Since Sept '11, a month after I joined the site. I started off on the soap forums and I don't really watch soaps anymore, so I pretty much just post and lurk here (with the occasional GD post).
With a different user name I joined when BB4 started.
I was here for a wild forum during BB5 when the site crashed on a regular basis due to the traffic.
Some of my favourite and worse times on the net has been in this forum.
It got really nasty during BB7 and BB8 saw the start of the STFU threads and the tensions whole chiggy appreciation/hate situation led to countless bans.
There were 2 moments in DS that I felt ashamed to belong.
1 was the race issue during CBB5 that saw shameless campaigning by people that joined here just to cause trouble on both sides of the arguement,the site was infiltrated by people with political agendas on the far right and far left.
Most were banned within a week but a lot of damage was caused and i temp closed my account and eventually came back with a new user name.
The other shameful moment came during the lead up to jade goodys death,never had i read such nasty spiteful and sickening posts from a handful of FMs many of them rightfully banned.
This year in the forum Im really pleased with the quality of threads.
It feels like its getting back to the days when we could debate without getting personal.
I still think I may do what I did last year though which is to stay out the forum when the shows on,I am convinced I enjoyed BB13 more because I was not on the forum during the series..although this year may be different,with a return to whatm thread
As my join date shows, I joined D Spy's forums during bb5. Since I've always spent most of my time in the BB forum, that's also when I came here. I looked briefly during bb4 but I was happy enough in the C4 forum and didn't join here.
I'm not sure what made me switch, but one major factor was the the C4 site's forum software was terrible, at least by bb5. It was a major pain to use. The forum software was much better here. Also, especially starting with bb7, the moderation there seemed quite random. They didn't seem to have enough disk space and threads vanished for mysterious reasons. (I know of one mysterious vanishing here, btw, the 'Operation Aisleyne' thread.)
However, I didn't think this was the better forum overall. It wasn't until bb7 that I thought this place was better overall, and that's because, though it was very unpleasant here, it was even worse there. Even then, some of the best and most insightful posts came from the c4 forum, and quite a few of my favourite posters here had been regulars on the C4 one during bb6. Also, the C4 forum's Live Update Threads were often better that our WHATMs (more factual and including more of what happend, with less opinion that didn't say what it was actually about).
I disagree with SG-1 about some points. In some cases, it may just be that we noticed or remembered different things.
I agree that it "got really nasty during bb7", but I think there were more bans then than during bb8. Some ill feeling from bb7 continues to this day, though it's been less often overtly expressed of late.
Still, how bad the forum seems can depend a lot on which discussions you get involved in. So from my point of view, "whole chiggy appreciation/hate situation" did not seem to create serious problems. But by then, I'd decided I'd rather not spend much time discussing HMs I liked, except in appreciation threads. (The discussions outside ATs, or "debates" as some like to call them, were repetitive and unpleasant and seldom produced any new insights.) I liked Chanelle, but there was so little common ground with those who disliked her that I mostly just didn't bother. I didn't especially like her AT either, however, so I mostly talked about other things.
And though I've always disliked Jade, I never felt much like discussing her either. So I missed most of the nastiness about her. The time I saw the most people with questionable agendas was when there was a wave of new anti-Science posters during bb6.
I thought the forum was at its worst when it was used as part of an attempt to get Jodie Marsh outside BB, especially by getting a bullying charity to drop her.
My favourite experiences here have been in the Sam (bb6) appreciation thread, and the ones for Steph in bb9 (lots of fun) and Shabby in bb11. I don't much like the chatty threads, however, which keeps me out of ATs for some HMs I like. (Not all ATs are chatty.)
Unlike SG-1, I don't think the quality of threads has been better this year or that it feels like it's getting back to the days -- did they ever exist? -- when we could debate without getting personal.
Like SG-1, I find that I enjoy the show more when I watch without using the forum, but I've never been able to stick it out for a whole series.
Since 2009 before I just use to look around and read the posts I never use to comment. In late 2009 I made my account it took me a while to figure out how to make a account.
I came here after C4 closed the official forum. I usually come back this time every year as BB gets close. But this year I couldn't remember my password and I no longer have access to the email address I joined with. So now I've got a very fresh account for the new series!
I lurked here for ages before joining as i used to post on the C4 BB Forum for BBs2-7 ,I did post in a few Nikki/Pete Threads and Chanelle threads ,but under a different account then .I joined proper in 2008 and have posted here ever since ,I'm mainly in the BB Forum when the shows on and used to post mostly in the WHATM Threads ,
These forum wars over Nikki/Aisleyne and Chiggy must have passed me by.
As for WHATM I only ever dipped into it, especially for nomcam. If anything of note happened there would usually be plenty of new threads to debate the issues in.
Comments
So 7 years or long enough to know better
Welcome to DS
Migrated over here 2nd week of BB7 and have stayed every BB, CBB and Hijack since
I was here for a wild forum during BB5 when the site crashed on a regular basis due to the traffic.
Some of my favourite and worse times on the net has been in this forum.
It got really nasty during BB7 and BB8 saw the start of the STFU threads and the tensions whole chiggy appreciation/hate situation led to countless bans.
There were 2 moments in DS that I felt ashamed to belong.
1 was the race issue during CBB5 that saw shameless campaigning by people that joined here just to cause trouble on both sides of the arguement,the site was infiltrated by people with political agendas on the far right and far left.
Most were banned within a week but a lot of damage was caused and i temp closed my account and eventually came back with a new user name.
The other shameful moment came during the lead up to jade goodys death,never had i read such nasty spiteful and sickening posts from a handful of FMs many of them rightfully banned.
This year in the forum Im really pleased with the quality of threads.
It feels like its getting back to the days when we could debate without getting personal.
I still think I may do what I did last year though which is to stay out the forum when the shows on,I am convinced I enjoyed BB13 more because I was not on the forum during the series..although this year may be different,with a return to whatm thread
Registered on here during BB5 I believe. Actually must been pretty close to the start of the series.
I'm not sure what made me switch, but one major factor was the the C4 site's forum software was terrible, at least by bb5. It was a major pain to use. The forum software was much better here. Also, especially starting with bb7, the moderation there seemed quite random. They didn't seem to have enough disk space and threads vanished for mysterious reasons. (I know of one mysterious
However, I didn't think this was the better forum overall. It wasn't until bb7 that I thought this place was better overall, and that's because, though it was very unpleasant here, it was even worse there. Even then, some of the best and most insightful posts came from the c4 forum, and quite a few of my favourite posters here had been regulars on the C4 one during bb6. Also, the C4 forum's Live Update Threads were often better that our WHATMs (more factual and including more of what happend, with less opinion that didn't say what it was actually about).
I disagree with SG-1 about some points. In some cases, it may just be that we noticed or remembered different things.
I agree that it "got really nasty during bb7", but I think there were more bans then than during bb8. Some ill feeling from bb7 continues to this day, though it's been less often overtly expressed of late.
Still, how bad the forum seems can depend a lot on which discussions you get involved in. So from my point of view, "whole chiggy appreciation/hate situation" did not seem to create serious problems. But by then, I'd decided I'd rather not spend much time discussing HMs I liked, except in appreciation threads. (The discussions outside ATs, or "debates" as some like to call them, were repetitive and unpleasant and seldom produced any new insights.) I liked Chanelle, but there was so little common ground with those who disliked her that I mostly just didn't bother. I didn't especially like her AT either, however, so I mostly talked about other things.
And though I've always disliked Jade, I never felt much like discussing her either. So I missed most of the nastiness about her. The time I saw the most people with questionable agendas was when there was a wave of new anti-Science posters during bb6.
I thought the forum was at its worst when it was used as part of an attempt to get Jodie Marsh outside BB, especially by getting a bullying charity to drop her.
My favourite experiences here have been in the Sam (bb6) appreciation thread, and the ones for Steph in bb9 (lots of fun) and Shabby in bb11. I don't much like the chatty threads, however, which keeps me out of ATs for some HMs I like. (Not all ATs are chatty.)
Unlike SG-1, I don't think the quality of threads has been better this year or that it feels like it's getting back to the days -- did they ever exist? -- when we could debate without getting personal.
Like SG-1, I find that I enjoy the show more when I watch without using the forum, but I've never been able to stick it out for a whole series.
Outside of BB i post all over but am mainly in GD
As for WHATM I only ever dipped into it, especially for nomcam. If anything of note happened there would usually be plenty of new threads to debate the issues in.