I, being rather new to the "RinkWorks contributor" scene, may or may not have anything useful to say. I'm pretty sure right up front that I won't be as coherent or insightful as many others, nor am I likely to say everything I'm setting out to say. But here I'll try, and hope it makes sense.

Also: Apologies in advance, but this is pretty long. I'll put a brief conclusion at the end, for those who want to just skip all my rambling. If this gets deleted, so be it.

> The forum has hit a real lull lately. That's not necessarily bad. The forum goes in spells, and I don't think the recent dearth of posts means very much, since the right post can still stir up conversation, the recent Summer Movies thread being a good example of breaking a week-long period of almost nothing. Still, it is a concern.

I don't post to the forum much, partly because I don't feel I have anything useful to add, and partly because I'm still getting the "feel" for the people here. I can see good things and bad things to what people have said about the quality of posts. Waiting to post till you have something interesting and useful to say is a good thing, on the one hand. It means that when I sit down after school and devote an hour to reading the forum, it's worth my time. However, it does result in a fairly quiet board sometimes, and often I'm scared to post something new for fear that people won't find it worth *their* time to read. Rather than it being cliquish, though, I see it as more of a service to others. When I try and put my thoughts in order, I'm doing it for others. It's hard to explain what I'm trying to say here, because while I say I think about others in posting, I can also see the merits of posting for oneself, saying things that are really interesting to *me* and making them interesting to others. (I guess it always does come back to everyone else, though.)

I realize this doesn't say much of anything, but hopefully it does give a glimpse of what I see as the use of the forum. I don't have any suggestions for revitalizing it, unfortunately; that's up to the posters themselves. (And, now that I've broken the ice a few times, I guess I'm included there as well.)


> The decline of RinkChat concerns me more. When I go in there, I see the same twelve people, eight of which are idle. Contrast this with the amount of conversation that happens over AIM and in livejournals, and RinkChat is starting to feel like an off-shoot of the Rinkie community instead of its source. I don't like that, but not because RinkChat is part of my site: I'd be happy with an active, quality gathering in a chat room somewhere else. But I don't like AIM due to its inherent interruptive and non-communal nature, and I don't like livejournals for reasons I have stated in past threads here.


Wow.

First: Being a rather recent addition to the "gang" in RinkChat - recent being less than a year - I am terribly upset by this talk of the decline of RinkChat. I hate to think that I finally got here in time for everyone else to leave. I know that's not how it is, but it seems like I came in on the end of something wonderful, like I came in while people were laughing over some joke but nobody will explain to me what the punchline is.

Second: I come in to chat when I can, nearly every day, because I honestly enjoy the company of nearly everyone there. True, the archives got me to start chatting, but I stay because of the people. Even if it's not funny or brilliant all the time - I know people can't be like that every day.

Third: I feel bad that I can't get to know everyone, and part of the reason seems to be that you "ancient regulars" don't feel like getting to know someone new if other "ancients" aren't also there. This makes sense; I can see the logic behind it, but maybe I'm worth knowing...

Now, to the actual relevant section: I do have both a blog and a LiveJournal. I use them as outlets for my creativity, places in which to say dumb things without looking like a *complete* idiot and generally vent out my daily frustrations. I rarely bring that mess into chat, and never to the forum. It doesn't have a place there. Creative stuff, maybe, but not if it doesn't edify anyone else. I agree that LJ should not take the place of the chatroom, though, and to be honest, I didn't know it had. I thought that famous' announcement had already been broadcasted here first.

The part about AIM disturbed me a little. I never initiate AIM conversations, out of habit. I prefer the chatroom because I can see all the conversations going on and pick which ones I want to be a part of. If people are having all their conversations on AIM, I feel like I'm missing out (though, granted, most of it isn't my business anyway) - the chatroom does work well for my nosy, curious personality. However, I do talk to a good friend or two on AIM alone, so I can see the benefits of it, and I don't find it intrusive since, as I said, there are only a few people involved.

Basically, I think people should feel free to exchange personal conversation via IM, but not to the exclusion of chat! It comes back to me feeling left out, which is horribly selfish but true. Another selfish reason: A lot of the new members are in the 12-14-year-old range, or only slightly older. I really enjoy talking to those who are my age and older than I am, as I get a lot of insight from them...


>But let's face it: now, as opposed to before, much more of the community born here is sustained through mediums outside of RinkWorks. RinkChat is no longer its center, at least not for a great many if not most of you. It would hurt to lose RinkChat, sure, but how much?
>

This is going to sound pathetic, but RinkChat is nearly my entire social life. If it were to disappear, I'd survive, but I'd go back to reading books and playing computer games and generally living without much human interaction outside of work and school. This chatroom fills up my "social interaction" void, as I am more comfortable with text than face-to-face communication. I'm coming from a viewpoint without as much of the beyond-RinkWorks communication, it's true - I may have a different opinion, much like most of the others here, if I did in fact have all sorts of Rinkie friends outside of RinkChat.

> So what's the answer? That's not something I can answer by myself, hence the open question. But I want to arrive at an answer somehow, and that answer depends pretty much entirely on what you folks, members of this community, intend to do. Honestly, if your intention is to retreat into livejournals and abandon RinkChat (not counting those who are just in a busy phase of life), as so many have already done implicitly, just say so. Then I can at least mentally write you off, and I won't have to continue to wonder why I never see so-and-so anymore. Maybe if we whittle down to the group of people who are still truly interested in the community, we can figure out if it's still going to be here and, regardless, how we can enliven it again.
>

I certainly intend to stay and give this place as many chances as I can. As far as the main questions go, I'm sorry that I have no answers. There are too many people here to make one answer work for all. I suspect that any answer would require conscious decisions to come back, or stay, and be willing to put up with the nonsense in order to find the gold that is still here. I'm sure things aren't as good as they were before I arrived, but they *can* be and it is that possibility that keeps me coming back for more.

Conclusion: Yes, I agree that there are problems, and my heart hurts whenever I think about it. I DON'T think that giving up on RinkChat is the answer; it would take work to fix the problems that have developed, but I for one think it would be worth it. I like you people, and there are few things I'd rather do on a lonely night than come in and talk with a group of people I'm starting to see as friends (or would like to at least).

se"Well, why didn't she just replace the body with the conclusion and make the whole thing shorter?"lah

Original response: NOOO DON'T GIVE UP ON RINKCHAT PLEEEASE. I think that says it all.