It's widely known that TheTechGame has faced an activity decline over previous months. Over this time i have noticed that many members have been creating topics regarding this issue and shifting a lot of blame. While this is justified to a certain extent, i believe that the community as it is now is missing the point of what this means to us as an internet message board. With this thread i hope to expand on what has been previously stated by notable members such as G_Man while finally getting over my fear of getting banned due to harsh criticism of our current situation. I work 10 hours a day so for me to spend time on this, i feel that it's something that needs to be said.

So let's start with skimming the reality of our situation. The fact of the matter is that in order to shift the sites image from a modding site to a gaming community (along with other stuff that i don't care to know because i'm not a moderator), the mod team intentionally cut off a large portion of the sites main audience (i.e. the removal of JTAG sales) for better or worse. I'm not here to argue on whether this was a good idea, to be frank i need to sleep soon and do not care, i think it was justified and made with a heavy hand. This has also been met with things such as

• A lack of modding support for the current generation of consoles
  
• A rise of interest in PC gaming. Which is already largely dominated by message board giants (See: Steam community forums, Whirlpool)
  
• A declining interest in the 6th console generation
  

Let's also take into account factors such as

• What i can confidently assume is an aging userbase (Hell, i work and study full time)
  
• A site layout that hasn't aged well
  
• A popularity decline for games such as Call of Duty
  
• The lack of a clear and defined purpose for the website
  
• An overabundance of V5 hype (Note: hype building can be way worse than announcing a set date if not controlled).
  

A popularity decline is expected. The fact that "_____ TTG Dead" and "____ V5" topics are now a regular occurrence sets off major alarm bells as well.

But this has already been said, and is far from the point of my thread.

What we all need to start taking into account is that the purpose of a net forum is that it's community driven. While overmoderation was widespread and blatant back in the day, it's worlds better now. Taking this into account you guys really have to introspect a little and realize that
a. A high quality community draws in members
b. You guys, the members, are what determine the quality of the community. People don't come to net forums for a cool layout. If that was the case why aren't new forums always taking off?
c. It is the role of a moderation team to demonstrate a standard for the activity of members and quality of posts. Yet they cannot change the community. Only you can.
d. If you want to see more activity in a certain section take some initiative and post high quality content in that section. I see people far too often shifting activity blame onto Senior Administration, site layouts and anything that's not the root cause of the problem.

My point is that if you want a high quality and active community, you need to be a high quality and active member first and foremost. This badge whoring (to those who are doing $1-2 paypal giveaways you should really take a look at yourself. That goes with everyone else chasing quantity > quality), constant ranting, sentence posting, rep circlejerking (looking right at you shoutbox), spamming and general quantity orientation is what's degrading the quality of the community. Not Sean, not Hippie, not the neighbours dog that just won't shut up.

As a community, what we need to start doing is displaying a spec of maturity. Let me come out and say this, Your respect as a member is not earned by how many posts, badges or accolades you have. It is gained through the formation of the human relationships of which this site is based around. Superficial achievements won't do much for your status in the short or long term. Over the past 4 years i have achieved top poster, been a common and central member in the site shoutbox, casually played games with Sean and other mods, congratulated friends on mod promotions and like to think that i played a part in the creation of an entire section. Apart from my pipe dream of becoming a sectional moderator with bucket loads of warnings i've achieved everything that i feel that i could on here.

I was desperate for a cycling name and got super anxious when mods ignored me in the shoutbox. Shit, i used to come home from school everyday secretly wishing that i got a PM from Sean offering me modship 1234(( (still waiting for that PM bud)

At the end of the road the only thing that i value from my time here is what i have contributed, the memories i have made and growth that i have experienced. My point is that with little free time my posts, rep and badges are not what i care about. Over the past few years the reputation that i have built is very largely a biproduct of a larger problem, one that cannot be fixed by a new site layout or Xbox One app. That is quantity orientation.

After spending thousands of hours on this site, and creating what may be my first piece of truly honest writing on here let's re-evaluate why we are here. To get a high number next to your name in false hopes that it will lead to respect? To eagerly await a new layout? To take part in a more or less exclusive shoutbox circlejerk that took me years to penetrate? **** no. Many of us have truly lost sight of why this website exists. We are a community, a collection of friends what want to help out just because we want to, that want to make friends and have a great time. All centralized under our common hobby of Technology and Gaming.

Of course, we will have leechers and such. But that's just what a forum is. I'm simply offering you all with a model of sorts to try and stray away from quantity orientated activity. For better or worse.