High Plains Drifter

The Drifter
VIP
Agreed.

It was nice to have the messageboards at the time, but, in retrospect, it had turned into a total nightmare.
That's how some of these new boards are looking at the moment. IMDB did get a message board that lived on for 10 years. I miss the movie/actor/actresses threads at times. Thought that was stupid doing away with every board.
 

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
I learned it from Joe Crowley, illegitimate son of Aleister. I found that, in lieu of sacrificing a virgin, you can substitute a bag of Sour Patch Kids.

The lamb's blood, however, is a must, and awfully hard to come by.
 

Amyghost

Member: Rank 3
Yeah, but we still managed to have some fun on a few of the quieter message boards, such as DOCTOR WHO (1963).
There were decent boards on the less trafficked topics; I haunted the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy board (the '79 series not the 2012 film redo) for a couple of years and only encountered a troll once, and the regulars handily got rid of him with a minimum of fuss. Same could be said of a number of the other, quieter film, tv and actor boards. I think the real trouble was more with newer releases, and with spillover from those twin sinkholes, The Soapbox and The Sandbox. Those boards should have been wiped early on, as they were clearly no more than troll breeding grounds which proceeded to leach over, unchecked, onto a number of other boards (Film General was an early one to fall prey, and The Classic Film Board had been heavily targeted and was fighting hard for its life at the time of the forums' demise). I honestly think a lot of problems could have been avoided down the road by blitzing the Two S's, but I also think that the powers-that-be at IMDb secretly rather liked the hits that the troll trainwrecks were garnering, at least til it got to the point that the site was being threatened with action under more stringent hate-speech laws in several European countries. By that time I think everyone at the table decided it was time to grow up, but the damage was done.

I don't feel my life ended when they were wiped, but I'm blessed sorry to see some of those boards go, all the same. There were some valuable and entertaining discussions on them that I don't think can ever be recaptured.
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
If you think THE SOAPBOX or THE SANDBOX were bad, you should have seen the POLITICS message board.

That was like experiencing nuclear war in written form. A place that was more entertaining to lurk in than to post in.

And I'm sorry to see some of the more reasonable message boards, like THE WATERCOOLER and DOCTOR WHO (1963) disappear, but that just means that our future is now in our own hands - where it belongs. It's up to us to make this website our new online home, if we want it to be that.
 

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
Here are a few moments from the Last Days of Sodom...erm, IMDb, that still make me question humanity,

-There was a guy who used to come on to the board for The Flash, only to complain about the show. I had finally gotten sick of hearing it, so I told him that if he didn't like the show, he could try something revolutionary, like change the channel. He simply replied "How old are you?"
-Someone complained about a character on Riverdale being fat, instead of a bean pole like her comic book counterpart. I retorted that the actress wasn't fat, merely curvy, and quite attractive at that. Several posters kept on about how fat she was, and one said I was wrong to think that being called fat was in some way an insult. When I explained that, being someone who has struggled with their weight and has been called fat, it is an insult, someone replied with something to the effect of "Get off of the computer and go to the gym, fatty". Because it's easier to be a fuckwit than to actually bring intelligence to a conversation.
-And like far too many who were on the boards, there was another of those people who only came onto the forums to complain about an actor/actress. There would be endless threads where all these people did was spend hours on end stating they hated them, and insulting anyone who actually liked them. Several of us called this one mental case out, explaining that they obviously had nothing else to do with their lives. To which every single person who did this would attempt to turn it around and go "No, you have nothing better to do!" Apparently, arguing on internet forums should be handled with the finesse of a seven-year-old on a school playground. I know that, in the end, these people are just out to bait everyone into a shouting match, because they were dropped on their heads as infants, and then kicked in the head by a donkey, and then slammed head first into a brick wall, but it still frustrates me that people can be that stupid.
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Here are a few moments from the Last Days of Sodom...erm, IMDb, that still make me question humanity,

-There was a guy who used to come on to the board for The Flash, only to complain about the show. I had finally gotten sick of hearing it, so I told him that if he didn't like the show, he could try something revolutionary, like change the channel. He simply replied "How old are you?"
-Someone complained about a character on Riverdale being fat, instead of a bean pole like her comic book counterpart. I retorted that the actress wasn't fat, merely curvy, and quite attractive at that. Several posters kept on about how fat she was, and one said I was wrong to think that being called fat was in some way an insult. When I explained that, being someone who has struggled with their weight and has been called fat, it is an insult, someone replied with something to the effect of "Get off of the computer and go to the gym, fatty". Because it's easier to be a fuckwit than to actually bring intelligence to a conversation.
-And like far too many who were on the boards, there was another of those people who only came onto the forums to complain about an actor/actress. There would be endless threads where all these people did was spend hours on end stating they hated them, and insulting anyone who actually liked them. Several of us called this one mental case out, explaining that they obviously had nothing else to do with their lives. To which every single person who did this would attempt to turn it around and go "No, you have nothing better to do!" Apparently, arguing on internet forums should be handled with the finesse of a seven-year-old on a school playground. I know that, in the end, these people are just out to bait everyone into a shouting match, because they were dropped on their heads as infants, and then kicked in the head by a donkey, and then slammed head first into a brick wall, but it still frustrates me that people can be that stupid.
I know you are, but what am I? :emoji_wink:
 

Amyghost

Member: Rank 3
If you think THE SOAPBOX or THE SANDBOX were bad, you should have seen the POLITICS message board.

That was like experiencing nuclear war in written form. A place that was more entertaining to lurk in than to post in.

And I'm sorry to see some of the more reasonable message boards, like THE WATERCOOLER and DOCTOR WHO (1963) disappear, but that just means that our future is now in our own hands - where it belongs. It's up to us to make this website our new online home, if we want it to be that.
Oh god, Politics was the worst. All I ever did was take a glance or two at that board and I knew enough to stay away. I can debate politics all the livelong day as long as I'm debating with rational people, but that place seemed to be inhabited by the more verbally violent form of psychotic. The twin S's looked almost sane by comparison on some days.

The Watercooler managed somehow to remain the complete antithesis to that place, and yeah, there were places of refuge from the maelstrom. But I think the forums' demise was probably inevitable, since it was obvious that, by then, there was no one at the helm who cared anyway. I agree that it's up to the castaways now to take that model and improve upon it to the best of our collective ability.
 
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