Ha! 
This whole thing has been both so tragic and so farcical that I just donât even know what to sayâŚ
Iâm frankly surprised to discover how much I care. Iâve been here for a long time, but only recently stumbled into Regular status, a circumstance I blame entirely on Robâs Safe Thread â it just sucked me in, and when I came out the other side I was a different person.
I was genuinely surprised to discover the hidden recesses of the BBS revealed only to regulars, but I donât think it ever made me feel like I was missing out on something before that. On the other hand, it did ultimately make me feel more engaged with the site and the people of the BBS, so I can see how some might feel left out. Iâm having a hard time imagining what Iâd feel like if Iâd learned of it only after the fact.
Either way, it seems clear that tomorrow will definitely be different than yesterday, so I guess all I can do is try to stay positive1 and see what happens next. I hate having my cheese moved as much as the next person, but thatâs life, I suppose.
1 Which is a much more daunting proposition than you might at first imagine. I mean, have you guys been watching the news, lately? 
At the risk of repeating what many here have already posted, I feel the need to say this now-- thank you so much for all your hard work and efforts on behalf of the bbs and its members. Youâve been incredibly patient and willing to hear us out. Considering all our griping and bruised egos (myself included), that canât have been fun. Youâve been thoroughly transparent about the decisions youâve made, and knowing the âwhysâ behind them has helped. And itâs true some of us still have concerns about the rapid changes to the board structure and the loss of treasured friends to site bans and/or discontent. But I must say, I have no issues with you. It seems like youâve been on the boards constantly for the last 24 hours (please make sure you get some rest!) listening, asking us questions, and working to forge a more cohesive community. Donât think for a moment we havenât noticed or that we donât appreciate you for it. I have, and I do. I donât know how this is going to shake out in the long run, but Iâm grateful for all your efforts.
I dont see the relationship.
The lounge was nothing like a circle of close friends, in my opinion. More like the Stonecutters lodge. 
I know Iâve vaguely alluded to mean-spiritedness in restricted threads so I feel like I should clarify that I appreciate the intent behind Hey, Rube and donât mean to disparage it. There was some admirable tolerance in that particular thread, and some appropriate calls for community moderation, too. It was a generous attempt to help @falcor out using the flag mechanism.
In the aftermath of world war ii, the labour government was often a little too keen to take revenge against the aristocracy. And when a large deposit of coal was found right outside the obscenely sized mansion of some rich noble, the opportunity presented itself.
Interesting history lesson which seems to apply to the NIMBYism.
Strip-mining was the only possible way to make that monstrous pile uglier than it already was!
And with that I have yet another earworm to contend with
somehow i know this is all my fault. mysteriously granted regular status, and bam regular status suddenly means nothing.
in a way, itâs good. all that pressure has suddenly evaporated. (yay!) tho i think i already miss the idea that i could dox myself a bit with other happy mutants in a way iâm not comfortable with in the searchable internet at large.
iâve always appreciated that there are in-jokes ( that iâm not privy to ) and more generally that thereâs a group of people invested in making the comment threads great.
where else can you go that reading the comments not only doesnât make you want to gouge your eyes out, but can actually improve your day?
i think the bbs structure has helped foster the ever improving quality of the site. the change, and itâs suddenness, worries me. iâve grown to value visiting.
i get the argument behind the change, i just donât know how much weight it holds in the drive by world of the internet. tiers, to me, seem bad only when theyâre capricious. maybe bbâs has been a bit more capricious than it needs to be - but real value seems to be being lostâ.
Money? Am I missing a sarcasm tag here, again? O_o
Also, start-ups in a somewhat international community are a wee bit difficult. I suggest using the centroid of a polygon around our geocoded IP. Oh, wait, VPNs and TOR. Well, then around ânext international airport, self-identifiedâ.
Bring on the elitist (and GIS) discussion!
[quote=âMrMonkey, post:624, topic:99223, full:trueâ]
I was genuinely surprised to discover the hidden recesses of the BBS revealed only to regulars, but I donât think it ever made me feel like I was missing out on something before that.[/quote]
Never knew there was such a thing until I saw ghosts appear out of it, and asked them what was happening. Then it became⌠more transparent
[quote=âMrMonkey, post:624, topic:99223, full:trueâ]
[âŚ] I mean, have you guys been watching the news, lately?
[\quote]
Not really. Working 14h/d, and just checking every now and then to see if I still should keep away from social networks and most major newsfeeds. Since brexitvote, news are something for those who are tougher than me.<\sub>
Maybe we should make a thread about that.
Oh dear god so many posts. I. Read. Them. All.
okay, I skimmed a bit
The thing is, Regulars do have worthy discussions on the public threads. It was just nice to also have a place to go where you knew you werenât going to have to deal with random riled-up weirdos (just the ones you already knew). I was surprised and delighted when I reached Regular status, and Iâm pretty sure I spent even more time on the site after that.
The way this has happened makes me feel unwelcome, even though I personally have never had any disputes here. The BBS is a huge part of why I come here; I want to read the articles, but then I want to see what others have to say about them. Coming here doesnât make me happy right now; it feels like somebody threw a bomb into the middle of it.
In closing, I know this mess is not your doing, and I appreciate the difficult work youâre doing. I hope itâs not for nothing.
Iâve had both perspectives, having gained, lost, and regained Regular status a few times due to irregular hours available to me for Boinging, thanks to work. As has been pointed out, new Regulars were always, without fail, greeted enthusiastically. Every Regular knew that every non-Regular could become a Regular without even trying to do so if they read and write and Liked enough. There was no insiderness to it; all a user had to do was use the BBS enough to be granted TL3. When it was first instituted, I wondered what I was missing. When I got in, I found out: not much of anything that I couldnât get in the main BBS with one exception (which eventually proved to be vitally important): I knew every user there. Recognized them from their frequent posts in the BBS at large. Knew their reputations, recognized their thought processes and turns of phrase and senses of humor. All it was was a collection of the most familiar voices of the BBS, both friendly and querulous, without the presence of the newer noobs or the less familiar, less frequent posters. It wasnât insidery at all. It was just familiar. Thereâs a power to that, reflected in the theme song of a particularly famous barroom sitcom.
And again, anyone could get in if they participated enough. Again, without consciously trying.
Yâknow, Iâd never thought of the Lounge as our Cheers, oddly enough; considering all the drinking.
But itâs true, anyone who stumbled down the steps and into the pub got a hearty welcome from the crowd;
Yeah OK. But somehow I recognize the constant posters and âknowâ them (or at least can anticipate their reactions based on past behavior) in the regular threads as well.
True. Even I did at one point.
But none of this changes my mind on this matter. Especially in regards to a tiered community
The point is that being in a place âwhere everybody knows your nameâ and vice versa is a very different experience than being in a place where you recognize several faces⌠or none at all.
Iâm much more likely to drop my pants (in a conversational sense) in the former than in the latter. And sometimes itâs a profound relief to feel able to shed even one single thin layer of armor.
Country clubs, gated communities, members only bars, etc.
Mrs Howell may have been something in her day but Maryann always seemed cooler to hang out with.
