ATOT is Officially Dead

[OCGuy]

I blame it on the splitting up of the forums. We used to have girl threads, car threads, photography threads all in ATOT. Now we have everyone split up into different subforums, it just makes finding something interesting more difficult.

Yep. I've never understood why people get butt-hurt over a thread that is a topic they don't care about.

If the thread title doesn't interest you, don't click the damn thing.

 

[TehMac]

all I get out of ATOT is JulesMaximus talking about how he performs cunnilingus on his wife anytime the subject of Pussy gets even remotely brought up.

 

[Kadarin]

I blame it on the splitting up of the forums. We used to have girl threads, car threads, photography threads all in ATOT. Now we have everyone split up into different subforums, it just makes finding something interesting more difficult.

I agree.

 

[ShawnD1]

all I get out of ATOT is JulesMaximus talking about how he performs cunnilingus on his wife anytime the subject of Pussy gets even remotely brought up.

Does that mean he brings this topic up in every Trident thread?

 

[schneiderguy]

all I get out of ATOT is JulesMaximus talking about how he performs cunnilingus on his wife anytime the subject of Pussy gets even remotely brought up.

all I get out of ATOT is an uncontrollable urge to stick my penis in TehMac. (no homo)

 

[JulesMaximus]

all I get out of ATOT is JulesMaximus talking about how he performs cunnilingus on his wife anytime the subject of Pussy gets even remotely brought up.

Pussay!

I defy you to find more than one time I've mentioned that here...well, maybe two times.

 

[JulesMaximus]

all I get out of ATOT is an uncontrollable urge to stick my penis in TehMac. (no homo)

I think he'd like that.

 

[Duder1no]

Also, no ads and an increased PM count.

I used to be one.

And ATOT died when they split up the forums into L&R, Garage, and Health. The healthy dose of trolling, light humor and stupid banter that went back and forth with those topics made AT fantastic. Now it's just...4chan lite, really lite...like, without any of the funny lite.

EDIT: I should also add that the famous "Change of culture" threat by the Mods is to me, the start of the epic fail that ATOT has become. So many good posters banned/left in the following days and weeks that it just became crap.

mods always ruin forums

 

[Perknose]

all I get out of ATOT is an uncontrollable urge to stick my penis in TehMac. (no homo)

His mouth is always open and spewing drivel. Consider it an opportunity!

 

[ShawnD1]

His mouth is always open and spewing drivel. Consider it an opportunity!

So one would expect it to feel a lot like anal sex. Good to know :thumbsup:

 

[trmiv]

As has been said, the 10 million sub forums are a big part of the problem. I complained when it initially happened and said it was broken up too much. ATOT used to be the fun place to get info on many topics that weren't computer related. It was the computer stuff in the other forums, and then everything else in here. The forum moved fast, and the topics were wide ranging. Now it's just 90% crap, and doesn't move nearly as fast.

 

[Perknose]

I blame it on the splitting up of the forums. We used to have girl threads, car threads, photography threads all in ATOT. Now we have everyone split up into different subforums, it just makes finding something interesting more difficult.

perfectly summed up

It might surprise some, but I strongly agree. However, this enormous change was etched in stone by Derek Wilson, and continues to be supported by Anand, so . . .

 

[ShawnD1]

It might surprise some, but I strongly agree. However, this enormous change was etched in stone by Derek Wilson, and continues to be supported by Anand, so . . .

Did they give a reason?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Lol. Short attention span theater. The reason the sub forums were added in the first place was due to everyone begging for them.

 

[EightySix Four]

It's been dead to me for quite some time now. Completely different atmosphere really. I enjoy chilling in garage and laughing at the flame wars in G&G, but other communities are far more active and entertaining these days.

 

[Imp]

I also blame subforums. It "forced" people to read and hate on things that they normally wouldn't.

 

[ShawnD1]

Lol. Short attention span theater. The reason the sub forums were added in the first place was due to everyone begging for them.

That was when the forum was very active. The thing would scroll so fast that threads would get buried in minutes.

It's ideal to have a medium rate of change. Too slow is bad because it's boring. Too fast is bad because things get buried immediately. If things get buried too fast, make subforums until the rate is ideal. If a subforum is too slow, merge it with another subforum.

CPU, mobo, video, memory/storage would probably merge together seemlessly since those are major components.
PSU, case cooling, notebooks, periph, computer help would be merged into general hardware.
High tech could still stand alone.
All of the consumer electronics subforums could merge into one general consumer electronics area

 

[Perknose]

Did they give a reason?

Only to the extent that, in a fairly recent phone convo with Anand, when I said I often liked to leave topics posted in OT that might otherwise be seen as belonging to another forum in OT because OT is its own community and often the poster had knowingly chosen to post in OT because he wanted his answer from his fellow OT'ers, Anand quickly and decisively responded that he upheld the moving of posts to their "appropriate" forums.

I had also previously had this same exchange with Derek when he was head honcho, both by phone and in the mod forums, with the same strong answer each time.

 

[Perknose]

Otoh, while OT, and therefore our OT-based, collective sense of community has certainly suffered from forum profusion, forums such as L&R, The Garage VC&G and H&F, to name a few, are "success stories" in and of themselves.

As for any general decline in posting, I see this as part of a general trend. Some don't know and others may forget, but AT was once one of the top 10 message boards of any kind in any language on the entire internet.

The fact is, we have been eclipsed by the rise of all the other special interest boards and social networking sites.

Membership growth, even just maintaining the level of interest a site has, comes from the constant infusion of new and eager members. AT has 100 times the competition for new members it once had.

Furthermore, we started out as a community of enthusiast overclockers! The real life gains to be had from this, and therefore the general interest in it, has materially declined over the years.

It once was the case that building your own box was not only preferable from a performance standpoint, but saved you HUGE bucks, too. Remember? This edge has declined tremendously.

All these larger societal and technological factors pertain.

 

[ShawnD1]

Only to the extent that, in a fairly recent phone convo with Anand, when I said I often liked to leave topics posted in OT that might otherwise be seen as belonging to another forum in OT because OT is its own community and often the poster had knowingly chosen to post in OT because he wanted his answer from his fellow OT'ers, Anand quickly and decisively responded that he upheld the moving of posts to their "appropriate" forums.

Did they mention anything about their motivation for needing them separate? I can think of a reason, but insisting on keeping all car threads together would actually go against that reason.

reason to keep a separate car forum:
If you are a gearhead and you think a lot about cars, you'll want advice from people just like you. Not people like me, or Trident, or any other person who is not a car guy. In a thread about sporty cars, the off topic people and nerds are suggesting lame things like driving a Corolla in second gear because it feels peppy.

reason for keeping OT car thread in OT:
People who are not car guys do not want to hear advice from car guys. When asking what practical family car to buy, the car people will suggest wildly impractical things like sports cars.

It seems puzzling, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Only to the extent that, in a fairly recent phone convo with Anand, when I said I often liked to leave topics posted in OT that might otherwise be seen as belonging to another forum in OT because OT is its own community and often the poster had knowingly chosen to post in OT because he wanted his answer from his fellow OT'ers, Anand quickly and decisively responded that he upheld the moving of posts to their "appropriate" forums.

Would you do me the great favor of moving the thread in my sig back to GG&P then? DBZ bitched about it and someone moved it here and didn't take credit for it.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Do we get "epic" threads any more since the splitting of the forums a la sonz70, mouse in the air conditioner, trygve's desk, etc.? The loss of YAGT is pretty devastating as well.

 

[0roo0roo]

Actually, back when AT had its most forum traffic, the rules were a LOT stricter.

nope, it was a lot more lax.

the "change in culture" in an attempt to make the forums something anand could show his mother or whatever killed it.
splitting the forums into countless subforums also created little sub ghettos where they withered and died.

 

[dmcowen674]

shit, I have gotten two points in infractions to commenting on spammers in the past month. So sad AT has began seeding google even.

I revel in my new job allowing NSFW forums

I am not sure what AT is looking to become, but its serious low-hanging fruit.

I only imagine a team of pimple-faced and washed up moderators hanging out in some chatroom thinking "WE GONNA PWN!"

Infarctions have killed it too no doubt.

 

[Malak]

I know some people had complained about the number of "anti religion" or "anti Christian" posts. I don't know the outcome of the complaint, but that is the type of thing that should not matter in the least to the mods. As long as no one is saying kill Christians, etc, it should be perfectly ok to criticise religion.

The issue has never been about criticizing religion. There are several asshats on the forum that directly insult and harass people for their beliefs. Even when an intelligent conversation is going, those few asshats without fail threadcrap. I got no problem with criticism of religion, I do it myself all the time.