I find the site to be of value.
I don’t know if the site has changed so much outside of the massive surge of new members and how the forum currently is sucking off Criterion (myself included). I was a member when the site first launched, but then got rid of my account and didn’t return until the merging of the Auteurs and CC, and the discussion I think has actually grown into more meaningful territory. I can’t speak for the actual filmmaking side of the site having not partaken, but I don’t have any complaints outside of all the redundant threads and one-sentence reviews.
The best way to avoid shitty trends: Ignore them.
LO: I hear you – as a member for a few months, I know there was a hard core group at the beginning of serious filmmakers, screenwriters, film critics, and students of film. It was awesome to participate, for me rather late in the game, with such a brilliant and eclectic bunch. I always felt myself to be a wayward participant then. The posts were very personal and discussions could be intense. You really had to think before posting, and not sounding either too dumb or redundant. Now, we are more open-ended, with new members popping in constantly – at all levels of film experience. I have several times threatened to go off the site myself, but, somehow, never made the break. There is either a new member or one of the regulars, like JPB, that makes me either think or laugh, so that I still hang on. I know Justin often thought people weren’t taking him seriously or as willing, as he was, to discuss films and topics in depth. I blame the very poor posting system for forum topics, where everything constantly gets bumped, and nobody but someone like Matt ever searches threads older than one day. Good threads get lost and other newer posters tend to just regurgitate topics the rest of us have seen all too often. I just hope that the good people that have made this site so great in the past, like Justin, and many others I no longer see posting, would not abandon the auteurs permanently. Like good ol’ Shotzi, whose thread I am hijacking – sorry old boy – we may just need to re-visit from time to time.
@Bob, I just read that post from critics/historians from Justin and I really don’t think that you should think that he was upset with you. As you know, JBiberkopf could give and take with the best of them and thrived on that. I don’t think that it was a decision based on unhappiness with the site or anyone on it. Maybe he just misplaced last months phone bill and we’ll see him here to set us all straight in the coming weeks. Either that or he realized just how much time he was actually spending on line and it was affecting his personal/professional life. Just from getting to know him from his posting and messaging, I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision for him. He was a true asset to the Auteurs, I’m hoping he can find his way back to contribute in some way.
@JP – I’m talking pre-launch. Yes, the site took a Criterion turn & was pummeled by a stampede of new members, but it also took a less personal, more anonymous route in which cinema is just a hobby & TA is just a forum to talk about it as a hobby. I had my first account deleted pretty quickly after the launch (not for affiliated reasons) & came back after a month or two & saw practically all trace of the old gone, including many members that were absolutely brilliant contributors. I take the redundant posts with a grain of salt. I’m not up in arms over the current state of the site because I never fully used it the way others did, but it still bugs me. I wuzza jussa sayin’, it upsets a certain kind of crowd, & that crowd ran rampant on pre-launch TA.
Bob – Amen, brother.
Justin Biberkopf – the greatest Fassbinder fan, we want you to come back!!
I heart the auteurs, being a regular visitor at Criterion, one day stumbled upon a link that brought me here and god was I happy, I spent a straight 5 hrs reading all the threads one after the other and at 4:30 AM I went to sleep only because I had to show up at work at 8AM.
I love reading (more than posting) the comments by 20 or so regulars from whom I have learned of so many good movies and whose valuable opinions/comments could not be found anywhere else but here and that is the main reason I still come back after 4 months.. and by name JPB, Col Dax, Mathias Galvin, Soybean, Shotzi, Bob Stutsman, Justin Biberkopf, Cristopher Sepesy, Eggman, Crap Monster, Alanedit, Neh, T, Efe Cakerel, Nikhil, Mao and Kenji, David-Davecito, Adam Cook thank you all and some more I might have missed….
I have spent more time on threads redirecting folks to an already existing thread or requesting people to seach before create, because like all others I find it a huge concern and do get annoyed by the clutter and opinions splitting 2 ways, but because of petty things like these and the influx of newcomers, don’t leave this place, we need genuis’es at auteurs to keep going…
Things that are worth a damn are done, not talked about.
I can empathize with all of the early members lamenting the arrival of so many newcomers. My experience with similar forums, though, is that the herd eventually thins back out. Regarding the impatience with lists, personally I prefer a set of lists to the "underrated/overrated cliche.
Another mindless post….it’s starting to look really familiar around here…
The auteurs wishful thinking #1: The delete option.
No magic wands on more problems, just solutions. Making peace at the auteurs means allowing it all, good or bad, to coexist. Frankly, some of you “cinephiles” think of yourselves as clever and you use that status to condescend others. Gimme a break.
Drew said it best.
I think Ebert gave that candy bar four stars. I hate the high prices for popcorn and soda at the movies. That’s bad. I don’t go to movies anymore because of this. I steal candy bars from convenience stores because, hey, it’s convenient, right? Then I go to Best Buy, watch the movies that are playing on the big screen TVs in the audio/visual area and eat my candy bar. It’s real fun.
Soybean: I hope you are right. We all need to get back to our ‘other’ life occassionally (me, I have no ‘other’ life). I had an old thread, which I’ll let Matt revive if he ever thinks it relevant, re us auteurs junkies, or auteuroholics, who are compulsive on this site. Shotzi is setting us an example here, and I hope Justin B. is getting some productive time in that is non-site related.
Filmy Andy: Your list of ‘essential’ posters is a good one – you could have left my name out and put yours in, but thanks. I have learned a great deal from each of these great minds and several others I could add. Sometimes, I am astonished at just what damn good stuff is here, in the archives. We have it all here: geniuses, wits, esoterics, compulsive list makers, far-out artists, madmen & Englishmen – even cuckoos and crooks.
How much is a damn worth?
Christopher: I dunno but I have a nice bridge for sale.
looks like Col. Dax has pulled the plug on theauteurs too… that’s too bad..
sorry, I think he came back..
Lo… She will be missed…
One of the most interesting posting in a long while…All the candy bar comments are downright funny. Levity is much needed once in a while.
“Good.
i am alone.
In the present as were I stilI.
it is winter.
Withoutjourney.
Time passes.
That is alL.
Make sense who may.
I switch off”
Lo
Bob, this site is not what it used to be. It frustrates people who are deeply serious about cinema & using this site as a resource. Posts prior to the launch of the site were vastly different than they are nowadays, & some people really poured their heart & soul into utilizing TA to build not only their knowledge of films, but also their knowledge of being a filmmaker. It isn’t just a forum to them, but a school, a networking site, & a brainchild dumping ground to boot I don’t know if that was the case with Justin, but it has been the case with others.