What the hell happened to Spam?

[RusalkaRabbit]

I leave for a while and it's just gone. Da fuq?

[RusalkaRabbit]

And, to be honest, why has the site taken such a HUGE step back? This used to be a thriving community, and now the whole forum is just sloppy. Rarely do I ever see a forum get worse instead of better, especially not that fast. Christ.

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

RusalkaAKAJessicaRabbit said
And, to be honest, why has the site taken such a HUGE step back? This used to be a thriving community, and now the whole forum is just sloppy. Rarely do I ever see a forum get worse instead of better, especially not that fast. Christ.

"But all that changed when the Porno nation attacked."

[So Boerd]

That and Guildfall. Pr0n nation also killed Advanced's quality.

[RusalkaRabbit]

What on earth is the porno nation? Christ, what did they do? Did this have anything to do with Jorick?

Also guildfall.... fill me in, please.

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

RusalkaAKAJessicaRabbit said
What on earth is the porno nation? Christ, what did they do? Did this have anything to do with Jorick?Also guildfall.... fill me in, please.

Um technically I don't know what Guildfall is. Guildfall is probably what happened after it was unavailable for a few days, but it happened later when Guildfall returned, this time for over a month. . . it happened again, only for a few days so the Guild could be rebuilt.

Porno nation is my joking name for the population equal to China's that filled the 1x1 section with pornographic role plays, leading people to infect the website with ads with erotic material.

[RusalkaRabbit]

I see, so they just sort of rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up with a mass wipe of everything that was here?

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

RusalkaAKAJessicaRabbit said
I see, so they just sort of rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up with a mass wipe of everything that was here?

That's my take on what happened. I also got banned, but they let all those condemned to Ban-nation come back.

[RusalkaRabbit]

So what happened to the old Spam community? Did they move to someplace else, disband, or are they in hiding with new names?

[ActRaiserTheReturned]

RusalkaAKAJessicaRabbit said
So what happened to the old Spam community? Did they move to someplace else, disband, or are they in hiding with new names?

Uh, at first they went to Iwaku. Another role playing site. They came back in small numbers, and may actually still be here. It is time for Finals after all.

[ApocalypticaGM]

I'm seeing a lot of 'that's what I've heard' about this, so how about a perspective from one of the many who was present during the event?

Recent events, or in other words, what was GuildFall. Basically, we lost funding, the site crashed for weeks, and when it returned Mahz had the challenge of reconstructing everything. We had, I think still have, some level of access to what was on the old forum, though there's a bit of a time gap there. What we have now is the Guild reborn after some quantity of our population dispersed. We are a growing community again started anew. Some of the old faces are here, many really, but we also have a healthy portion of new members helping to get things back to the old strength. The link I gave before gives a more accurate account of what led to the lack of funding and some of the challenges we faced, hearsay and all that aside.

It's also worth noting, during the GuildFall, many stayed in contact off-forum. Several roleplays continued after the break, as well as traditions such as Guild News, the WOTM, and soon the Irregulars. Our community is not dead. Our community is only dying in that some have lost faith -- fortunately, there are many who know the potential of this place and work to grow this as something better than what we knew before.

[RusalkaRabbit]

You know, something similar happened at a forum I used to role-play on when I was in elementary school (at least ten years ago). The company that funded and hosted the website closed it down. They decided that it had become something that was not REMOTELY what they had intended, and it didn't fit within their brand anymore. The community stayed in contact somewhat, and a fair portion of it relocated, but I think it may have died out since then. I really do hope the same doesn't happen to RPGuild.

[mdk]

More to the point, Spam is alive and w--.....er, uhm.... alive and.... alive, I guess. Like a growing tumor. You can't really say it's healthy, but it's.... functioning as a tumor should? Growing? Corrupting? Etc.

[Awson]

Frankly, I've already spoken too much about spam.

There are a multitude of reasons why it's "dead."

[RusalkaRabbit]

mdk said
More to the point, Spam is Like a growing tumor. You can't really say it's healthy, but it's.... functioning as a tumor should? Growing? Corrupting? Etc.

Yeah, I figured that out after a minute of looking. I don't know how I missed it in my first few scrolls? I'm blind, I guess? Need-less to say, the tumor grows one member larger today.

[Halo]

Any community goes through rises and falls in quality. The Spam subcommunity is certainly currently in decline, with many old faces having ditched it after Guildfall and the influx of newer members whose company they enjoyed less. In future, at some point, it'll feel stronger again, I'm sure. Like many things, it's cyclical. For the moment, I'm pretty sure the old Skype group is still going strong, and you'll see familiar faces around the forum even if they frequent Spam itself less often - and hey, Spam still has the occasional gem of a thread.

[Lucian]

You honestly don't have to look hard to see what's changed the Spam forum since Guildfall. Scroll through it a bit and it becomes painfully obvious...

EDIT: Halo is correct in that it's a cyclical thing, though. We'll have another golden age eventually.

[salamimike]

"Free. Casual. Advanced. Arena.1x1.Nation.Tabletop. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when roleplayerguild kept balance between the Free Tribes, Casual Kingdom, Advanced Nation, and Arena Nomads. But that all changed when the Spam Nation attacked. Only the mods mastered all four elements. Only they could stop the ruthless spammers. But when the world needed them most, they vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Spam Nation is nearing victory in the War. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Off Topic Kingdom to help fight against the Spam Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Mods where never reborn, and that the cycle is broken. But I haven't lost hope. I still believe that somehow, the Mods will return to save the world."

[Gwazi Magnum]

ShonHarris covered the Guild Fall pretty accurately.

However I should note the site was off for a few months, not weeks.
And spent a few weeks on an alternate site before this one got up and running.

By that time the majority of members had thought the site was dead for good and left or simply found other communities.
Off Topic and Spam although suffered big blows themselves actually took the least of it, it was mainly the roleplayers who simply start RP's and never bothered to get close with the community or keep informed on Guild happenings that vanished.

Nothing on the site is back to the same strength of how they used to be though, we still have far less members than before.
But the members we do have were at least the more loyal and active ones.