Video Form
Alright, just to add some context. I was here in the drift lounge heyday, mid-FM2. I worked hard to get on the best teams, and cement myself as a respected name in this community way before I started YouTube. Just want to get that out of the way, before people think just because I have some subscribers I’m now a martyr.
Now I stopped going on the forums around late FM4. Battling wasn’t really my thing anymore, not because of anything in specific, just I didn’t have time for it anymore. I preferred to work on my YouTube channel instead, especially since around this time, the battle between wheel drifters and controller drifters was way too much to bear, and people took who were winning and losing battles WAY too seriously.
Flash forward to about a month ago. Figured with the re-design I’d dabble in the forums again. I still love coming here, too many memories and too many friendships were made here to completely forget about the forums entirely. I come back to find out, not only is our community just as hostile as it was before, it’s dead. There’s probably, what? 10, maybe 20 people posting in here regularly now? That makes me sick. I remember when the Drift Lounge RAN fm.net. We dominated this whole website, or at least had a huge chunk of the pie. Yeah, sure, FM3-FM4 times we had a rambunctious reputation, but if you waded through the overzealous morons and uneducated idiots there was a good core group of great, welcoming people. We didn’t like AWD drifters, or people who used posi-camber, or points drifters, however. We just wanted some respect and some order. That’s my next point.
This is a quote I wrote in another thread, which, is still on the mainpage.
We never hated on anyone out of the box, because we thought we were better. I mean, a few of us did, but there are idiots on either side of this argument. Points drifters who were eloquent, understanding and intelligent were welcomed here with open arms. So were AWD drifters! Again, you just have to wade through the idiots.
Now that that is out of the way, what the hell happened? And before the few points drifters left blame it on the tandem guys, get it straight. First of all, the tandem community is the only reason a points system exists. We’re not asking you to conform, just respect your elders, know your roots. Secondly, every single trolling, aggressive, attack post I see in these forums now is initiated by a points drifter trying to cut a **** in the armour of the battle community. Why? What for? We’re not making threads going after you guys, and especially with the removal of basically every feature that made battles and tandems fun/possible, we understand we have to share these forums. So what is it? Are you trying to drive us out? Because nobody is going to win this war. We’re all going to end up banned and this community will be REALLY dead.
Now, I love this place. I love the FM.Net drift lounge. Don’t ask me why, especially now, but I do. I can’t bear to see this ran into the ground more than it is now. As I see it, we only have two options. Segregate, or integrate.
The first option would be the creation of two subforums, tandem and points. Delete the battle lounge and the team lounge (seeing as points/tandem teams/battles can be posted in their own respective subforums), with generic Forza drifting threads being posted in the main area. Such as Show Your Drift Cars, drift tunes, etc. etc. That way, we won’t bother each other, and both sub-genres of this community can regroup and grow.
The second, and the more likely option, is we all have to smarten up here. Points drifters have to stop acting like they have something to prove, and learn to take some criticism. Tandem drifters have to stop attacking every thread or post that has anything to do with points for absolutely no reason. It’s cool to have an opinion, guys. Hell, I’m the one who suggested a points vs tandem debate in Heironymous (sic)'s thread. But when your arguments boil down to “dis is dum and ur dum” then what the hell is either side achieving?
I don’t want to see us fall apart. Call me a sappy nerd or whatever, but we have something way too great here to throw away. I’ve made life-long friends through this game, even flown down to meet some of them. Why should we deny other people that experience?
I’m willing to represent the OG Tandem side if anyone wants to have a discussion below. I will be ignoring any blatant attacks or ignorant posts, just for the sake of a peaceful protest.