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People have been discussing the OT forum on Apolyton lately, about how good it is, and how bad it is. I (the overclass boy from south west Sweden) will now make my little comment about the subject.

Apolyton is a game site about Civilization games. It was started about a year ago, and we all know the story about how MarkG and DanQ met and got married, etc. etc. I was never there when it all happened, I starting coming around December '98. Like most of the people that was there then, I wanted to know about Civ games, especially CivII, and perhaps download a few scenarios. I also saw there was a forum.

Now what was the first tought when I entered the forum? Was it to start a debate about religion in the Off Topic, or was it to discuss Civ2 Strategy? Of course it was about Civ2 strategy. And so I did. I also discussed different scenarios -- what was good with them, and what was bad. Then one day I entered the OT, cause I was bored: I was bored of celebrating Christmas, I was bored on snowball wars, and I was bored of Civ2 strategy. The first thread I saw was "Belgium is a silly place after all" by _Colon (a double login for Colon), and as I read it, I realised that the OT was a pretty cool place after all, even if I still was intrested in Civ2 mostly.

Thereafter I posted in both the Civ2 forums and the OT. We had great discussions in both forums. Unfortunaly I got bored in Civ strategy, and only posted in the OT until SMAC was released. It was then I started to discuss things there too. And so it has countinued. I got bored in a game, and posted a while in the OT only, then I started post somewhere else too.

My point is a bit to diffuse I know, but it is: Apolyton is a small site about Civ games Period.

I can't really understand that people cares about the OT in the way they do; it's just a place to rest when we are tired on life, Civ, whatever. The sad thing is that some people seem to think that because OT is the "biggest" forum, it means it should have the biggest influence on Apolyton. In my opinion the only one that really should care about what's on OT is Ming, since he is moderator.
DanQ doesn't seem to care much anymore... he knows why he started this site, and I know why he loves what he does. Markos, on the other hand, seems think that the OT is part of Apolyton in a very important way. Well, it isn't! It's just the rest that was left over (if you know what I mean).

I got banned a week from the whole forum system a little while ago, and do you know why? Cause I "bumped" a few threads in the OT, Ming told me to stop, and I did, but Markos banned me anyway. He said it was cause I "interrupted" the forum. Therefor I wasn´t allowed to post in any other forum either, even if I doubt anyone cared about my few bumps in the OT.

Just before then, while I was still able to post there, I saw OT posters like Lancer and Evan von Christoph discuss the "problem about OT" not only the OT forum, but in the Apolyton forum too. I doubt anynon-OT poster cares about what's up in the OT. And some of the black chapters in Apolyton's name have to do about the OT forum. Apolyton has gotten many spots on its name during the YYYH and Spink incident, even if it was a Off-Topic matter.

I think that the Apolyton "crew" cares too much about the OT, and forget that its a game site. If I was Markos or Dan, I wouldn´t care at all about what happened in the OT, I would, just as they have, allowed someone else to do the moderator stuff, and then not even open the forum.

All non-OT posters who get annoyed about the OT should also just ignore it, see it more as resource, cause almost everyone in the OT is intrested in Civ and we share our points on the game quite often. About Lancer and EVC now: who cares about the OT as OT posters; you are all allowed to discuss it in the OT forum, but don't expect everyone to change their ways to post. If you want a good debate, there is a forums on the net meant for that, or why not discuss it with your friends in real life? Don´t shout at the people in OT.

What I want to say is this: Apolyton is a game site, let it be that. Stop complaining about the OT, stop have stupid rules in there. Let the OT posters post in their forum, and let the others discuss the game without hear about the shit that is in the OT. I know my coloumn is a bit against itself, but I really hope this will be the last coloumn on the subject too.

So, let Ming take care about the OT. Don´t care if it is overloaded.. sometimes it's our own problem, and let the other in peace discuss what they and everyone else came for: the Civilization games.

[A short note: English is not my first languange. I have no racial, religous, socialistic or in any other way extreme intentions with this coloumn].
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About the author: aka "Sir David", David lives in Sweden.

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