Greetings from a retrogamer of PACMAN in sunny Costa Rica.

[Rui]

Argh, I took so long to type this post that Arbalest lapped me.

Decided that as the thread had moved on, it deserved a new home in Random Chit-Chat. The original title remains so people can find it*.

To address other things, as a human being rather than with my mod hat on...

The site reviews anime which is legally available in the UK, because that's kind of the purpose. If you want to review something else without actively promoting illegal activities please, feel free to post a review of your own on the forums. Stuff which has been on TV is bound to get people talking since a lot of people might have casually seen it. Quite a few of AF17's threads, however much grief he gets for his (now vastly improving) posting style, have ended up generating a reasonable amount of discussion. Our official reviewers constantly generate reviews for new releases which can be commented on if a discussion is wanted. The triggers are there ready for the taking if people actually want to talk about anime.

I've also noticed that we have had some new posters these last few months who have discreetly fitted in with regular posts almost unnoticeably. Some people have faded out with real life or in search of greener pastures, but I don't think we're quite in graveyard territory yet.

Another forum thing which could be good is more simulwatches; there's no reason that only one has to run at a time or that only the previous pioneers can run them. The GITS one was great (I didn't participate as I don't like GITS but I still read it!) and I'm skipping the newest one as I don't want to R2J the selected show just for a forum thread, but they're a great way of actively getting people chatting about something.

Same with the podcast, really. If the existing one isn't enough, nothing is stopping other people posting their own fan podcasts. Like that chap with the Your Anime Sucks reviews, which tend to get a fair few appreciative comments whenever they're added.

I also disagree that anime itself isn't that interestingly lately! This will differ between people as everyone has different taste, but for me it is an exciting time to be a UK anime fan. With CR (and NicoNico!) acknowledging the UK exists and AoD launching to give us our very own platform, as well as much faster licensing than before, sub-only speed releases (with varying success) on DVD and our local companies actually talking to us from time to time, there seems to be a lot going on to make the hobby more prominent. We even got Layton before the US, and it sold fantastically too. Then there's stuff like the recent viewing figures for Akira on TV and movie showings across the country from time to time.

Not to mention there having been good news for importers with more foreign English-friendly licensors joining the fray to give us a more diverse range to choose from; NISA, Aniplex USA and Siren of Australia have really raised the stakes lately. Hit series such as Tiger & Bunny and Madoka Magica are out there with exciting new series on the horizon as well. I'm glad to be an anime fan in 2011. Heck, someone can feel free to post this and pick it apart to start a discussion if you want to make fun of my enthusiastic tone ^^;

Putting the mod hat back on temporarily to address a couple of other things:

Aion was banned because Aion was unable to respect the rules of the site. He had ample warning. I liked his better posts too, but he's not coming back any time soon.

CG still posts here. He's not around as often as he used to be but I'm sure if a civilised topic is made which he's interested in he'll give his thoughts as always.

I'm here multiple times, every day. I'm not always logged in. If I don't talk, it's because I'm not interested in the topic or because someone else covered any points I was going to make, but I'll always answer interesting things!

So, let's hear more on how Jayme and Spyro have been getting 'close'? :O

R

* and because I thought it was funny.

 

[memorium]

I praise AF17, however annyoing he may get at times, alone for how many threads he's managed to make, I've never seen someone generate so much in the amount of time he's been with us, as for the podcasts and simulwatches I wouldn't personally start any of that, firstly because I feel like I would be nicking/undermining someone else's idea and secondly my organising skills are awful, the most I could do is start the fire, I do agree we need some more of them (simulwatches) around here though as it's a good idea

 

[Otaku-san]

What ever happened to Aion? I was only a lurker when he was around but he always seemed a douche.

OHHH BOY, HERE WE GO AGAIN

So, let's hear more on how Jayme and Spyro have been getting 'close'? :O

as above

 

[Tachi]

...latest one on facebook hit a nerve.

Is this the wallpost I left you, or the liking of the picture? In fairness, the wallpost was genuine. I didn't really intend to hit any sort of nerve with that; and I didn't even mean it in a joking way (except for trying to quote the single LP song I know... that was me trying to joke).

No it wasn't really the picture, not even the comment. I took that as a joke and understood your just having a laugh, it was more the fact that jaymes "you'll be like what she done" was the trigger that lead to my reply, its been little things every now and again where its obviously posted in sarcasm and i even said months back "are you being sarcastic or just having a laugh" and you said it was just posting, nothing meant behind it. But it carried on and became more obvious, there's only so much i tolerate before i start to say things back y'know. And due to the fact (imo) me and you used to get on well, Peter too, all used to just sit and talk and even helped you through things, giving advice and the sarcasm over time was like 2 fingers back up at me for no reason.

The admins lurk as "hidden". The only "group" so's to speak is Spyro and jayme becoming close

Yeah; but this is only because me and Jay know each other off of the forum too. It's just like Will-O and Lupus, really. We hang fairly frequently, and talk off the forum. But there are a few i'm like that with on AUKN; I talk to others via Steam and MSN. I just think it's to do with nothing substantial to talk about anymore on here. I've never really posted much in the General Convo area- and heck I managed to bring some life about with that GITS rewatch. But it just goes to show people are busy - one episode a night wasn't much, but those who took part struggled to keep up, and even more didn't take part! It's not like GITS is a hard to get show, it's cheap, and for the thread it left a really nice atmosphere.

Yeah i'm not saying this is getting quiet because of the general convo thread. i'm just on about the forum as a whole. And i'm not complaining about the fact you and jayme are getting on well outside the forums, hell out of everyone here i'm the only one who keeps in regular contact with Voddas so its not uncommon to have mates off the forums. I just like this place and don't want to see it become a ghost town. I think the simulwatches are a good idea and i'd try to invest time into being part of one, just need people to get the ball rolling really.

@Rui, fair enough. Its just been a slow time for anime for me in the past 6-8 months really. I picked up the Soul eater complete series boxset and Heat Guy J series recently, but they aren't exactly "new" releases. The things i've heard about that peak my interests are summer wars, claymore and probably Spice and Wolf but again, these aren't new. Durarara leaves no interest in me at all.

As for the Illegal review thing, its more a case of i was looking around for shin chan boxsets and realised there's no R2 release (not cool) being a show i used to love watching on fox kids when i was younger i thought "as its on UK tv surely it'll have a R2 release" but i guess not, Its shows like that though that people miss out on because they don't get released across here but are great shows, now i'm not saying for a second that we should fansub (tbh i don't like fan subbing due to liking my dubs too much) But to import titles means your still supporting the industry, just not the UK market (and its not really our fault they haven't released shows across here until years later)

 

[Jaymii]

Re: Shin Chan, the release the US have on DVD is a lot different to the one we used to get on FOX Kids. I still find it funny, but it's a completely different show.

 

[skikes]

I do miss the old days... I would give anything to have Maxon quote me and reply with derogatory comment out of nowhere. Or Citizen Geek to have a 10 page argument with everyone telling him he's wrong but he's convinced he's right. Or Paul... just Paul. Good times

 

[Tachi]

I actually contacted Paul recently (yesterday) here's what he has to say:

I click around the AUKN forums and main site once or twice every few weeks. I built it from nothing (including the layout; those orange borders! Man, that layout was so stressful to design but it still looks nice today) so I'm quite attached and proud that it's still ticking over today. You probably joined the site at a time when I was starting to fade, so I came across as quiet, but from 2004 until around 2007, I was on the forums pretty much 24/7

It's great to see you've stuck around on there along with a lot of other people. When I handed the site over, I just wanted to see it survive and man, you're still all keeping it thriving. It makes me proud

If we say "Chaos is hardly ever here" he'd reply, maybe in 3 weeks time. but he'd reply saying what he's upto lol. CG is around here though he posts very rarely, openly baiting him won't work either.

THink Ayase was right, they where the golden days of AUKN, not to be relived or seen again.

 

[skikes]

THink Ayase was right, they where the golden days of AUKN, not to be relived or seen again.

Yeah they were. It's a shame. That's a nice comment from Paul though. I don't visit often but when I do the site just seems to get quieter and quieter. I think I'm on of the oldest members on here. I can't see it picking up now Anime News Network has a UK section now. I think the main problem with the site is that it hasn't really grown or evolved much since it started.

 

[Will-O'-The-Wisp]

Tbh I thought the reason for the end of AUKN's glory days were pretty simple, there aren't enough "casual anime fans" here

In the podcast between Arbalest, spyro and a few others, someone mentioned Animefreak17's threads and a complaint came up that they were about questions we as anime fans, have already talked about before, or some variation of that i.e "Who is your favourite character from X", "who would win in a fight between X, Y or Z" that sort of thing. Some of his threads are dumb, but most are the sort that made AUKN fun and kept life in the anime section. They're the sort of questions you ask other new anime fans when you meet IRL, and it kept things interesting

Now it's almost always all "X licences this anime! to go on shelves at ___ date" or "_______ has been delayed, curse this industry!", those to me are pretty much the "hardcore" anime fans, and it's almost daunting to try and start regular casual topics that go against that, so over time the more casual fans vanish. Some other casual posters stay, and regularly contribute to the forums but only because AUKN has the random chit-chat sub-forum (Tachi, Voddas, a few others being a good example ((sorry if you disagree otherwise))

IMO the glory days might be gone, but AUKN can become great again, just as long as we have a nice big variety of threads, maybe some more fun with the character battles (while these might be ongoing, there were off for so long I haven't thought to click them... hmm, maybe an announcement bar or something would be useful)

I'm not hating/attacking on anyone/thing they do btw, so please don't jump down my throat!

 

[skikes]

Tbh I thought the reason for the end of AUKN's glory days were pretty simple, there aren't enough "casual anime fans" here

Hmm some pretty interesting thoughts there. You know I really think your right.

...and I think over moderation can become a problem. Flaming, trolling and bitch fights are the best part of a forum.

 

[Vashdaman]

^
Seriously, you think trolls and bitchfights are the best part of a forum (I don't know what flamming actually means, but it sounds silly), hmmm I would have thought only bored 15 year old's enjoy wasting time in such a way. The mod's seem to be doing a stellar job here from what I can tell anyway.

I do miss the old days... I would give anything to have Maxon quote me and reply with derogatory comment out of nowhere. Or Citizen Geek to have a 10 page argument with everyone telling him he's wrong but he's convinced he's right. Or Paul... just Paul. Good times

Hold on a minute, his names Citizen Geek!? Lol, I thought it was Citizen Greek, I think I even referred to him as that in the Homeopathy thread oops, I hope he didn't think I did that intentionally lol.

 

[Jaymii]

I'm repeatedly on record that the flamewars are indeed the best part these places. It's exciting when everyone gets all up in arms about one person.

 

[skikes]

^
Seriously, you think trolls and bitchfights are the best part of a forum (I don't know what flamming actually means, but it sounds silly), hmmm I would have thought only bored 15 year old's enjoy wasting time in such a way. The mod's seem to be doing a stellar job here from what I can tell anyway.

Gimmie a break, everyone loves a flame war.

 

[Vashdaman]

Really? Err whats exciting about that? Its childish and a complete waste of time. Flamming (whatever that means), trolls and the general abundance of closed minded penis heads, oh and the internet lingo and abreviations I can never understand are pretty much the reason I have and still do generally avoid most Forums.

I pretty much avoid internet in general though mind you.

 

[skikes]

Really? Err whats exciting about that? Its childish and a complete waste of time. Flamming (whatever that means), trolls and the general abundance of closed minded penis heads, oh and the internet lingo and abreviations I can never understand are pretty much the reason I have and still do generally avoid most Forums.

I pretty much avoid internet in general though mind you.

And we all thank you for that.

 

[Tachi]

We need more ball shaving topics skikes lol your wasting them on facebook

I'm caught between myself when it comes to flame wars, i've been guilty of being in the middle of one, i've tried to negate them in the past too. But i'm not sure if it really works or not, i mean i tried to start up something the other month but nobody really took the bait (well, rui always takes my baits but thats sort of her job)

 

[Zin5ki]

>Baiting a mod.

Better to bait a mod than to mod a bait. Regard, for instance, some of these customised lures:

 

[Tachi]

Thats not baiting a mod. i'm saying in the past i've baited the forum as a whole to generate more talking, but Rui is the only one to reply to me about it. Its not intentionally baiting Rui ¬__¬ READ PROPERLY

Perma-banning is too harsh, even paul banned Aion, but never forever!

To bypass it he'd only have to change his IP address and create a new member. So its not like its impossible for him to come back.

 

[skikes]

We need more ball shaving topics skikes lol your wasting them on facebook

Haha I think it's a perfectly legit topic. Healthy and Safety I believe. Every man has to do it but not all of them are quite sure how... It's a very awkward shaving area.

 

[Tachi]

Hmm, it is. The regrowth period of hair in lower areas is unbearable. Thus why for me it makes more sense to trim but no shave.

ofcorse for you it's obvious why you'd want that area to be as smooth as babies skin. but not for everyone lol.