My reasons for thinking it's gone downhill are, i'm sure, very different to yours.
It began as a website where you could meet people who have similar coping mechanisms to you. It was where you could ask for support, give support and just have a laugh to distract yourself. I feel like now the amount of people asking for help way way surpasses the amount of people giving support. I feel like no one can ask for help through fear that the person they're talking to is having a **** day too. It was a great supportive place, people actually gave a **** about each other. Now so many of the brilliant, caring people who were on it before have long gone because this place is all about the woes, and it's become one massive ball of emo.
My reasons for thinking it's gone downhill are, i'm sure, very different to yours.
It began as a website where you could meet people who have similar coping mechanisms to you. It was where you could ask for support, give support and just have a laugh to distract yourself. I feel like now the amount of people asking for help way way surpasses the amount of people giving support. I feel like no one can ask for help through fear that the person they're talking to is having a **** day too. It was a great supportive place, people actually gave a **** about each other. Now so many of the brilliant, caring people who were on it before have long gone because this place is all about the woes, and it's become one massive ball of emo.
^^your reasons aren't that different from most, I think (hope).
The bolded bit is true for me and many of us, I think.
But, I just wonder how is any of that Harley's fault? As in, how the site has 'evolved', for (much) lack of a better word?
How will v4 change the community (if there si still one, in the 'old' sense)?
I'm not 'God-worshipping' nor wanting to offend; I genuinely am interested in how a new 'version' will/can/could change the current trend?
To me, it just seems it would be a shiny, new version of the sam old, same old.
^^your reasons aren't that different from most, I think (hope).
The bolded bit is true for me and many of us, I think.
But, I just wonder how is any of that Harley's fault? As in, how the site has 'evolved', for (much) lack of a better word?
How will v4 change the community (if there si still one, in the 'old' sense)?
I'm not 'God-worshipping' nor wanting to offend; I genuinely am interested in how a new 'version' will/can/could change the current trend?
To me, it just seems it would be a shiny, new version of the sam old, same old.
i don't mind being shot down for this, but i think from what you say BeautyFiend, that's not really Harley's problem. if we want RYL to be more supoprtive and helpful, isn't that something we have to do, starting as individuals and in any friendship groups?
But, I just wonder how is any of that Harley's fault? As in, how the site has 'evolved', for (much) lack of a better word?
How will v4 change the community (if there si still one, in the 'old' sense)?
First, the bit about my reasons being different were a reply to Atlantica.
Second, I never placed any of the blame with Harley?
Point is, RYL has become much more popular of late, that is why I think there's less of a community and why I'm not particularly active anymore.
I think a lot of the changes that occured as a result of swapping to V3 were the rule changes and the introduction of infraction points.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stop! Hammer Time
I can't remember how long ago I was staff, but I got SO frustrated with nothing being done... that's partly why I left. :p
And the fact that every man and his dog became a member of staff.
Case in point.
Sorry, didnt mean to put it the way I did...but again, I find myself agreeing with you in that since RYL expanded/became more 'popular' is when the downhill trend seems to have started.
It became to large too still be a community, in the same way.
Sad.
I think it's partly to do with the new SI culture that is emerging in young teenagers. Cutting is now a "known" thing, whereas it was never seen/talked about when I started. Even just now I saw a thread where a young teenager doesn't even know why they cut, they just do because they are bored. Wtf?
So anyway, now there are a hell of a lot more people posting on here all the time, which has led to the website forums growing and the community feeling being lost. Also the other non-forum parts of the website are practically ignored.
I don't know if this is anyone's fault. I almost kind of want V4 to start with a new website address so that people who want to continue belonging have to actively find out the new website (by word of mouth around members, perhaps) and re-join there with their usual usernames. Now I know all the problems ethically that would cause, but hey.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break
that its heart may stand in the sun,
so must you know pain.
There are only two ways in which one can live their life. One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is.
I have always said that V4 won't actually solve most of the problems that RYL has, which are more user-based and user-generated. However, the technical problems are causing frustration because people who do want to make things slightly better, at least in some way, can't. With no central admin and with no one who can temporarily step in RYL has been stuck in limbo for years.
My reasons for thinking it's gone downhill are, i'm sure, very different to yours.
It began as a website where you could meet people who have similar coping mechanisms to you. It was where you could ask for support, give support and just have a laugh to distract yourself. I feel like now the amount of people asking for help way way surpasses the amount of people giving support. I feel like no one can ask for help through fear that the person they're talking to is having a **** day too. It was a great supportive place, people actually gave a **** about each other. Now so many of the brilliant, caring people who were on it before have long gone because this place is all about the woes, and it's become one massive ball of emo.
Exactly.
We’ve got obsessions
I want to erase every nasty thought that bugs me every day of every week
We’ve got obsessions
You never tell me what it is that makes you strong and what it is that makes you weak.
And, hey, the world IS a more depressing place, not just RYL.
Fact. I think.
A lot of people also moved to Facebook.
When I joined RYL, web forums were still new and all the rage. Computers had just become cheap and broadband widely available. There wasn't even a MySpace yet. Even Yahoo Groups were popular (the place I learned of RYL). Once MySpace and especially Facebook began a lot of people join networks there.
More specifically, forums seem to have an arc. If they are lucky enough to get popular, more of a strain and demand for resources (money) is placed on owners. In almost every forum I've belonged to over time, the owners burned out or needed to tend to other things - especially if they need to make a living that the forum doesn't give them.
I thought some very wrong turns were made back in 06 and made a fuss but that only went so far. Harley doesn't owe anybody anything. If he doesn't show interest in the place then be glad its still running because the way things are going in the world there's no telling what might go away next. In the meantime its still people that make a forum go. Even though the owner is important lots of bells and whistles wont mean much if the spirit of a place is empty.
I may not have been here in the early days, but it warms me to see a lot of support (of a wide variety of styles) still present across the forums. It gives me a sense of a positive atmosphere, rather than a sense of 'woe'.
I find myself agreeing with you in that since RYL expanded/became more 'popular' is when the downhill trend seems to have started.
It became to large too still be a community, in the same way.
Sad.
Totally agree, thats my reason for feeling that ryl has gone down hill.
I still have the pink wig on top of my wardrobe someplace :/
I think, as mentioned earlier, that the v4 that the longer term members fell in love with earlier, was simply smaller and easier to be more of a community. Everyone knew everyone else at the beginning. I have been here a fairly long time and I am here frequently, yet I dont think I know even a quarter of the members now and perhaps, out of that, I have communicated with perhaps 1/10 of the members on the site.
I think it was a lot of changes at once. Yes the size made a big differnce, but also, when people used to post for support, they genuinly needed it, they needed advice and people to encourgage them to do what they needed to do. Its sad to say, but a lot of people dont post for the advice anymore. And if they do, they seldom listen or act on it. It seems to be in peoples nature these days, that they think the world owes them something and if they complain about it enough, everything will magically fix itself. Im not just talking on here, I mean in general, everywhere.
Ima no go crawl back to vets, where its much smaller and yet I still dont know that many :/
Totally agree, thats my reason for feeling that ryl has gone down hill.
