Random Thoughts Thread

Just because this doesn’t fit anywhere really and it’s been on my mind…

There are some days where I ask myself… is there a point to trying to keep these forums going? It just feels like there’s no recognition that we exist here. Sure, there’s Facebook groups, Reddit, etc… buit those forums are free… this forum is not. It costs me about $20 per month to keep this going.

I am so proud of our DF archive and Dork list especially… and I know there’s down time, but that’s really not a good reason.

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YES! Dude, I love this place. Facebook and Reddit are not the same. This is the single closest extant online community that feels anything like the old DF boards. I don’t know if there’s any free platforms available somewhere or cheaper ones? I would contribute toward keeping this forum up every month, if we could all pitch in a few dollars. It makes me sad when the traffic here is slow, and I always think of creating new topics but most of the time when I’ve done that in the past they weren’t received well so I stopped making new threads. I still love to talk about this band here though and replying to other people’s topics. As for other people or trying to get their recognition - who cares? I mean it would be nice if the band acknowledged it or something, and if we could get more long-time fans involved (idk about you but the times I’ve frequented reddit in the past, the majority of people there seem to be like casual fans with little or no understanding of AFI’s history). It’s really great that the people who have gone out of their way to find this message board have genuinely interesting things to contribute and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our discussions. I feel like the DF is still alive because of this place.

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Yeah I enjoy this platform because I feel like more in depth conversations happen here compared to FB or reddit. This site is definitely for fans who are deeply interested in the history of the band compared to more casual fans.

I also greatly enjoy going back through old threads and reading comments on various topics. I spent part of this morning going through the tattoo thread :joy:

I’d also be willing to pitch in a few bucks to keep the site going as well.

Also, there is just so much content on these boards that isn’t accessible elsewhere. Idk how long the afinewshq website has been down, but yeah I don’t think anywhere else has so much archived info that anyone can read through and enjoy.

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Dude! This forums are the best! I don’t check Facebook very often…I never check Reddit…not even Instagram that much…but this forums…at least a couple of times per day…where else can I share my passion for AFI with other nice people???

And…I’m putting my grain of sand to keep this forums alive :slight_smile: If anyone else want to chime in…please do…

https://www.patreon.com/despairfaction/posts

Support this forums in Patreon…so far…I’m the only one :frowning: Not that I complain…but clearly we need more people to contribute…

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Didn’t realize there was a Patreon for this, I’ll join. I can only donate very little though since I’m currently living on a grad school stipend. Something is better than nothing though!

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We can easily cover that $20 if active users donate a $1 a month on Patreon!

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Thanks everyone. I’m only looking to raise a few dollars monthly to help cover the costs to keep these forums open.

We will continue to grow… and it’s because of all of you, so Thank You.

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How does patreon work? I’ve never used it lol. Do I just need to sign up to be able to donate or is there something more to it?

Far far less (well basically none) hate compared with other online platform. One of the few places you can have an actual discussion about things :+1:

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You sign up…and choose how much you want to pledge :slight_smile: $1 per month is way more than enough and we have many members here :wink: AFAIK there’s nothing else to do…

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Thanks! I’m going to see if I can make an account sometime this week. I would be more than willing to pay a dollar or two every month to keep this forum up and running.

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Yeah a dollar or 2 does seem v reasonable. Will get on it as well

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Thank you for chiming in! :smiley: One or 2 dollars is more than enough…remember that every cent sums up and in the end we can cover the cost of the forums :smiley: As a big dark flame…let’s keep burning! :smiley:

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I know I said this earlier, but I think these boards are special because they contain info and stories about the band/history/collections/tattoos that aren’t found anywhere else on the internet. I know hq used to maintain a website that had a lot of this stuff too, but it looks like that won’t be happening again anytime soon

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I guess we’re really irrelevant:

“Helping to create a space on social media and beyond evolving from the days where the DF forums were the go-to place for such discussion.”

The problem with social media is that the information is scattered everywhere. There isn’t one place to go to.

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This place has been my go to for news and good reads regarding AFI since I discovered it… the news HQ use to be it, but I have found since they became part of the official site they just haven’t been very good… this may just be me but I found they have had a little arrogant attitude through their tweets and posts … I really noticed it when the tickets went on sale for the upcoming concert and where telling people not to give out pre sale codes… F that… I gave the code I had to anyone and every that was looking for one and subtweeted everyone of their tweets with a code just to help people out… Some people may find this post unpopular… but I like it here and don’t even bother with the HQ anymore

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This has been going on since Crash Love. I quit bothering with them when they started posting hateful bullshit about LGBTQIA+ folks and racist garbage.

Oh my I definitely missed that, all the recent posts I’ve seen from them are very supportive of LGBTQ folks, and I haven’t seen anything racist.

But the hq was created during the crash love era so maybe it was a mess in the beginning (I assume different people were in charge since that was 10 years ago) when I wasn’t following them?

HQ was around before Crash Love, as far as I remember. It was around at least by DU. The mod team changed around the time of CL, that’s when it all went to shit. Ask Pablo. He’ll tell you. As far as the LGBTQIA-bashing, I was on the receiving end of that, and when I called them on it, they just laughed at me and brushed it off. So yeah, fuck them.

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I think its a consensus around here that the HQ guys are a bunch of elitist assholes.

I remember someone commentating on a crew photo of the tour with Rise Against that it was a shame that there were none/few women or POC in any of the bands’ crew. HQ guys called him out and for “being negative” and encouraged others to jump in. I still think of that sometimes because of how true it was. Instead of opening a dialogue, HQ guys just shut it out and ignored it.

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