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Chatterbox: Down to Earth
This is in
This is in response to a couple of threads I've been following:
The CB was different in multiple ways, and I think it's mostly changed because of Crowd Sorcery.
Firstly, new people came in far more slowly. I can't remember what the rate was, but I do remember that it was far slower than the current rate. A big part of this has to do with how the CB is advertised in Cricket- after a couple intial months of large banners with announcements, the CB address and a small description was put in the lower left hand corner of the letters pages. Chatterbox quotes did not have a separate column, that was only for lines from the letters and the occasional email. I think this is the main source of change - a ton of people came on to the CB for Crowd Sorcery, and now that it's more obviously displayed, more people take more notice and thus more new people come to the CB. These readers seem to be younger.
The old CB: there were less people and the average age was higher. There were far less recently active threads because of this. RP posts tended to be wayyyy longer - I know that my average post on the Dragon RP was about 1,000 words and that several of mine clocked in at over 2,000. In general, time between replies were longer, and alter egos did not exist outside of a couple SIs. (There are a couple notable exceptions to this, but those were actually fully formed alter egos writing as different people). We knew each other better as a result of smaller numbers, and it was easier to keep track of each other because new people arrived less frequently. Random things were far less common, and when they were, they were confined to threads (perhaps mentioned outside of them, but they didn't spill over). There was stuff like the Jelly Bean Debate (which I know very little about) and the Great Lemming War (which I gracefully surrendered) but all in all, it was a lot calmer. I hesitate to use the word mature because I feel that it doesn't have the correct connotations, but I've done four hours of chem hw today and my brain is failing me. The old CB felt more mature- there was a structure in there, somewhere, even if some of us did sometimes leave the capslock on and held the exclamation point key down more than was necessary, not everything was covered in it. I think we read all of the current active threads, even if we didn't participate in them. We were more careful in how we interacted with each other.
The new CB is a lot more active and a lot harder to keep track of, espcially if - like me - you're just checking in a couple times a week and not being very active. I really don't know that many of you, and I find it hard to keep track of who you are and assign a concrete identity to you in my mind. So many of you have joined so quickly.
And: I do miss the old CB. I miss the people, I miss the Dragon RP and I miss how integral SC was to my identity. I miss knowing exactly who everyone was. I miss a couple specific people a lot even though there are several that I've been able to keep in contact with. I miss Tiffany W. and Red, I miss TNO dropping words like "saccharine", I miss that one Hunger Games RP where my character lasted until the very end and was stabbed in an undramatic fashion. I miss people whose names I've forgotten.
But missing something does not mean I want it back.
13 year old me is not the same as 16 year old me- I am not the same person I was as an eighth grader. I do not have the same interests. I am not who I thought I was when I joined the CB - I've learned a lot of things about myself.
The old CB is not the new CB. The Chatterbox is you- it is what you do and what you say, it is how you interact with your fellow CBers. It is your writing; it is your creativity; it is your opinions on the newest book series and your favorite type of dragon. Yes, quite a few of us old CBers do come on, but a lot of us have moved on to other places and/or are no longer participating in the same way we used to. The Warrior Era before me passed, and so, I think, our time has passed too. Don't try to be us: you are your own crowd, with your own thinking and your own personalities. If you would like to go easy on the caps and exclamation points and randomness, that's fine.
The Chatterbox is what you make it; one way is not better than another.
submitted by SC
(February 19, 2015 - 11:30 pm)
(February 19, 2015 - 11:30 pm)
Three cheers for SC? Three cheers for SC.
- I still feel a sort of (very silly) pride that the Dragon RP is still the longest thread on the Inkwell. We left our mark. I sometimes wish TNÖ was here so I can ask her about Stephen Sondheim, and that RP posts were long, and that things were... I don't know, caught up with me. I used to be relatively young compared to the rest of the CB; now, whenever I drop in, I feel old (you're like two years older than me, so it's likely even more glaring for you) and it feels strange.
(February 20, 2015 - 11:56 am)
Oh, SC, that was beautiful. Simply beautiful. I agree, we should accept that they've changed, and move on. Also, the CB was moving smoothly and near-perfectly until Everinne left. Then confusion erupted and we all sort of got paranoid about the new CB. We were wrong. Your post helped me see that. Our CB has changed, yes, but that is life. We learn to get along with it. We've already limited caps and Alter Egos, so all we have to do now is not to bring back the old times, but to just move along and try to forget it all. Things will work themselves out. We are all changing, and a time will come when we feel like we don't fit in anymore, and then we do what is right. For now, let's try to keep the peace, and be happy.
Btw, SC, if you didn't know, I was Curious Kiddy on Ellie's age post. =)
(February 20, 2015 - 12:33 pm)
Admins, please bring this thread to the top.
(February 20, 2015 - 12:36 pm)
(February 20, 2015 - 12:41 pm)
@Topper
Topping threads doesn't really work until the comments are visible.
Now, top!
(February 20, 2015 - 1:28 pm)
Also just realized:
"those were actually fully formed alter egos writing as different people"
Don't know if that's what you were thinking about, but I just remembered about 'Invisible'. *sinks into the ground*
(February 20, 2015 - 3:26 pm)
I'm really tired so this is going to sound stupid.
But I've been so bored lately.... ah, I miss having friends. You guys are the coolest. We've been so busy these past months since August (hahaha, we're still busy) which is why we had to go. Whatever, it was probably time anyway. There were quite a few reasons.
Still, I haven't even seen the rest of Ruby's "personnel" lately and whenever I do see Ruby, he's like, "Oh, you're back. Sleep and then I've got another job for you." (I haven't called him Ruby in a very long time. This is funny.) I missed you guys so much so I finally came back here and read a couple of the posts.
I'm sad that S.E. is leaving too. I heard about Everinne from the Khatzy Krew (Teresa, BHR, Violet, True, etc.) already. Good luck in the future, everyone.
And then I see this wall of text by SC and nope, nothing has changed. We're still getting walls of text from SC. It's the same world and same CB.
I'd love to be a part of your games and stuff again because it was so fun but there's simply no time for me to have something like a "normal life" anymore. The CB was completely awesome. There were some friends who knew about me in middle school but I haven't spoken to any of them in over a year. You guys became pretty much my only friends.
Not only was the CB fun to be on, but it changed the way we lived our lives as well. It was really fun to come up with jokes for you guys in the ski lodges during free moments (75% of the ski lodge was planned while Ruby was in the shower. No joke. We'd just toss puns, death ideas, and stupid scenarios at each other because there wasn't anything better to do mentally. (If anyone remembers the Hippie Waiter, he came from a pun involving awesome sauce and possum sauce. It wasn't that funny of a pun, but we wanted to have a waiter say it at some point. Then we wanted the waiter to have an accent who changed every line or so. You know, French, Southern, Indian, etc. We didn't want to offend anyone with sterotypes, though, so we said, "We're from California, so let's make fun of Californians." And all Californians are hippies. Yes. (Hey, look at my name if you don't believe me.) And instead of changing accents every couple of lines, we had him disappear and reappear in the middle of his sentences which is a whole lot easier in traditional prose. Ruby really likes the Hippie Waiter and Carl for some reason so in about ten years go to Barnes and Noble and look for them in children's books. Buy them. Read them to your kids. Tell them, "I knew these crazies when I was young," and have them say, "Gee, Ma, I thought you were always an old fogey." Wow, this was a long tangent.)) and write troop movements over a giant map of Canada. (I think he recycled it yesterday so I can't take a picture to show you guys.) We thought up characters for RPs, tried to sneak around behind each other's backs in SIs, and generally had a whole ton of fun.
It's not likely that I can ever have that back and I don't intend to stick around. I just came to say hi and the rest of this weird stuff.
It's been such a long time and I miss you guys and I don't want to go away again but gooooodddddbbbyeeee everybody I need sleep I am sleep deprived.
Whoah, the captcha's different! It didn't have these specks before. Man, now I am truly challenged. I guess I'll have to wear a thicker "human visitor" disguise next time. (I am truly the world's stupidest spam bot. Fear me.)
*waves like Miss America*
P.S. Hmm, is this my sixteenth birthday coming up in a few months? Hmm, did someone say guilt-tripping Ruby? Check Pudding's Place in a few months, my friends, whether you be a first-timer or someone who has come again and again- a familair friend operating under a three-letter acronym might just be hosting something....
Hi, Red! It's so good to hear from you. Do check in from time to time. We love hearing from you.
Admin
(February 20, 2015 - 5:46 pm)
OMG hi!!! I really miss both of you. My sister just showed me you posted on here, and she was like fangirling. You both are like celebs to a lot of people on here. Thanks for making a huge difference on here. This summer was pretty magical for me, joining the CB and everything. There are people on here I'm really glad I talked to and just... *sigh*. I really hope to see you around here again. You guys are so hilarious and brighten the place up!
(February 20, 2015 - 7:48 pm)
Hey! It's really nice to see you, Red! And I am not excactly leaving. Just posting less often. Anyway, nice to see you. The captcha has gotten artsy.
(February 21, 2015 - 11:54 am)
Hi Red! Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to see you posting again! I hope when you have some spare time, you will come on here! We had a whole conversation once. You probably don't remember. I think it was about Lemmings. Yes, I've re-read the entire Ski Lodge, like five times, and I still, love the Hippie Waiter, every time xD. I hope you manage to get some sleep! I've missed you, we all have. What they said about you being a Chatterbox Celebrity, yeah, they were pretty much right, we are like *says in old-person voice* "I remember that time when Red was joking around and started the Lemming Wars..." or, "Yup, youngsters, Ruby wrote the Ski Lodge. Yes, yes, he is T.O.N." or things like, "And that's how it used to be in the glory days!". No exaggeration. I never exaggerate. Though, if you totally forgot who I am, I will tell you a bit about myself, so everything I say doesn't come across as Gibberish. Ehem:
You can call me Winter. I'm Cori's (as most of you know her) friend I know in real life. We see each other sometimes and talk a some what with e-mail. She is why I am on here! If she didn't talk about it I would not be interested in it even though I write. A lot. And read Cricket. A lot. If you know me you would know I basically have BOOKWORM printed on my forehead. I am home-schooled; I never have gone to public school. I hate math... period. Some people say I am CrAzY... Okay a lot of people xD. They are right.... I'm a BIG P&P (Pride and Prejudice). I've read the book, like, seven times. No joke.
Okay yeah. That was unnecessary.
(February 21, 2015 - 12:05 pm)
SC- I... I...I-That was amazing.
So. I don't post a lot of long posts because of the fact that in order to post at all they usually have to be quick. Like now. I have to go. But I will post this link on the CBIC thread.
(February 20, 2015 - 5:57 pm)
Red!!! Hi!! I never got to meet you!!! Ellie's sis!!!! Omg!!! This is so awesome!!!!! We miss you!!!!! Please check in every sometimes!!!! Omg!!!
@SC
That..... was beautiful. thank you. Cb needed that.
@Red!
Omg!!! Fangirling over some random 14 year old I never met!! Yay!!!!!
(February 20, 2015 - 7:40 pm)
SAVVY: Red clearly said, he was almost sixteen, not fourteen. Thankyouverrymuch.
(February 22, 2015 - 1:08 pm)
Wow, may I add that the Admins put those up really fast?!
(February 20, 2015 - 7:58 pm)
That was beautiful. Not just SC, but everyone. And...I think I agree with the whole thing. I mean, well, that part about the Warrior Age? Yep. Everything changes. I won't be able to sympathize with the CB, but I can with other things. Because things move, you know? People leave, new people come in. New people, new things. New ideas. Which might even be better.
And about the age. Yep, I can sympathize with that too. Because (um, no offense to anyone) I've seen how older people act and how younger people act. Not in that way, I mean a different way. Because, you know, different ages, different things. Different ideas, different skills. And the younger we get, the more impatient we'll be.
But still! More RPs mean more things to choose from. It also means that every time you're on the CB, you're not just staring at the screen, waiting. Because every time you go you haave to catch up to so many things. Which to me is fun.
So yeah. That's St.Owl's long ramble.
P.S: Hello, Red! We haven't met, but I've heard many things about you. It was nice of you to come back on.
(February 20, 2015 - 9:18 pm)