Opeth forum will close down?

[isolation_years]

you know, we can all lament about how this forum has gone downhill, or how there are good ones among us (which there are), but what it really comes down to is i don't think we really appreciated it enough when it was operable. sure a lot of us were fine, but there have been lots of crappy threads lately (since watershed really), and plenty of trolls have come on. Some people just see the need to ruin things for other people, its really quite sad , and i don't know why we couldn't just have fun talking opeth, without being pricks

i really wish we had a warning before he decided to just up and close it, oh well, i loved this forum and i have plenty of memories and many people i consider friends whom i met here, lord byron, ka nucht tut mesut, hox, and im sure there are others, im writing kinda fast.

good luck in the future to everyone! send me a PM if you'd like to keep in touch

 

[the_fiend]

As long as mike can keep a mental note about playing forest of october on the next indian visit, I'm pretty much not bothered at all about the forum closing down.

 

[Bound2Fate]

I enjoyed looking at this forum over the last few years. It sucks that its getting closed down because of a few people. I've seen much worse in forums. It was nice while it lasted, but it is just a forum.

 

[burntoast]

Its only really become that way because of the reactions you give them. Its just a bunch of idiots doing this on purpose knowing it will really bother you, and from the looks of things mainly about the deaths of Cliff Burton and Marcel Jacob, because they knew it would really get to you they decided to give these retarded comments etc.

While closing the forum is a drastic step it is the right one, this place is shit.

That being said, change your tampon man, c juste des niaserie par des criss de mongols, calme toi.

Unbelievable. Instead of blaming the people who deserve it, you blame those who don't.

You expect people not to react to the sort of shit that assholes like Arasmas and Widows Sulk continuously posted? There's one reason they stuck around here: to stir shit. Ninety-nine percent of their posts were nothing but inflammatory. They're a bunch of attention whores.

What's the point of having these kind of people around and simply "ignoring" them? What do you make of people who do nothing but piss people off on an online forum? I can just picture Arasmas and Widows Sulk high-fiving each other like a couple of morons after each post.

Moron.

 

[CladInDarkness]

Mike don't you think we need A Fair Judgment here? Why closing the forum because of idiots, while the true fans pay the price?

This.

I stopped frequenting this board years ago, because of what it became, but I don't think a few trolls should ruin what many people get out of this forum. It's the trolls that should be punished, not the fans.

 

[Hügelgräber]

I'm also on the side of those who think it hasn't been that bad lately. When i took the time to look through the threads, there were 2 or 3 members of who i regularly thought: "It's him again. I don't get it, why isn't he banned yet?" I didn't post much, simply because i didn't have something to say.
The difference of the last 2 days has been, that there is a thread about someone who died, who was known to the band. This implies emotions, and those lead to premature decisions. It reminds me of the time when Peter left, when people were throwing so much shit at each other, that i didn't want to visit this place again, too. Perfect playgrounds for kiddies as well, and as you can see in that thread again.

Ultimate Metal, as it is obvious because of the posts by Metal Ages, got a huge interest in keeping this forum, because it is simply one of their biggest. Maybe if someone of them would take over this place, there could be a chance for a new forum-policy: Ban them, ban them early and delete their posts. This is a forum, not a round table, where you can "moderate" in it's original meaning. If they are not civilized people yet, you can't hope for a change in their behaviour, if you just let them keep posting shit.

The band can't really want to have this place shut down either, because there are so many people visiting it. Many of them are new to Opeth and just want to chat about them. By a forum, people get a closer realation to the band, so this might be a "bigger deal" than Mikael meantioned some posts before. I think members who have been here longer should treat those new ones like they wanted to be treated themselves. If you are new to a band, you want to talk about stuff like "I just love song X or Y". If this means there is a 1000th "What is your favourite album"-thread, there is nothing wrong with that.
This is a metal-band-forum. You can't expect, that every thread got a sophisticated topic like the near perfection of the fuges of Bach.

I think a new start with that new policy that Metal Ages seems to follow could even be a chance to get people post here, who were so far discouraged by those who only seemed to use this place for working of their personal frustration.

 

[burntoast]

Agreed. Don't shut this forum down. Confirmation from a mod should be required before newly registered users can post. That'll help limit the influx of trolls (and the return of undesirables).

 

[Opeth for life!!!!]

Altough I have recently joined this forum, I've learned many things about my favourite band, Opeth that is among many other things. I've also got the chance to know other fans' opinions and tastes in music. That's why I'm feeling so sorry that this forum is gonna close. On the other hand, I've noticed that many people here do not respect others' points of view (rude replies and so on).. consequently, I respect Mike's decision ,yet I'm still hoping for that, he might reconsider the fact that many true fans here deserve another chance .

 

[Opion]

Where you have a group of educated music-lovers brings an equal amount of retarded threadshitters who love to ruin it for everyone. As ridiculous and worthless it may seem it takes the fun out of participating in group discussion with a somewhat intelligent group. I have no problem with this forum closing as it just may breed for a better forum with less retards - hopefully Mike will join in! This is the sole reason I joined as I found it awesome to speak amongst a hero. So I have no problems with your decision, Mikael. Keep on doing what you do best, fuck the retards.

 

[Jackehh]

This is very sad news but not surprising I guess. It's sad to see that a few people like arasmas can spoil a whole forum for a lot of other people but like I said, I even reported arasmas to the moderators for a thread but nothing happened so, not very surprising. Anyway I really liked this forum and photoshopeth and mike's sporadic posts were very fun to read and will be missed

 

[senza]

I only visited here a handful of times a year but i'm still sad to see it go - spending long evenings reading through the threads was always enjoyable/informative and i hadn't really noticed the trolls.

Thanks for posting here Mike - it was refreshing seeing a band member post with his fans. It's a shame that it hasn't worked out.

And of course, thanks to everyone who contributed to all the good threads, especially 'Photoshopeth'... Maybe someone could make a backup of the forum to host somewhere else? That way all the classic threads will live on? There's a lot of knowledge (Opeth and otherwise) held in these boards.

 

[Vega Skater]

I've got a habit of clicking the address bar, typing 'u', then down, then enter, daily. Wow that's going to take a hit.

Samsara, you can't sit at the PC 24/7 and monitor every little piece that is written on the forums. Kudos on an excellent job.

Mike, cheers.
Hopefully we will see some MA posts on the unofficial forum(s).

I'm Old Gregg.

 

[ecksemmess]

I really hope the forum can continue in an "unofficial" capacity without the band's seal of the approval, as MetalAges seems to wish, but if not, something absolutely has to be done to archive/mirror the years and years of Opeth information that literally cannot be found anywhere but here. It would be a travesty for so many once-in-a-lifetime tellings of stories in Opeth history to be destroyed. I'm sure that if Mike thinks about it and remembers some of the obscure subjects that he and his buddies have documented in threads on here years ago, he'll agree...!

Hell, even just for the numerous threads where hard-to-hear lyrics were painfully deciphered and then, finally, confirmed by Mikael, the database must be saved!!

 

[Vega Skater]

It would be a travesty for so many once-in-a-lifetime tellings of stories in Opeth history to be destroyed. I'm sure that if Mike thinks about it and remembers some of the obscure subjects that he and his buddies have documented in threads on here years ago, he'll agree...

This. Well said.

 

[Koi]

I think it's a shame, I do understand Mikael though, I can understand that it can feel like a burden and a responsibility to keep an eye on what people are talking about of him, his family and people that mean something to him. When a band gets as big as opeth, the cozy union of a fanbase is lost.
It will feel weird though to not visit this forum once a day anymore, this was one of the maybe three things I do on the internetz on a reguilar basis

 

[hibernal_dream]

Moderation was definitely a problem. I didn't see the threads, but insults to dead people? Anything like that should be removed instantly and the person responsible banned. Mr Samsara was a good guy but he applied the wrong rules. Modding is a hard job - you can't get emotional as Samsara discovered early on. You need good rules and you need to apply them even-handedly. Having the non-Opeth chat made applying them even harder, because it made almost anything fair-game.

I also don't see the need for the Non-Opeth music chat. It wasn't needed in the early years, and check the threads if you don't believe me, that was the best time for the forum. No problems with members, very little mischief and people didn't linger here all day and create trouble. It was just a place to check news and discuss the band we love. People didn't obsess over the place enough to care about arguing. When you pay for people to come here who aren't fans and discuss things unrelated to Opeth, you're expecting trouble. A strictly band chat forum is much better, the trolls don't have as much fun and they leave. The true fans stay and the quality of discussion increases.

I do think this place was good for the band's business, even with the negative aspect. Having it encouraged a greater interest among the fans and made metal fans perusing UM who hadn't heard of Opeth to check them out. The discussions held the music in the consciousness of all who participated in them, and in turn hearing the thoughts of others made the music richer for all of us. But in the end it was an emotional decision from Mike, not a business decision. That's a true music fan for you - they don't put money above integrity.

 

[burntoast]

Modding is a hard job

Actually, it's not. It's simple: when someone is constantly patently inflammatory or trolls needlessly, you ban him.

you can't get emotional as Samsara discovered early on.

Actually, you can. There's no democratic element to this.

 

[hibernal_dream]

Actually, it's not. It's simple: when someone is constantly patently inflammatory or trolls needlessly, you ban him.

If it were that easy, it would have been done. Some users might have been good early on, then mods form attachments to them and don't realise when things get out of hand. Seems like this happened with this "Arasmas" guy and many others in the past. Not to mention Moonlapse quitting because the pressure was too much.

Actually, you can. There's no democratic element to this.

Well, of course. You want a human being not a computer, that's why we have human mods.

 

[Hügelgräber]

I do think this place was good for the band's business, even with the negative aspect. Having it encouraged a greater interest among the fans and made metal fans perusing UM who hadn't heard of Opeth to check them out. (...) But in the end it was an emotional decision from Mike, not a business decision. That's a true music fan for you - they don't put money above integrity.

I don't think it is a sign of integrity to give up something that other people enjoyed based on emotions that were risen by 2 or 3 idiots. It is not that this place is hopeless. Like burntoast says, modding is easy, when you set easy - and strict - rules.

If it were that easy, it would have been done. Some users might have been good early on, then mods form attachments to them and don't realise when things get out of hand. Seems like this happened with this "Arasmas" guy and many others in the past. Not to mention Moonlapse quitting because the pressure was too much.

No. That Arasmas guy should have been banned after 3 posts. He was always insulting people.

 

[hibernal_dream]

Fact is he wasn't. Samsara tried the hard-arsed approach early and it didn't work. Then he admits he got too soft. I'm not a mod, I don't know how hard it is but i'm sure it's harder than it looks. You have to be both fair and tough-skinned while respecting the band's directions, and the band doesn't want to lose any fans by unnecessarily banning them from the forum. I suspect it is Mikael that's the soft-hearted one here going by the mods we've had over the years. But I agree, that Arasmas guy was trouble from the start.