Back in the day.

[(<AA>)]

Man, I remember way back when...(under a year ago) when I used to come here ALL the time. When Otaku was just a small community, it was always so warm and fuzzy... or, kinda warm and furry... O.o... Well anyway, its become so big now. Adam and James, ya'll created a monster.
And now to give this topic a point, Do you like otaku more now or did you like more before?

[CB Shin]

I've only been here since September, 2003 and since I joined, to me, it has always been a big community. In fact, I wish there were people that joined (more different posts). It's only natural that success evolves further and further into a "monster." I guess you can say now, instead of warm and fuzzy, hot and vibrant, so to answer your question, I'd like it the way it is now. Just my thoughts.

[Guest lavalamp]

I've been around for about a year here and there, but I've never followed the board to the point where I could really give an opinion.

I can only say that from other experiences, this board is still relatively small. It's small to the point where without registering and being involved in topics, I still know who each person is for the most part [save for the new members] when I see replies in topics.

Perhaps that's just because, in my oh-so-humble opinion, there is little diversity in personalities here. I could set out two or three stereotypes in which 90% of the members here fall under, but that's an issue for an entirely different topic.

[James]

[color=#707875]I don't think that it would really be possible to stereotype people here so easily. I know a lot of OBers, who I talk to regularly...and I know that despite their obvious common interests (anime, gaming), they are all quite unique and individual people.

In terms of whether I like it better or worse...I am satisfied with the way things are now, compared to previous versions. Things are always improving, always progressing and always developing. The community is more relaxed, more respectful of one another and more "mature" than it used to be -- particularly during the v2 era.

People who believe otherwise are probably looking at the site's past through rose-coloured glasses. In general though, little has changed between the fifth and sixth versions...other than the fact that there are many more members here. There are a couple of thousand new members this year and several hundred of those have become quite regular in their visiting habits. So that has changed the dynamics a bit too.

But things still move along nicely. I like the fact that we've grown larger than before, but that we still feel like a community...and not some enormous hub with no sense of personality.[/color]

[PiroMunkie]

[size=1]Hrmm ... I am a bit split in two on this one.

On one hand, I much prefer the technical quality of today's OB, than it has been in the past. Everything is running a lot smoother and faster, and hardly any downtime at all. Spam has a greater control now, being that most of the main members do not do that (god knows most have done their share in the past, heh). Though, what would be considered spam now, might not necessarily be considered spam back then. So I am going to say we did not really spam a lot, but our post quality has definitely improved. I mean, at times, seeing a post as long as this one is at this moment was unheard of unless you were in an RPG, and even that was debatable, lol.

However, on the other hand, I prefer the smaller community to the large. I liked that nice warm feeling of knowing everybody (mainly because I mostly only care to read the posts of people I know). I miss starting an RPG, coming back to it, and seeing that all your friends have signed up. You do not always get that now days; you kind of have to work for it. Most of the people who role-played back then have become excellent role-players, so you have to start a really good RPG in order to get them to join. o_O Although, on the other hand, that can help build character on what it is to manage something with so much structure, and you find out the more structure it has, the less there is to manage because it usually supports itself.

I do not really think the community today is bad at all, lol, I just get a bit nostalgic every once in a while.[/size]

[Semjaza]

I don't know that I'd call this place "small". It's like any other message board. Certain people only visit certain areas and such only know of certain people. There's always a few standouts. I visit Gaming-Age Forums regularly, for example, and there's often 300+ people on at a time... yet I recognize the same people over and over again. It just happens.

There's people in some sections here that I've honestly never even heard of and several of them are very well known. It's simply because I don't visit those areas -- RPGs and all the anime series sections for example.

[vegeta rocker]

Well when i joined up otakuboards was well on it's way to greatness, there were no flame wars or anything i can remember.
It was in fact pretty cool, i do remember all the nonactive usernames though, and rico tranzigs sig of how many active and inactive members.
I loved Ob a bit more back then, i felt like i knew a lot more people and it was closer. Man do i remember when i spammed the first time i posted. It was in the dragonball forum and i posted that trunks poem. Dark_Apocalypse (now Boo i believe) rated it quite nicely before pointing out where it should go.
I only frequent a few forums maybe about 4.

So do i love Ob the same? I think it has evolved rather nicely and will continue to do so, but i miss being a newbie all the same.

[TheShinje]

[size=1][font=century gothic] [color=crimson]I've been here since v4, and I have always looked forward to new versions/skins and whatnot.

Sometimes, I like to be nostalgic and pour over all the old threads that I've participated in, just to see what kind of wording I used, and what the format of my posts were.


I ten to think more about today and tomorrow more than back in the day.[/size][/font][/color]

[kenshinsbabe]

Like Pyromunkie, I am split two ways on this. I have been treated pretty meanly on the OB. On the other hand, if you look at my signature, I've got quite a few friends. I've been here since July, and for the most part, it's been pretty nice. So, weighing it on the scale, the OB is still pretty warm and fuzzy, but it has it's hot spots.

[wiccansamurai]

Well, really like it now. There are so many names that I know and respect. On the other hand, some of the new people here really scare me, lol.

Of course, I'm pretty new here. Er, relatively.

But I love most of the old and some of the new people here so much, I can't say I don't like it now.
And I was never here when it was small.

[Kei]

[color=darkblue]Like most, I prefer the OB of today rather than that of the past.

As Piro said, a lot of the spam stuff has been majorly cut down due to major contributions from the staff. He spoke truly when he said most of the stuff that's considered spam now wasn't back then.

I think of OB as a moderate-large message board, but it's nice to see that we still maintain a sort of..."closeness," for lack of better term. Like James said, we're not an enormous hub with no personality. We all have our ways of showing individuality and uniqueness (though it may get us in trouble sometimes.)[/color]

[Shinmaru]

Well, seeing as I wasn't around for the good old days as it were, I only have my impressions of OB as it is today to go on.

Honestly, I don't find it too difficult to remember who people are, because the same people are usually on when I'm on. I rarely go into a thread and find myself not knowing who a person is unless they've just registered within the past few days. Most people post often enough that I know who they are, anyway.

Obviously, I don't know whom [i]everyone[/i] is since I don't go to every section of OtakuBoards, but I know who people are more often than not. Anyway, OtakuBoards isn't so enormous that nobody can get a few close friends...that'd just be silly. lol

[Spikey]

Well I have been here since V2. If you would like me to tell you what I really think I will. I liked it better a long time ago. Back in the day when we had to reach 500 posts to get a custom avatar. That was fun, because it was a challenge. I liked it back in the day, when spamming, and flmaing was rare. When people wouldn't type such long posts. lol.

I liked it when I first joined because we had a Newbie lounge, where you could introduce yourself and stuff. But then people were using that lounge to get more posts, I think. It was fun getting to know some more people, and I liked introducing myself and such. I have also learned so much about computers and stuff from being here a long time. I know how to spell words that I dind't when I wasn't here, and my grammar improved. But best of all, I can type faster now.

I would have to say my favorite version was V3 and V4. Maybe even when I first joined, in V2. I miss the good ol' days.

[Kitty]

[color=blue][size=1]Honestly, I don't think my opinion can count for much since, after all, I haven't been here all that long nor have I posted as much as many here on the boards. But, I fell that I'm entitled, therefore I post.

Back when I first started (being the newb I was) I thought this site was already big. In fact, the only time it was 'small' was when it was in the developing stages of creation. The hustle and bustle of OB is natural for all the members here.

A monster indeed. This place has become quite large, and it's sister sites (such as MyOtaku) have grown popular as well. The more members it gets, the more like a 'monster' it shall become. Simple, my fellow OBers, simple.

So, to answer the question straight out, I prefer it nowadays, as to the formerdays. Wait... is that a word? Oops. Off topic. That's all I believe I need to say.

~Looks Toward The Rising Sun~[/color][/size]

[Dragonballzman]

Meh. I prefer it as it is now. I personally think the sense of community now is alot higher than it was back then. I don't mean to say OB was a bad place, but the amount of spam back then...Geez.

People had signatures that filled the screen with writing, then another screen-worth of annoying little animations or one giant picture. Most of the topics were "what/who is your favourite -insert item or character-". People had no grammar whatsoever. There was only a tiny group of people who were working to make it a better place, all the other people were losers who had nothing better to do than make fools of themselves and flame other people...I have to admit, I fitted into the "losers making fools of themselves" section.

Now that this place is alot stricter, people can have intelligent discussions with each other, and I've seen alot of people make friends in this way. It's a hell of alot better than having a few hundred "omg i new here will sum1 b my frend????? -insert a few thousand smilies-" threads.

OB has improved alot, and the sense of community is stronger than ever. In just about every thread I look in, I see members I know. That's gotta mean something good. Either that or those people just like to post alot. XD

Anyway...Yeah. >_>;;

[Sara]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Spikey [/i]
[B]I liked it back in the day, when spamming, and flmaing was rare. [/B][/QUOTE] [COLOR=333333]*laughs* When was this?

Honestly, though, Piro's right. What we consider spam is different now, heh. I cringe to go back and look at my old posts. They're [i]horrible[/i]. But that was just...normal. I guess.

As a whole, I like OtakuBoards now. I'll always be fond of v2, if only because those few months were when I first settled in and really got to know some great people. (And some of whom I haven't had contact with in a long time, which is too bad.) It was just a lot of fun for me. [/COLOR]

[G/S/B Master]

I liked the OB now. We don't have Will2x anymore and any ultra spammers that made many members pissed off (and made the messege board offline for 3 monthes -_-). I was here since v2 and it was flame wars and spam everywhere. Good thing the board matured.

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=royalblue]As many of you said; I'm torn between the two.

I've been here since January 2001, and yes spam and flamming were very common. It was rediculous. There were often wars between members, with threads full of nonsense. Grammer was never bothered with.

On the other hand it [I]was[/I] small and cozy aswell. I liked the post ranking system. The early OB is also helped me in my art. Here is where I met Topaz(Mary), a well known artist to most old members. Her art inspired me to try hard to become better. I miss alot of those old members. I also enjoyed replying to others art more back then for some reason. They seemed diffrent than alot of new members, this is my opinon however.

I suppose I do prefer it now however. It is much more organized and sophisticated. I feel proud to be part of such a large community and have such dedicated Mods/Admins.
[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Motfati]

[size=1] I haven't been here for that long, but I just transferred from the unspoken Neopets..and, uh, around there, you never speak to the same person twice on the chat boards! They have almost 6 million people there! I'm just glad the Otaku Boards isn't like that, or else I'd probably ditch this too.
Even though I'm new, everytime I go into a board, I see so many people I've talked with or have seen post many times before. So, to me, the OB's quite contained and I like it that way.
Oh, and I like the fact that you can't spam...actually, no. I love that fact. Around that [I]other[/I] site...You can't have a decent opinion or chat about anything or with anyone!
And the other (and last) thing that bothered me that I noticed doesn't happen here (thank God) is those dumb screen names! Hottcandypants...lillollipopgrl (I'm making these up) They were so stupid! At least these have a little bit of sense and thought put into them! Chibihorsewoman (girl?)...I've learned the story on hers, and Shinmaru's...and a few people know the reasoning for mine. With those shallow screen names it's "Oh, it sounded cool!" "Oh, 'cause I'm so hot!" "Because everyone else has one like this!" Uh...
Wow...I tend to get off topic a lot...excuse me... [/size]

[Genkai]

I feel like i had a lot more friends on here when I first signed up, or, well, around then. I signed up July 2002, though I had never been on a message board before and I was realyl annoying.. I matured a bit after that month's downtime and I had a few people who I talked to regularly on AIM. Somehow that's all drifted away and since there're so many people on this board now, it seems harder to make friends. Sort of counter intuitive, huh?

I think the only reason I prefer the good ol days to this one is that I feel a wee bit lonelier now... *teardrop*

[Sui Generis]

[COLOR=indigo]I guess I have to go with the majority as of yet. I'm torn. I mean you know its been my home since the end of version 1 and I've always aspired that this board would grow to (well what it is now) and I would be apart of it.

Its great that OtakuBoards has become a name in the anime and message board community. Its awesome to be able to say, "Yeah I've been apart of this place since the end of version 1." Also in an odd sort of way I've matured with OB. I think thats primarily the case with just about every member here, but nevertheless I have matured with OB improving my posts each version.

However I do miss the cloesness. Yes I mean this message board is still a family, just now its an extended family. Its insane. I was gone for around a two month period when I lost the interenet and I come back and I saw hundreds of newbies posting that I've never seen before. I mean sure the "oldies" were there but the whole family structure had completely changed.

So its been odd to get used to the new people becoming such a huge part of the family but it has been turned out to be the best.

Summarization time!! What I've been babbling about is, I love the fact that OB has grown and I love the way it is today. Although, I do miss the way it was, I miss some of the members, and I miss the tight community/family feeling there was.

I know there still is that feeling, just not as intense.[/COLOR]

[Japan]

Even though I did join back in version 2, I left and didn't come back till late June 2003. Ironically, I was looking at some of the old posts today. They were from Version 2. Boy they made me cringe. A lot of the respected members today broke several of today's rules back then in their posts. I guess I prefer OtakuBoards as it is today. The posts have much better quality and they are easier to read.