Is it? One could just as easily click the button labeled “features” and get the same thing. But it’s not the old NG, so I don’t think this is a valid arguement, Wade.

Yeah, long time, no post, yadda yadda. I simply haven’t had the desire to come here, and only do it at the behest of an old friend. There has been a discussion between those who were here at NG a long time ago, before the automated portal, before this new message board, before Grounds Gold or whatever the hell it’s called now about the magic that used to be NG. Back then, NG was undeniably hand-crafted and raw, a sign of the soul and charisma that is Tom Fulp. Over time I watched as that was slowly chipped away, as the site became bloated, automated, and souless. The genius that is Tom Fulp, and what NG was, is almost totally nonexistant now.

The breakpoint for me was the implimentation of GG. I warned against it then and I see my predictions have held true. Here was now a system of ranking fans of the site, so that one was better than the other, one was more privelaged than the other, and this privelage was (and essentialy still is) based on how much time one has to spend online. Sure, if I were twelve again, I would have plenty of time to burn here, contributing to the Flash Craptacular the Portal has become, posting hundreds and hundreds of senseless “Me Too!” posts, and overall just being an ass. Why do it now? It was more fun to be an ass when everyone was on equal footing… 🙂

One fan is now better than another here. This doesn’t seem like the Tom Fulp I met at Tromadance, the Tom Fulp I used to know online. This site is no longer Tom’s heart and soul, and it shows.

NG today? It’s ugly, it’s garish, it’s bloated, it’s slow, it has no direction. No wonder why I haven’t been here in a long, long time. And I have seen nothing here to convince me to return here in any sort of worthwhile presence.

If you need me, I’ll be over at Wolf Cross.