A regret

So, as I posted the link for the final trailer, it was definitely with a touch of sadness as I thought back to what these forums used to be. Back in the prequel days, these boards were hopping with activity. Say what you will about the quality of the prequels, but one thing was for certain, there was a lot of energy and buzz and excitement about the whole thing.

I think partly it may have been that we more or less know where things had to end up. Anakin needed to become Vader, Senator Palpatine needed to become emperor, Yoda and ObiWan needed to become exiles, The Jedi Order had to fall, etc... Speculating how that was going to come to pass was endlessly fun. With the sequels, it is open-ended, we don't know where they're going, so speculating without any ideas to the end-goal is definitely not as fun. On a side point, it is interesting to go back and read through some of the threads and look at some of the theories we were throwing around - some good, some way off base...

It was also nice, because it seemed like this was the place to get your SW fix on. Other forms of social media hadn't quite reached the level of prevalence at that point, so this was the place to be. And I found it formed a great community. Now, with social media so prolific, all the discussion and spoilers and whatnot are right there, staring you in the face on your facebook feed. It's not like it is a special community anymore, it's just thrown out there on the media sites.

Anyway, as I said, it was definitely with a tinge of sadness that I posted the trailer link - it made me remember the old days, when we could get into a spirited debate of SW stuff, when no sooner did you post something than there were a dozen responses within a couple minutes, when there was excitement counting down the days to the next release, when we were so amped up for a release we'd be parked outside theaters for hours or days prior, just soaking in the excitement....

Many good times, and many good friends.... Reaper, Lilaena, Dasq, Carr, Yogurt, JMK, Bromine, Loklorien, Fig, CMJ, JediEB, Doc Milo, Mu Satach, Leeloo, and many more... I miss the fun of posting with you guys. Given that this place is more or less deadsville at this point, I wonder if any of you will even read this, but whether you do or not, I hope you and all the others I enjoyed posting with are all well.

MTFBWY!!!

I will admit to being a bit nostalgic myself whenever new Star Wars content releases, thinking about what it was like to discuss and debate in those days. It's hard to believe that Episode I was released more than 20 years ago. It's something of a miracle of persistence that this community still exists in the limited form that it does... nearly all of the other Star Wars fan sites from those days are long gone, replaced by comments sections on YouTube channels and banter on Twitter.

Despite that I don't post much anymore, I do wish everyone well and hope that Star Wars continues to bring each of you wonder and joy. :)

I too kinda lament the passing of days when this place used to be the public house for all discussions on Star Wars, not just the roleplaying. While I love the latter fiercely, there really was something about the days when we didn’t just have everything piped into our personal feed.

I won’t get too mushy, but I will say that I am glad to share that with y’all, even if we’re all older and we nerd out a little differently than when we were younger

On the upside, many of us are still here :) We are still roleplaying and telling stories together, and some of us even get together in real-life on a semi-regular basis to see the Star Wars movies or hang out at conventions.

There are still people here! 🧐

Times have changed. Some people moved on, some new people came, but the discussions about Star Wars didn't go away: they just moved.

We implemented a Slack server some years ago, and have since moved to Discord. It's very lively, and most of what used to be discussed in the Star Wars forum, and other OOC forums, is now discussed there, in real-time. As you can see, RP is still going strong, so we're far from "deadsville." While I, too, like the good old days, I am very happy with where we are now, and the long and lasting friendships I've built here.

I see us going for a long while further, just the nature and format of non-RP stuff on this board has moved to a more real-time instance, with Discord.

1999-2010ish was really the golden age of message boards before social media really took off. So some members like CMJ and JMK and Jedi Master Carr l, Jedieb, and even Darth McBain who were here just to talk to like minded people about Star Wars and sports and movie box office left the message board and took their discussions to other places. Facebook maybe, or twitter? Who knows.

But we are very much still here. If you want to see deadsville try finding CCNet or TGC.

Yup, I'm still here.

I still post, still try to create artistic content (check out the 20th Anniversary styleset I made a few months back), and generally try to be that one person everyone knows - including Charley - who they swear is real (I've become a hermit of sorts).

Also, a lot of us got married, some had little ones, and we all inevitably got sucked into irl projects :) Yet, most if not all of the 'Olde Guard' are still here. We even meet up on occasion, as was said before, and those little events always spark fun creativity and ideas.

Definitely stick around and check into the Discord, since we all pass through during the day and chat with each other :)

I think it's fair to say that we are a smaller community than we once were, but we are a much stronger community now than we were years ago. We have evolved, in some ways that mean that there are fewer posts here, but I'm also happy to have sacrificed daily post count ++ in exchange for the bonds that we have formed :)

A bit late to respond here but I think everyone else has covered it well. :)

As Miss De'Ville mentioned above there was a period from the late 90s through to around the mid/late 00s where the message board reigned supreme online as a mechanism for people to communicate and form communities. From the late 00s however this facility has by and large been supplanted with social media (Facebook, Twitter etc) plus the changing way communication is now shared these days with blogs, Youtube etc means communication now exists mostly in comment sections or people's news feeds.

I think the board here has done extremely well, even in it's present quieter state. I was a prolific user of messageboards 15-20 years ago of all various stripes (Star Wars, gaming, roleplaying etc); I've lost count of how many I was registered at and active on. But today I can comfortably say over 95%+ are gone - a handful may be still around in a dormant state but most have simply vanished. The fact that SW-Fans is still here after all this time with a small but active community is a true testament to the community here who have kept it going. :) :dance

It's cool that we still get people dropping in from time to time, even just to say hello and let us know they're well :)

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Originally posted by darth_mcbain
It's not like it is a special community anymore...

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Our mothers say we're special, so there's that!

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Originally posted by Figrin D'an
Despite that I don't post much anymore, I do wish everyone well and hope that Star Wars continues to bring each of you wonder and joy.

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I'm still bummed that we weren't able to meet up during/after Celebration in Chicago, but things happen, and the stars just didn't align this time. I did get to see my aunt and uncle whom I've not seen in over 25 years, since they live literally 15 minutes away from Nav/Miranda, so that was pretty damn awesome.

We'll have another opportunity, though, I just know it!

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Originally posted by Fredal Rabeak
I am very happy with where we are now, and the long and lasting friendships I've built here.

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If there was anything good that a certain old roommate in Seattle did, it was introducing us. From that initial Redwall 'board' where you introduced me to Andrew, to here, I am forever thankful that we still keep in touch. I love being the stopover of sorts, and I also love it when you're able to pass through. Perhaps one day we'll actually plan a vacation where Alabama is your destination <3

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Originally posted by Vega Van-Derveld
...but we are a much stronger community now than we were years ago.

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It's crazy how we have all come together. From big gatherings like DragonCon and the Nerd events to the smaller get-togethers that sometimes only involve two or three folks. There is a closeness that really can't be quantified.

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Originally posted by Atreyu
The fact that SW-Fans is still here after all this time with a small but active community is a true testament to the community here who have kept it going.

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We're small, but we're powerful!! There's a passion that we all have, and that keeps some of us coming back even if it's just a quick check-in. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of folks that I hope wander back, like Blake Hawke, Wyl, Wei, Zeke, Nup, Syrius Cline, JediEb, Hera, Dai, and Daq to name a few, but I also know that - as I said before - real life sometimes keeps us away.