joe_lmr wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 1:05 am

zorg wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 1:17 pm So, obviously there are still Facebook Group, which I don't use, and the BBQ's and Thundersnows, which I've never attended. To Jeff's point is that scene also fractured by this point?

The FB group is 75% memes/shitposting that would fit in the Compressing the Dumbshit thread with about 20% "here's my/our thing we're doing, cold check it" and about 5% actual discussion. Once upon a time it was thick with backchannel gossip about the forum but that's really not the case anymore. Full disclosure, I've been responsible for my part of the latter myself and that was dumb of me.

I wouldn't say "fractured" but I dunno, maybe. There's a lot of old heads you don't see online or in person at all anymore or just barely, maybe they're just focusing more on other things, maybe they burned out on the whole "PRF" thing (I've had my moments), or maybe there's some actual hate there. I dunno, I'm just some interloper from Ohio who managed to ingratiate him/themself almost two decades ago and I'm not up on most of the current intra-Chicagoan drama.

There's occasionally an interesting post on the FB group, but yeah, the vast majority of it is forgettable. Anyway, it is what it is, and the handful of interesting posts make it far more worthwhile than most of the rest of FB.

As a newbie, I don't know about whether the group is "fractured" and frankly I don't care. I absolutely love to go to a show not knowing what to expect, end up liking the band, and buy their record afterwards. For me, the PRF and PRF-adjacent events that happen in Chicagoland are the best way for me to do it, even if only a few times a year. Please keep doing what you do, PRF.

Maybe I'll eventually get off my ass and start playing in my band again. Maybe.

jfv wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 8:50 am

joe_lmr wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 1:05 am

zorg wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 1:17 pm So, obviously there are still Facebook Group, which I don't use, and the BBQ's and Thundersnows, which I've never attended. To Jeff's point is that scene also fractured by this point?

The FB group is 75% memes/shitposting that would fit in the Compressing the Dumbshit thread with about 20% "here's my/our thing we're doing, cold check it" and about 5% actual discussion. Once upon a time it was thick with backchannel gossip about the forum but that's really not the case anymore. Full disclosure, I've been responsible for my part of the latter myself and that was dumb of me.

I wouldn't say "fractured" but I dunno, maybe. There's a lot of old heads you don't see online or in person at all anymore or just barely, maybe they're just focusing more on other things, maybe they burned out on the whole "PRF" thing (I've had my moments), or maybe there's some actual hate there. I dunno, I'm just some interloper from Ohio who managed to ingratiate him/themself almost two decades ago and I'm not up on most of the current intra-Chicagoan drama.

There's occasionally an interesting post on the FB group, but yeah, the vast majority of it is forgettable. Anyway, it is what it is, and the handful of interesting posts make it far more worthwhile than most of the rest of FB.

Every loosey-goosey aspect of the old EA is front and center in the FB group. There's even a Band Names But They're Food thread. I don't see much of a difference between the two save for a core group of old forum members, and people who contribute to the songwriting challenge but never or rarely took part in the old school forum.

Online message boards are weird things. This place was/is super great in terms of information/education and entertainment, but as much as we like to think of this place as an anomaly when you get right down to it attitudes and personalities are quite similar across the board. Rereading that Burial thread was hilarious, often sad, and it reminded me of my time spent as a moderator on the now-defunct Warner Brothers Flaming Lips forums. Same shit, different levels of insight and perspective. We had a member who went by the name "Perspicacious" who turned out to be now famous Australian scammer Belle Gibson, as well as other unsavory characters sullying the place and making it a chore to navigate and inspire genuine engagement.

Personally, I cannot wait for the giant solar storm that will disable the Internet. Worst invention ever.

Fascinating thread. Started off a bit melodramatically then around page 4 the really insightful posts started coming in

As someone who doesnt do facebook/twitter etc and loves forums (I've joined hundreds of the fuckers) it is patently daft that I still don't really know where to go on the internet. I don't have an online "community". Which for a billy-no-mates dingus like me is an ongoing concern....

Gramsci wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:34 am There is a non zero possibility IMS77 isn’t real.

Oh, I absolutely agree with you. I was being facetious and don't actually think they're someone who needs a psych assessment of any sort.

At first, I thought it was someone with some personal issues or maybe some mental health struggles, and far be it for me to be a dick to someone with those kinds of very real problems, so I did my best to just ignore it. Then, when the posts started getting out of control, I added them to my foe list to make them easier to ignore, and now that a significant amount of space in any given thread is occupied by "InMySoul77, who is currently on your ignore list, made this post" over and over again, and following all of the theater about them leaving, I am 100% convinced that they are trolling or a bot. And my patience for it has completely run out.

There is precious little real content on the internet, bookended by a whole shit ton of bots, WASP conspiracy theories, advertisements, and spam. This place (along with some other message boards about specific hobbies) is kind of one of the last refuges I have left away from the noise of the wider internet. I may very well lose my patience at the trolls from time to time.

ErickC wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2024 10:42 pm

Gramsci wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:34 am There is a non zero possibility IMS77 isn’t real.

Oh, I absolutely agree with you. I was being facetious and don't actually think they're someone who needs a psych assessment of any sort.

At first, I thought it was someone with some personal issues or maybe some mental health struggles, and far be it for me to be a dick to someone with those kinds of very real problems, so I did my best to just ignore it. Then, when the posts started getting out of control, I added them to my foe list to make them easier to ignore, and now that a significant amount of space in any given thread is occupied by "InMySoul77, who is currently on your ignore list, made this post" over and over again, and following all of the theater about them leaving, I am 100% convinced that they are trolling or a bot.

Hard disagree, IMS77 announced when he returned that he used to be Nerblybear. Subtract the religious stuff and add paranoid delusions and it's clearly him. He's also on Twitter and you can see a profile pic and it's definitely Nerbly. He admitted to mental health challenges which explains the paranoia as well as some of his past behavior as Nb.

ChudFusk wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 2:15 pm

ErickC wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2024 10:42 pm

Gramsci wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:34 am There is a non zero possibility IMS77 isn’t real.

Oh, I absolutely agree with you. I was being facetious and don't actually think they're someone who needs a psych assessment of any sort.

At first, I thought it was someone with some personal issues or maybe some mental health struggles, and far be it for me to be a dick to someone with those kinds of very real problems, so I did my best to just ignore it. Then, when the posts started getting out of control, I added them to my foe list to make them easier to ignore, and now that a significant amount of space in any given thread is occupied by "InMySoul77, who is currently on your ignore list, made this post" over and over again, and following all of the theater about them leaving, I am 100% convinced that they are trolling or a bot.

Hard disagree, IMS77 announced when he returned that he used to be Nerblybear. Subtract the religious stuff and add paranoid delusions and it's clearly him. He's also on Twitter and you can see a profile pic and it's definitely Nerbly. He admitted to mental health challenges which explains the paranoia as well as some of his past behavior as Nb.

+1, one of his very first posts he even said so.

Unless holy fuck it's someone even more unhinged pretending to be him

ChudFusk wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 2:15 pm

ErickC wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2024 10:42 pm

Gramsci wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:34 am There is a non zero possibility IMS77 isn’t real.

Oh, I absolutely agree with you. I was being facetious and don't actually think they're someone who needs a psych assessment of any sort.

At first, I thought it was someone with some personal issues or maybe some mental health struggles, and far be it for me to be a dick to someone with those kinds of very real problems, so I did my best to just ignore it. Then, when the posts started getting out of control, I added them to my foe list to make them easier to ignore, and now that a significant amount of space in any given thread is occupied by "InMySoul77, who is currently on your ignore list, made this post" over and over again, and following all of the theater about them leaving, I am 100% convinced that they are trolling or a bot.

Hard disagree, IMS77 announced when he returned that he used to be Nerblybear. Subtract the religious stuff and add paranoid delusions and it's clearly him. He's also on Twitter and you can see a profile pic and it's definitely Nerbly. He admitted to mental health challenges which explains the paranoia as well as some of his past behavior as Nb.

In that case clearly something happened long before I joined that I am unfamiliar with, and I will defer to your knowledge. I retract my earlier statements and apologize if they were harsh or inappropriate in that context.

With that said, the sheer volume of posts, even with the poster on my ignore list, is pretty grating and I kind of don't feel like engaging as much as I might have before.

ChudFusk wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 2:15 pm

ErickC wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2024 10:42 pm

Gramsci wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:34 am There is a non zero possibility IMS77 isn’t real.

Oh, I absolutely agree with you. I was being facetious and don't actually think they're someone who needs a psych assessment of any sort.

At first, I thought it was someone with some personal issues or maybe some mental health struggles, and far be it for me to be a dick to someone with those kinds of very real problems, so I did my best to just ignore it. Then, when the posts started getting out of control, I added them to my foe list to make them easier to ignore, and now that a significant amount of space in any given thread is occupied by "InMySoul77, who is currently on your ignore list, made this post" over and over again, and following all of the theater about them leaving, I am 100% convinced that they are trolling or a bot.

Hard disagree, IMS77 announced when he returned that he used to be Nerblybear. Subtract the religious stuff and add paranoid delusions and it's clearly him. He's also on Twitter and you can see a profile pic and it's definitely Nerbly. He admitted to mental health challenges which explains the paranoia as well as some of his past behavior as Nb.

My gut feeling too, 100%.
Such spirals are not unknown in my family. They're obviously no fun - cut a little slack or ignore if it bugs you so much, there's a whole built-in function for that.

This thread should be locked or deleted.

Get on with your lives. Leave this person alone.

eephus wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 12:27 pm This thread should be locked or deleted.

Get on with your lives. Leave this person alone.

no kidding. I've seen this kind of thing on old forums and it only causes circular fighting with nothing being achieved.