Justin wrote:but I personally believe that the reason this forum is in such a mess is one simple reason not directly suggested yet: most of the current forum members here are complete idiots.
Now I'm certainly not referring to the excellent moderators here, nor am I referring to anyone who has contributed to this thread so far(everyone who has posted here so far has made genuine discussion in the past and truely love Disney enough to discuss and contribute to this forum and make it great). But there are a handful of morons(for the sake of this forum though, won't name names) who've ruined the nice litte community hear.
Ouch! But, sad to say, I partly agree with some of what you said (I just won't call them morons). There's a nice community here, but it's simply reached a point where fun and games and sideline chatter has taken precedence over in-depth Disney (and non-Disney) discussion. We can't exactly blame Disney's release schedule on this. If you think about it, the average forum member age has been dropping in the past year. When I first joined in 2004, the youngest member I knew of was probably Just Myself (then known as Secret Disney Man), and he was probably 14 or 15. Compared to now, I can easily recognize which members are in the 13/14 range, along with which members don't give a damn about their online grammar. It isn't particularly exciting to try and translate, and honestly, I can't take them seriously.
I mean, in 2004, I remember coming here and literally being educated on various things pertaining to Disney, DVD, and movies in general. I actually learned what a laserdisc was here! I learned all about the various censorships done to various Disney films, what OAR really was (and surprise surprise, it's not a wooden paddle used in aquatic transportation...), as well as the finer points of film restoration. We had fluffless topics devoted to various Disney movies, the endless speculations as to future Treasures and Platinums, and the ever-popular bitchings and moanings of why the Disney Gold Classic Collection just did not work.
Now, whenever I check the forums, it's become somewhat of a hassle. Sure, every week or so we'll get a nice juicy topic (the Lilo & Stitch deleted scene is my current favorite, though I haven't discussed in it yet), but more often than not, I find myself reading and re-reading endless discussions that frankly, I could care less about. Honestly, I'm probably anticipating reyquila's 500th Disney/Touchstone/Miramax/anything-from-BVHE DVD more than I anticipate reading the majority of GD and OT threads.
Justin wrote:For one, those "Little Mermaid humpers" as I refer to them, are probably what bug me the most. They not only have horrible taste in movies(I can think of at least 100 Disney movie that "blow this movie out of the water") but they don't even bother to discuss this divine film. Now in the past, I have obviously been a cruel critic of this movie, having put my 2 cents on it(a boring and terribly-developed plot, a main character you wouldn't mind frying with chips, a supporting cast you wouldn't mind to have as side-dishes, a bland human cast, an overrated history, unimpessive character animation... these are just the ones of the top of my head, there are enough for me to write severeal encyclopedias to explain why this movie's so flawed) but no one ever has had a "I respectfully disagree" arguement, they just say something like, "OMG!!KJ! Littl' Areil greatets 2D movie EVER!!?@@$# BETTER THAN lal 3D animation crap" or "have you not ever used a Little Mermaid slipcover yet?" And even today, the madness continues.
Now, now, Justin, we know you were a TLM humper once upon a time.

Which oddly is something you've never explained despite evidence from
past posts.
Still, it's just mindboggling just how much is said about TLM, but how little is really interesting to read. Anyone remember that five-billion-page press release for TLM? Nearly every other post was "X more days until it comes out! X more days!" Nothing really of substance. And that general tone has simply spilled over to the rest of the forums. I have to continually weed through topics that just by name alone now I know not to bother reading. Before I would read every topic, just as a courtesy to the creator and poster of said topic. But my patience for reading topics like "Wicked" (and this sudden online fandom for Broadway shows in general) or "The Little Mermaid" or "Hey, what food did you think about smelling an hour ago?" has seriously deteriorated, and I really only post in things I care about myself.
Justin wrote:Where are the Jungle Book's discussion. It has 17 pages so far. Now on this date The Little Mermaid had 30 threads with stupid posts like "Look, I made screencaps, I'm a huge fan" or "Look I can make a cover like Disney with a few adjustments" or "OMG!!!?!! Only three more months until going to bed will be so much more fun!!!:" We don't have hardly ANY discussion for The Jungle Book
I've never seen the entirety of TJB, which is why I've rarely participated in threads devoted to it. But even beyond Jungle Book, the amount of attention that TLM got on the forums has definitely been greater than any other Platinum title. It's an enigma to me too, I mean,
Justin wrote:Also, what about Pixar's Cars discussion.
I'd rather discuss Nemo than Cars!
Justin wrote:Not to mention stupid political threads starting since that stupid Rosie O'Donnell thread(the one where she "shocks the nation") there have been tons of those stupid threads, and I call them stupid because these liberal pieces scum who's heads are full of mush and never EVER even come close to the truth, think they know everything and post the most ignorant and flat out stupid posts as if they just removed their head from a microwave. And those are sadly popular too.
This is why I avoid politics in any online forum. I'm pretty much a member of the Somewhat-Liberal, Somewhat-Conservative, All-Apathetic Party, so I let those things go and destroy themselves without me having to casually walk in and get mud thrown in my face.
Justin wrote:Gone are the days where the off-topic was just a fun forum we discusses intelligent conversations that didn't involve Disney(sadly a lot of fools here hate Disney, they'd rather rave about talentless loonies like Madonna)..
Now, now, Justin, no need to bring Madonna into this, especially if she's the object of affection for a certain Man. One would say that borders on baiting. Plus, the ratio of Madonna discussion to "What Towel Did You Use To Dry Yourself In The Shower Last Week?"-type discussions is very small. Like 1 to 100.
Justin wrote:We just lack interesting(and Disney-loving sadly) members.
We're not lacking in them, we're just lacking in nice and juicy in-depth serious discussion from a majority of them.
Justin wrote:So we need new members. Quite frankly, if making DVDizzy is the only way we can get interesting members who put thought into their posts, even if they're not the biggest Disney fans, to counter off people who discuss things like "Have you gotten little holes in your TLM slipcover yet?" then so be it.
ITA.
Justin wrote:I also love several of Escapay's ideas.
I knew there was a reason I liked you!
2099net wrote:I mean, what exactly can I say anymore?
Indoctrinate more people into following The Doctor!
Escapay