I didn't send it in, really!

[Dr. Watson]

Remind me to hole up in the attic of this forum before we all get sent to Sonichwitz. Jesus Christ...

No no no, when ethnic cleansing occurs on a Sonic site, the unwanted minority groups dont get sent to no silly "Sonichwitz", they get sent to Genocide City! Zing!

[Shadow Hog]

Sometimes, I honestly wish I could perform some kind of Sonic the Hedgeholocaust on the SRB2 forums. I mean, technically, we already have, but I'm talking shutting down all registration, going through every user and seeing if they're a waste of space or not, and then completely banning them if they are. I'm not usually one for that kind of thing, but there are so many complete idiots at that site that meaningful discussion is hard to come by. Plus I'm an admin, so if I actually wanted to go through with this, I probably could.

Here, though? Bleh, outside of complete nutjobs (Harley Quinn Hyenaholic comes to mind), we're fine. Maybe we all hate each other, but how's that any different from usual?

[Wombatwarlord777]

So, Shadowhog, you're a member of the SRB2 forums, eh? I'll just say right here that I love that game. I bet you hate all those stupid sprite recolors though.

And how could I forget about Genocide City!?! It's so obvious!

[Shadow Hog]

Member? I'm a friggin' admin. Thanks for the compliment, though; hopefully we can get the bugger done by May... (We can hope!)

And we all hate the recolors; it's just the forces of stupid are harder to combat than you'd think.

[j-man]

Man, I miss Harley. She was so delightfully abstract.

[Wombatwarlord777]

Not to diss you guys or anything, but it seems like these forums were so much more colorful a few years back. Makes me wish I was on board in the era of Popcorn and Popcorn's Mom and J.C. 14 (I would've had fun roughing him up with the rest of you ). But, when forums are as old as this one, I suppose some maturity is inevitable.

[Delphine]

We're all just bored with each other at this point. Pop is gone, Bo's gone, Holic hates everything, Gibbon likes strange and unheard of weeabo games, and I pretty much just troll you weirdos.

[Wooduck51]

Sadly, anyone who joined in the last 3-4 years just managed to catch the last bits of glory it seems. I think the clincher for me to join was the great GHZ battle thing (the one with pengo vs. Naka vs. Popcorn's Mom vs.etc), and from there on things started towards their current state. Now only a few of the old guard still bother posting and the rest is comprised of relatively new people who do their part to fill space (me included).

Translation: everybody who made the forum entertaining (new and old) has either moved onto better things or seems to have become too depressed with the current state of things inside of the forum and out in Sonic/SEGA itself to post very much anymore. And the rest of us have either fallen into a state of watching and posting sparingly because we realize that we do not have anything useful or funny to say, or we just post stuff for the sake of it.

[DackAttac]

I took a look back on the threads that were going on when I joined (2005 or so). Of the worthwhile posts, I'd say about half the people still post. A hefty loss to be sure, but the board isn't even half as entertaining as it used to be. And apparently that's the tail end of the "glory era". I don't know if it's association with the floundering series of games or what, but the remainder of us only really bitch about miscellaneous things now. And not in the jovial, funny way we used to do bitch. Just like geezer-bitching.

And now there's this topic. Meta-bitching.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Going back a bit to Shadow, I played through it again this morning. I only have 4 more endings, and if I plan my route through the levels right, each ending takes about an 1.5 hours to get to. So I'll probably unlock the Last Episode eventually.

I also finally started playing Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga today (not that anyone really cares).

[FlashTHD]

On the forums: All of that is probably true, but take note that the site has also been allowed to stagnate for an entire year and beyond, with only occasional bursts of activity. Once that situation picked up momentum, naturally it affected the forums. We're still using this bland default skin after all, it alone makes a good enough metaphor for what's going on. Increased site activity might not be a sure fix-all for everything and everyone that's slipped away, but it would be a tremendous help towards getting there if it could at least make a convincing illusion of things happening on a regular basis again (well, regular for this place).

I have seen long-running sites crawl out of pits like this. After Metroid Prime Pinball came out, The Metroid Database, one of the old guards of that community, went and became a dead abandoned carcass (not because of the game, mind). No updates, forums made completely inaccessible. I was ready to write the place off until suddenly, it roared back to life in a big way a few months before Prime 3 came out, and has kept going since; that's because most of the staff were interested in picking it up again.

Hey besides, if the foundation finally rots to nothing, I take not too many of you are interested in relocating to anywhere else in the terrible wilderness that is the Sonic community today?

[Baba O'Riley]

Blah blah blah blah blah

[FlashTHD]

Blah blah blah blah blah

Cute, but lacks punch. 6/10

[Wombatwarlord777]

FlashTHD wrote:
Hey besides, if the foundation finally rots to nothing, I take not too many of you are interested in relocating to anywhere else in the terrible wilderness that is the Sonic community today?

Eh... I'll probably just forget about Sonic in general if the forums here stagnate any further. I was just barely interested enough in the franchise to pick up Sonic Unleashed, and while I'm glad I did, it probably isn't going to be enough to further my interest in Sonic much longer. Only a marvelous, epic, well-executed and near flawless game could possibly rekindle my passion in the series to the level it was when Sonic Heroes was about to be released (I was really excited about that game, after playing SA and SA2. I thought the whole teamwork gimmick would be a lot more in-depth and neat than it turned out to be). I seriously doubt that will come to fruition, and even if it does, it'll probably be released on the technically superior consoles of this generation (X-Box 360 and PS3), which I can't currently afford, being in college and all. But anyway...

What attracted me to the GHZ initially was a well-done and snarky page of Sonic Adventure. After that, I scoured the Museum page, astounded by all the obscure Sonic games I hadn't knew existed (i.e. Sonic Labyrinth), and of course, the smart-ass humor. And then from there I discovered the forums, and was impressed by your knowledgeble criticism of the Sonic games (which forced me to re-examine the series for myself), as well as your knowledge and humorous perspective on many, many other things. This began, I'd say... 7 years ago. I'd hate to get sappy, but thanks a lot.

Similar to how the Sonic series has seemed to have permanently passed its prime, I doubt the forum (or the GHZ website itself) will return to the vitality that it once enjoyed. But like how we can still enjoy Sonic 1-3+K, CD, and Adventure 1 and 2 long after SEGA keeps releasing generic Sonic crap, we can still enjoy all the memories we've had on the GHZ. Even if the interest in the site becomes totally comatose (which I sincerely hope it doesn't), I'll still be gratefully for having a small part in it for its last kickin' n' livin' days.

(Obligatory Signature) - Wombatwarlord777

[Shadow Hog]

Hey besides, if the foundation finally rots to nothing, I take not too many of you are interested in relocating to anywhere else in the terrible wilderness that is the Sonic community today?

Eh, I've got a couple of places that I could end up. I've always been with Sonic HQ's MoFo - I'm a moderator there, in fact - although they seem to be getting a bit more... serious, or something, recently headlined by abolishing their spam board, with minimal dissent. Except I liked the spam board. (Maybe it's the /b/tard in me, I dunno.) I've been kind of holding my breath to see if it's really worth sticking around anymore. If they can convince me they're just as silly as ever, I may stick around, but if they're going all teh serious and crap, I may just ditch it - if it's serious discussion I want, I could probably get into a lot better discussion here. After all, the MoFo doesn't have Delphine trolling me every other page - it just isn't the same. (It does have a few resident GHZers, though - WB, Ngangibus (as Ashide Bunnie IIRC), Psxphile... I think Toby Barret from there is registered here, too, I dunno.)

We have the aforementioned SRB2 forums. ...yeah. Just take a gander at it sometime if you'd like to see the average level of intelligence of our users. At least I can faithfully say that most of staff have their heads on straight and it's entertaining to have discussions with them. It's just a shame most of those discussions happen in the chatroom and not the board itself, since the chatroom isn't as plagued by idiots.

There's Sonic Retro, which is okay I guess. A lot of faces I recognize from lurking at Area 51 many eons ago, but of course since I was lurking at the time, nobody recognizes me. Not that I really care if I'm a nobody or anything - the discussion is generally pretty good.

SFGHQ... I'm registered, and logged in, but I only really lurk there. Not really anything I care to chip in on. Although I did once submit the fangame epic Sonic the Hedgehog: God Rarely Observes Woolen Asparagus, Being Eternal and Really Delicious. Which was actually a lot of fun to make, since it was an entry into a contest where the goal was to make the worst game possible. (Don't panic, it's playable! ...barely.)

Other than that, I can't really think of anywhere else I'm thinking of going. I'd probably rather just quit the Internet as a whole. It'd probably be a hell of a lot healthier for me in the long run, anyway.

Although, ignoring all the tl;dr above me, to be frank, The GHZ is just fine right now. It still gets a healthy amount of dialogue, after all. Maybe it's not as zany as the days of Popcorn's Mom or so on, but we're still talking a lot about various topics. Like how much farther into mediocrity the Sonic series can plunge. What isn't to like about this topic?

[CM August]

In all honesty I do find GHZ among the most tolerable Sonic message boards out there. The cynicism is at least fairly reasonable (along with entertaining) and everyone is on more or less equal terms - no huge egos or sycophants or, ugh, 'cyber-posse' that I've noticed in other idiotic sectors of the Sonic fandumb.

[Dr. Watson]

Yeah, there appears to be remarkably little "real" friction between members on this forum. Which is ironic considering how insults sprinkled with four letter words and "ur mom" kinda occupies the same role here as "hi guys!" does on most forums. But perhapes that is actually the reason why people get along so well here; because nobody takes an insult seriously. And maybe, just maybe, when Wooduck51 seemingly tells j-man to shut the hell up, he is actually confessing his deep, genuine love for him? (once again, those two maracass represent a heart).

[Brazillian Cara]

Well, I'll just say that Sonic the Hedgehog isn't even the reason I come here anymore. Regardless of the topic, I guess it's just fun to check how things are going here, read the forum's viewpoints on the latest movies/games/news, and add something funny/relevant/useful to the discussions whenever I can.
In other words, I'm glad I matured as an online community member here instead of, say, Sonic Stadium. Or 4chan.

Holy shit, it would be terrible.

[j-man]

...Wooduck told me to shut up? ;__;

[Protodude]

Well, I'll just say that Sonic the Hedgehog isn't even the reason I come here anymore. Regardless of the topic, I guess it's just fun to check how things are going here, read the forum's viewpoints on the latest movies/games/news, and add something funny/relevant/useful to the discussions whenever I can.

Pretty much this, despite being a big Sonic fan when I was younger I never really joined the forum because of it, though I did end up learning some pretty cool things about the games (like Knuckle's shoes in S3&K for one), and I also learned how to look at other games in a different light so to speak thanks to you guys. One of the earlier instances I can remember is when Shadow of the Colossus was announced and GG!, Popcorn and some other member got into an argument about Ico.

Oh, and I also eventually learned not to be as big a dumb fuck, so thanks for that too.

Really, this is the only board I post at regularly anymore (and not even that regular to boot), and I enjoy just about everyone's company here so this place still holds some value to me. Not sure where I'm even going with this anymore so uh.....thanks again?

[Ritz]

How did we go from Shadow to this? Oh, wait. It makes perfect sense.

It's sort of sad that despite its overwhelming lethargy, The GHZ remains the most sensible and amusing community in the Sonic fandom. As for where I'd go if it suddenly went under, it's a thought I've been suppressing for the longest time, because there really is no other alternative; I was first weaned on the SRB2 forums, and Shadow Hog summed that cesspool up quite nicely. I'll peek in when 1.1 is released in May or something, and I might even create a few maps for nostalgia's sake, but there really is no turning back now.

Sonic World (Currently "The D-Pad Network", or "[I'm a] PC Site" or whatever the fuck they're calling themselves now) is sort of my home away from The GHZ- I only ever started going there because Fiz was an admin at the time, and when she herself lost interest in the community soon afterwards, I stuck around exclusively to troll. I've been hanging around there for nearly two years now, only now everyone there loves me and I've become something of a community staple, so I'm sort of obligated to stick around until Andrew finally tires of fooling around with it. So, I could always fall back on that, but that forum is in even worse condition with an average of 5 posts a day, all of which are made solely in the "Joy/Bitching" topics and consist of 1-2 lines of teenage drama each. Promising!

Sonic Retro is a joke, honestly. Sure, at a glance, it has the most stable activity to sensibility ratio, but under the surface, it's become something of a hedonistic melting pot of elitist pricks and spineless, subservient sheep, and either class is prone to swap places at the drop of a dime depending on the status quo and/or their position in the social heirarchy (Which is determined by technical prowess and seniority). Take into account that the community's main draw- the whole hacking scene- is at a complete standstill, let alone the fact that no one has ever actually completed a project over there, and I'm having a hard time finding the incentive to stick around. There's still hope for them, but Tweaker (The head admin) really doesn't seem cut out for the job of managing the mess, seeing as how he so often gets emotionally involved and is blatantly prone to letting personal bias affect his decisions.

Sonic Stadium is, well, no. All I can really say about that place is that the folks in the upper echelon are all great people- we've got our own little IRC channel that's sort of taken precedence as my home on the internet, but that's about as far as my involvement with the community goes. Won't even consider it!

My only serious foray outside of the safe confines of the Sonic community is Eegra. It's actually one of the most sophisticated communities I've encountered thus far, but... But it's too sophisticated, you know? It gets boring! But it's just about my only recourse in the way of forum-based communication. So basically, don't ever die, GHZ. We need you.

[Dr. Watson]

...Wooduck told me to shut up? ;__;

Nah, it was just a theoretical example. See, your name is well known around here, and being used in sensationalist stories with zero basis in reality is just one of those downsides to fame that you simply have to put up with.

[P.P.A.]

The GHZ is the only really good Sonic forum I know. The Sonic Center being my second home in that regard, even though the forum sucks and all the fun is to be had in the IRC channel. Other than these two, all Sonic communities I've seen so far are simply depressing.

[Delphine]

Jesus, you ladies finished painting your toenails and doing your hair?

[Baba O'Riley]

Forums may come and go, but nostalgia filters and e-navel gazing are forever.

Ah, negativity is like the melted jolly rancher of the internet, holding people together in a sticky, unpleasant manner, often against their will.