I know that it may seemed weird, but this morning when I stumbled upon the news they are closing bsn, I kinda panicked a little like a fish out of water ^^'.
I know how feel, and so do most people on here -- you're certainly not alone! 
I've been more of a lurker too since I can't even post screenshots on this or other threads and don't often get very involved in conversation, but I do read a great deal. I know a few people irl who play ME (not DA) but not to the point where fun nerd-fan discussions can be had like here... where it never gets old. Especially when it comes to gushing about all our fictional lovers. 
thanks
No problem.
Everything is still hectic right now and it's uncertain where people will end up, but these are the first of more sites to be mentioned I'm sure.
Others are also suggesting:
http://vroomvroom.freeforums.net/
http://topshelfgaming.boards.net/
But there's even on-going talks about starting a new forum, so, yeah. It's all up in the air.
I've been at vroomvroom forums for a bit now and it seems pretty nice. Granted I've only been in the Dragon's Dogma thread
Thanks
Yes I'm only a lurker, but there's no one next to me irl that's a gamer, let alone passionate about ME and DA series. Visiting this forum here, makes me feel less alone I guess
I know how you feel. I have met two people irl who play these games; one is a co-worker who is across campus that I never speak to and another is a co-worker's husband whom I've only met twice. And tbh I don't exactly feel comfortable going all fanderp on them and squealing over the games, so yeah... places like this are kind of a relief when you live in a gaming wasteland xD
FYI I'm trying to keep my sig updated of all the surfacing sites, so even if I don't post everything everyone can still see it in older posts.
I just read the announcement text in full. I can't believe they think their FB page is a good substitute (there's virtually no information about the games, just lots of promotional "who's your favorite?" kind of crap. What about help with all the fixes for the many, MANY bugs that are still in games? It isn't as if Origin's tech support will actually help you with anything on the game (I know, after 6 months, I still have never gotten a response to a couple of tickets on problems with Descent.) I have all their DA and ME games, but if I run into any new bug problems with them, I have absolutely no resource for help. Not so sure now that I want to risk buying ME:A or DA4 if I may end up with a game with a bug that makes them unplayable and no place to ask for help, I can't afford to flush $50 or $60 that way...
I'm on Twitter and there is just no way I will ever be able to communicate anything meaningful within its limits. Also, negativity in there is overwhelming since it's hard to filter trolls. If there is some major sh!t storm there, there is no way to avoid it unless you choose to take a break from the medium. Also, yeah, even now when I play some older games and encounter new bugs I've never had before (I'm on a new system since 2014) very often google search sends me here :/
Frankly, this was just a matter of time. The devs left their own forums long, long ago, preferring twitter and reddit already even when this new BSN was opened. So if BW's reasoning for having forums was to interact with fans, the forums have long been obsolete, independent of BSN's difficulties with civility. What's a shame is that any lore nuggets or other info will now be scattered, like tears in rain.
For myself, the advantage of BSN over these other platforms is the ability to have a discussion. Twitter, tumblr, are too non-linear to do so. Reddit seems to be as well, with their complicated upvote system that de-emphasizes the casual poster. So we'll see what else happens once the new games come around.
You know, I follow devs on those platforms and cannot say that the way they are communicating will ever be a good alternative to those boards. DGaider made an actual attempt with his tumblr account, which was surprisingly easy to follow even for a person who never had an account like myself. Now, everything is in snippets and if you miss them, tough luck.
The thing about BSN is that it was constant, no matter what sh!t would happen in your life you could always return and dust the old boards, meet some old pals and make new ones. However much I want to hope that some substitute will keep us going, I'm still not sure. But the thing I cry the most about is the content already existing. I still find myself going back to some old threads in search for some info, bug fix or simply amusement. I was recently replaying ME and went digging through the threads I used to lurk in when I was playing for the first time. There is a ton of valuable thought in this thread alone. I think I'd feel better if they kept this forum as an archive.
I heard the news via The Keep forum (they send us emails; I'm sure lots of you are in that group, too... I don't really mess with it anymore) then also on Twitter.
WELL i might be the only person pleased to hear this because honestly these forums (with the exception of this thread and a few others) has become a grotesque cesspool of hatred and vitriol. They could not keep it up, and they could not seem to hire mods who knew what they were doing. (Yes I'm still bitter about being given a warning FOR NOTHING. And yes I kept my word and have not returned to this forum until today.
) Other than what occurred in this thread, mostly what this forum did was make me feel angry and defensive about characters/games I love (Fenris or Cullen getting sh!t on, Mass Effect 3 and DA2 getting sh!t on), hurt me to the point of tears, and offend me with racist / sexist / homophobic / bigoted rants and remarks to such a point that I have to not visit the forum for days at a time.
Nevertheless... I'll miss having this cozy corner of the internet to chat with like-minded folks
anyway, on tumblr I'm http://curiousartemis.tumblr.com/
On Origin i think I'm CuriousArtemis and same for Steam I think??? I have immense trouble getting people to find me on those platforms. If it helps, I know I'm Origin friends with Tish, R2, and morlenwen, so if you friend them you should be able to find me. (Did I forget anyone?)
On trillian (chat program which incorporates just about every other chat program) I'm curiousartemis.
What about a Skype chat group? I think my account name is artemis_moonsong. Either that or CuriousArtemis (can't figure out which is the name and which is the ID).
You see, I get this. Sometimes I felt there was too much negativity on the innermost surface (and occasionally in the bowels) of this board. But when you get deeper and ignore some more obvious offenders there is a lot of quality in here, many great groups and a strange sense of familiarity. I actually came first to DA2 Cullen boards because of a troll and stayed here because I found a bunch of awesome, knowledgeable and funny people. We've had our share of drama but you'll find it anywhere, that's the nature of Internet. I don't find this board any more toxic than other places (not saying that others can't though) and I feel absolutely heartbroken that it is going to cease to exist. 
Also if you want to add me on origins/twitter, my name there is mayanasia, I'm off now to create a tumbl account.
Edit: so apparently I already have a tumblr account: midnightmiscreant (I guess I like my gloomy themes:)). Must have created it last year and never actually used it. Nothing there yet 
"Well, sh*t." ~ Varric
Hope we can all find a decent refugee camp before they pull the plug. Most of the aforementioned platforms don't sound very appetizing to me.
Yeah, I'm up for any relocation. I wonder if there is a way we could carry our thread(s) with us. I'd be more than happy to chip in to hosting if that meant we could save at least a piece of our refuge.
Thank you!!!FYI I'm trying to keep my sig updated of all the surfacing sites, so even if I don't post everything everyone can still see it in older posts.
Thank you!!!
Moving is something to consider. We've done it before. To admittedly mixed results. I also don't know any of those sites. But if a lot of BSN goes... We could consider. An advantage of a whole new platform is that we can define ourselves by whatever criterion we want. Five years, 8000+ thread pages, 300k+ fanfic words later, I'm currently pretty talked out about Cullen. But not about dragon age. Or gaming. Or just chatting.
Other thoughts??
That's exactly what I was thinking about. We'd no longer need to stay more or less on topic. Would be great to keep the company for the next da release and also just for random chat. As for suggestions, I need to investigate the options before I can add anything to the discussion but I am not very picky :]
Just be sure to stay in touch with the Help section, as there's a lot of new forum discussions going on there.
Personally, since I haven't been here that long I'm a little mixed in my feelings. Part of me wishes I had joined sooner, participated more because I missed out on so much. But at the same time, my ties to this place aren't so woven.
Still sucks to leave this place. I was looking forward to a future here, and willing to grow old with everyone else.
Just be sure to stay in touch with the Help section, as there's a lot of new forum discussions going on there.
Personally, since I haven't been here that long I'm a little mixed in my feelings. Part of me wishes I had joined sooner, participated more because I missed out on so much. But at the same time, my ties to this place aren't so woven.
Still sucks to leave this place. I was looking forward to a future here, and willing to grow old with everyone else.
I know by many BSN is considered a cesspool but I really love this place with its good and bad and ugly and crazy. I'm sorry you won't have the opportunity to experience more of it. Thanks for the heads up with the help section 
I'm going where you guys go because this forum is part of my DA gaming fun. It's certainly not just about Cullen but about the world of Thedas. I don't want to play the game in a vacuum...interaction and the thoughts of others is part of the fun of the game.
"Well, sh*t." ~ Varric
Hope we can all find a decent refugee camp before they pull the plug. Most of the aforementioned platforms don't sound very appetizing to me.
None of them do to me either, at least as a replacement for this. I'm on Tumblr (tishinada), but it has some serious limitations. If any BW staff are on there, they're heavily camouflaged, and huge amounts of fan content are pretty close to invisible. Twitter - what kind of real discussion can you have with such short posts? I joined briefly specifically to follow what the devs had to say, and found it disappointing and frustrating (trying to follow any thread made me think of playing air hockey with words.) Their FB page for DA:I was cute, but basically it's promos and "who's your favorite?" kind of things. The only discussion was people yelling down each other about who was better. And everything I've heard about Reddit says NO!
Thank you!!!
Moving is something to consider. We've done it before. To admittedly mixed results. I also don't know any of those sites. But if a lot of BSN goes... We could consider. An advantage of a whole new platform is that we can define ourselves by whatever criterion we want. Five years, 8000+ thread pages, 300k+ fanfic words later, I'm currently pretty talked out about Cullen. But not about dragon age. Or gaming. Or just chatting.
Other thoughts??
I'm up for this, as long as we go to a single forum. That seems to be the hazard right now, fandom splintering into a dozen tiny forums reproducing most of the current main threads, all competing with each other and probably dying out through trolling each other. We can still use Cullen as a kind of theme for our thread wherever we end up, even if it means nothing more than including new fanart of him from time to time.
I guess I find this particularly sad because my experience with DA:I and its launch was so different than for other games I've played/waited for. It was the community, speculation, discussion, and support that made it so unique for me. I'm not entirely sure I'd have done more than play once or twice through and probably skipped the DLCs entirely, and I'm not sure I'd be interested enough in the potential story to even be anticipating DA4 at all without this and the Dwarf thread. Might not have made it entirely through one PT without the help everyone offered when I got stuck at different points.
If anyone is looking for a lifeboat forum that would welcome a Cullen thread, you might consider this one.
http://romancedefens....proboards.com/
I promise that the energy is very relaxed. We do have people who love discussing characters.
Thank you!!!
Moving is something to consider. We've done it before. To admittedly mixed results. I also don't know any of those sites. But if a lot of BSN goes... We could consider. An advantage of a whole new platform is that we can define ourselves by whatever criterion we want. Five years, 8000+ thread pages, 300k+ fanfic words later, I'm currently pretty talked out about Cullen. But not about dragon age. Or gaming. Or just chatting.
Other thoughts??
I love this. I mean I'm all about that "Came for the Cullen, stayed for the company" I say new forum. I do actually run a private writing forum with a friend so I have some experience. I'm all for setting up a forum and having a few of us be admins so the workload is shared. And by "few" I mean whoever wants to help. I have genuinely enjoyed my time here, obviously most so here in the Cullen thread. But there were some seriously rotten apples. I'd like to be part of a community that has all the good of the BSN and none of the nastiness.
This apparently is the parent company of the board I use: http://www.zifboards.com/
Is anyone interested? Should I set one up? Or would everyone simply prefer to migrate to one of the aforementioned boards already created by other BSN users?
It seems we've determined that non-forum outlets are a no-go (Twitter, Tumblr, etc.).
I love this. I mean I'm all about that "Came for the Cullen, stayed for the company"
This apparently is the parent company of the board I use: http://www.zifboards.com/
Is anyone interested? Should I set one up? Or would everyone simply prefer to migrate to one of the aforementioned boards already created by other BSN users?
It seems we've determined that non-forum outlets are a no-go (Twitter, Tumblr, etc.).
Hey, I'm already on tumblr, so I'm trying multiple approaches (still lost btw) 
Though I honestly think that forum format is better suited for our needs. The pro of setting up a new forum is that it is in our hands and it won't cease to exist without some sort of control over it. Also, it will be smaller and tighter group (less drama?). The con is that we're becoming soo fragmented, and I actually like lots of peeps who were rarely (or never) on the Cullen boards.
Hey, I'm already on tumblr, so I'm trying multiple approaches (still lost btw)
Well I'm thinking if we did set up our own board everyone just invites whoever they want. It's not necessarily Cullen-oriented, more just BioWare / video games / fandom oriented. Obviously we would have discussion threads for various games and characters If you do check out some of the other boards people created you do tend to encounter some of the usual trolls. *shrugs* Some folks think those types of people funny but unfortunately I just find them offensive and it really ruins my whole day/mood when I encounter someone online making a "joke" about how women belong in the kitchen blah blah blah etc.
I'm following you on tumblr now Let me know if you need any help. I highly recommend getting xkit. Are you on FF or Chrome? With xkit you can: bundle tags (with the click of a button select a group of tags you made so that instead of having to manually type #cullen #cullen rutherford #dragon age #bioware each time you can get the whole group with one click), block tags (don't like cullrian? block the #cullrian tag; none of your dear cullrian-supporting friends will be the wiser), darken posts you've already seen (this is helpful when you follow lots of people and aren't on tumblr a whole lot), block noisy ads, respond to comments (you can comment on people's posts via the little chat bubble next to the reblog icon; unfortunately, without xkit, people can't respond to your comments), and so much more!
Well I'm thinking if we did set up our own board everyone just invites whoever they want. It's not necessarily Cullen-oriented, more just BioWare / video games / fandom oriented. Obviously we would have discussion threads for various games and characters
I'm following you on tumblr now
Awesome!I have downloaded xkit but haven't figured out yet why I needed it, so thanks for this brief intro
Awesome!I have downloaded xkit but haven't figured out yet why I needed it, so thanks for this brief intro
No problem These are all the xkit add-ons I use:
1. Xinbox: Tags your responses with the asker's name so they'll get a notification.
2. One-Click Postage: Among other things, turns the "reblog" button green so you know it was a successful reblog (good if your internet connection is crappy).
3. One-Click Reply: Lets you reply to notifications ("so-and-so liked your post" or "so-and-so is now following you" you can now reply "Thanks for the follow!" or whatever)
4. Tweaks: Wraps tags for easier reading; this is helpful as some people will put a whole conversation in their tags lol!
5. Auto Load Images: Not sure if this is necessary, but it used to be that some pictures would just be gray boxes and you'd have to click on them to view them. NO MORE!
6. Auto Tagger: Adds auto tags to certain posts. Everyone who queues posts uses this. (You will probably want to queue posts if you are posting a lot so people don't get spammed) Every time you select "queue" instead of "post now" you can have an auto-tag appear, such as "queued post" or something.
7. Open in Tabs: Links will open in tabs instead of navigating away.
8. Outbox: Lets you save all your out-going messages (otherwise tumblr deletes them).
9. Quick Tags: MY FRIEND I COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT. This is the tag bundle feature I mentioned earlier. Good if you post multiple fandoms and characters. For example, I have a tag bundle labeled "Hawris." Every time I click on it, it auto-tags a post: #hawris #m!hawris #dragon age #hawke #fenris. My aching fingers thank me.
10. Reblog As Text: Not sure if it's still needed, but used to be if you'd reblog text it would sometimes change to a link. No more.
11. Read Posts: Dims old posts. As you're scrolling through your wall you may start to wonder, wait, have I already seen this? This grays out posts you've already seen.
12. Read More Now: When someone inserts a "read now" it normally takes you back to their blog. This can be frustrating if that person has very tiny hard to read font on their blog. This add on lets you "read more" while staying on your dash.
13. Reblog Yourself: Very helpful if you create art or fanfiction. You may post something at 2am and realize no one probably saw it. Solution? Reblog it the next day during peak hours! Default tumblr won't let you do this.
14. Tag Viewer: Curious about how others tagged a post? Use this. Helpful when wanting to check all tags on an artwork or fiction you posted.
15. Timestamps: Puts the time something was posted next to the post. Helpful when you're trying to hurry through your dash and want to know if you're nearing the end haha
16. Blacklist: Everyone uses it. It's necessary for survival. Inevitably your friends have their own interests and may (gasp) post stuff you don't like. If they tag their stuff you can then blacklist those tags (aka #cullrian or #fenhawke if you don't like those pairings or maybe you just hate #merrill because you're a monster). Keeps friendships strong. Allows you to also block political stuff you don't want to deal with while browsing tumblr.
17. Anti-Capitalism: Tumblr recently introduced noisy ads that auto-play. Everyone freaked out. Xkit introduced Anti-Capitalism. WE LOVE XKIT.
For what it's worth, below is my tumblr. Mostly it's just Overwatch right now, but there's a decent plethora of other stuff in there too. Beware, sometimes it can get a little NSFW if you go further back from 2014.
Cullenites! Cullenites, the rEApers have descended! Grab your stuff! Run!
Seriously, had to check on my people. Just heard the news today. I cried a little. I'm not gonna lie. Very odd choice to shut down the forums before the release of MEAz. Unless...idk.
The forum has gotten me through some pretty tough times in my life. More good people here than the BSN gets credit for. Smart, too. Smart. Funny.
Where are you all going?
Jesus, I feel like we're jumping on the ARK trying to take off and find a new home.
Retour en haut
