What were the forums like when you joined them?

[DarkFell]

There was a lot of arguing that was going on about the 2014 BayTurtles movie, along with lots of turtle nostril images aimed at CyberCube when I first joined here.

It really felt like deja Vu when the 2016 BayTurtles movie came along.

Now, the place is more mellow. A little drama here and there but otherwise mellow.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by ProactiveMan

I was lurking for a while before joining, but I remember the forum being pretty active around 2012/2013. There was a fair bit of fan-art stuff going on, but I got the feeling that I had missed the boat somewhat.

The Nickelodeon Series had just started in September 2012, so it may have helped keeping the Technodrome communities alive a little bit longer.

I didn't notice much of decline until about 2018.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by DarkFell

There was a lot of arguing that was going on about the 2014 BayTurtles movie

That was like yesterday. Nobody cares about that.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

That was like yesterday. Nobody cares about that.

It does feel like those movies are still quite recent, but when you think about, the first one has come out nearly 5 years ago already, but it sure doesn't feel like it. It feels like it came out 2 years ago or so.

[MrPliggins]

I was 25. I can remember that the forums were much more active, and the 2003 forum was the most popular part of the entire forum. The reason I joined was to contribute in those episode talkbacks. Then I just stuck around for 16 years and still visit occasionally.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Powder

fan-work/collector community. I miss all that.

Definitely. This hasn't been updated since April 2013

http://www.thetechnodrome.com/oekaki/

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Peter has never been deceptive about that. He's openly said on his blog (or was it the Vol. 4 lettercol? one of the two) that he Googles his name often and, well, often times that leads him here.

Tbh, if I was semi-famous I think I'd google myself often as well.

But come to think of it, for such a big property, 99% of the world's population probably can't even name who the creator(s) of the TMNT is/are. Or hell, even 90% of the fans of the property.

Peter Laird is rather low profile for someone who's created something as big as the Turtles. He's almost like Bill Watterson in that sense. Kevin Eastman seems more open and out there, though.

[Krutch]

I barely remember what the forums were like when I joined... I remember being pretty tight with Valorxii(or something like that), who animated these Newgrounds episodes of "Mutant Ninja Turtles" which was fun to be a part of. I wrote one of the episodes, and we even held voice auditions in the forum...

Good memories

But I've always been more of a lurker than a poster, so I've never really been as involved in The Drome as most are.

[That Matt Guy]

We were way meaner in those days I think, and I was one of the worst. We treated guys like KROW as absolute crap. I don’t know what it’s like now though. Almost every thread was active and there probably two dozen or more regular posters.

Funny how trivial crap like who gets to be a moderator or post counts seemed to matter back then when it’s completely irrelevant, dumb, and forgotten in the grand scheme of things.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by That Matt Guy

We were way meaner in those days I think, and I was one of the worst. We treated guys like KROW as absolute crap. I don’t know what it’s like now though. Almost every thread was active and there probably two dozen or more regular posters.

Funny how trivial crap like who gets to be a moderator or post counts seemed to matter back then when it’s completely irrelevant, dumb, and forgotten in the grand scheme of things.

I wasn't around in 2003-2008, as you can tell from my reg date, but I've been posting on message boards since 2001 and can tell you that post count and who gets to me a moderator was definitely a bigger deal back in 2001-2007 than it is nowadays. You see, most of the forums out there have been around for over a decade now, and about 70-80 percent of their most active users were between the age of 14 and 19. The other 20 percent were mostly 20-25, and the oldest person around was usually some guy close to 30 or something. Since I was a kid/teenager, I mostly used cartoon, anime, video game and wrestling forums; and in those places demographics skew younger than it, let's say, a jazz music forum. So basically, going on a message board back then was basically like being part of a virtual high school. That explains why people cared so much about their post count, what hierarchical position they had, what rank they had, etc. It's like the more posts you had the more people were likely to click on your threads. In forums like IGN, people would make huge celebration threads once they hit milestones such as 10k posts, 50k posts, 100k posts, etc. where they'd mention their favourite users and answer questions by them. This all looks silly in hindsight, but for our 16-19 year old selves it was quite a big deal and fun to do such things.

Overall the internet was more fun before social media became what it is today, imo. Plus, back then not EVERYONE was online every day, so you basically had this big minority going on the internet beyond checking their e-mail and reading the news. Also, there were way less political arguments and people spreading their political agendas online. There was no Twitter, Reddit, Facebook beyond American university students, Tumblr, etc. So most of the online communities you had were about video games, anime, cartoons, wrestling, etc, which were things that mostly attracted teenagers and people in their early 20s. Most people under 21 don't care or want to discuss politics and religion with each other. They want to discuss games, anime, wrestling, cartoons, the guys/girls from their class that they have a crush on, etc.

Throughout the years, some of the veteran users from those forums didn't leave and naturally got older. Meaning they're now in their late 20s/early 30s. And people can change a lot from their teens to that age. And obviously, those people stopped seeing cartoons, games, anime, wrestling, music, etc. as the only thing they care about and also gotten interested in politics and have dealt with adult problems in the real world since then, many of them becoming bitter and toxic unhappy people.

Back then there were a lot of arguments online already, but it was mostly people disagreeing with each other on their favourite stupid cartoon which would end in people flaming each other and telling each other to kill themselves. It was dumb, but bystanders would at least laugh and be very entertained at such sh*tshows . Nowadays most internet arguments are about more serious subjects and thus are more depressing, toxic and stressful to read, I feel.

Hell, in 2006-2007, the biggest drama on youtube were the flame wars between AVGn and Irate Gamer fanboys. It was dumb, but I'll be damned if it wasn't hilarious to read it . I'd look forward to read more inflammatory comments between both fanboy groups every day on youtube. It was amusing seeing people taking heir retro gaming reviews way too seriously.

My generation(born in 1990) was the first one to use the internet since we were small kids and the first one to have a lot of people addicted to it and getting involved a lot with it. This generation has grown up since then and is now the one you mostly see represented on social media and such. And, in addition, a lot of them became more toxic and bitter as they've gotten older. Multiply that by more and more people using the internet nowadays than ever and having domestic internet connection and it gets worse.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by That Matt Guy

We were way meaner in those days I think, and I was one of the worst. We treated guys like KROW as absolute crap. I don’t know what it’s like now though. Almost every thread was active and there probably two dozen or more regular posters.

Funny how trivial crap like who gets to be a moderator or post counts seemed to matter back then when it’s completely irrelevant, dumb, and forgotten in the grand scheme of things.

Heeeeeeeyyyyyy YOU.

[That Matt Guy]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Heeeeeeeyyyyyy YOU.

Hey yo.

I was genuinely glad to see that you're still here and not in jail

[Leo656]

Give it a few days. Someone broke my NECA Hordak statue and is refusing to reimburse me for it. I predict a multiple homicide at the absolute least, details to come. Keep checking the news!

[That Matt Guy]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Give it a few days. Someone broke my NECA Hordak statue and is refusing to reimburse me for it. I predict a multiple homicide at the absolute least, details to come. Keep checking the news!

you're looking at life if they find out about all of the other murders

[Leo656]

BWAHAHAHAHAA...... shhhhhhhh.

And no way. That'd be the chair for sure. "Life" wouldn't even cover all the decapitated hookers in the crawlspace at my Dad's ex-wife's house.

[Voltron]

I just want to say that, aside from the absolute atrocity of decapitating hookers, the ability to get that many into the house of an estranged in-law is impressive. That was another way the boards were different back then: a lot more fear of murder. But also flattery that someone would go to all that trouble just to end you.

[Leo656]

Truly, it was The Golden Age.

[MikeandRaph87]

Not long after I started lurking the forums shut down due to adolescent bickering on the internet. When I joined officially the Great Mask Color War erupted. Some things never change.