On the topic of having more staff/rotating staff, there should also be times where the inactive staff members can have fun with the events, giving them another chance to win awards. I still liked LadyDestani’s Creature Feature entry back in 2023, even though that wasn’t eligible for event currency or prizes.
On the topic of active & involved staff—I think it is to the detriment of any AC forum to not have a role (or committee) responsible for engaging active AC players (especially the newer members) and their needs, especially during the “off season” between games. It might be assumed that the active players/long-time members + independent shop/giveaway services will take care of them on their own. In reality, new members might be discouraged from returning when folks don’t respond in time to requests for trades and such. TBT events are great and have encouraged my activity as a habitual AC forum user, but they might not be as accessible for people who aren’t used to forum culture. Using what the forum is about—Animal Crossing, the video game—at even a minimally coordinated level could make a huge difference for this website’s longevity and legacy.
Just dropping by to note that we are actively watching this thread and while we can't instantly provide formal answers and promises on changes and features, we will definitely be providing a response to the feedback at some point™ (because there is a lot to reply to...).
There are many things I'd put here in response to the things in this thread, but it's already 1AM and I also don't want to accidentally falsely get people's hopes up for certain changes to things that were mentioned.
So, personal opinion on the site: I'm glad TBT is there. There are a lot of sites nowadays that are overrun with hate and hostility, and I'm glad that TBT has consistently been a relatively safe space, at least as best as we could manage. Of course hindsight has proven that some things could have been better, it's not that I'm going to pat me or anyone on the back for creating the best place ever, because it's not. But I'm glad it exists.
One thing that has bothered me for a long while is how divided the world is becoming. People are expected to somehow pick a side on complex topics without ever understanding them fully, and by choosing they will immediately alienate themselves from the rest.
I have personally always been a strong advocate of letting people share their opinions and world views openly (within reason, without it being overly offensive, and presented unagressively) - because that provides opportunities to learn how others interpret their world. Not necessarily because I think some opinions are superior and others need to change, but because I believe it helps form a deeper understanding of the people around us which in turn prevents us from growing too distant and hateful towards each other. But that only works when the discussion is constructive and free of aggression, and as I'm seeing things, this is increasingly rare. I'm just sad to see that this is also affecting TBT.
I can of course see that some views are inherently harmful, and am in no way not advocating for a no-rules free-speech let's-go system. I just see discussions everywhere have become increasingly 'us versus them' and simply miss the days when they were not. A ban on topics like religion and politics is something I would gladly support, because while I cannot even begin to pretend that I (or we as a staff team) know everything that is right and/or wrong, I can at least make an educated guess as to when a topic becomes too complicated for an animal crossing forum to moderate.
On a lighter note, I've made more friends on this forum than I've made through any other site or game. I think that's awesome. I think TBT is at the very least an okay place, which means a lot these days, so I'm glad it exists.
Final thought, anyone submitting AI art to the events belongs in a very deep hole with like a lot of snakes in it.
I haven't been nearly as active here as I used to be by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to say that back when I first joined, I do not believe a thread like this would've been received very well – that is, I think it would've been locked by now, so it's great that conversations like this can even happen. I won't pretend I lurk enough nowadays to comment on the way it is run or what the site's biggest problems are, but I would like to echo some points made by others in this thread and give my own stance.
The AI discussion is something that affects literally every site you will ever go on these days – I think it's unrealistic to imagine a full ban, as much as I concur regarding how awful it is and how negatively it impacts real creatives. Nintendo themselves have expressed mixed views on AI – is it out of the question we won't be seeing AI in Animal Crossing content in the future? What do we do then? It's a tricky subject no matter what corner of the Internet you've crawled here from, and I might be mistaken, but I highly doubt the staff are equipped to deal with that, no matter how many there are. This isn't a monetised platform with paid staff, it's just a forum with enthuastic volunteers, basically. I doubt the donations go beyond server expenses. That said, I'm all for any effort that could go towards minimising/discouraging the amount of AI content here. Keep that conversation going, please!
Contact the Staff is a terrifying concept. The only time I ever used it was when I was being harassed by someone here (I forget the context) eons ago and even that made me feel like I was the problem. Of course, some issues are more sensitive than others and require that, but I'd be surprised if most feedback that goes in there would be met with a 'we'll take that into consideration' that likely doesn't go anywhere unless one of the site's volunteers (I prefer that word to mod/admin) can muster up the courage to push it. You might be good at locking controversial threads, but again, how equipped are you to enforce things and enact change? How much training are you provided for those situations? I could go on. I think this applies to any issue people have, honestly. Make it more of a public thing (like this thread, which maybe could be pinned? That could be a decent solution, maybe?) and it increases the pressure to actually make these things into a reality.
Overall, I have a fondness for this site that keeps me visiting, even if it's just to lurk and get a tad nostalgic. In many ways, I'm surprised it's lasted this long at all, but that's obviously down to the devoted community and indeed those who run it. I made so many friends here back in the day (none of which I keep in touch with, sadly), and I'm hopeful it'll still be around in years to come!
Also, I don't care what your religion is or what your politic beliefs are – protect the LGBT+ community. There are young and old members here, and it's the staff's (and our own) responsibility to ensure the conversations we have here actively support and uplift those people. If your views go against that, I sincerely don't believe you should be allowed here.
I haven't been nearly as active here as I used to be by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to say that back when I first joined, I do not believe a thread like this would've been received very well – that is, I think it would've been locked by now, so it's great that conversations like this can even happen. I won't pretend I lurk enough nowadays to comment on the way it is run or what the site's biggest problems are, but I would like to echo some points made by others in this thread and give my own stance.
I’m so glad that the community had calmed down enough to where we can have threads like this today. Had I made this thread back in 2015, it would’ve been another thread with toxic arguments and trolling in a time TBT was full of it, and it wouldn’t even be about politics. It would be about other members (specific members too) and then-current Animal Crossing controversies (such as villager tiers, duping, and town vandals). I wasn’t exempt from this either, given that I complained about a specific member too.
Speaking of which, had I made this thread (or even a blog entry since the Blog Tree existed at the time) back then, my opinion towards this site would be very, very low, as I don’t think this site would’ve been any better than GameFAQs. Now it’s a more positive one. Everyone has grown up, newer members are nicer, and the Rules and Guidelines has improved. Granted, we still have some problems, as many of us discussed in this thread, but we can discuss them more civilly now than we could’ve discussed them in 2015.
