Robots.txt

[gumboot]

From my extensive time on this place, the only thing that feels "wrong" is that nobody seems to bother replying to each other any more. We just seem to wait for the other person to shut up so we can have our go.

It's a generation of bloggers and twitterers. Write-only media.

This place got a little shitter the day someone started the "put aeroplanes in a thread to mean 'kill it now'" meme

Perhaps it's people who are too vain to admit to being vain enough to have a blog but still want a space that's all about them, and so they need to chase away the stuff that doesn't interest them personally from something that isn't a blog.

[Zoot]

People make places, places don't make places.

That's not strictly true, so I'll continue in my completely obtruse ramblings by saying that you can go to a really nice place to visit because you have heard that it is a really great place but, once you have been there, it's unlikely that you'll go back again just to see the place. You may well go back, however, to see the people that you met in that place, or that you took with you the first time. Yeah, it's a crap analogy, but it's what I think about this place.

When YakYak was first created, it was initially populated, in the main, by a specific group of people i.e. filks who had grown up withteh original computer boom, and were familiar with stuff that Yak had done on the 8-bits and beyond. It created an immediate and common bond, and a number of people were already friends, and the the rest grew out of it.

A number of high profile folks have left over time, many taking a lot (not people, but impetus) with them, so it has diluted what is left. Gravy has said that there aren't many new members, and the effect becomes cumulative - if there's not much here to do, folks won't stay. It's like providing games and stuff on a website - "Sticky Content" - if there's nothing to do, folks don't come back.

The main thing for me, however, is that Yak isn't around very much. That's why I joined in the first palce (it was like an interactive "Nature of the Beast"), but he isn't around as much as he was. In addition, when this board started, he was full of enthusiasm for what was ahead and the re-birth of Llamasoft, but it has probably been sucked out of him now by all the shit that has gone on.

Still, I like the place. If I need an answer to a question, this is still the place that I come to first and, almost without exception, I get one or more bloody good answers within a few hours.

Finally, I have made a few really good friends on here. That's priceless.

[aureole]

This place got a little shitter the day someone started the "put aeroplanes in a thread to mean 'kill it now'" meme

The planes thing was a response that generally translates as "you are too thick to converse with". It was funny the first few times, but generally just depressing and indicative of the terrible quality of debate/conversation. For me, it seems like the majority of interesting people to talk with here got bored or too busy to regularly contribute, and a bunch of shrill timewasters with a bag of memes replaced them.

[Istar]

The main thing for me, however, is that Yak isn't around very much. That's why I joined in the first palce (it was like an interactive "Nature of the Beast"), but he isn't around as much as he was. In addition, when this board started, he was full of enthusiasm for what was ahead and the re-birth of Llamasoft, but it has probably been sucked out of him now by all the shit that has gone on.

Still, I like the place. If I need an answer to a question, this is still the place that I come to first and, almost without exception, I get one or more bloody good answers within a few hours.

Finally, I have made a few really good friends on here. That's priceless.

Agreed. Why did the Llamasoft forum appeal, back in '02? Because I'm a boomer 'I was there' guy right from the early 80s, with Llamasoft titles being amongst the best games of the day for the machines I owned, and Jeff being a 'character' - that is, a person with character - who wrote newsletters and made awesome games and produced a video I bought on sight at a computer show from the man himself and still watch once in a while today. So a forum populated by people like me and frequented by that guy was irresistable.

Today there are fewer people like me here, and more people who like to talk about crisps and the way gay men are unrepresented in society. Neither of which I have a problem with, but equally neither of which I have much of an interest in. And Jeff is more lurker than focus, and has been for a long time - for good reasons which I do not hold against him.

As Zoot says, this place is likeable - but it's not compelling for me any more. I notice when it disappears in a DDoS, and am glad when it comes back, of course. And I too have made friends IRL through here that could not possibly have happened if here hadn't been here. And maybe I will again - part of what keeps me coming back, even if only for a few minutes a day, is the buzz of finding something new; a post about something that I'd never have encountered otherwise, a question I can answer with authority that helps someone out, a picture I cannot unsee.

Do I wish for the old days back? In a rose-tinted way, yes, I want it to be the 2002-2005 era again. Do I want YY to close, because it's not what it was? Not at all. Do I wish there was more signal and less noise? Yes. Do I know what that 'signal' should be, or how it might come to be generated? No, not a clue.

I keep coming back. It's more habit than compulsion now, but it's a strong habit. I'll keep coming back until the day comes when there is truly nothing here that resonates with me any more. We're not there yet, and I hope we'll never get there. But this is evolution at work, and nothing stays the same, and that is probably a good thing.

[Alarm]

I've noticed that other forums are in decline too; presumably due to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. I enjoy visiting here and have met some of the regular posters in person and even that didn't put me off posting here.

[Bubba]

Stuff

What a wonderful post, pretty much sums up my feelings as well.

I keep coming back. It's more habit than compulsion now, but it's a strong habit. I'll keep coming back until the day comes when there is truly nothing here that resonates with me any more. We're not there yet, and I hope we'll never get there. But this is evolution at work, and nothing stays the same, and that is probably a good thing.

Especially this bit :-)

Cheers

Bubba

[PVB]

The main thing for me, however, is that Yak isn't around very much. That's why I joined in the first palce (it was like an interactive "Nature of the Beast"), but he isn't around as much as he was. In addition, when this board started, he was full of enthusiasm for what was ahead and the re-birth of Llamasoft, but it has probably been sucked out of him now by all the shit that has gone on.

Still, I like the place. If I need an answer to a question, this is still the place that I come to first and, almost without exception, I get one or more bloody good answers within a few hours.

Finally, I have made a few really good friends on here. That's priceless.

Agreed. Why did the Llamasoft forum appeal, back in '02? Because I'm a boomer 'I was there' guy right from the early 80s, with Llamasoft titles being amongst the best games of the day for the machines I owned, and Jeff being a 'character' - that is, a person with character - who wrote newsletters and made awesome games and produced a video I bought on sight at a computer show from the man himself and still watch once in a while today. So a forum populated by people like me and frequented by that guy was irresistable.

Today there are fewer people like me here, and more people who like to talk about crisps and the way gay men are unrepresented in society. Neither of which I have a problem with, but equally neither of which I have much of an interest in. And Jeff is more lurker than focus, and has been for a long time - for good reasons which I do not hold against him.

As Zoot says, this place is likeable - but it's not compelling for me any more. I notice when it disappears in a DDoS, and am glad when it comes back, of course. And I too have made friends IRL through here that could not possibly have happened if here hadn't been here. And maybe I will again - part of what keeps me coming back, even if only for a few minutes a day, is the buzz of finding something new; a post about something that I'd never have encountered otherwise, a question I can answer with authority that helps someone out, a picture I cannot unsee.

Do I wish for the old days back? In a rose-tinted way, yes, I want it to be the 2002-2005 era again. Do I want YY to close, because it's not what it was? Not at all. Do I wish there was more signal and less noise? Yes. Do I know what that 'signal' should be, or how it might come to be generated? No, not a clue.

I keep coming back. It's more habit than compulsion now, but it's a strong habit. I'll keep coming back until the day comes when there is truly nothing here that resonates with me any more. We're not there yet, and I hope we'll never get there. But this is evolution at work, and nothing stays the same, and that is probably a good thing.

What they said.

Not all other forums are in decline though.

The Aliens Legacy forums I'm in is about The Alien(s) and (to a lesser extent) Predator films.
Every member is interested in one or both of those franchises.
There is an off-topic forum, but that doesn't get posted in anywhere near as much as the main Alien(s) related one.

The early joining YakYak members came here to talk about Llamasoft. Other subjects less so.

Nowadays a fair majority on here talk about anything but Llamasoft, some not even buying the latest games.
So the main chatter is about nothing much of consequence really, which many can get elsewhere, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. so why would anyone stay here?

[adam]

i'm grateful this forum exists, mostly i just read whats written nowadays and only occasionally chip in, still look at the new posts since last visit link several times a day though

[Fil]

shrill timewasters with a bag of memes replaced them.

You rang?

[gumboot]

This place got a little shitter the day someone started the "put aeroplanes in a thread to mean 'kill it now'" meme

The planes thing was a response that generally translates as "you are too thick to converse with".

Not much point in that, is there. If you want to excuse yourself from a thread because you think it's tedious (which is rarely necessary, unless you know your input will be expected), then do so, but don't poo on the doorstep as you leave.

[ElfQrin]

a bunch of shrill timewasters with a bag of memes replaced them.

It's entirely a problem of signal vs noise: memes and funny replies were always present in this forum (with heyhey 16k hidden in almost every thread...), but it was just a humorous break in the conversation, that wasn't stopped by them.

There's obviously now too few people who post and reply regularly. Back in the times if you refreshed the index page of the Bleatings board within five seconds, you could hardly see the same threads in the top 20 positions.

[Unfathomable]

i'm grateful this forum exists, mostly i just read whats written nowadays and only occasionally chip in, still look at the new posts since last visit link several times a day though

Me too.

I've never been a major contributor here but I am an avid reader.
I came as someone who loved Jeffs work and wanted to see what he was up to, games-wise.
I find Yak and yakyak always interesting.

Fuckin love your work Jeff.

Peace.

[WiteWulf]

fwiw, that unidentified peak on the posts graph corresponds roughly with when I joined (not claiming personal responsibility!) and I joined because of the buzz around Unity (RIP) at the time.

[Flabio]

I joined because of the buzz around Unity (RIP) at the time.

Same as, actually. (Helped that I was, and indeed remain, at Lionhead).

[Spoongod]

Would a total reboot be a reasonable solution? Just start again from scratch, carry nothing over. Either consign the current forums to the archives or else nuke them entirely. Might stimulate new content and gloss over current problems to a certain extent.