it's not fun anymore

The funny thing is, all the non-christians are all lurking and leaving. We didn't start posting more - you guys posted less. And it was happening before the format change. Maybe that's because we read your threads, maybe it's just a lull. Either way, with all you guys leaving, JU will just be more Christiany. So none of you will ever come back, either. Well, good luck out there!

Bye Dharma. I'll e-mail you as soon as I can. Sorry it's been so long - been busy over here . . .

Man, they're falling like flies. You, whip, BlueDev . . .

shit.

Well, hopefully Ock will keep playing chess with me, even if JU goes by the wayside.

I try not to uber-christian on people. But I'm sure I still do it sometimes. I like the more subtle approach.

It's okay, I'm young, I've got way too much free time. I fight the good fight.


Although I may be taking a breather from all that...it's hard to win when your opponents don't recongize that they've been beaten. To quote a quip from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist-"I'm sure on some planet your style is impressive, but your weak link is: this is Earth."

Frankly, it's like arguing with children...you can't win because they don't listen to reason. *sigh*


I just hope they never have to take a science exam...   


Well, Dharma...if things pick up, I hope ya come back. Everyone seems to be fading away these days...at least the ol' regulars. I was never a frequent poster to begin with...so I'm not sure how to inject anything into the ol' JU vein to get it kickin' again.

~Zoo

You're in college, you'll think of something to inject...

Heh, doing what I can.



Well...not into the web.

Or can I?...hmmm...

It'll be an expensive experiment...

~Zoo

Makes sense.

I haven't noticed a difference, but this is the first JU article (besides one of my own) that I have read in a year!

Good luck!  Personally, I have been enjoying myself with FaceBook.

Brad once said that all cyber communities go through cycles. I think this is just another one.

I hope you stick around Dharma. I do enjoy your articles.

I'm not ignoring the rest of you, I just needed to comment on this real quick:

JU is cyclical in nature, that much is true.  However, that was before this drastic format change.  That, plus this latest cycle, is the nail in the coffin for me. 

Brad is right. Cyber cycles happen in pretty much every net community I've been witness to.

I think an additional factor is all the election stuff. Religious discussions are a year round thing, but a fair chunk of the remaining folks who aren't necessarily interested in that are now attentive to the politics because of the election year. (I'm not forgetting we have non American JUs, folks, but they do seem to be in the minority of posters.)

Anywho, my theory is that for people that don't give a wit for which political puppet is ahead in the race to be the Grand Poohbah Puppet and who don't care whether or not Jesus is or Kermit the Frog is lord, there's not much else to read these days.

One further complication is that back when I joined JU, "blogging" was pretty new to the net scene. Now you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a new blog site, so our influx of new JUs will diminish statistically.

Ok, that was all a very boring explanation - quite unneeded, I'm sure

Have a good break, Dharma. I've been known to take them nearly a year at a time.

Of course, J. Now what a hypocrite I'd be if I didn't enjoy chess with someone just because our values were different. I very much enjoy our games.

Especially now that you're winning!

Just teasing.

I enjoy them too, and I will have to revisit our first game so I can see what I did right.

As the guy who digs through the lists looking for posts to feature on the front page, it's actually no worse now than it was a month before the new site went up.

'Dig' being the operative word.

But then, what do I know. I just blog here. Used to, anyway.

I think the soul is gone. Does anybody remember that Everybody loves Raymond episode where Raymond wanted to buy his dad, who was a big jazz fan, all his favorite records in the "new and improved" CD format instead of in the old scratchy LP records that was in his dad's collection? And remember his dad HATED it? Well...I can understand what his dad felt.

The "new and improved" CD sound just killed the soul of the way his old jazz was "meant" (for lack of a better word) to be listened too. Kinda like when Lyle Lovett said country music should be listened to on AM radio in an old pickup with the windows rolled down while going down a lonesome highway. It's about the soul ya know? The art of it all.

Anyway, you're right:



Maybe it will come back. I'm trying to stay open minded anyway.

Dharmagrl, stay and chat about Buddhism.

(I also practice Buddhism)

He won't be left on his own. I'm not planning on going anywhere. But I do miss a lot of the old regulars. Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to try and find some new regulars.

Dharma, I know we'll stay in touch. But I will miss you here, for sure. You were one of the first people to make me welcome and I've never forgotten this.

It's always good to have an Aussie watch your back.   

Thanks, mate.

~Zoo

So long as you watch mine, mate.

Sure thing.

~Zoo

Which am I?

Excellent point... I'm not a Christian and I'm definitely not a computer geek. I may be one of the remaining few liberal, agnostics left on this site. Wow, the responsibility...

Other people's content is boring so you aren't going to blog anymore? That makes no sense at all.

When I started JU, I was the only blogger which means there was no other content at all and strangely, that didn't have any affect on my desire to blog or not.

If you personally don't feel like blogging anymore or want to take a break from it, that's understandable. We all go through periods of different moods on it. Even I have gone for months at times being inactive.  But trying to argue that other people's content somehow determines whether you want to have a blog or not is baffling.

Brad:  I don't like the new format.  It's really that simple.  I don't like the way JU looks or operates.  I've adapted to every single change JU has been through since 2/14/04 and have remained a loyal JU-er for over 4 years now, so to be treated with what I felt to be a dismissive 'see ya later, don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out' by a member of Stardock staff was a little...umm...disconcerting.  I don't need or appreciate that kind of treatment, so I left.  And, I might add, today has been the first day I've logged in and commented since the start of March.  Don't get me wrong, Im not asking anyone to kiss my arse.  A wee bit of consideration would've been nice, though.  A soucon of 'wow.  The people who have been loyal through some major upheavals and changes are unahppy and are leaving.  What's changed?  Why are they unhappy?' would have been nice.  I know that you (Brad) asked me once 'what changes would you like to see', but by that time I'd heard 'it's a cycle, people come and go, that's the way it is and if you don't like it, leave' three or four times - all, I might add, from people who started working for you AFTER I'd already been blogging here for a while.  THAT is what irked me more than anything else.

Things here aren't going to change any time soon.  Yes, the community goes through cycles, and I've been a part of the cycles for 4 years.  I've seen people come and go, but overall the spirit of JU stayed the same.  Not anymore, though.  Things are different now. 

I do owe you some thanks, though.  You have allowed me to become a better writer.  You've let me express myself here, and in doing so, I've grown and developed in areas I didn't even know existed.  You personally have taught me a lot about the American political and economic system; things that I'd never have learned from simply reading a book.  I am a more savvy consumer, and I have you to thank for that.

 

I wish you personally (Brad) the best in life and have no doubt that your determination will lead you and your family onto bigger and better thaings.

Karma, thank you for being a friend to me when I was at my lowest.  Oh, and vive les weiner dawgs!

The rest of you (you know who you are)...I'll be in touch.