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Subject: Its time to say goodbye to New Mombasa.
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After conversing with Recon Number 54 over the PM system, I decided to make an effort to go over to New Mombasa and start an interesting discussion. However, upon arrival at the war-torn forum, I realised something.

I have NOTHING to say about Halo 2. Nadda. Zip. Not one single (intelligent) thing to say about it. I attempted to find a reason for this, in my own mind.

I have never really brought into the hype. All this talk of how god damned ace its going to be. I am sure it will be. I have high expectations. However, I find it incredibly difficult to pass any sort of judgement on it without playing it. Is this the reason? Perhaps.

Intelligent conversation just seemed so out of place. I feared massive amounts of flaming if I even ATTEMPTED to string a coherant sentence together. I rember a previous experience, where some little blighter posted 'You speak like a 60 year old rich guy'. Hmm. Maybe this is the reason.

Ah, I don't know. On Aug 24th, I rolled up my sleeves and attempted to help keep the ILB craze under control. Whether I succeded or not is not the issue here. On Aug 24th I felt like I was helping out the community, and it gave me a good feeling. I felt like that guy who goes around doing odd jobs for old people who are unable to walk. Yes, THAT guy.

I now realise that New Mombasa is a lost cause. It is time to accept that, and move on. Its time to say goodbye to New Mombasa.

It is a shame really. There is SO much potential for interesting discussion. But, as long as I am a lone warrior, fighting against inevitable death (read as flaming) there is nothing I can do.

I think Recon puts it best.

'For and old man like me, it's a matter of "letting children play".'

Play on children. Play on.

  • 08.27.2004 12:36 PM PDT
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Forays into NM are becoming increasingly rare for me. I only really venture there when new info is released, and even then the possibility of actual discussion is largley impossible.

The problem is, you can only talk so much about an unreleased game with only a handful of known information and a whole lot of speculation. Eventually you run out of things to talk about and all that's left is hundreds of hyperactive fanboys arguing about whether the MC should die in the end or the pro/cons of having no health bar (There's always that one guy who keeps saying "It's a beta! The health bar will be in the final game!")

Trust me, it's only going to get worse from here. We just have to let the mods keep doing their thing. Me? I think I'll start going to HBO for my H2 discussion. ^_-

[Edited on 8/27/2004 1:06:23 PM]

  • 08.27.2004 1:05 PM PDT

New Mombasa is indeed a hellhole more often than not, but I don't think it's time to give up hope entirely.
The mods are doing what they can, as always, and it goes unappreciated, especially in NM, and "older" bungie.net members (as well as the mods themselves), when they do what they can to help, instruct, guide, or inform the newer members, most often get attacked.
Stalin, RN54, Surge (I'm assuming--), myself, even the mods(!) have had first hand experience with new members who just cannot accept that you might be right when you tell them a simple thing that is backed with personal experience or irrefutable facts. My personal example: The Holiday Preview issue of OXM. Ryan McCaffrey, OXM editor, emailed me to let me know the issue was not being sent to subscribers--it'd be a newsstand only issue. Try and tell that to anyone in NM--I did. What I got for it was doubt and spite. "We'll see when I get mine in the mail this week!" and so on. I suppose I can feel somewhat vindicate--that that kid (or worse, that guy who's old enough to know better but still acts like an ass) is still waiting by his mailbox. I just hope he doesn't punch his mailman.
Which brings me to the point I didn't really realize I was going to make when I first replied: New Mombasa seems to be the place that anyone who's heard of Halo 2 can bring their misguided rage about "what they've heard" about the game, -blam!-, moan, cry, throw tantrums, and for the most part, be allowed to do it.
Why are they allowed? (Again--personal opinion:) Because if someone tries to help them it quickly becomes obvious they don't want our help. They are happy in their misery.
Will this keep me from visiting NM? Will it keep me from occasionally attempting to guide a new member away from wrong thinking? No.
I will tell you this--when November 8th comes, I won't be seen on bungie.net for a while. Number one, I'll be in line at my local Gamestop waiting impatiently for midnight. Number two, I'm not going to let anyone in NM or any other forum give away what I think will be the best gaming experience of this year, whether they might mean to or not.
For me and NM, it's not goodbye, but on the 8th day of the 11th month, it will most definitely be "See you later!"
Thanks for reading.

  • 08.27.2004 1:26 PM PDT
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I'm with all four of you. You can't seem to have a rational discussion in there anymore. And there is always, in every thread, spam, flaming, or off-topic....ness. When I joined, NM could be a good place to post information, or ask a question and get an answer. Now if you try to ask ANYTHING the general response is, "-blam!- you! You should shut the -blam!- up! You 5UX0RS!" Yeah. Something like that.

  • 08.27.2004 2:25 PM PDT

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
-Edmund Burke.

So that's it then? You all are just going to give up? Quite frankly, I find that disappointing coming from the new Septagin generation. If you give up this eisily on a topic like this, then you will get nowhere. It's sad to think that way back in the day, the members of The Septagon did not ever give up trying to help the Bungie community. And now to see this. It seems unfortunately that times have changed, and almost all of those people that were of that great generation have either left or turned into mods. Guess what? You here have taken up the mantle, you are the next generation. So for god's sake live up to it, and stop whining about what you can't do, and start talking about what you can.

[Edited on 8/27/2004 2:49:26 PM]

  • 08.27.2004 2:47 PM PDT
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Posted by: Ropie
HEY DO YOU WANT A HALO MOVIE???IF SO CLICK ON THE LINK IN MY SIG AND GO VOTE FOR ONE AT THEIR WEBSITE. AND IF YOU HAVE A KICK ASS IDEA THAT YOU WANT TO BE IN THE MOVIE, THEN COME TO THE NEW HALO THREAD(the link is below on my sig) AND TELL US. BELIEVE IT OR NOT. WE ARE THE ONES WHO MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Case in point...

  • 08.27.2004 3:23 PM PDT

"FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION: Ensure brain is engaged before putting keyboard into gear."
Need a ninja?
Got a cheater? [email]h2cheats@microsoft.com[/email]
Forum Rules.
FAQ.
I'm certifiable.

I'm staying out of New Mombasa for the next week... I've been rather ill-tempered in my forays there lately, and I want to present a good example and not simply start billowing flame all over the place. (As I came very close to doing.)

I'm also working out an idea for making things easier for me... "canned" responses, phrased politely yet firmly and including links, for the most-frequently asked questions that I can just cut-and-paste right into the browser window. Right now I'm going to concentrate on responses redirecting off-topic posts, but as time goes on I'll add others.

I want to work on them this weekend, and maybe start using them here and in the Underground starting Sunday or Monday. If things go reasonably well, I'll return to New Mombasa the following weekend.

-- Steve thinks that, until then, the best thing he can do is not add to the problem.

  • 08.27.2004 3:35 PM PDT
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banshee barron great point and i love the quote you are partialy right but it is very hard to start a rational disscution on New Mombasa the only person ive seen do it and do it well is eagle 117 ( his threads and ideas are pure gold i dont know where he gets them but where ever they are from if you love halo read them and enjoy) but he takes a while.

Not only that (im very sorry for using this word but i must) all the new people noobs as we used to say go there first and learn from the half wited people there on how to post and what to post about.

I would gladly go and help out over there but the only people that seem to get any respect whats so ever are the mods and some people dont even respect them anymore so it would be very difficult to start an intresting subject without i dieing off in a few minuets and if were lucky hours

Flood seems like a better place for threads then New Mombasa at this point and time

  • 08.27.2004 4:05 PM PDT
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Posted by: Anton P Nym
I'm also working out an idea for making things easier for me... "canned" responses, phrased politely yet firmly and including links, for the most-frequently asked questions that I can just cut-and-paste right into the browser window. Right now I'm going to concentrate on responses redirecting off-topic posts, but as time goes on I'll add others.


Indeed.
"Giving up" is a rather innappropriate term. For the time being, I will discuss matters pertaining to H2 elsewhere, but that does not mean I will not continue to visit NM and do my part there. Perhaps we should all make a point of going there and having a rational, intelligent Halo 2 discussion to get the ball rolling.

  • 08.27.2004 4:07 PM PDT
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hm you want to be the first to start if you go ill follow

  • 08.27.2004 4:12 PM PDT
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Sorry if I implied that I was giving up, Banshee Barron. I am not 'giving up' in that sense, but rather steering away from it, giving it time to die down, and gently ease back into a no-spam/flame enviroment.

  • 08.27.2004 4:15 PM PDT
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Posted by: Stalin the 31st
Ah, I don't know. On Aug 24th, I rolled up my sleeves and attempted to help keep the ILB craze under control. Whether I succeded or not is not the issue here. On Aug 24th I felt like I was helping out the community, and it gave me a good feeling. I felt like that guy who goes around doing odd jobs for old people who are unable to walk. Yes, THAT guy.

I now realise that New Mombasa is a lost cause. It is time to accept that, and move on. Its time to say goodbye to New Mombasa.

It is a shame really. There is SO much potential for interesting discussion. But, as long as I am a lone warrior, fighting against inevitable death (read as flaming) there is nothing I can do.

I think Recon puts it best.

'For and old man like me, it's a matter of "letting children play".'

Play on children. Play on.


We did do our best. It is a lost cause... to be doing your best to help someone only to recieve approx 30 replies abusing me and about 10 PM's after I'd gone to sleep is a bit much for someone who was doing their best to help. I say we Trih'Xeem them... oh wait... that would mean our sun... dammit... virus bombs anyone?

  • 08.27.2004 4:19 PM PDT

Posted by: Recon Number 54
Banshee Barron, I've by no means "given up" on the community. I find that I have nothing on topic to say in New Mombassa. I don't know anything other than what is readily apparent about Halo 2. I have no questions of my own. I have no theories to espouse or think that anything about Halo 2 specualtion is even worth debating. Halo 2 willl be what Halo 2 is. It will come out when it comes out.

Based on that, if I were to post there now, I would, by definition, be "spamming".


I understand that. What I try to do is answer as many of their questions as possible in an attempt to educate them. The only way, it seems at the moment, is to answer them as best you can that possibly others will follow your example. I try to contribute to that forum by answering a plethora of questions for all eternity (a tribute to my stubbornness, I suppose); I do not just leave the forum out of frustration. I do what it is that I can.

And I did not mean to insult your time as a fan, Recon Number 54. You are a very loyal fan, and I see you, among others, taking up the roles that the mods left before they… uh, (for lack of better words) ascended.

  • 08.27.2004 4:50 PM PDT
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I suggest that control of New Mombasa forum be relinquish to me. It is a sad state of affairs. That threads about Link, ilovebees & Samas have more posts, Then more interesting topics about the flood, weapons, story line or even improvements in game play. All that I ask for in return for my services. Since the current moderator is not performing their required tasks. Is to receive a beta version of Halo 2. Thanks & you should truly consider my offer. I am very fair & would keep the forum tidy.

  • 08.27.2004 5:35 PM PDT
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That is an excellent battle plan, Banshee, but I personally don't have enough patience. I will PM mods about illegal threads, tell people to stop flaming, and help new people get their questions answered, but there are far too few people like the Septagon folk to make that much of a difference. We are starting to lessen the ILB posts (since on August 24th there were only about 10 threads, not 1500.), and lessen questions, but spam is still up, mostly because of people who reply to them...

  • 08.27.2004 5:39 PM PDT
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I have attempted to help although i came off the wrong foot w/ a thread in here , shishka quickly fixed that. I'd have to agree w/ stalin though. Goin to the newmombasa is like mcdonalds while some kid is having a birthday party for 10 blocks. Such an unorganized mess and a bunch of inconsiderate kids yellin at eachother about who is right or wrong...

  • 08.27.2004 6:25 PM PDT
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Posted by: Banshee Barron
And I did not mean to insult your time as a fan, Recon Number 54. You are a very loyal fan, and I see you, among others, taking up the roles that the mods left before they… uh, (for lack of better words) ascended.


Ascended is a good word for it. ^_^

  • 08.27.2004 9:23 PM PDT
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Yo Halo53, I'm real happy for you and I'ma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best bungie.net profiles of all time. OF ALL TIME!

Posted by: Banshee Barron

So that's it then? You all are just going to give up? Quite frankly, I find that disappointing coming from the new Septagin generation. If you give up this eisily on a topic like this, then you will get nowhere. It's sad to think that way back in the day, the members of The Septagon did not ever give up trying to help the Bungie community. And now to see this. It seems unfortunately that times have changed, and almost all of those people that were of that great generation have either left or turned into mods. Guess what? You here have taken up the mantle, you are the next generation. So for god's sake live up to it, and stop whining about what you can't do, and start talking about what you can.


As of this post, everyone to post in this thread has joined in 2004 minus 3 of us, and I'm the only one from 2002. I've stuck around, always helping out. For the most part I was around the old septagon from time to time. I was never extremely active but just about everyone had read my posts. I was more active at my own chapter/other chapters. I would come to the septagon if I still had time after going through all my other chapters, and there was a time I was in like 40. (Before the limit and .Net Passports) Now going to my chapters/chapters in general is secondary to coming to the septagon and forums to me. I come here first, for many reasons. The main reason is chapters all across the column are dead. The 7th column has been slowly dieing since shortly after I joined. It was most active "back" in the day. I feel my efforts of posting everything possible at my chapter is wasted because of the few who will read it. As we get closer to Halo 2 there will be more to post about. Everything about Halo has been discussed many times over. The chapters are dieing, so my efforts are needed at the forums. I try and keep threads on topic. I'm running the mafia game in the flood so Reiginko can play this round. I've IMed/pmed mods about threads I see. If I see an unanswered question, I'll answer it. I'm just trying to help out and make the forums/community better for everyone. I don't think I'll ever give up on this site. I've spent nearly 2 years of my life on this site. I've done too much to give up. Giving up would be like just throwing away the last 2 years of my life. I'm not giving up on New Mombasa, and I am not saying goodbye. There is always a chance. Even if it is a small chance, there is a chance nevertheless.

[Edited on 8/27/2004 10:02:48 PM]

  • 08.27.2004 9:57 PM PDT
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New Mombasa does look really bad at the moment. All of the newer threads seem to be either spam or regurgitating info from 6 month old magazine previews about weapons or game features. The only really interesting thread I read in there was Eagle 117's story thread, which seems to have been buried by discussion of pre-orders and machine guns.

I'm probably going to just lurk in there for a while and post on the off-chance something that interests me does come up. It might change after November 9th, though. There's going to be a load of new story material to discuss, and perhaps it might be a shot in the arm for New Mombasa, and it might actually start to be a forum for interesting discussion rather than "0MG HAl0 2 r0x!". We'll have to wait and see.

  • 08.28.2004 11:57 AM PDT
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Posted by: Banshee Barron
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
-Edmund Burke.

So that's it then? You all are just going to give up? Quite frankly, I find that disappointing coming from the new Septagin generation. If you give up this eisily on a topic like this, then you will get nowhere. It's sad to think that way back in the day, the members of The Septagon did not ever give up trying to help the Bungie community. And now to see this. It seems unfortunately that times have changed, and almost all of those people that were of that great generation have either left or turned into mods. Guess what? You here have taken up the mantle, you are the next generation. So for god's sake live up to it, and stop whining about what you can't do, and start talking about what you can.


Amen Banshee!!

I for one still somehow have the nerves to venture into New Mombasa every once in awhile. Unlike many of you in here, I sometimes find this ILB stuff kind of interesting. I NEVER once thought that this was all leading to an early release or a demo of anykind. I just thought it was a weird marketing plan by Microsoft. If you remember, at E3 this past year Pete Parsons said there was going to be a HUGE marketing push for THIS game. Here it is folks. Also, I think many of you elders need to be fair about this. Like it or not, it is Halo 2 related. Those folks that are going crazy with it all are ALLOWED to. Let them have their ideas/opinions on this matter. You don't liked getting flammed, and I'm sure they don't like getting flammed either. Sure folks, it is getting old, but such is the way for the forums. Sorry for going on the ILB rant, but it does seem to be the thing scaring of most of the users. The point I do agree with you though, is it is EXTREMLY hard to try and start a topic about the game. All the topics are being gobbled up, and ppl will always be like "Hey, there's a thread about this, post in that one you freaking noob." Sad part is, that topic is most likely crap and within the next ten minutes will be under a spam attack. If you have problems with this, just look for topics that were posted by people you know are not idiots. Yes, it's quite hard to find these days, but think of it as a game.

Sorry for the numerous spelling errors, it's easier to add this with an edit then go through and fix them. Yes, I'm that damn lazy!

[Edited on 8/28/2004 12:23:30 PM]

  • 08.28.2004 12:22 PM PDT
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Hey, not all of us who post on the New Mombasa forums are morons. I mean, if you sign up to post on a forums page, obviously there are going to be a few morons. That's how life is. You've got a few smarter people, and then you've got a ton of morons. People are just looking forward to Halo 2 with such high hopes. Cut them a little slack.

  • 08.28.2004 2:02 PM PDT
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I agree with Barron, except that quote. It seems that on the internet, it's more of a 'the only way evil can triumph is if the good men are out numbered 100:1.' Which is exactly the situation in NM. More and more idiots and -blam!-s sign up everyday, and the halfway decent/intelligent people come only once in a while. I guess you can contribute that to the fact that people see what a -blam!-hole NM is, and if they are smart, decent human beings, they will be turned away by it (after all, who wants to get 200 PM's about how you are a dick, and how you should go to hell, after you just storted a topic with perfectly good intentions), if they are -blam!-s they will see an oppurtunity to act like an -blam!-, with fellow -blam!-s. If people's first stop on a forum was the Underground, and/or the Septagon, a lot more decent people would be coming here. But alas, people come for halo 2, and their first stop is the -blam!- Halo 2 forum.

But look on the bright side, school will be back in session in a week or two. (I'm totally -blam!-ed by that fact, being that I'm 14. Oh well, I guess I won't be able to bask in an un-spammified New Mombasa forum.

  • 08.28.2004 3:28 PM PDT
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The problem with New Mombasa is that nearly everything to do with Halo 2 has been discussed to death. If you look at any of the threads, they will all start repeating themselves.

"OMG No ATV!!!" and "OMG No Pistol!!"

And the like, often two or three of the same threads a day.

Discussion on New Mombasa becomes increasingly hard, as it is home to the most posts on B.net. The front page changes the fastest, so when any topic is resolved, it drifts off into the netherworld of pages 2-780, never to be seen again. It's later brought up, flamed and spammed,

It’s a vicious cycle.

Since the problem is that no one can find if anything has been posted before, the front page system needs to be changed. The front page can be redone so that useful topics no longer drift into the background.

#1 New Mombasa could be split into different areas, for discussion of, weapons and vehicles, level design, visual and audio effects, strategies, and so forth.

#2 Or a Cache system could be implemented. What I mean to say here, is that instead of organizing New Mombasa by which topics drift off the front page, they would be organized by date.

[In the NM cache, if a new thread was created today, it stays on first page for the day, and any new thread stays, making the page longer. The next day, when new threads are created, the old threads (which have been limited to the top twenty of yesterday, any on that page below twenty are recyled into page two and so forth) are moved off the page when the days new threads pushes them off of the twenty slots, but the page just keeps growing longer with all of the days new threads.

In summary, the days new threads stay up for the day, making the page as long as the days threads.

The next day, the page cuts itself off the top twenty of yesterday, everything else is pushed back into page two.

All new threads of that day can push the top twenty of yesterday off of the front page. When the twenty slots are filled, the page grows longer, but only with threads active in the last day.
]

I think what this will mean is that all threads dealing with relevant issues, like recently, ATV's and Pistols, will stay on the front page for the day, so we don't see two and three of these threads a day. After the first day, everyone who logged on for that day will have already seen all the topics discussed, and won't make repeater threads.

Repeater threads are flamed and spammed, often carrying over into other threads. People will be able to see all of the days threads, without having to search through page 2-780.

After several days all relevant, useful topics will have been made, and on the front page. Everyone who has logged in for that day will have seen them, and won’t create those same topics again tomorrow.

Just a thought.

  • 08.28.2004 5:09 PM PDT

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