Honestly, though, I really miss the old-guard power users. The place feels so different these days--everyone seems so glum, nobody goes on the big multi-page tangents, there's a lot more arguing and vitriol than I remember.
It's always seemed fairly consistent to me.
Mm, perhaps it's not quite as bad as grumpy-3:00 AM-me thought it was. But I maintain that things still feel fundamentally different with so many people gone--quieter, more understated, less overt silliness.
Looking at the banlist really is kinda surreal. A bunch of jerks or people I never noticed, but then a few who were kinda central to the community. I guess it just shows that the great moderator in the sky doesn't care how popular or important someone is, if they're making a mess and are unwilling to fix it.
The Toad moves in mysterious ways.
It's really strange looking at the banlist, for sure. I still remember most of the people on it in some capacity, especially their avatars. Still remember the first ban I witnessed--Gervassen, who showed up in my old gendersex thread (back when those could have lassiez-faire thread moderating) and started rambling on about biotruths and steroids and shit.
I've seen Orange Wizard and Graknorke on Reddit a few times. Didn't say anything, though, and my Reddit username is different from my Bay12 username, so they wouldn't have recognized me anyway.
I do want to try to reintegrate myself into the community and post more. And stop checking the politics thread, I think half my problem is that I keep reading that damn thing.