This has gotten ridiculous.
I remember back when all we had was Red Squadron; that was nice. Nearly all the posters actually used correct grammar and respected each other; the squadron was just a little inside joke that gave us geeks a little bit of a thrill. After all, we were all becoming fast virtual-friends, and liked being a part of a virtual "team."

But now it's gotten crazy, with people using the Misc forum to toss out every random bit of nonsense that runs through their heads. Every time I look through here, I see a half-dozen new threads filled with posts that barely use grammar and make tons of self-referential jokes. It's something that happens on every internet forum that gets relatively popular: members start attempting to use their online identities to further their own virtual ego.

Now, hey, there's no reason not to kick back and have fun online, but this is getting ridiculous. It's like the forums are turning into high school, with everyone trying to pretend that they're "the popular kid" or that they're part of some group. Yeah, I've been proud to be a member of TCSS's Red Squadron, and I'll never take it out of my signature, but not because I think it makes me cooler or because it's funny; because back then we honestly had some great times on the forums, and we really were part of something together. We made Gold and Blue Squadrons just so all of our main posters could be included (because back then we honestly had only about 36 or so members that were very active).

TCSS really was a forum for the actual store; the main emphasis was on the technical info. The "Misc" section was just a place for random thoughts that wouldn't go anywhere else. Now it's like the Misc section is just a hangout spot for people to post things that are absolutely pointless. Those "hey, I took a break for a week, but now I'm back!" threads are the perfect example of the problem: people are using the forum not as a way to actually communicate with one another, but as a vent for all their self-promoting or geek-related thoughts.

It's a fine line between what's reasonable and what's not. After all, we all like to hear about a member's newborn baby, but we don't necessarily want to read about the seventeen ways in which a poster thinks that his/her role-playing character is awesome.

Most forums of this size have more rules about what should or should not be posted in certain areas. Around here it's like the wild west (and I live in Texas; I would know). Maybe we need sub-divisions in the Misc section for general geek-related threads, personal-related threads, and general saber-related threads? I don't know, but something really should be done; this forum gets harder and harder to read through every month.

Please, PLEASE stop this nonsense.