This is the 30th and final edition of my semi-annual analysis of the MacRumors Top 50 Posters.
Got to drop by and tip my hat to the Doctor and to the end of a venerable institution, Q. Nice also to read some brief reflections of the various iconic names that propped up the leaderboard for a number of years. The numbers never tell the entire story.
Astonishing to see so many familiar but inactive names still on that list. Shows the drive, effort, commitment and willingness to degrade yourself in front of thousands of forum members in order to become a frenzied size queen and post whore.
It's been a few years, Q, but thanks for your help at times. That offer of a cold beer or icecream when you're next in town — perhaps counting lemurs at London Zoo — still stands.
The whole Lacero thing was fascinating.......loads of posts around his/her disappearance, too.
I also remember leekohler and iGary and Blue Velvet and Chundles and iBlue and ChipNoVaMac.....and many, many more. Looking at the older top 50 posters lists is a real walk down Memory Lane. Oh, yeah -- anyone remember mymemory?
We all drifted away for various reasons. In my case, a new and seriously intense job took over, I wasn't hugely excited about the increasingly tangential front page content, the nascent content marketing strategy of the site or the iPhone wars... or if we're being truthful, even elements of the site's policies and leadership, as well as a dawning realisation that it could become a timesink with little reciprocation or practical reward. Looking back, I'd crossed lines, was tapped out with it and needed to reappraise. However, what I do occasionally miss is the honing of writing skills and occasionally constructive argumentation. When you post on a forum, you're engaging and writing for an audience.
For some, it was a cause and a destination, but there are many causes to engage with and other places to go. For many, it stopped being fun. I also found myself drawn into more niche industry discussions elsewhere as the general forums here can only take you so far.
Perhaps also the demi-thing collapsed in on itself. It was never a community to build content and drive commerce against, but for the large part, we weren't the best site ambassadors. However, we did get drunk at large group picnics and sent a plaster gnome around parts of the world. These things matter.
People hooked up, crossed oceans, got married, fell apart. Perhaps some of us were more attracted by online personas than the real deal. Some of us are infrequently on Twitter. Some of us are
still waiting for a Mac Pro that they can call their own and perhaps write about it here. Some of us even use alternative technology products these days.