Opeth forum will close down?

[Frosties]

Originally Posted by in_my_time_of_disease

Not sure why this is a surprise it was really a matter of time. Two generations of UM users (that I know of) have migrated off and started their own forums anyway, I'm sure you guys still here will do the same. There are plenty of great free forum hosting sites, it just takes the effort of one of you to start it up and believe me once its got going it works much better than this place, plus its not wasting the bands cash.

Woah - hey man, whats up?
Shame it took this to get some good people to post.

Samsara - You did a great job IMO, and there are some things you just can't control. I think you did the best you could.

It's a shame that the best source of many posters (including me) musical information is closing down.

[Lothlorien]

To me this is a sigh of relief. I hate to admit that I still come on this forum atleast every week hoping for an intuitive and worthwhile thread dealing with opeth. the fact is that i havent found one on this forum for months, and sad to admit that the only thing i find on here is when some opeth merch is being released that i didn't know about.

i'm also not trying to point fingers, but samsara was WAY too nice of a mod. if this forum is to survive there needs to be a "no nonsense" mod who wont think twice about banning someone for even 1 ridiculous/hurtful post. even if it means banning users on a daily basis.

thanks

[Alteredmindeath]

Keep in mind that the band pays money to be on here, some people are wasting the money. Mikael should just make a list of guidelines he wants instead of the latter. Either way I will still be a fan that appreciates the cool music & posts Mikael gave us.

[Mikael Åkerfeldt]

As I said, I don't want us to have an "official" forum as that more or less require my interference. To be honest, if it's about Opeth, my finger's in the pie. I can't help myself. If there's some unofficial forum popping up, I'm sure I might read what's going on there every now and then.

I just don't want an "official" forum, meaning, everything that's said there is "endorsed" by us since we host the whole thing. I can't have people mocking recently deceased people that meant something to a member of the band. It's just too much. I can take shit thrown at me, but I rage when somebody disrespects my friends, family or bandmembers, and I don't need that right now. I/we don't feed from being angry. World's fucked up as it is, I/we don't need forum "trolls" or whatever you call them pouring salt in our wounds on top of everything.

And finally, James....dude...in no way do I think you did a bad job. On the contrary! You rule! And I expect to see ya next time in Cali drinking a few cold beers with us.

This decision has nothing to do with us going on a break soon. It's just over.....due to the lack of respect that's been so frequent here. That's all.

As for the real fans here, on behalf of the band...."thanks"!

As I said, it's no big deal, just a forum closing down, right?

Cheers!
Mike

[Kamel]

Well, maybe the Possible number of threads concerning Opeth were used up! How many hundreds of threads were made concerning the band issues?

I somehow found it great when someone revived an ancient thread, cause, as someone said, It helps you to see how can appreciations drastically change as time passes by.

Then, everyone started considering everything as a shit thread, cause in some way everyone grow tired of the same questions.

fortunately, The Non-opeth chat is always lively and fresh, to some extent.

[hexwind]

Mike don't you think we need A Fair Judgment here? Why closing the forum because of idiots, while the true fans pay the price?

[ZeDzEdZeD]

Well, didn't expect this coming, but oh well... I've been reading this forum since beginning (2001 I think). Registered as user after Opeth first gig in Helsinki just to share my thought with others. I admint that forum has seen better days... actually it was very very enjoyable some years ago. I guess something happened with mods.

I really hope that Mikael won't close the forum permanently and band will find moderators who could run the place like in the old days.

My favourite thread was probably "Photoshopeth" . Thinking of that I am starting saving all those "art" before it will be closed ...


oh sadness...

[hexwind]

^ow yeah they were funny..

[Nasty-Fire]

Originally Posted by Mikael Åkerfeldt

As I said, it's no big deal, just a forum closing down, right?

It's a matter of point of view I guess. And as you said, it's just a forum, I don't think anyone believe you endorse anything from what happens here. To me and for a lot of us, it's just a place where discussions mostly turn around the band, and where we can see what are others opinion. I discovered a lot of new bands here and a lot of interesting information and ideas. I have no idea what happenned for a sudden need to delete this place and I don't understand why it is necessary.

EDIT : Maybe is it all too emotive?

[MetalAges]

^ The thread Mikael refers to was deleted as it was more trash than good, the one about Marcel from Talisman passing away and some subsequent scumbags commenting nastily about it.

I'm thinking there needs to be some site wide decency rules put in place... paid forums or not, there has to be limits and accountability for words that come out of people's mouths. I agree with Mikael saying, "World's fucked up as it is, I/we don't need forum "trolls" or whatever you call them pouring salt in our wounds on top of everything."

[isolation_years]

you know, we can all lament about how this forum has gone downhill, or how there are good ones among us (which there are), but what it really comes down to is i don't think we really appreciated it enough when it was operable. sure a lot of us were fine, but there have been lots of crappy threads lately (since watershed really), and plenty of trolls have come on. Some people just see the need to ruin things for other people, its really quite sad , and i don't know why we couldn't just have fun talking opeth, without being pricks

i really wish we had a warning before he decided to just up and close it, oh well, i loved this forum and i have plenty of memories and many people i consider friends whom i met here, lord byron, ka nucht tut mesut, hox, and im sure there are others, im writing kinda fast.

good luck in the future to everyone! send me a PM if you'd like to keep in touch

[the_fiend]

As long as mike can keep a mental note about playing forest of october on the next indian visit, I'm pretty much not bothered at all about the forum closing down.

[Bound2Fate]

I enjoyed looking at this forum over the last few years. It sucks that its getting closed down because of a few people. I've seen much worse in forums. It was nice while it lasted, but it is just a forum.

[burntoast]

Originally Posted by N-MAYH

Its only really become that way because of the reactions you give them. Its just a bunch of idiots doing this on purpose knowing it will really bother you, and from the looks of things mainly about the deaths of Cliff Burton and Marcel Jacob, because they knew it would really get to you they decided to give these retarded comments etc.

While closing the forum is a drastic step it is the right one, this place is shit.

That being said, change your tampon man, c juste des niaserie par des criss de mongols, calme toi.

Unbelievable. Instead of blaming the people who deserve it, you blame those who don't.

You expect people not to react to the sort of shit that assholes like Arasmas and Widows Sulk continuously posted? There's one reason they stuck around here: to stir shit. Ninety-nine percent of their posts were nothing but inflammatory. They're a bunch of attention whores.

What's the point of having these kind of people around and simply "ignoring" them? What do you make of people who do nothing but piss people off on an online forum? I can just picture Arasmas and Widows Sulk high-fiving each other like a couple of morons after each post.

Moron.

[CladInDarkness]

Originally Posted by hexwind

Mike don't you think we need A Fair Judgment here? Why closing the forum because of idiots, while the true fans pay the price?

This.

I stopped frequenting this board years ago, because of what it became, but I don't think a few trolls should ruin what many people get out of this forum. It's the trolls that should be punished, not the fans.

[Hügelgräber]

I'm also on the side of those who think it hasn't been that bad lately. When i took the time to look through the threads, there were 2 or 3 members of who i regularly thought: "It's him again. I don't get it, why isn't he banned yet?" I didn't post much, simply because i didn't have something to say.
The difference of the last 2 days has been, that there is a thread about someone who died, who was known to the band. This implies emotions, and those lead to premature decisions. It reminds me of the time when Peter left, when people were throwing so much shit at each other, that i didn't want to visit this place again, too. Perfect playgrounds for kiddies as well, and as you can see in that thread again.

Ultimate Metal, as it is obvious because of the posts by Metal Ages, got a huge interest in keeping this forum, because it is simply one of their biggest. Maybe if someone of them would take over this place, there could be a chance for a new forum-policy: Ban them, ban them early and delete their posts. This is a forum, not a round table, where you can "moderate" in it's original meaning. If they are not civilized people yet, you can't hope for a change in their behaviour, if you just let them keep posting shit.

The band can't really want to have this place shut down either, because there are so many people visiting it. Many of them are new to Opeth and just want to chat about them. By a forum, people get a closer realation to the band, so this might be a "bigger deal" than Mikael meantioned some posts before. I think members who have been here longer should treat those new ones like they wanted to be treated themselves. If you are new to a band, you want to talk about stuff like "I just love song X or Y". If this means there is a 1000th "What is your favourite album"-thread, there is nothing wrong with that.
This is a metal-band-forum. You can't expect, that every thread got a sophisticated topic like the near perfection of the fuges of Bach.

I think a new start with that new policy that Metal Ages seems to follow could even be a chance to get people post here, who were so far discouraged by those who only seemed to use this place for working of their personal frustration.

[burntoast]

Agreed. Don't shut this forum down. Confirmation from a mod should be required before newly registered users can post. That'll help limit the influx of trolls (and the return of undesirables).

[Opeth for life!!!!]

Altough I have recently joined this forum, I've learned many things about my favourite band, Opeth that is among many other things. I've also got the chance to know other fans' opinions and tastes in music. That's why I'm feeling so sorry that this forum is gonna close. On the other hand, I've noticed that many people here do not respect others' points of view (rude replies and so on).. consequently, I respect Mike's decision ,yet I'm still hoping for that, he might reconsider the fact that many true fans here deserve another chance .

[Opion]

Where you have a group of educated music-lovers brings an equal amount of retarded threadshitters who love to ruin it for everyone. As ridiculous and worthless it may seem it takes the fun out of participating in group discussion with a somewhat intelligent group. I have no problem with this forum closing as it just may breed for a better forum with less retards - hopefully Mike will join in! This is the sole reason I joined as I found it awesome to speak amongst a hero. So I have no problems with your decision, Mikael. Keep on doing what you do best, fuck the retards.

[Jackehh]

This is very sad news but not surprising I guess. It's sad to see that a few people like arasmas can spoil a whole forum for a lot of other people but like I said, I even reported arasmas to the moderators for a thread but nothing happened so, not very surprising. Anyway I really liked this forum and photoshopeth and mike's sporadic posts were very fun to read and will be missed

[senza]

I only visited here a handful of times a year but i'm still sad to see it go - spending long evenings reading through the threads was always enjoyable/informative and i hadn't really noticed the trolls.

Thanks for posting here Mike - it was refreshing seeing a band member post with his fans. It's a shame that it hasn't worked out.

And of course, thanks to everyone who contributed to all the good threads, especially 'Photoshopeth'... Maybe someone could make a backup of the forum to host somewhere else? That way all the classic threads will live on? There's a lot of knowledge (Opeth and otherwise) held in these boards.

[Vega Skater]

I've got a habit of clicking the address bar, typing 'u', then down, then enter, daily. Wow that's going to take a hit.

Samsara, you can't sit at the PC 24/7 and monitor every little piece that is written on the forums. Kudos on an excellent job.

Mike, cheers.
Hopefully we will see some MA posts on the unofficial forum(s).

I'm Old Gregg.

[ecksemmess]

I really hope the forum can continue in an "unofficial" capacity without the band's seal of the approval, as MetalAges seems to wish, but if not, something absolutely has to be done to archive/mirror the years and years of Opeth information that literally cannot be found anywhere but here. It would be a travesty for so many once-in-a-lifetime tellings of stories in Opeth history to be destroyed. I'm sure that if Mike thinks about it and remembers some of the obscure subjects that he and his buddies have documented in threads on here years ago, he'll agree...!

Hell, even just for the numerous threads where hard-to-hear lyrics were painfully deciphered and then, finally, confirmed by Mikael, the database must be saved!!

[Vega Skater]

Originally Posted by ecksemmess

It would be a travesty for so many once-in-a-lifetime tellings of stories in Opeth history to be destroyed. I'm sure that if Mike thinks about it and remembers some of the obscure subjects that he and his buddies have documented in threads on here years ago, he'll agree...

This. Well said.

[Koi]

I think it's a shame, I do understand Mikael though, I can understand that it can feel like a burden and a responsibility to keep an eye on what people are talking about of him, his family and people that mean something to him. When a band gets as big as opeth, the cozy union of a fanbase is lost.
It will feel weird though to not visit this forum once a day anymore, this was one of the maybe three things I do on the internetz on a reguilar basis :P