My Comment On This Surprising Closing Of Opeth Off-Topic

[[0hr]Sunlapse]

Sorry to disagree with everyone here, but if any community was taken away, it was the Chat community. If you go to where the O/T forum is now, you'll find mostly O/T members there, but most of the people that I used to post with on Chat are gone. The O/T community overpowered the Chat community, and even some of you guys admitted it. I feel like I've lost the Chat community. Oh well, nobody wanted this to happen on both sides, so what are you gonna do....

 

[Firedwarf]

Metalman, you said there was an official statement. Link? Not the sticky, either!

 

[Sóti]

.

 

[Spike]

I'll get back to the issue of that actual decision by opeth.com at a later date, but the one thing I DID want to bring up while it's fresh in my mind is that 'Chat-ers' and 'O/T-ers' need to have a little PATIENCE with the new layout as it stands....

What I don't think that Chat regulars realise is that an influx of irate O/T members has occured, and that accordingly they are being overly belligerent and 'spammish' while getting all there angst out.

Alot of the Chat Regulars bailed within the first day of the news...... before even testing the waters.... and after that, you'll find the content on this and the 'Chat' forum is actually an exagerrated and over the top version of the old 'Chat O/T'.

Surely everyone will realise that we weren't always THIS insane... and if they just give it a chance to settle down, things will most likely work out for the better.

Having hoards of 'regulars' defect on the other hand, will be to the detriment of the boards.

I guess the main thing I'm trying to get at, is that as a member of BOTH boards for a considerable amount of time now having 'Chat' regulars saying that 'O/T regulars are 'Insane' and 'Spammish' is just plain preposterous..... the difference in content is SIGNIFICANTLY less than what most people think. Both boards were predominantly 'Spam', just they were of occasinally different varietys.

Which again brings me back to my bewilderment as to why O/T folk are upset with the new locale.... it's OFF TOPIC... it's CHAT... it's the SAME BLOODY THING!

The ONLY complaint that cold possibly be made is that there things will move along to fast now... as Papa'O pointed out.

I've been around here since the start (though my Join date dosen't imply it, every board has to have it's 'original lurker'), I've weathered Opeth ===> Opeth + Opeth Chat O/T, and Chat O/T Non-Spam to Chat O/T Spam-Central...... I'll be around for a while yet... all you need is a little patience.

 

[Super Mahrio]

Everyone has valid points but its not like the world blew up...I know how some of you feel but you can do one of two things....Leave and never come back and be bitter and hate Opeth, or you could try out the new waters and recreate your community there...i think the latter would be alot more fun...
When i joined, the Opeth off topic forum seemed really fun and i enjoyed it but about 2 months after i joined things seemed to go South...it was just a bunch of spam and not just that fun kind of spam but that annoying "what the hell is this?" kind of spam...it wasnt even worth reading most of the time...Im not going to leave because of this...in the past month ive been going to the Nevermore forum alot more...its fun over there and it seems Warrel Dane really likes the stupidity that goes on there...(hell he fucking mods it now..LOL)
I say hold out and see where the new area goes...it may just become like the Opeth chat forum most of you remember...

 

[ucsbdude]

Time to move on guess.
O/T forum was a fun place to communicate with other Opeth/metal fans which I can't in real life because I don't have to many friends that listen to Opeth or metal in general and sit around and talk about. Oh well.

 

[Sengir*Buendia]

This feels pathetic to me. Why should the band PAY (if that's really true) for a handful of nerd fans to have some "virtual fun" in that STUPID forum??? It served NOTHING for the band, and that's what matters. An official forum is supposed to be a place of REFERENCE for the band and for new fans, not a cool place to hang around and have some chat. If it's OFFICIAL, the band mantains it, and they have no need to please 50 die-hard-loyal fans (they'll buy the albums just as any other fan).

ONE official forum is more than enough!

 

[Ermz]

Can someone explain to me how the Off-topic forum was promoting Opeth?

When I went there all I saw was people saying how old and lame Opeth had become and how Kayo Dot shits all over them.

 

[xenophobe]

Disappointing.

I'm quite surprised that this "community" has been taken away. I've been here basically since UM started - well over 2 years. As obvious by the post count and activity in both the Opeth forum and off-topic section, it was a very popular place. I have yet to see if there is a post as to the reason why this has happened, but I honestly can't come to a reasonable conclusion as to why it had to be done.

Oh well - things change.

As much as it pisses me off that your lame ass is in Chat now, like a pile of shit placed upon a garden.

Who cares what you think? I don't. Opeth doesn't. STFU whiner.

Sure, the Opeth off-topic was a mish-mosh, but now, it's just included with the entire UM pile of crap chat. At least we had created a community.

And we had a community that was devoid of angst ridden. unintelligible computer-potato, attention deficit banter threads.

Thanks Opeth, I have all your albums shared.

 

[xenophobe]

Alot of the Chat Regulars bailed within the first day of the news...... before even testing the waters....

I post here ocassionally. Chat was great because it WASN'T off topic.

Fuck letting things settle. I liked coming to OT on occasion, but having it thrown in your face where you regularly post, sucks.

 

[Opeth.com]

It got to a point that I saw no reason to keep up the off-topic forum. First of all it is not Opeth related at all and I got loads of complains and people offended each other in that forum. So I got sick of it. The Off-topic forum is moved so it is not gone!
//opeth.com

 

[R.I.P.2]

At least we had created a community.

But compared to now, it was fun.

Other than that, I think it's been fun, and a place for people who like Opeth to get together and chat. Now, we must chat with everybody in UM. Too much to wade through now.

The thing is, not once did I see you appreciating the "community". Not once did I see you refer to the forum as fun. For the last few months, all you've really done is whine about how the forum was so much better in 2001, and how much crap you have to wade through nowadays to find a decent topic. It's not that I don't agree with you - the forum did worsen over time. But you always seem to glorify the past and moan about the present. Why don't you just adapt and appreciate what you have now?

 

[no country for old wainds]

My posting had reduced considerably in that forum because it had begun to bore me. I'm not too bothered by this decision.

 

[Slynt]

Can't you just gather up your friends of the Off-topic section and get someone to create an Opeth board elsewhere on the Internet? Just a suggestion

 

[Misanthrope]

It got to a point that I saw no reason to keep up the off-topic forum. First of all it is not Opeth related at all and I got loads of complains and people offended each other in that forum. So I got sick of it. The Off-topic forum is moved so it is not gone!
//opeth.com

*serious out of character comment*

While i agree with all of these, what more people here are debating about ( whenever they realize it or not ) is that lack of action on the part of the moderators that ultimately leads to this kinds of situations.

Shure some of the people ( or well all ) immediatly think i am the last person who should say this, most of my In Character critique and extreme behavior was a well deserved cry for moderation, the forum was always a chaotic place and as time went by and the forum followed unsupervised, the situation grew out of control. All original users who indulged in serious, constructive and quite frankly, enjoyable discussion, where driven away by this kind of behavior.

I understad the position the band is taking, and i also realize is too late to change the current situation, but i would hope that in the near future the band realizes that having a forum ( or a chat or a sign book or a news group ) is not a simple matter of setting it and forgetting about it, and it was an error that you guys asumed that either the um community would control things for you or that it was not necessary to check out on it or interfer.

Take the example of the Dark Tranquillity forum. Since the moderation started and Rahvin helped out, the forum has, while kept a relatively low profile, nevertheless kept a reazonable state where there are both on and off topic comments.

So in the future, the lesson here is that a forum doesnt works just because the internet provider is working properly, or because a comunity like this takes care of those details, a forum requires control and supervision and is a shame that now that things grown out of control drastic measures have been taken, while smaller affirmative actions in the past years would have preserved a comunity that me and a lot of people will miss. Next time you guys think about starting a forum, think that some of the people who will use it WILL take it seriously and that is not fair that they have to suffer because the band decided to give a place to the comunity that was half complete at best, specially when it was incredible easy to correct the situation.

Its nice when a band remembers their fans and gives em an space like this, but is sad when the band thinks they can forget about them and think things will be ok.

Ernesto Nàñez ( since it was a real comment, not a misanthrope comment )

 

[narcisco]

Well I have not been here for a month or two and find out the off-topic is gone.

Well my feelings are that Opeth fans just tended to switch between the two.

Of course I have no evidence. But hey it was fun and often was so close to the Opeth forum anyway. I mean I have been here just a few months but have had many great discussions in both forums.

Well hey we move on. But if it was done for a commercial premise. opeth must be poorer then we think.

Disapponted.