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Post by brutalis on Feb 5, 2021 21:15:29 GMT -5
What brought me here? Drove myself and stayed when I blew a tire out. Free pretzels and peanuts with every drink keeps me coming back. hahaha.
Found CBR in a random comic search around 2010 I believe. Became a reader of most you regulars in their forum/chat board. Bummed when they changed and you folks left. Found the CCF late 2015 around Halloween time. I lurked into the 1st part of 2016 getting reacquainted. Didn't join immediately as was considering leaving my job at the hospital I worked at due to major changes.
Managed to endure the changes, so joined in June of 2016. The CCF became a treasured respite from the grueling demands of life and work while I regained my courage for writing (typing actually LOL) and expressing my adoration of comics, movies, television, books, music and all the things inbetween. Found a new family here where I don't have to explain myself or make any excuses for being crazy, silly old me.
Personally I like the CCF just fine as it is. But how about doing like other places are doing? Two fer Tuesdays? Taco Thursdays? Friday Happy Hour? Saturday Night Specials? Sunday potlucks? Discount Coupons? Free samples?
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 5, 2021 22:09:13 GMT -5
1. How did you first discover the CCF? (If you came here from CBR, how did you first discover CBR?)
I have no idea how I discovered CBR. I'm not even sure it was technically CBR at the time, though I know that it wasn't still The Kingdom Come Message Board. I started there in either late '96 or very early '97 after I started law school. So I wasn't a Pantheon member but I was part of the second generation on the boards. Oh...and it was better than Alvaros. Same - I came in just after the Pantheon stuff, and that big wedding. tho I never went to Alvaros, I clearly remember that they HATED the KC/CBR boards But there was a fair amount of crossover. I know that both Howyadoin and Paradox spent quite a bit of time at Alvaros. I want to say that they may have even been mods there at one time. I loved the short-lived “Island of Misfit Boards” with Dox’s Starman Board. |
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 5, 2021 22:53:19 GMT -5
1. How did you first discover the CCF? (If you came here from CBR, how did you first discover CBR?)
Around 2001, hearing the creator of the "Gone & Forgotten" website on the radio rekindled my interest in comics. I was curious about what had become of the comics creators I remembered, and I found Tony Isabella's blog. He gave a rave review to Scott Shaw!'s Oddball Comics column at CBR. I started reading, and I read the entire Oddball Comics archive before I clicked on the Forum link in search of more fun stuff. I found it.
2. What made you decide to register and post for the first time? (Again, if you came here from CBR, tell us that)
A day or two after the death of CBR, someone messaged me about this place. I was here in a trice.
3. Where else do you spend a significant amount of time online? Where would you rank The CCF in terms of sites/apps that consume the majority of your screen time?
My set of sites that I read or check in on regularly:
CCF
Facebook
email (on many email lists)
CBR (Community and Collected/Classic boards)
newsfromme.com
city-data.com/forum - a very wide-ranging board whose membership skews older.
groups.google.com - some comics groups and some work-related.
engrish.com
sinfest.com
intelligentlifecomics.com
jesusandmo.net (updated every Wednesday)
fivethirtyeight.com
politicalorphans.com
tonyisabella.blogspot.com
atomicjunkshop.com
blazersedge.com (Portland Trail Blazers fansite)
notalwaysright.com/newest
4. What keeps you coming back?
This is my tribe.
5. Any suggestions/recommendations for how to make the CCF an even better community than it already is?
Take a look at the city-data.com forum I listed above. They have some features I like that CCF doesn't have. When I have more time I'll try to write a list.
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Post by Duragizer on Feb 6, 2021 1:30:26 GMT -5
1. How did you first discover the CCF? (If you came here from CBR, how did you first discover CBR?)
At some point in time, I stumbled upon Shaxper's "Superman in the Post-Crisis Era" thread when it was still hosted on CBR and became a lurker. When it vanished there and re-appeared here, I continued my lurking here.
2. What made you decide to register and post for the first time? (Again, if you came here from CBR, tell us that)
The itch to post in Shaxper's thread as well as Confessor's "Star Wars at Marvel" thread became too great.
3. Where else do you spend a significant amount of time online? Where would you rank The CCF in terms of sites/apps that consume the majority of your screen time?
I used to regularly post on a Star Wars forum, but due to various and sundry reasons, I don't post there anymore. I occasionally post on a forum dedicated to fan edits, but not being a fan editor myself, my presence there is virtually nil. I spend most of my time these days on a pair of Discord servers, though my desire to remain there is on the wane also. And there's also YouTube, but I mostly spend my time there listening to music/watching videos; I'm not much of a content creator.
4. What keeps you coming back?
This place doesn't have trolls/prigs/edgelords/abusive moderators who bring out the worst in me.
5. Any suggestions/recommendations for how to make the CCF an even better community than it already is?
Needs more cowbell.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2021 2:12:22 GMT -5
I'm another who migrated here from CBR...
1. How did you first discover the CCF? (If you came here from CBR, how did you first discover CBR?)
Before I took a hiatus from comics in 2007, I used to frequent a couple of online comic discussion groups/forums-in particular an Avengers mailing list, Rick Veitch's Comicon.com, and the Newsarama forums. 2007 also marked a hiatus from online activity for me. I didn't get back into comics or online (except for necessities) for nearly 5 years. In 2012 when I ended the hiatus, neither Comiccon.com nor the Newsarama forums were a going concern anymore and seeking out alternatives led me to the CBR newssite and eventually the forums.
2. What made you decide to register and post for the first time? (Again, if you came here from CBR, tell us that)
I don't recall exactly, though it was probably some of the discussions on the classic comics forums there. There were just people discussing comics I was interested in, and eventually I took the plunge.
3. Where else do you spend a significant amount of time online? Where would you rank The CCF in terms of sites/apps that consume the majority of your screen time?
CCF is near the top depending on the day. As for other forums, I check out the old CBR forums for the cover contest and some occasional sports talk mostly, and hang out a little on the Mego Museum forums. The rest of my online time is spent checking news headlines, sports news, comic news, keeping up with our circuit of comic con friends and associates or following creators of interest on various social media platforms, ebay/mycomicshop/amazon to browse stuff of interest, checking out the handful of youtube channels I subscribe to-mostly booktube or comic-related stuff but not all, reading comics online via hoopla, Marvel/DC, etc., or organizing/updating my comic list on GCD.
4. What keeps you coming back?
There have been a couple of times I have asked myself that as I tried to moderate or reduce my time spent online. There are a handful of people I really enjoy interacting with most of the time, a handful of threads that keep my interest, but on the whole I've found there are large swaths of threads on the forums I never even glance at any more, as opposed to the first couple of years where I at least clicked on and skimmed almost everything just to keep abreast of it all.
5. Any suggestions/recommendations for how to make the CCF an even better community than it already is?
Not sure. One thing that sticks out for me is that we seem to have a recurring issues attracting and retaining female members, which is problematic for future growth and/or survival of the site. Recent industry demographics seem to indicate that female readers are much more significant portion of comic readership and fandom (a majority in certain age demographics) than it appeared to be in the past, and one of the few demographics that has been steadily growing for the past decade, yet that is not reflected in our membership demographics. This is especially true in the younger demographic groups within fandom. We've had a handful of female members join and be active, and almost without exception they end up leaving after some kind of dust up of sorts. Some return to try again, but not all. This may contribute to the trend commented on in the other thread about failure to capture the interest of the large group of younger users coming here but not joining or participating. I'm not sure what needs to be done to change this, but different outcomes are not going to happen unless something does change. There has to be something that is resulting in that same outcome among so many different female members. It happens too often and too consistently to be a fluke/coincidence. It's also not a problem/trend I see in other comic or toy related forums and groups I participate in. The only other places it does seem to be a problem is in sites with ties to a certain group of malcontents that I know we are not a part of and do not share their ideologies, which makes this issue all the more perplexing. We try to pride ourselves on being welcoming, but there seems to be something working against that with certain demographics, which will ultimately speed up the forum's path of entropy unless it can be identified and addressed. but often times it feels like the elephant in the room no one wants to acknowledge when issues do rise up. just my 2 cents worth.
-M
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 6, 2021 7:00:50 GMT -5
1. How did you first discover the CCF? (If you came here from CBR, how did you first discover CBR?)
and
2. What made you decide to register and post for the first time? (Again, if you came here from CBR, tell us that)
Another CBR veteran, I got to see CBR through the ElectricFerret forums which got merged into CBR for some reason. Started out on Rumbles there and mostly the X-boards, later left Rumbles (after the reset of the early 2000s) and stuck with X-boards, Comm and Classic Comics mostly. How I got on the electricferret forums, I'm not quite sure anymore, I tried several diffrent comics forums back then, mostly X-Men related. I know I was on the X-men Briefing Room, where I somehow got involved with uncannyxmen.net doing all the side series that nobody else wanted to do.
3. Where else do you spend a significant amount of time online? Where would you rank The CCF in terms of sites/apps that consume the majority of your screen time?
Most of my time on the internet is work related.
Apart from this forum I spend quite a lot of time on the Penny Arcade forums and on yuitube.
4. What keeps you coming back?
It's bursts of activity for me (usually depended on how swamped I'm with work and whether I'm reading something that the time that inspires me to post. I don't think there are many places on the internet anymore where you can have a decent talk about comics.
5. Any suggestions/recommendations for how to make the CCF an even better community than it already is?
Nothing I can put into words yet.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Feb 6, 2021 7:48:37 GMT -5
I need to know more about this! Easily, but it would be almost impossible to moderate. how have you not seen me talk about TPR? I've been a member there for over a decade, and have gone on trips with them to visit Theme Parks across the USA & in 2019 went to Japan. I have several Trip Report threads, as do other.. go have a look. the forums are fantastic, and free to join (the Facebook page is great too, and I hang there, but the Forums are my "home") www.themeparkreview.com/[/quote] I do recall you mentioning this on several occasions now, but I'd never seen any of this before. FANTASTIC! |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Feb 6, 2021 8:50:05 GMT -5
I'm not sure what needs to be done to change this, but different outcomes are not going to happen unless something does change. It's been discussed by the staff extensively and repeatedly. What we know is that each blow-up happened for entirely different (and, in some cases) opposing reasons. The only commonalities across these departures are gender and, in two cases, conflict with another female member. While your data is correct -- the vast majority of new comic readers are female -- it may help to pose the question of how many female comic readers feel drawn to online discussion communities about old comics. I follow quite a few facebook groups for classic comics and classic film, and I can tell you that there are very few females participating. Perhaps the kind of woman who feels comfortable jumping into a male-dominated forum that discusses a primarily male-dominated medium (at least for the eras we discuss) is also one who seeks attention. I certainly don't mean to imply that this would be true of any woman who ever joins this community, nor do I mean to disparage the female members we have had here in the past, but this does explain those very public, head-turning circumstances better than anything else I've been able to come up with. Heck, we introduced the report feature as a direct response to the concerns of one female member who left in a rage, and it ended up being the primary complaint of another female member who left in a rage. I have had many female friends and students over the years (as well as an ex wife and current girlfriend) who love comic books, know of this site, follow it on facebook, and have expressed zero interest in ever joining. For whatever reason, this sort of thing just doesn't seem to appeal to them. It isn't a question of how welcoming or safe a place we are (we've worked hard to ensure both). They just aren't looking to talk comics with strange men. It also probably doesn't help that, literally every time we get a new female member participating, someone says "FINALLY! A new female member. Let's hope we don't chase this one way," which definitely does not help. Suddenly, twenty dudes are "following" some new member who posted twice, liking all her posts, and private messaging words of encouragement to her. It's eerie and off-putting. I don't think new members need to be targeted for their gender, regardless of good intentions. And, while we're talking demographics, we should probably discuss other demographic minorities. We're a mostly white outfit, here. I've made efforts to share discussions of Black characters and creators on facebook when possible, but it hasn't yielded much. I'll admit I haven't given much thought to Asian, Latino, Native American, or other racial groups. We have had a strong sampling of white gay men in the community (though two of our most active white gay members haven't been around for some time), and at least two self-identified pansexual women, so were not having as much of a problem there. Politically, at least, we may be the one online community left that still has a significant number of both liberals and conservatives, most getting along with each other just fine. But basically, I would argue that the idea of a classic comic discussion itself seems to appeal primarily to white men. I'm all for doing whatever I can to be welcoming to others and have no intention of embracing white maleness as an identity for The CCF, but as trends go, we are certainly fighting an uphill battle. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Feb 6, 2021 9:02:52 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2021 9:37:24 GMT -5
. While your data is correct -- the vast majority of new comic readers are female -- it may help to pose the question of how many female comic readers feel drawn to online discussion communities about old comics. I follow quite a few facebook groups for classic comics and classic film, and I can tell you that there are very few females participating. P Maybe it's the forum format that's the issue, but I have come across several women who embrace, read, and discuss classic comics and toys online. Many do so as content creators on platforms like youtube, but engage in discussions on the subject is comments and other social media platforms tied to their content platforms (Facebook, twitter, instagram etc. tied to their youtube content for example). I still see several female members discussing classic comics at our old forums and some discussing classic toys on the Mego Museum forums and in Mego sponsored FB groups. There seems to be no shortage of woman interested and engaging in content related to classic comics online (especially if you focus on 80s/90s forward in how we define classic comic content here), and if you include sites/platforms where creating comics is also a factor, there are exponentially more women involved/engaged in online comic discussions, but for a forum like this one, not so much. So women interested in the type of stuff we discuss here are not elusive near non-existent metaphorical white whales, they exist and are more plentiful than some here seem to think, but the ones who are out there rarely become interested in sites like ours, and the ones that do rarely stay active here for whatever reason. I only have a very small anecdotal sampling from the handful of women interested in classic comics I tried to recruit here in our first couple of years of existence as to why they did not feel comfortable here and why they chose not to participate, which I shared at the time and it was dismissed then, and I'd rather not reopen that can of worms, but it's not just there aren't more women here because women aren't interested in the kind of stuff we do. In fact, a couple who chose not to participate cited that kind of dismissive attitude towards woman fans/collectors implicit in some of the discussion here at the time as part of the reason why they chose not to join/participate. Not the contemptible he-man woman hater's club attitude of some sites, but the implied "woman fans just aren't important to what we do here" vibe they got from their time checking out the site. They all pointed out it wasn't an aggressive anti-woman sentiment, but more a passive acceptance of the lack of women's participation as norm for comics discussion that created a barrier for them and made the site unappealing for them. Their reaction (and of some male comic fans I tried to recruit here back in the day) was a big factor in why I stopped trying to recruit fans I knew from convention circuits and other online platforms to come try out our site after 2-3 years of actively trying to do so. -M |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Feb 6, 2021 9:42:07 GMT -5
I only have a very small anecdotal sampling from the handful of women interested in classic comics I tried to recruit here in our first couple of years of existence as to why they did not feel comfortable here and why they chose not to participate, which I shared at the time and it was dismissed then, and I'd rather not reopen that can of worms I would. I don't recall dismissing anything. Please pm me. Let's resume that conversation. Help me understand this better. How does someone passively broadcast an acceptance of lack of women's participation? I know I've been actively trying for years now, recruiting several female members myself, and running the only paid ad campaign this site ever had (paid out of my own pocket), targeted specifically at women. Most of my friends are women, I'm most comfortable conversing with women. As I'm the guy who runs this place, let me be clear that I'd much rather have women here. At any rate, we are well off-topic at this point, so please pm me. Let's discuss. We want the same thing. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 6, 2021 12:18:51 GMT -5
1. How did you first discover the CCF? (If you came here from CBR, how did you first discover CBR?)I got an e-mail from Greg Hatcher that the Comics Should Be Good blogs, from CBR, were moving to a new site, Atomic Junk Shop, and CCF was mentioned there, when I checked it out. 2. What made you decide to register and post for the first time? (Again, if you came here from CBR, tell us that)After looking around, I saw a couple of review threads and decided I wanted to do one on the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter. I pretty much set up a profile immediately, so I could post and hit the minimum right away; so, it didn't take long to start the reviews. I always felt the world needed my opinions.  3. Where else do you spend a significant amount of time online? Where would you rank The CCF in terms of sites/apps that consume the majority of your screen time?Let's see....I read the news on the NPR website, watch video content on Youtube, play the odd game here or there and post occasionally on The Wrestling Classics message board. Also poke around wikipedia, when things are slow at the end of the night, at work. CCF is my main base, though, as comics are my deepest interest. First it was the stories and characters, then, after discovering my first comic book history references, in 1985, I have been immersed in the history of the medium, both in the US and globally. So, where else can you put that knowledge to work, discussing the subjects with others, while also poking fun at the goofier elements of the medium? 4. What keeps you coming back?The drink specials and the hot wings. 5. Any suggestions/recommendations for how to make the CCF an even better community than it already is?Some of those big leather wing chairs, like in those old British men's clubs. Seriously, I don't really have much to suggest about improving; I think everyone stimulates something new whenever it gets quiet and the place livens up again.
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Feb 6, 2021 19:52:20 GMT -5
1.
I got hardcore back into comics last June after a long time away, very rarely reading anything for a decade. Being a long time member of a wrestling discussion board I thought I would look for the comic book equivalent, and a quick Google search brought up this place
2.
I wanted to participate in historical comics discussion, one of my passions. At first I just posted in the introduce yourself thread, but have slowly posted here and there when I think my knowledge will be helpful. Eventually I may start doing some reviews, we'll see
3.
ProWrestlingOnly.com (mostly out of habit these days, since I no longer watch wrestling)
Marvel Unlimited
Twitter
The Athletic
CCF (but rising!)
4.
Mostly going through the backlog of threads right now, but you guys are super knowledgeable and I enjoy the welcoming community
5.
Not really
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Feb 6, 2021 21:50:46 GMT -5
I wanted to participate in historical comics discussion, one of my passions. At first I just posted in the introduce yourself thread, but have slowly posted here and there when I think my knowledge will be helpful. Eventually I may start doing some reviews, we'll see So very glad to have you here, my good man! Very excited to see you gradually getting more immersed in the community. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 6, 2021 22:15:51 GMT -5
1. How did you first discover the CCF? (If you came here from CBR, how did you first discover CBR?)I came when the Crisis on CBR happened in 2014 and they shut down the Classic section of the forum. Before that, I first started reading comic message boards around 2003 with the DC message forum. From there I went to the CBR. 2. What made you decide to register and post for the first time? (Again, if you came here from CBR, tell us that)
I followed Shax when he contacted members of the eliminated classic forum. 3. Where else do you spend a significant amount of time online? Where would you rank The CCF in terms of sites/apps that consume the majority of your screen time?
The only other social site I go to is Facebook. I keep in contact with friends there from HS and various other places. Recently I just joined comic groups on FB to stay away from the fighting. 4. What keeps you coming back?
Everyone is well mannered and mostly friendly and I get to fly my geek flag here. 5. Any suggestions/recommendations for how to make the CCF an even better community than it already is?
Stop posting pictures of Jaxxon the rabbit that haunts me. ( Just kidding ) (Maybe. )
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