I'M DESOLATED!!!

I,ve been in the Pond for quite a while now. I've left my mark in one way or other. But I have seen and mourned the changes in the last 9 months.

Last Christmas starting in late November we had anticipation....purely virtual...nobody expected anything in reality. We were content with virtuality. We had fun. We were creative. Gosh darn we were happy.

Now when I look into the Pond, I do not want to be here. It is full of confrontation, left and right; it razes my creativity! It used to be a place that inspired.

I'm imploring that more of the old fish come back and take a stand. I'm not saying the newbies have nothing to inspire but we miss the old gaurd. Come back and give this Pond what it used to have...life...joy......and ingenuity!!


lee

Hi, Lee!

I think everyone has been so busy up top that it's been hard to be creative. However, I always enjoy your humor, and hope that we will all find some much-needed playful inspiration. I know many of us are trying, when we can.

We enjoy your presence so much, and will do what we can to cheer you up.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week/weekend or just special family/friend time this coming week, and I'll try to play more.

It's after midnight where I am now, so I must toddle off to beddie-bye (sp??), but look forward to seeing your posts tomorrow!

Happy trails, to you, until we meet again... as Dale Evans would sing at the end of the Roy Rogers Show on TV when I was a kid...

Chin up, my friend!

Fair (Chrys)

Hi Guylee1

The pond has changed in the past couple of months and the fish I used to enjoy chatting with I haven't seen in awhile. I can't explain it, the pond just used to be goofier? I think the animosity you speak of is exactly what drove so many fish away. I remember earlier this year the pond got really nasty and many people disappeared after that. But then again, what do I know?

If I may make a suggestion? Perhaps there could be some threads directed by some of the longer term fishes to teach us newcomers how to play? I have a look at threads like the Bad Fishie Bench and think they look like fun but have no idea how to join in. I have already made the mistake of being confrontational, which I regret, and certainly don't want to do it with this response. I have actually taken the trouble to go back and read lots of older threads to get a feel for the pond (which I also wish I'd done before I started posting) and it does seem like people had a lot more fun, trouble is, I think unless you were there at the start it can be a bit hard to understand what fish are talking about so maybe someone could explain a bit of the history behind the clown bus and things like that?
Lisa

I know how you feel lmf40. I used to feel that way when I first dipped in the pond too. Like I was intruding on conversations. Sometimes I still feel that way. Most of the threads are just about acting silly. The "clown bus" is what all our little clown fish drive around here in the pond, as all the different fish morphs have certain things associated with them. We used to have a great thread called The Diner, but I have no idea what happened to that. The "I'm offended" thread can be fun, just mention anything that you find offending. A lot of fish have been around awhile so they may have private jokes but the more you stick around, the more you'll understand the pond.

There was fun in Yummy Dinner, creating the Zen-Garden , and the Popper thwacking.You right Lee it was a good time, I miss it too, that's why I mostly post at smoking threat.The Pond is not what it was anymore.We all have a life topside,but there was always a little bit time leftover for the pond. I have enough arguments topside, why bringing them to a virtual world?
Thank you Lee, for that thread

((( Guylee )))

(((((((guylee)))))) we did have some fun, loved the clown bus, and then we started the circus which was fun too, the singing threads, and the adventures, sure miss them.

I agree with Imf40. I have joined in, started threads, posted to others, but it is hard to "fit in". When I started a thread about not feeling part of the pond, I was scolded. I have no bad feelings toward anyone I have "met" in the forums. I have almost 500 posts, but still feel like a newcomer. Don't misunderstand...99% of the fishies here have been really great and welcoming, but that's not the same as being able to join in conversations. So I just visit, read different threads, post if I feel like it, and pretty much keep to myself. My only decent thread I started about fibromyalgia ended up getting locked because people started fussing. I'm sure it is upsetting to Guylee that her old friends are missing. It would be to me too. But how do you ever get to be an old friend if you can't seem to become a new friend? It just gets frustrating sometimes, but it's not something I will leave the pond over. If I ever do leave, it won't be with drama or accusations. I will just go quietly....

I'll step down from my soapbox now.....

I've only been here a year , so I guess that's not long enough to see a change.
I can say that in my personal experiences here that the "older, bigger" fish are the ones who are intolerant. Any view point that doesn't follow party line results in a massive attack from a large school of "big fish".
I try to start threads that encompass everyone, but very rarely do "bigger fish" join in.
I know that I am abrasive and not the nicest person , but I have seen the happen to new fishes who are very nice.
Maybe the old fish did not leave because they do not like the newbies , but rather because they could not stand each other any longer?
IDK , I don't personally know them or what things were like before I got here.

I'm only here a short time, compared to some, but my experience has been great. Most fishies have been very welcoming and encouraging. I will say that I've seen some heated discussions. I'll never understand why a few feel the need to crush the opinions of others, but that's life, not just in the pond. I always wondered how long it takes to get to 34,651 posts, like Prpldva, and all the others with 10's of thousands of posts. Something must be good here for them to stay around.

isn't it funny about perceptions -
I understand your frustration, lee - I too see the change, however for me, the change was totally different things, I miss the TGT threads, the game discussion threads that don't get immediately locked or pushed into the separate game forum where they are hard to find ... But with that said,
I try to participate in Cesse's thread everyday (except when I am feeling a little snarky) I always appreciate Teresa's (she would be considered a newbie) question of the day, even If I have answered it a million times. I like TV thread or Movie threads, or book threads - any thread where I can learn about something new ..
but I really really miss the TGT threads ....

I think it's mostly a case of the past taking on a rosy hue, the first thread I ever posted in ended up in a huge fight and I started posting in January. Don't remember how long I read before but it couldn't have been too far from the Golden Age that the old guard so often refers to and there were confrontations and snubbings and great fun and all the positive and negative contacts that make us human even then.

Me, I like the Pond now just fine even though it's different every week, nothing is static and I like meeting new people and know that others that I find wonderful will sometimes move on to other things.

And Dixielynn and Lmf40, just push your way into anything at all that seems fun, a few will snub you but most will just be delighted to find a new buddy. If you don't grasp an undercurrent pm somebody that seems accepting. Heck most of us like nothing more than answering questions and filling newbies in. And NEVER feel that what you have to share is any less important because you haven't been here as long!

tia_mia wrote:I've only been here a year , so I guess that's not long enough to see a change.I can say that in my personal experiences here that the "older, bigger" fish are the ones who are intolerant. Any view point that doesn't follow party line results in a massive attack from a large school of "big fish".
I try to start threads that encompass everyone, but very rarely do "bigger fish" join in.
I know that I am abrasive and not the nicest person , but I have seen the happen to new fishes who are very nice.
Maybe the old fish did not leave because they do not like the newbies , but rather because they could not stand each other any longer?IDK , I don't personally know them or what things were like before I got here.

You're right tia, you haven't been here long enough to understand. And as for your post about us "not standing each other any longer", you couldn't be more wrong.

While I haven't participated too much in the fun/silly threads, it's obvious that things have changed around here since when I first started posting. There were a lot of regulars who participated in such threads and kept the pond splashing on a daily basis. Not that that still doesn't happen, but it's not like it used to be. Sure, it's a shame, but many things in life just don't stay the same.

Lee, if they're not coming around here any more, how are they going to see your post? Maybe someone could go to FS and ask them to return. I know a lot of them left when that first opened, which also coincided with some stuff that was happening in the pond.

I heard that there were some people keeping in touch on Facebook, so maybe someone can post there, too.

Just wanted to add one more thing...I hope no one gets the impression from my posts that I somehow blame newbies as that couldn't be farther from the truth. I read some of my posts and I could see how that may come across! I don't have an explanation for the change, just that I have noticed it. Even at 1,000 posts I still consider myself to be a newbie.

I date the decline of the pond from the day they took away the word game threads which it seems, despite the protestations of the mods, is a permanent situation. Lots of fish got miffed and negativity begat negativity, the particular topic didn't matter.

Guylee

Know how you feel, the huge waves in the pond, washed them all away, most to Fauna, don't think we will ever get the pond back to the way it was, so sad.

There are still some fun threads, but the waves keep coming, I tend to stay out of the rough waters, and prefer to stay in the calm.

The pond is for fun, not for all the carp what goes on, people have enough of that topside.

The word games have gone, don't think they will ever come back, they were fun, and we got to know a little about each other.

Thank goodness we still have TGT to look forward to

((( Mummy )))