I admit it, I was one of the 'leave or shut up' voters - though I agree that a 'cut the spam or leave/shut up' option would've been more appropriate. I'm not going to write a big meandering post on the subject, since pretty much everything has already been covered, but I will say my piece. I like to consider myself a reasonably tolerant person... I wince but read through endless sentences written with caps lock on, excessive and nearly blinding punctuation, and other quirks that are generally considered inappropriate anywhere on the Internet. I do my level best to ignore the occasional trolls who plague the various forums I frequent. I ignore spam.
Well, I try. When all of the active threads shown on the opening screen are useless ones, it's a lot harder. Unfortunately, I don't have all day to sit and read the posts here, and used to rely on that little box to let me know what I should be looking at, along with a brief glance over the full list. To be honest, I've all but given up on TMS, like I have TMC, which is why I post so rarely. It's depressing, because I really -like- discussions, and I like sharing my ideas with those who can appreciate and critique or augment them. Debates make me happy, too - I've read through some of the longest threads I've ever seen because every post was interesting, and I don't begrudge those wasted hours.
But right now, there's almost nothing here worth reading, when you compare it to the staggering number of threads that mean nothing at all, and the number choked with add-ons that add little, if anything. If I were a newbie, I'd not have stayed more than a day; TMS is starting to resemble one of thousands of other boards supposedly aimed at a given topic, but in reality overrun with frivolties. I'm comforted by the fact that the moderators are at work here in most of the sections, and whenever I have free time again (does that ever happen? Does it?! *frazzled look*), I plan to post there. I just wish things looked like they did a year ago, even. *shrugs*
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