Forum activity?

[SlickVic]

Nice to see you. Hope you can post actively.

[Scott.]

Dom's working on other projects and is kinda around. Ivan, Ciaran, Pilk, GTADON, Spidervice and WRX22B... Yellowjacket, OGTAM idk what happened with them. I know at least one of them's alive.

'Sup. I'm still around, there's just not a lot to talk about as some of you said. When GTA V hits we will see our share of activity again, it's pretty good to remember the old times, but these were other times, people were younger, some of them and didn't have a lot to do, it's a bit different now, and the GTA V information drought isn't helping either.

The gang scene was what kept this alive at times, but it still was on the private forums, which didn't add anything worth discussing. There was also the MTA server, but that was always full of hackers and pretty much literally failed, but I think TGTAP will see its share of activity again in the future.

Edit: OGTAM? Shit, I still remember when that guy got banned, but I never really knew the reason at the time. I guess I do now. He also had hot chicks in his sigs.

SV! Sup's dude

[BlackListedB]

If you think other GTA sites are slow and inactive, it is probably that you were patronizing GTAForums earlier, and if they opt not to include you, then you have to come down off that addictive drug of an overtly active forum, it's been that way for some years now, I was a member there for 8 years, they dismissed me over a false claim complaint from staff, and some issue with personality, but it's better here and elsewhere because non of that HATING on GTA fans exists here or away from GTAF, so just appreciate that fact.

As for the 1st page observation/comment;

"Then how about we make this the place for intelligent GTA discussion without the childish teasing and foolish incoherent swear words blabbered everywhere? We can be that! I guess I'm being rather vague after such a lengthy post, but I can't stretch out my ideas very well. The GTA community isn't horribly bad, considering most GTA fans on YouTube don't browse forums often, why should that affect us? "

Not to advertise, honest, but me and my Net savvy buds set up GTAChronicles over 2 years ago to cater to the proper fanbase, anyone who can handle themselves in such a mature manner, I am in my 40s, been playing video games since their inception, and I plan to keep playing them, I don't see anything wrong with that!

Edited September 12, 2012 by BlackListedB

[JustADummy]

SV! Sup's dude

Same old, same old, as I said, really nothing to talk about recently here It would be really cool for all the veterans and old members to come back at least for a greetings post eh? lol

[Gerard]

Good to see some old faces here! Some of you guys are probably double the age you were when you joined here

Thinking back, the forum died when the gang system reinvention failed. A succession of staff and other members trying different ideas and dawdling, without any real changes being made, scared away the old users and promises of a new system failed to draw in the new users. I think the nail in the coffin was when the old gangs (Dragon Stealths, LCM etc) and their forums were closed down to try and bring the activity into the main forums.

This community has been awesome over the years, but I don't think it's realistic to think it can just reappear here, whilst equally serving new members in this very different era. What was right for the staff and elites back in 2005 may not be right for the new Internet communities now. Will GTA V really bring everyone together, here? idk

We're all friends here, so I'll mention that we have plans to launch a forum for Grand Theft Wiki. The idea being that a new forum with a slightly different focus (working together to gather+discuss GTA info) is more relevant to the Internet these days, and it can build on the remaining community here. What do you guys think of that idea?

[BlackListedB]

@Gerard, I don't care for the [forum] gangs other then when doing actual multiplayer in the XBLive realm, I think it evolved into segregation on the online forums rather then people just sharing their likes and dislikes and perspectives, it just felt like either you're accepted or not, and it causes a lot of problems in that regard

Sad thing I think is, GTAForums did their own evolving at the point GTA 3 was out and the main focus, scoring the lucrative name GTAForums means people find that forum to join firstly.

I was aware of Three's good reviews and street cred, speaking of GTA 3, and I bought it as well, but I only played it into the first series of missions, I didn't get sucked into it as I have subsequently, as a result, I joined GTAForums in fall 2003, I preferred as I do still, dedicate to one forum and not jump all over the Inter-webs, and a lot of people feel this way, that's why having scored that FORUMS domain, they get the bulk of traffic and members, but sadly, it's changed over the years, and they keep up a permanent record against you, as they did in my case, whether you did an idiot posting or not, there's no proper judge or jury as to what is held against you, but again, getting back to what Chris was saying, a ban can be reversed, and based on age, maturity, or just more looking into the matter, as in my case, there's no proof I broke an actual GTAF rule, but they banned me anyway, they won't say anything on the matter. It's just plain wrong to conduct a forum that way

If you want to alienate people, that's a sure fire way to do so. A Community should be agreeing to disagree when need be, and move on to what makes things enjoyable, To create that tension atmosphere at the forum is what I am really opposed to, that ain't fun, no fun at all!

Edited September 13, 2012 by BlackListedB

[SlickVic]

GTAForums is very fortunate to have that name, I do agree. But can't we advertise? Do anything? Hell, maybe even get a new name? It isn't like 'old times' are getting you guys, or us, anywhere really. This obviously isn't working, but the site is better designed then GTAForums which crashes constantly.

[JustADummy]

A GTW forum looks like a good idea, but I'm not sure if that wouldn't count as a weird duplication of TGTAP even if it's just to discuss GTA finds. After all we can also do that in TGTAP, unless you somehow merged both purposes and expanded TGTAP if you know what I'm trying to say.

[amazingdude]

I don't think any sort of advertisement or changing the name would attract a huge mass of people to join the community.

[Scott.]

SV! Sup's dude

Same old, same old, as I said, really nothing to talk about recently here It would be really cool for all the veterans and old members to come back at least for a greetings post eh? lol

Yeah it would, I miss the days of our MTA sessions haha.

[JustADummy]

I wish I had half the resources we had at the time on that server.

[BlackListedB]

A big part of GTAF is the GTANet connection, and it's handled much better then the forums, few can argue that even if they've been hassled on the FORUM end, the Mod Garage and the Go To source for Mods to the game, but again, I'm not a PC game modder, but I hate that you even have to harp on these issues, there's enough people I meet in Multiplayer and on YouTube to suggest they're certainly not the Be All / End All of GTA activity. Many people respond to Rockstar's own site to try and get a direct line to Rockstar staff, I imagine, but it's not too bad, I just don't see Social Club as my favored game chat Go To site for rabid discussions

Anyway, if people I met in Multiplayer would have taken some suggestion, I was promoting on my Gamertag, affiliated sites, if not discussing that aspect over the ingame mic headset convos. The plus side is the people I met were cool, though they just didn't seem affiliated with any particular gaming forum, and they seemed like dedicated fans and truly enjoyed the games, so it means there's no real end to this ride in sight.

We've kept our site going because this is highly unusual to be waiting so long for GTA FIVE info, I mean, nothing this dormant has happened before to my knowledge

Edited September 16, 2012 by BlackListedB

[SlickVic]

Agreed.

[BlackListedB]

As an observation, in addition. Before I got the re-ban from GTAForums, I was initiating my own self-censorship to try and not post just any response, to take a breather here or there, and hope someone's posted replies helps the person starting a thread, My opin has always been, if you have a different take on things, that being part of the FORUM ideal, where multiple replies are often warranted, then why not? There's no REAL harm in doing that. But I caught hell for arguably over-active participation, whether it was helpful or not, I don't see the harm in being active, bottomline. I never tried to be a source of SPAM as claimed, or being OFF TOPIC on some purported purpose of high jacking a thread or making or taking it off-topic. I try to cover what I remember at any given time, that could be helpful when I post it. If it's not helpful, or adds confusion, I never presume such things beforehand. Take what you can from it, that's really all... Being banned or mocked, or made fun of over that is what makes me rather PO'd about the whole affair

Edited September 19, 2012 by BlackListedB

[Mike356]

Its like a lot of the older members have been staying just never have the time to really get on here anymore due to real word stuff I work 40 hour weeks and just don't have the energy to come on here and post stuff anymore though I do miss talking with a lot of the older community on here

[Mike356]

Does anyone else see the irony in how every time one of these topics get posted it actually gets a decent amount of responses? Lol.

OGTAM was banned years ago for constantly disrespecting staff. Actually it wasn't constant, but he did it enough times to get noticed by pretty much every moderator at that time, and after enough times we simply decided to ban him. If he came back now I'd let him back. People change a lot over the years. I'd give him a second chance, if I saw no change then obviously I'd just ban again. I'm willing to give most people a second chance, but there are no third chances.

As Llama said, most of us would love to spend a lot more time here but we simply don't have as much time to do so as we did before. I think ALL of old members are now of the age where they have full-time jobs or are busy getting educated etc. And as these members moved on and spent less time here, we, for a variety of reasons, weren't able to keep up the activity by enticing new members to join, so there were no replacements and activity died down to what it is today.

GTA V will increase activity no doubt about it, we'll have to work at enticing everyone to stay here. Needs an effort on everyone's part though. People make the community, not what features we do or don't have.

If im thinking of the right person I still talk to him

[SlickVic]

People need an active alternative to GTAFORUMS, though. This could be it.

[Spaz The Great]

I'm willing to give most people a second chance, but there are no third chances.

You, uh, sure about that?

I've been through so many staff changes and rearranges since I first came here. Gerard and I had a unified moment of glory when we battled a spammer for literately 5-6 hours straight, banning accounts and quickly cleaning up the forums. No other staff was on at the time, and we held down the fortress pretty well I might say. We were both merely section moderators at the time, if my memory serves me correctly.

I've also partook in SEVERAL threads precisely like this one, and I've shared many a story of this forum's history, and I've just not got the energy tonight to take this post any further.

[Gerard]

Gerard and I had a unified moment of glory when we battled a spammer for literately 5-6 hours straight, banning accounts and quickly cleaning up the forums. No other staff was on at the time, and we held down the fortress pretty well I might say. We were both merely section moderators at the time, if my memory serves me correctly.

Good times <3

[SlickVic]

You oldies kinda make me jealous.

[BlackListedB]

The problem with my normal GTA forum (generic use!) activity is on that OTHER GTA forum, activity by posters happens whether Rockstar issue info or not, so no matter who you are, posting elsewhere, you simply can't stay active at my former (GTAForums) level, which means you spend an hour or more at a forum in a given day, so perhaps taking a poll as to hours spent on a forum, or similar site like Facebook or Twitter would help figure out time spent in that capacity.

BTW, shout out to JimmyT's GTAZone, although he was at GTAF back in winter 2010 and came under fire right away for suspect behavior, I wish to say, I advised him plenty when he contacted me, and I wind up banned from GTAF as well, so it goes to show, you never know what AMOUNT of EFFORT is required by those guys to stay in check, but reports can be made maliciously against you, unfairly made against you, and staff have to field them no matter what, so like a Denial of Service attack on a web server, they just opt to send the 'odd man out' just to stem the tide of complaints.

That's my honest opinion on the fairness of how it's been handled. The upshot of GTAZone is it's Jimmy's current attempt to make a successful go of a GTA fan site based on our site as inspiration (GTAChronicles) so again, anyone dedicated enough to stick it out for each successive GTA franchise game, or any Rockstar fare, to be honest, as they grow and mature WITH the games, I think they can make amends and prove their mettle and wherewithall, only time tells all

Edited September 28, 2012 by BlackListedB

[SlickVic]

I'm registered on your forum, Blacklist. I like it.

[Mike356]

The biggest reason for the inactivity is simply put their is really nothing to post about involving gta and a lot of the older members graduated from uni or still attending and just don't have the time to come on here anymore the way that we used too

[MarkD1990]

Yeh alot of people have either gone to Uni or left and doing full time jobs, which will obviously take up most of their time. I've been part of this forum since 2006 and also with GTAF, but I have to say, I prefer TGTAP.

Even tho no one can really talk about GTA much at the moment due to lack of news, but there are different sections to this forum, such as the General Discussions section, but I don't think alot of people can be bothered at this minute.

Myself, I find it hard juggling work and being more social on the net, because I know my presence here has dropped quite abit due to work and being a new dad I've started my own forums on my Rockstar Games site, which I'm hoping it will get more people in soon. (Don't worry Chris, I'm not advertising my site ).

I will be making more time to be more social on these forums soon enough, especially when I got some spare time, like this very moment

It will pick up again, soon enough, especially with more news from Rockstar concerning GTA V.

Mark

[JustADummy]

Does anyone else see the irony in how every time one of these topics get posted it actually gets a decent amount of responses? Lol.

OGTAM was banned years ago for constantly disrespecting staff. Actually it wasn't constant, but he did it enough times to get noticed by pretty much every moderator at that time, and after enough times we simply decided to ban him. If he came back now I'd let him back. People change a lot over the years. I'd give him a second chance, if I saw no change then obviously I'd just ban again. I'm willing to give most people a second chance, but there are no third chances.

As Llama said, most of us would love to spend a lot more time here but we simply don't have as much time to do so as we did before. I think ALL of old members are now of the age where they have full-time jobs or are busy getting educated etc. And as these members moved on and spent less time here, we, for a variety of reasons, weren't able to keep up the activity by enticing new members to join, so there were no replacements and activity died down to what it is today.

GTA V will increase activity no doubt about it, we'll have to work at enticing everyone to stay here. Needs an effort on everyone's part though. People make the community, not what features we do or don't have.

If im thinking of the right person I still talk to him

He was Harwood Butcher wasn't he?