|
Planetcrap: Just to keep it all in one place.
August 17th 2006, 09:30 CEST by lwf
Planetcrap is the best website on the internet, that much is a fact, but has the recent trend of crappers starting up so-called "blogs" taken away from the main planetcrap website? Most experts agree that "maybe."
Not that anybody pays any attention to the things I say, but I can't but feel a little hypocritical in writing this topic, since whenever anybody complains about the state of PC I am the first to tell that person to "stfu, planetcrap is the greatest." Lately, though, I am beginning to feel like the decay of planetcrap is not just another Jokeresque conspiracy theory.
Analysts have observed a trend at planetcrap over the past few years. Topics have become much less frequent, partly due to voter apathy but mainly due to a submission bin that has been as barren as an old hag. Many regulars have abandoned the site, citing family, friends, work, and WoW as the cause. Nevertheless there remains a core group of seemingly die-hard crappers who refuse to walk away and let this site, not unlike PC gaming, die an honourable death.
Speaking from my own point of view, I truly love the culture of planetcrap. Planetcrap is good people. I try to think about what life would be like without planetcrap and all is gray and empty. Perhaps what we're experiencing is just the natural aging process of an internet community, or perhaps it is something much more sinister, yet preventable.
I'm referring of course, to blogs. Many prominent crappers have starting "blogging". Crapper blogs are the thermite that will eventually bring down PC. At first it was just a trickle, but now it seems like every signature links to some kind of off-site content by the poster. It's difficult to pinpoint where exactly this started. Caryn has been blogging for years, Bailey and Ashiran combined for some ill-fated project, and then there was the venerable UAC. Now we're at the point where Px, Shadarr, m0nty, Caryn, Perkins, jjohnsen, jibble, and many more who I am too lazy to link, are all blogging to some extent. In many cases it is innocuous enough, planetcrap doesn't have any img tags, so people like Marsh and Penguin are justified in their off-site operations.
Of course most people wouldn't want anybody (friends, family, co-workers) to come and read their comments at planetcrap. Because it would too much work sifting for who they're interested in, and also due to the occasional discussion of flapping wind-ravaged vaginas and the like. Planetcrap can be hard to keep up with. As far as I know, there are no relatives on planetcrap. So it is easy to understand why people want a place of their own where they can post their comments and have non-crappers read them.
What is perhaps disconcerting is the thought that, with all this effort put into their blogs, our discussions here at planetcrap are suffering. Planetcrap is the place where you know you'll get read, or at the very least scrollwheeled, by a diverse group of mostly interesting and intelligent people. I am not saying that planetcrap shouldn't blog, but I like having it all, as they say, in one place. All the crappers, I mean. I think that discussion is better than blogging, but maybe that's just my preference. I was considering the suggestion that maybe planetcrap users could merge their blogs with planetcrap proper, but I don't think that would work any more than would merging IRC with the front page. Maybe what is needed is a Planetcrap based reality TV show.
People used to [blog]blog[/blog] inside of planetcrap posts, and there was much complaining. But now that so much of the blogging has moved off-site, doesn't anybody else miss it? Planetcrap has obviously degenerated into the ultimate in off-topic and current events discussion, but who is to blame? PC gaming for dying? The Sports Thread? Jibble? Or is it just an unwillingness on the part of some people to contribute, for whatever reason. I don't feel like I contribute personally very much to the discussion here, except rarely. But I appreciate those who do, even the fukkan morans. When there are no new posts I read old posts, and it becomes more and more the depressing the further back I go. Nevertheless planetcrap holds a special place in all of our hearts. It is a funny place.
The problem is you, planetcrap, it's you. Every time to blog off-site, morn weeps.
|
