I'm the one who hides in the shadows and reads the things you say to one another. I watch your drama, and choose not to get involved. It reminds me of when I worried about forum politics. Some of it makes me laugh, because it's really silly; sorry for laughing at you behind your back, but if I laughed at your face, it would probably piss you off, and add more to the drama.

It's kind of a never-ending cycle; my first year or two here, one of the older members made a post commenting how they didn't want to get to know any new members. I wouldn't go that far with myself. I wouldn't actively avoid getting to know any of you, but chances are I'm probably not going to seek you out, either. There have been so many people who have come through here; so many times when I just start getting used to a member, they leave, and when they come back, I had barely gotten to know them before, so I'd have to start over again with them. I'm generally too lazy to do that, particularly when they've taken no effort with me, either. So I pretty much stick to the older users who are still around.

I think the year of '06 was an anomaly me; for some reason or another, I started over again here, and actually got to know a bunch of new people. They've mostly all left, though.

So here's the conclusion: TFF is not better or worse than it used to be. New members have simply come and gone. It's not as much fun for me anymore, not because of the effort of the individual, the staff, or the body of TFF; it's because of me. I don't interact with the newer members; I generally have different interests, or I see a thread that I've seen a hundred times before and don't feel like to responding to it again. Furthermore, I've found that there's about a fifty percent chance that when I do post in a thread, no one's going to respond to me anyway, maybe because I have a different style thinking or something. Plus, there's no internet at my house, so I can't exactly a lot of time talking to people on MSN. And I'm lazy. I am Trent Lane personified when it comes to these forums, "heh heh *cough* *cough* heh." I'm probably a little jaded and apathetic too.

So, I am open to new members who want to get to know me. That's how it is for me; I don't know if it's the same for other old members. But I exist, and so do they. Poke at them if you want to get to know them. Maybe they'll respond. Or bite. It might be akin to waking up a sea lion, or a hibernating bear; you might want to be careful. Or, y'know, you'll get no response at all...

(Should this go in member business? I dunno. Oh well. Yell at me.) Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom