When my friend first showed this site to me over a year ago, it seemed like a very fun, competitive community. After a long time of dealing with other important things in my life, I decided I would give CC a try. I was instantly hooked: the people were friendly, the gaming was intense, and the atmosphere couldn't have been more enjoyable.
Now where are we?
It seems that an unremitting stream of problems has seized CC by storm. Where one used to be able to read a topic, or browse the forum without coming across more than a few extremely unpleasant individuals, now one can't go through one topic without a troll busting in and flaming everyone in sight, no matter the subforum. The numbers of these individuals has been increasing exponentially over the past month or so, with more and more showing up everyday. Multis are everywhere, with so many reports being filed that the mods (what's left of them) can barely even keep up; many, many reports have gone at least a week before any kind of official response. The updates are few and far between, and are being critiqued and disrespected without thought as to the work that was put into them. Sure, maybe some people don't like rating (I count myself among them), but does it make a terrible difference? There's no need to start riots about not being able to write feedback about the occasional asshat. But when the admins took the hint and tried to make it better, after less than a month, the suggestion topic is taken off of the control panel board, without any real conclusions being drawn beforehand.
And finally, and most disturbingly, wicked is fired. I know I do not stand alone when I say that this is entirely unjust. Firing her because of a "change in behavior" due to an extreme illness is clearly wrong. I, and I know I am not alone on this either, think that her "change in behavior" was by no means a terrible thing. She was clever and told people, including myself, when and why they needed to shut up. Instead of firing her for being one of the most interesting personalities in this community, she should be heralded. After 2 years of tracking and busting countless multis, moderating the incessant trolls, and being a wonderfully entertaining person, her thanks is a nice contribution medal and foot in the ass?
For all of the reasons stated above, I am greatly concerned for the future of this website. Where are we going? Will we be treated to a nice permanent "locky one" before this site even reaches 3 years? Sadly, I can see that many are already protesting about all of the problems stated above, and thus stating that they will not be returning when their premium runs out. Is that what this site is doomed to become? Are all of the great personalities of this site going to be slowly whittled away at until nothing is left but the trolls, multis, and blissfully ignorant ones who are unaware of all that is going on?
, this is going to be a fun couple of weeks i feel