So I joined this forum like 3 weeks ago I guess, and was just wondering what the history of it was.  I'm guessing it was made 2 years ago this month, and used to be a lot more active?  The "Top posters" thing on the left shows people having 1000-2000+ posts, yet the forum is relatively small for that.  It's also like those people over there deemed as most active just vanished.  Which is understandable--I know all too well how people grow up and/or get busy and leave forums behind, but it just seems like a tight-knit group to me.

There's a lot of topics I see that I feel like I could add something to, but their last posts were in 2013, and it just feels odd because although I'd be replying to the posters above, it's highly likely they'd never see the message because their last visit was also in 2013.

I see a bunch of RPs, too, which I assume is where all the posts came from, haha.  Along with the Chat Room topic, it seems there's totally some history of how awesome this place used to be, and I'd love to hear what it was like and what's happened in the meantime.

I joined... maybe half a year ago? So I don't know how active this place was when it first started. But by the time I got here there were regular posters and some chatter throughout the day, but it was nowhere near the level the of "top posters" list. Like if you posted something you could usually count on getting a reply some time the next day.

It wasn't too long after that things started slowing down. Replies took longer because everyone was just super busy because of stupid real life (I was guilty too, work and school really killed me that semester and I dropped off the face of the earth for a bit). I can't speak for anyone else, but I started checking in once a week instead of once a day until that fell through, and now I only check in when I remember or when I'm procrastinating :p

I've pretty much given up hope of completing the RP I was in, which is a bummer because I had lots of ideas left still :c

Lazybones wrote:

I joined... maybe half a year ago? So I don't know how active this place was when it first started. But by the time I got here there were regular posters and some chatter throughout the day, but it was nowhere near the level the of "top posters" list. Like if you posted something you could usually count on getting a reply some time the next day.

It wasn't too long after that things started slowing down. Replies took longer because everyone was just super busy because of stupid real life (I was guilty too, work and school really killed me that semester and I dropped off the face of the earth for a bit). I can't speak for anyone else, but I started checking in once a week instead of once a day until that fell through, and now I only check in when I remember or when I'm procrastinating :p

I've pretty much given up hope of completing the RP I was in, which is a bummer because I had lots of ideas left still :c

Interesting, thanks for your input. So it really did get quieter not simply after 2013, but even as late as last year.

I'm checking in a few times a day probably because it's the interest of having a new forum (and because if there's nothing new it only takes a second to check).

What was the RP you were in?  I tend to enjoy RPs most of the time, though I'm no good at making them up myself.

It was basically a high school rp set in the Paranatural universe, a random other group of Spectrals in a random other town. I was using it mostly to get a feel for the setting, since at the time (and still, I guess) we didn't know much about the Paranatural universe or spectral abilities.

It was pretty fun trying to work with what we did know and what we could guess. I really liked the characters I made for it too, if I try to rp again I might re-use them!

It was the first rp I'd done in probably 10 years, I was so rusty XD. Do you rp often? What kind do you like?

Nice! The first thing I thought when I saw that a Spectrals RP existed here was "Uh...how do you know how the world works?" It might be interesting to try to work in the bounds of that kind of thing, though; to see what you already know, how you can use it, and maybe how you can stretch it.

I don't RP often; I did a few smaller ones with some friends in like 2006, but I think I was more interested in keeping it going than they were, since I was always the last poster before a thread died. I tried joining one or two a few years ago with different people that went about the same way, and I tried some online D&D with friends for the first time last semester as well. That also lasted like four weeks before they stopped, lol. Pretty much all of those were fantasy settings, I guess. One of them was a story of a high school were the kids were developing abilities, and it was all part of some conspiracy or whatnot. When I put it like that, it doesn't sound all that different from Paranatural, hah!

One should not call upon ancient names; "who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men"

Nah, I jest.

Slowly people dropped off way back when, I was one of the last, but it happened, oddly enough though this place has maintained some odd kind of heartbeat.

OMG HI SPIDER IT HAS BEEN AGES
This place was once very vibrant, we had a couple RPGs going, although it has slowly faded.

I had not realised I was missed that much, and uh yeah, I lurk.

Im also back i guess?

SpiderTiki wrote:

I had not realised I was missed that much, and uh yeah, I lurk.

You guys have like 800-1200 posts!  It's hard to talk with someone that much and not miss them eventually. =P

SpiderTiki wrote:

Im also back i guess?

Niiiiice! Welcome back, then!

Thanks

I was here before it was cool (pushes up those hipster glasses)

Seriously though, Was here when tis was busy, had a lot of fun. Life takes over and sucks sometimes. I did run probably the longest running RP on this site. Like Spider and Bones, pretty much the same story, checked everyday, till I slowly fell off, when running the rp came to be too much work cause of life.

I check every Blue Moon, most likely to change my name to avoid the Feds. And Polio.

I see. I'm sorry I missed it, I suppose! It sounds like it would have been a lot of fun.

Thanks for stopping in and adding your story.

We get spikes of activity now and then, but I think it didn't help that the forum's admin was one of the first people to vanish. I hung around for a long time, but I think eventually I just got tired of getting my hopes up that the place would be revitalized, only to see it stall out once again.

Baron Von Aardvark wrote:

I hung around for a long time, but I think eventually I just got tired of getting my hopes up that the place would be revitalized, only to see it stall out once again.

Yeah, that's always my fear as well. It happens all too easily and practically every time on forums I've been to, so you eventually either steel yourself against it or give up hope...

Yo it's been like a year since the last post in this thread. From then 'til now, has it been pretty much the same as described above?

Yeah, it seems like it. I only joined recently, but I think it was during one of the more quiet spells. I still check pretty much every day, though, and I post when I can in the hopes of keeping this place alive. It'd be great if others started to post again, though.

UniversalMonster wrote:

Yo it's been like a year since the last post in this thread. From then 'til now, has it been pretty much the same as described above?

Kind of, but actually more active than when I posted that. NinjaKitten and I reply to mostly anything that happens which keeps activity up, and we've had a bunch of people (like yourself!) come through and add to the fun. I'd say this forum's certainly not dead, and it's definitely a fun place to visit.

Yes, I think so too. Even when it was just me and Westbrook, I still liked coming to the forum and checking in. But, y'know, the more the merrier, so I'm hoping everyone who's posting will continue to post, and that new people will post too, so this forum can be a constant bustle of activity. It wouldn't be much of an activity club otherwise, right?

That's good to hear that it's kinda picking up. I'll try to visit at least once everyday, but sometimes it's hard. Today is one of those days cause it's 10pm right now and all day I barely had any me time after I got my phone turned back on.

I'm pretty tired, but here I am. (I told myself I can sleep after I at least made a post today, so yeah I'm heading off now and will check the rest of the updated threads later.

Sorry of that was off topic. Basically I have the time to check this place most days, so I plan to be here frequently.

That's wonderful! I'm looking forward to it.

Don't put your sleep schedule at risk for us, though! Your health comes first.

Yesyes. Don't get sick and/or die, please.

It's a tad heartbreaking to see this story and see the conveyance of raw entropy. Small forums are a real hidden gem, y'know?

I'm glad that I found this place- I was hesitant to join in, and it took me longer to make a profile than perhaps I'd wanted to be away from the admittedly small Paranatural community, but now that I'm here it's pretty nice. It is a small shame that the RP threads have fallen to the wayside- it would be pretty fun to jumpstart another one with the information we've gained over the last couple of years! I think it's been just a few months since I came around here, but I'm glad to have become even a small part of this place.

It's still kind of weird to note that one of the first major dropoffs was the main admin, that's always a hefty blow to a forum of any size (especially the ones large enough to attract trolls worthy of needing moderation). That the boards continue to stay active is a bit of good fortune.

I have to say that I'm not much of an expert on the topic of forums (as this is my first - and only!- form) so I can't say much about small vs. large forums.

Though, going by logic and reason, if a formerly large presence suddenly disappeared, that would most certainly discourage those who remained, and if none were able to fill that void, then things would inevitably break apart, or at the very least change, yes?

I'd agree that we're lucky there's still so many people around.  I've administrated other forums, one of which was very large (tens of thousands of users and I have almost 20k posts on it).  Now this forum gets more activity than that one does!