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Is it just me or is TFormers a wasteland right now?


Jason X

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A lot of things happened here that have led to this eventuality. However I am not certain about the other forums and how they dealt with it, and also since I disappeared for awhile myself. Some of these or all together had something to do with it, so not to dig up bad news, and correct me if I am wrong or missed something. Some of these are my opinions as well.

 

In no particular order:

1. Combination with ENI sites: The single login thing caused a lot of problems when this was switched over. I didn't have a problem and my old login worked fine. But there were a LOT of people who couldn't log in, couldn't reset password, logged in and found their account wasn't linked, etc.

2. The news posters for non-TF related things. Currently this is only really happening in the Action Figures forum, but there also used to be other sections (like the Joystiq forum) that had automated news being posted. These sections became wastelands of just one account making threads. It was almost impossible to have discussions there because topics would be on page 2 or lower within a day. A lot of this extra content made this place seem less of a TF site and something else. You've seen me bring this up at one point or another.

3. The fallout of the older members. During the last memorable board battle vs Allspark and SFC vs Kalidor and all the factions, INH vs Beast Mayhem, NWO, Praxus, etc. INH got closed and being involved in a faction got you banned. A lot of people in factions that didn't get banned found some forums (not just here) to be boring with their buddies not being able to be around. A lot of people got out of the whole forum thing, and even got out of TF altogether.

4. The removal of the TFans domain. Brand recognition is a big thing. It was always that TFormers was news, TFans was talk. I know the old TFans url redirects to the regular URL.

5. News and moderation. I'm not saying you guys are doing a bad job or anything, as I know the difficulties of working in a large community and managing how to deal with a forum. There was a good period of time where there would be duplicate threads all over that weren't being merged. There is a little bit of that now, but mostly in the News section. And I don't want to leave out the fact that there is still an Animated subforum, which should have either been archived or merged with TFGD and also create a Prime section. Also, this topic seems like it should be in ATS? :tfhuh

 

I can't speak about any sort of ads on the site. :D

Wordfilters and Shoutbox are not a big deal really. Sites can survive without them. But ah, whatever happened to the games section of the site?

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And I don't want to leave out the fact that there is still an Animated subforum, which should have either been archived or merged with TFGD and also create a Prime section. Also, this topic seems like it should be in ATS? :tfhuh

 

 

I asked about that at least a few weeks, maybe a month or so ago, they said they'd talk about it.

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In toy discussion I got tired of the attitude of many people. There's too much an all-or-nothing. Either people absolutely love a new line (and want to sell the previous once glorified line) or absolutely hate it. Not much of a middle ground.

 

Self-selecting bias. People who feel strongly about something are more likely to post about it on the internet. There are plenty of fans who don't have strong feelings about this or that particular issue or toy, but they're not the ones putting finger to keyboard.

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When the site changed from TFans to TFormers, I had numerous problems logging in. Then when I was in, I had problems viewing the site in the black background mode. It was at that point when I started branching out to other sites. I still come to TFormers to get all my news and Blitzwing's unmatched reviews. I just wished the forums had stayed with TFans.

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I guess that was one of the things that did bother me back a few years ago when I was around here more. There was simply too much mod interference and it got tiresome. As far as I'm concerned, so long as things don't get physically threatening or just over the top insane then topics shouldn't be getting locked or so many warnings issued. It kind of defeats the purpose of having some really good discussions, because like it or not, the best discussions are usually very opinionated and aren't always the friendliest or simply have sensitive issues. It seemed like there for awhile almost anytime there were too many contrasting view points a thread would simply be locked at any sign that the discussion could turn ugly, whether it actually did or not.

 

Plus I always thought mods tried too hard to monitor for the sake of kids...when I don't really think I've met anyone younger than a late teenager on these forums, ever. Not gonna say that there aren't some younger ones around, but stuff like this I don't see holding the interest of younger kids. So I think it's safe to say 99%+ of the people are plenty old enough to take a little more liberty than what was previously allowed. I liked other sites because I didn't have to worry about keeping all my posts to a PG level rating.

 

Debates and arguments can be good things. Where I draw the line is when people go on the attack. With any thread I've moderated, I've given the thread users 2 chances to turn it around and only lock down when no one heeds the warning. I know that can be perceived as 'dull', but the last thing that should happen here is having people getting hurt and walking off. I'd much rather be accused of being too strict than watch someone walk away from the site because they got abused.

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It does seem pretty quiet, doesn't it? I rarely post in the boards very often anymore since I've got little to say that hasn't already been said by anyone else and I don't feel very welcome to voice my own thoughts in regards of Transformers without someone who's new to the franchise ranting and raving that the movie stuff is the best and everything else is rubbish because it isn't from a bunch of pretty looking, badly written movies.

 

Also the whole lack of stock issues here in the the UK and Europe in general in regards of the Classics/Universe/Generations/RTS lines has made it hard to care for the way the franchise is being plagued with something worse than an Insecticon plague - now we've got a plague of movie Bumblebee repaints and annoying shelf warmers like movie Bumblebee and movie Skids.

The movie isn't even out yet and in my local Tescos the small TF area is clogged full of DOTM deluxe BumbleBee and Skids repaints already and they aren't shifting very fast, same with the five pack Powercore repaints and The Fallen legends.

 

It tends to make it hard to care when the better stuff like the Generations/RTS line is near impossible to find.

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I think a bit part of it is also the death of certain series that actually was attracting new people.

 

I was collecting the Masterpiece line... (of course they don't come out but once every 9 months or so)

 

I began collecting the ATLERNATOR and BINALTECH line... and so there was something new coming out every so many months. There was news about what was coming... talk about what just came out... and reviews...

 

Then there was the movies and the movie line... (which the first movie actually had good toy production - ie, all the characters in the movie, were in the stores!)...

 

And when you have more people here - you have more to talk about as well (while your here) - things about G1... caption this picture... memory lane... who or what is better betweenthings... etc....

 

 

But ALT and BINALTECH are both dead.... and I know of a lot of older collectors that these series brought people back in.

 

I have become completely pissed at the direction they have gone with the Masterpiece line and refuse to buy any more that are not new molds..

 

the 2nd movie destroyed their toy line, with the crap of devestator they produced, and not even all the characters made it to toys (prompting me to not only stop buying - but returned over $300 worth of TFers i had previously purchased)...

 

So basically... outside of waiting for a new mold Masterline (which could be 2 years from now).... i'm done collecting.. so what news is there????

 

Hell, about the "ONLY" reason i check in periodically - to see if there is any news about them finally deciding to release a Leaderclass Prime and Megatron!! How STUPID is that, that the 2 leaders don't have a leader class figure????

 

I think those in business have just destroyed a lot of TF potential and have thus ushered in a new down cycle of disinterest. You will have yoru die-hards that will still come - but if you want to know why some that were coming a lot - no longer are - there is my input.

 

And every single problem had "profitable" solutions. There was no reason to scrap alt/binaltech - there were TONS of popular characters that never hit the market (megatron; starscream; soundwave; ironhide; bumblebee; i mean - comeone!!); The masterpiece line didn't have to go into overdrive with their repaints - they majorly took advantage of it and got greedy. And the movie line could "AT MINIMUM" release all the characters in a movie. I mean come-the-fuck on!! Poor business decisions destroyed these lines when there was still tons of profitable potential there.

 

Just my opinion - and why i'm pretty much out of TF collecting and just enjoying what I have.

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I like this site, as it is the only toy or Transformer collecting website I go to regularly, but I do more lurking than I do participating in threads cause i have nothing to talk about like a lot of you guys do. Besides, 99% of my time is spent in the toy section of the forums.

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