The welcome thread, new members report here.. or not ;)

[emma glitch]

I think we met before, just under different names. You might remember me as mare_serenitatis from EI and KHCMB =)

Yes! I remember you, and good to see you again!

I just finished assembling a new desk, must get back to packing. I'm heading to San Diego for a conference tomorrow. Doesn't take much to get me to San Diego.

[TDG]

Hello all,

I am 'new' here though I know the founder (or one of the founders) for some time now since my days on the TrekBBS.

Recently I have been feeling about talking about Star Trek and other thoughts again with people but the TrekBBS does not appeal that much to me any more as I am for example not a fan of the new movies or which direction the books and most of the comics have taken.

(I don't mind that the writers try to appeal to more watchers and readers but for my taste it has made the universe very generic and no longer appealing as a fan).

A smaller forum like this is perhaps better to talk about it and satisfy my wish to talk about this subject.

[Santaman]

Hi, long time no see.

This is indeed a smaller and a bit broken forum.. suggestions and complaints go into the "idea" box which also doubles as trashcan..

[TDG]

Hello Santaman,

I recall having met you before online, but I have been on this forum before? I don't recall but then again I have joined som many forums and later left again.

Reflecting on that I do wish I had not done that so often.

So are you still on the TrekBBS?

[RJDiogenes]

Welcome, TDG. It's nice to have you here. I'm a long-time member of TrekBBS, too, but don't go there much anymore. It's not what it used to be.

I am for example not a fan of the new movies or which direction the books and most of the comics have taken.

You've come to the right place.

[TDG]

Hello RJDiogenes, in what ways has the TrekBBS changed in the last couple of years.

I sort of lost connection to it back on 2002/2003 when we could no longer afford Internet, and after I got my own connection back years later I found it difficult to get back into it.

Now I have to admit I was (and probably still am) somewhat of a ridiculous 'fanboy' rather than a fan, deeply liking some some series and fiercely disliking others. I was not a Deep Space Nine fan for example of Star Trek Enterprise and whenever fans kept bringing up that these were the best Star Trek series or 'only Star Trek series' I honestly wanted to call the... well lets not get into that.

I have learned to appreciate the shows for the good elements they are (parts of DSN and Star Trek Enterprise Season 4 was okay) but I still don't think they are brilliant.
I really disliked some of the opinions the writers had on the show, not so much trying to keep an open mind but more the overdone justification of spirituality (the Bajoran faith, Sisko becoming a believer and later revealed to be part Prophet, ugh) and some social commentary.

(Eddington, that rogue Starfleet officer talking all about the rewards of planting, growing and harvesting plants with his own hands. Honestly what kind of bullshit is that? The Federation never forbid people from growing crops traditionally or holding livestock, forcing people to rely on replicators. They were as optional in life as you wanted them to be, only to be used in emergencies and when times are hard)

I didn't mind that they showed that the Federation and such had its flaws (personally I think Gene went a little overboard with the whole Utopian thing) but this whole 'anti technology, pro pre industrial life standards, abandoning reason and just put everything in faith, if the writers honestly felt like this why the #### did they work on a sci fi television show in which space exploration takes a big role.

Basically it said to me; abandon all tech and curiosity and go live and work on a farm, humans are much happier in such conditions.

Moore did it somewhat again in new Battlestar Galactic which I one of the reasons I personally did not like that show.
So no, I honestly don't want him back on a Star Trek television show if it means he wants to sell us his religious views again. (he may have worked on Best of Both Worlds and First Contact but he was still working with others' ideas and not his own and I do blame him in part for ruining the Borg by introducing a Queen, or Braga did that)

Sorry that I went on and on about what I dislike about DSN and Moore. There was stuff in it I did like, just not some of the producers' own little obsessions.


Enterprise... well I was never a fan of the idea of a prequel to begin with and the Enterprise seemed pretty much the result of the television executives have seen George Lucas' Star Wars prequel and saying to themselves "We want that too!" (just like the new movies sound the result of the studio executives having seen nBSG and thinking; That is what Star Trek should be like! Dark, gritty, sex, explosions)

One of my concerns was that it would probably not be consistent with the history mentioned in the previous series and that pretty much seemed to be the case in most of Season 1, 2, and 3.

(If the Xindi had such an impact on Earth, why did we never later hear from them again. My sole weakness is Regeneration and that is only because I still like the Borg, the episode/story of course does not fit that period at all.)

In Season 4 they finally started to get the right ideas though it could still have done with some shaving here and there. But the opening starter? The Enterprise crew travelling to a parallel 20th century where the Nazis won WW2 because of the help of aliens? Come on, that is just plain bad. Even most fan fic writers avoid that trope.

I understand why Coto did it but I still think that the unnecessary Temporal War arc could have been solved in a more creative way.

As for These are the voyages, Berman and Braga should have gotten a beating for that. (Braga should also have gotten a beating for writing that awful Star Trek Hive mini series to celebrate TNG's anniversary. Borg, time travel, super species that can beat the Borg, obsession with Seven of Nine, return of Locutus. Honestly, it seemed Braga was ripping himself off)

Done spilling all my venom

[huggle]

Hi Marten Welcome!

[RJDiogenes]

Hello RJDiogenes, in what ways has the TrekBBS changed in the last couple of years.

Most of the fun people are gone and it's now occupied by politically correct hipsters who are as hateful as they are clueless.

Now I have to admit I was (and probably still am) somewhat of a ridiculous 'fanboy' rather than a fan, deeply liking some some series and fiercely disliking others. I was not a Deep Space Nine fan for example of Star Trek Enterprise and whenever fans kept bringing up that these were the best Star Trek series or 'only Star Trek series' I honestly wanted to call the... well lets not get into that.

I generally think of Trek as one big thing (not counting the reboot, of course) rather than individual series. I like it all. Some stuff sucks, naturally, but it's mostly quite good.

I didn't mind that they showed that the Federation and such had its flaws (personally I think Gene went a little overboard with the whole Utopian thing) but this whole 'anti technology, pro pre industrial life standards, abandoning reason and just put everything in faith, if the writers honestly felt like this why the #### did they work on a sci fi television show in which space exploration takes a big role.

I agree with you to some degree. While TOS was very liberal, the 24th century shows became increasingly Left Wing, at a time when the downhill slide of the Left Wing was accelerating.

Moore did it somewhat again in new Battlestar Galactic which I one of the reasons I personally did not like that show.
So no, I honestly don't want him back on a Star Trek television show if it means he wants to sell us his religious views again. (he may have worked on Best of Both Worlds and First Contact but he was still working with others' ideas and not his own and I do blame him in part for ruining the Borg by introducing a Queen, or Braga did that)

nuBSG was a horrible, adolescent mess, but, based on what he's said in interviews, Moore understands the essence of Trek-- which is more than can be said of Abrams.

(If the Xindi had such an impact on Earth, why did we never later hear from them again. My sole weakness is Regeneration and that is only because I still like the Borg, the episode/story of course does not fit that period at all.)

That didn't bother me at all. I'm somewhat of a history buff, and if it's one thing that you learn when you study history it's that what really happened is far, far different than what they taught you in school.

As for These are the voyages, Berman and Braga should have gotten a beating for that.

Agreed. That was worse than the Voyager finale. On the other hand, it could have been more easily fixed.

[Jim Gamma]

Well, the Convention is over, I have returned. Now I have one more day off to recover, and then back to work.

Should be back in chat this week, I hope.

[RJDiogenes]

Me, too, now that I have a functional computer.

[huggle]

not sure about myself - depends on whether I can keep my eyes open after 7 pm LOL

I agree with your assessment of TrekBBS, Rick, but I'd like to point out one exception: the lounges are still pretty cool, particularly the Captains' and the Fleet Captains' Lounges. The Commodores' Lounge is rather dead atm and we could do with a few new members there to liven things up a bit.
But there's a lot of fun there and occasionally a very polite discussion of topics that we feel are way too risky to mention on the board.

The Science forum isn't bad either. There's some bickering and bitching but it's more a matter of form and not meant personal. Very relaxed Mods there, too.

[RJDiogenes]

I've never really hung out in the lounges. Maybe I'll peek in. Although I spend so much time at other boards now, I may not even have the time to spend there.

[huggle]

I post exclusively in the lounges, Misc and the science forum.
Now I've watched some Dr Who (all the 1st doctor and a few epis of the 2nd) I might perhaps join a few discussions in the general SciFI forum.

[RJDiogenes]

I post in a few threads in the SF forum and I enter the Avatar Contest in Misc. Now that they've outlawed the "Babe" and "Hunk" threads, there's not much reason to bother with General Media.

[huggle]

couldn't you try to paraphrase babe and hunk to make the threads look unsuspicious?

[RJDiogenes]

That's a great idea. "The Unusually Pulchritudinous Gynecomorphous Homo Sapien of the Semi-Fortnight." It'll be tl/dr before they even click on the thread.

[huggle]

not if you start it in the science forum . I haven't posted there in a few months but unless they changed Moderators lately they might even appreciate it. There's some bitching going on in that forum but it's all on the surface and if you dig aa bit deeper you'll find that they have a crazy sense of humour there

[RJDiogenes]

A sense of humor? At TrekBBS?

[huggle]

shocking, isn't it? The lounge mods have this desease, too. Even in a worse degree
TrekBBS definitely isn't what it used to be under Lisa

[RJDiogenes]

Lisa was before my time, but I do remember when it was a lot more fun than it is now.

[huggle]

Lisa was anything but fun. Imagine a female cross-breed between Thatcher, MacCarthy and GWB...

[RJDiogenes]

Wow. How did she ever come to be running a Star Trek board?

[Jim Gamma]

She was OK at first, but went power mad.

EDIT: Gah, I keep thinking this is Post Every Time You Enter...

[RJDiogenes]

You can post here every time you enter if you want.

Wow. Power mad at a Trek forum. That's pretty sad.

[Jim Gamma]

The thing is, at first, she was great - sure, she had detractors, but so does everyone. Then the policies started changing, leaning toward hiding things away rather than being open with their members, and I saw things that told me staff were actually scared to disagree with her in case they lost their positions and got banned.

There were a few major incidents, some of which I was rather heavily involved in, which led to huge tightening of the policies, and then Troll Kingdom and other spinoff sites got created (Terran, EFCL, etc). Some of those sites are still going, others are now dead. The board wars of the early 2000s were politics-infused messes, with vitriol spewing everywhere. Suffice to say, I won't go into detail.