> Yep, this is another "forum and chat stink nowadays" post. This time it has a more personal ring to it. I don't like what's happening with the state of things here at RinkWorks.
>

Wow, this sure brought people to abrupt attention. I was rather shocked at the number of new posts, until I realized the topic.

Anyway, my contribution: I haven't been in RinkChat as often as usual either. The major reason for this is that in previous months, I used RinkChat as a means to dispel boredom while at school, where I usually had lengthly breaks between classes and time to kill. This semester, I don't have that situation at all. But I know the purpose of the topic isn't to defend oneself, it's about the community. So.

Lately, I've been making an effort to come into RinkChat more often. Like many people have expressed in this thread, often-times I see mostly idleness in chat and log out (although sometimes I'll come in and try and "poke" people awake if I feel the resulting conversational group is worth it). Not all the time. But sometimes.

As for the Forum, I've never been a large contributor to it. Although I enjoy many of the threads, I'd say about 25% of them are on subject matter that I can actually respond to in a knowledgable and interesting manner. I do feel a sort of pressure to not post 'crap' here, but usually what's stopping me is just lack of knowledge on my part. Not a problem; I enjoy learning about new things and entertaining new ideas put forth by others.

About LiveJournal: I have one, and use it extensively, but on the rare occasion when something Forum-worthy happens I always post it in both places. Mostly, the journal is kept for daily junk like "I had an Italian soda today and sat on the grass." (And I even omit some things from that journal: neither people in the Forum nor most of those on LJ really care if I think the latest anime episode was totally awesome or not. Especially since such posts are usually near incoherent with fangirl babbling.)

About AIM: I use AIM all the time. I am not, by nature, an intensely social person. (This may surprise some.) Many times, the mass conversation in Chat is too overwhelming or has too many social dynamics for me to want to deal with at that particular time. This is not Chat's fault; it's one of my quirks. Hence, AIM, with calmer one-on-one conversation, is great. 75% of my AIM conversations are with non-Rinkies anyway, so it doesn't really affect my chat time that much. Not any more than it has since my arrival at RinkWorks over two years ago. (Yipe.)

In short, I'm not sure if I feel like I'm part of the problem. However, I know I also haven't been part of the solution, which is just as bad. Seeing the above, and my apparent need to post excuses, there must be a reason for me to be feeling guilty.

I remember having a similar forum thread a while ago, that Brunnen-G posted. It caused similar hue and cry, and everyone made promises there. Including myself, and I haven't quite kept them as well as I'd like to think.

That's a problem in other areas too. But I'm working on those, and I can darn well work on this too. RinkWorks has been hands-down the best online community I've ever been a part of. And I think it's a big testament to us that we *care* enough to take things in hand when they seem to be going wrong.

We're not apathetic, and that's a huge strength. Let there be results from this, and all will be... not perfect, but better. And that can only be a good thing.

Sosiqui