For the sake of my fingers and everyone else's eyes, I'll try my best this time to keep this short.
As much as I'd like to say I have misjudged the community, even you admit that the shit talk is more extreme than the early years. The major beef I have now is that the current shit talk is majorly unwarranted, and it is also discouraging that there is a lot of unnecessary shit talk. It isn't healthy shit talk, like playful bantering or teasing. Trash talking with your friends is fun, but even to that there is a certain limit. There is a certain level of respect. Just because you're the mature one and you share a couple of respectful relationships doesn't necessarily means the majority of the community does. The big phenomenon I've been seeing is people who don't know people at all, and they don't even give them a chance to prove their merit in the mod, and they go OUT of their way to put them down. It is a very cowardly thing for someone who clearly knows he is better and playing this mod for years, to bash quiet regulars who just started to play in the recent months. I look back at our [$] vs. GB rivalry with a lot of mixed emotions. Firstly, it was THE most intense rivalry at the time. You can tell, just talk to any retired [$] member, mention Manning, and they'll shudder in disgust. Same probably goes with GB members vice versa. But that was because we were the dominant teams back in the day, and we scrimmed against each other god knows how many times. It wasn't [$] or GB randomly picking fights or shitting on people for no reason; a lot of it was warranted, and EVEN THEN we never crossed the line. We chose to internalize it and talk about it amongst ourselves. I do think the team rivalries were MUCH more bitter and hated, but with that lacking, I think individuals are MUCH more bitter and hated now. You don't ride and die as a team anymore, it is survival of the fittest now.
The old posts are fun to look at, and at the current period, I do nothing but laugh. Its cute, little high schoolers getting so heated and upset. But it is also taken widely out of context. Those posts are from a time where the forums and site were primarily [$] territory. Hell, there was even a section called "The Champhouse" where I posted random shit. I think 95% of the members were [$], and it was just a personal space for us to talk and vent. Thats why, if my memory serves correctly, you kept trying to make an account and post and we'd get butthurt and delete you multiple times LOL. It is taken out of context, because it seems like it was there as a public forum for everyone to participate and see, but really, the audience for those posts were just [$] and some GB.
I think you've become very attached to this mod, for obvious reasons. You put in immense work to keep it alive, and you stuck through with it ALL THESE YEARS. Obviously CSFB is a huge part of your life, both temporally and mentally. But thats why I also think your opinion of it may be slightly skewed. Like a mother never admitting her child is ugly and coming to its defense at any moment's notice, you are quick to defend your "child." But if you talk to some of the old school people who still play and have attempted to play, there are a lot of different opinions swirling around that I do think you should take into consideration for the betterment of the community as a whole, and not just the specific group of people who are already settled in. For someone like me, taking a big step back and then trying to immerse myself back into the mod, I see so many factors that have changed. It is sorta like when you open that old photo album from five years back, or scroll through your Facebook photos and stumble across prom pictures, where you realize just how much you've changed, changes that you don't necessarily notice when you're in the process of growing up. It is hard to tell something changes when you're with it everyday on the incremental level. Compare getting a haircut, and realizing around 2 months later you need another haircut, versus simply seeing pictures of you right AFTER you got your first haircut, then a picture of you right BEFORE you get the second. My point is, there may be some changes that might have slipped under your radar, and I think it is important enough for me to type all this out and get you to consider. My intention was not to bash the community at all, it was simply to be the platform for a lot of opinions that were voiced to me from various people, and hopefully foster a better environment from here on out.
All in all, my intention of the first post was to respond a bit to various questions about [$], and address an issue that I realize affects a lot of people that were important to this mod. Your goals and my goals are the same: to keep this CSFB mod alive for as long as possible. We always have to look to the future, and I know you constantly look for ways to better the mod and keep it alive. But we all have to realize that the most important thing is not certain additions here and there, it is the community first. Who will carry the flag for the next generation of CSFB? You might still be around, judging by your track record, but who will be the teams and players? Do we want to continue breeding the same players of the same mentality from a small "upper pool?" We have to expand and welcome many perspective and players.
I do miss the old times when we were arch rivals. That competitive spirit/fire/passion is something I wish to pass onto future times.
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