Nt3N ended up asking the band last saturday. I can't muster the will to do it because shutting up the annoyance won't make interesting new posts magically appear overnight. Maybe at some point they'll tire themselves out. But when did you ever see intelligence and meaning prevail in life?
