rubberslug at 5

I love this place. Thanks for hosting our galleries and putting up with our BS~!

I agree with everyone so far! Especially possibly getting rid of ratings, or have it linked to feedback so it's required to have an explanation for the rankings.

Happy birthday RS!! Hope for many more years to come! And Jason, I don't think anyone can thank you enough for hosting such a wonderful place, thanks again for all the hard work.

I agree with Brian's suggestion about having an age minimum requirement for the chatroom. Several of us feel very uncomfortable in chat because underage individuals wish to control/regulate the conversation. Several Sluggers have children (or work with children) and must deal with them all day. They come to chat in order to relax, but feel they must remain on guard because they encounter more children.

I also truly appreciate what E has been doing. Again, I agree with Brian: you break the rules, you get the boot. There are some circumstances that needed to be dealt with one-on-one, and they have been resolved positively. Proof that the mods can actively moderate the community in a fair, objective manner. Thank you for that.

The fact that about 99% of us have not met face-to-face is exactly why we should not have such thin skins. It seems so many people are moved to tears or near-violence just because of some words on their computer monitor. That's scary. I've never been the sort to become bitter and hateful because someone did not agree with me. Likewise, the fact that I don't even know them, have never met them, and don't consider them "my friend" further undermines their ability to push my buttons. I simply don't care and fail to see why others take this stuff so personally.

For example, I consider Brian a friend and we disagree about stuff. Our difference in opinion has nothing to do with our friendship. Same with SME, we differ in opinion on various topics. But both parties have to be mature in order to have such exchanges. A lot of people seem to think that "I don't agree with you" really means "I don't like you."

A lot of people proclaim themselves to be people who "tell it like it is" and insist that others hate them for it. But they get ticked off by people with an opinion that differs from their own. Seems hypocritical. Like this discussion about drama. I'm sorry but if cels are your world and you are moved to tears/bitter hatred by what's going on at Rubberslug, then you seriously need to get a life. Maybe turn on the news and check out what's going on in Lebanon. Those are -actual- problems. This petty crap about cels is very minor in the grand scheme of things. It's healthier to cut out the relationships in your life that are harmful.

This is a hobby, it should be fun. Stop obsessing about what others think of you. No one can be universally liked, there's going to be cliques and outsiders in any community. Just focus on your own collection and your own personal happiness.

All this obsession with ranks, hits, being on the front page longer doesn't make any sense to me. Is there a cash prize I'm not aware of here? You know that's just "internet popularity" and doesn't actually mean anything, right?

Happy anniversary Rubberslug! It has been a fun time watching the place grow! Who would have thought that in five years there would be over 900 galleries! Jason and all the mods, THANK YOU for your creation and for making this a place for myself and other members to share the cel collecting hobby.

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When the ratings were first installed, I think there was maybe half the amount of galleries as now. With the amount of new members and my lack of time it just doesn't make sense to me to keep rating others galleries. Plus I don't work on giving my gallery a "new look" as when I first did at joining the rating system so I turned off the rating to my gallery. I for one have not rated a gallery in about 3 months. It was a fun feature but maybe it is time to drop it, or modify it as others have suggested.

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As for the "snarkiness", I'm no real old timer so I can't say how it was 15 years ago. But I do think it has always been around. Seems to me there has always been flame threads on any forum/blogs. All one has to do is check out the archive pages at Animanga. The "good old days" are just like todays days. People are people and the world isn't perfect. Do I have a solution? Well no, but I will keep checking out other members cel galleries and having fun. That's all I can speak to.

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Once again, Happy Anniversary Rubberslug!

The online BBS groups I've been a part of over the years have evolved mainly like this:

1. A group of BBS members or hobbyists start off small. Group members have their disagreements, but they're mostly a pretty friendly bunch. It's nice, but the posting rate is slow and there's not much posting going on.

2. The group increases in size and membership. The group is mostly invigorated by new membership. New members create excitement, new discussions and new topics.

3. The group's increase in membership begins to slow down. Less friendly new members arrive. New topic creation begins to slow. People begin to complain about the BBS becoming slow. Older members become annoyed at some of the things the newer members are doing. Rivalries begin to occur. A few members leave the group.

4. The group's new membership stagnates. Annoyances that have built up over the years come to the surface fairly often. Members don't raise new topics or ideas because someone has already said them in the past. Members get on each others nerves. Negativity creeps in. More members leave. Some of them forming their own group. Others stop posting.

5. The group's membership decreases. Former members of the group tell others not to go there. The group slows down or dies off.

The only online group of people I've been a part of for years that haven't gone down at least the #1-#4 route were:

1. The groups that were very small (consisting of less than twenty people)

2. The groups that eventually ended because members had other real life concerns to hammer out.

3. The groups where everyone lost interest in the subject matter. Nobody felt like talking about the same subject for more years than we already had.

The online groups I've stayed with the longest are the groups that have my friends as members. I'm not going to concern myself with all the other stuff. This stuff happens all the time if the same people are around each other for long enough.

I try not to annoy people, but I try not to be overly sensitive to what people say also. It doesn't always work, but at least that's what I try to do. ^_^