Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Old School Terminator is Dead, Watching the Blog Burn


My name is TJ and I have to tell you that Old School Terminator, the beloved internet personality that has run this blog for more than four years has passed away ... He has been my blogging handle for a long time and that name and handle have steered this blog through over three and a half of those years toward being something bigger. In that time, DFG grew to more than 800 followers, held countless tourneys and events, consumed nearly 1,000 free drinks in contests and published nearly 1500 posts. You see, all those things were great and positive and I would like to think that, as Old School, I built something here. I really wanted to give everyone a voice ... and somewhere in the process, I feel like I lost mine. I feel like in the process of writing 1200 posts in 4 years, I let this project, this blog, gaming club ... this brand take on a personality of its own that for the last year or so has ridden my back like a gorilla. I am done with that and I am putting OST down.

Along with Old School, I am not going to go as far as I used to to be an entry point for people on the blogosphere, so I am done with rumors and news and stuff that really doesn't matter to me, but I used to feel I had to publish and keep up on. You see, I remember kind of chuckling at Ron ( at FTW) when he talked about burning out and not wanting to operate as this hub for the community anymore ... I understand what he was talking about now and I am sorry I laughed. I recognized that I was starting to fade out here and we weren't upholding our end of the "community peice" and I let it get me down because I felt like I was letting everyone down and if you understand my personality, I cannot bear the thought of letting people down.

Which leads me to what I am doing now. I am burning a lot of things. Old School Terminator is going into the pyre alongside our community page, about 150 of our old posts, a few smaller features and (for the time being) our other authors. Don't worry, DFG is still a rather large Gaming Club with many members, who are all a part of the team (you have never had to be an author to be a DFG member). I just plan to make this a personal blog for the time being and when I am comfortable with that, I will bring in authors again, but not until then. I really just want to be me. I don't want to feel the strange compulsion to create certain things or use certain things to hopefully draw interest ... I just want to do what interests me. I don't want to wake up and wonder what I will post. I want to post when I have something to show you. I don't want the things I create to belong to some name somebody else made up for me, I want them to belong to me.

If it sounds selfish to some, well, it is. While it is somewhat sad to see OST go, it feels good and if you are along for the ride ... I have some terrible things to show you!

26 comments:

  1. Change is good, so is reclaiming your identity and hobby ;) Nice to meet you TJ. I look forward to what you have to share with us.

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  2. I remember when Prince changed his name to a symbol. Damn I'm old.

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  3. No idea how you held up that pace for this long.

    The King is Dead, Long live the The King!

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    1. Thanks GSI. I can tell you it takes discipline and my hat is off to the guys that make it happen all the time.

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  4. What is it with all the pseudonym hatred of late? First the Spiky Rats and now you too? Smells like burning gasoline and bloody revolution to me...

    But seriously, whatever works to keep your interest in the blog alive can only be in the best interest of the community surrounding it as well. With FTW having gone on hiatus (at least that's what I still hope it is...) quite a while ago , I'd hate to see another of my favourite wargaming watering holes close down, so do whatever you must to keep this up and running -- and fun!

    It goes without saying that being allowed to contribute a couple of posts to DFG has been one of the high-points of my blogging "career" so far, and in case you need help with anything, just give me a holler.

    In any case, I will continue to come here every day, and I hope the blog will be as much fun for you again as it has always been for the rest of us.

    Oh, and post more of your conversions, dammit ;-)

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    1. Conversions inbound brother! I have a feeling we have not seen the last of a certain scientist around here.

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  5. At the end of the day it's a hobby and it's supposed to be fun. So do the hobby related activities that you enjoy when you enjoy and, on your schedule, post about what matters to you.

    I can't stress this enough to individuals. Don't post things to draw in readers or to be on the cutting edge of new developments. Post things that matter to you.

    The hobby needs more hobbyists.

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    1. In more than five years of blogging (to include military stuff back in the day) that is the best said advice I think new bloggers could get. It should be a form regular hobbyists sign when they start a blog. Thanks.

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    2. Very true. Looking forward to the new style TJ.

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    3. True that more hobby/gamer blogs and less wankers!

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  6. But, I liked the OST handle. :p

    Really, thought, if this is the move that needs to happen for you to get your fire back, and hopefully continue posting your own painting/conversion stuff, then I'm all for it. I would much rather have one excellent post a month than the same old regurgitated news and rumors (no offense intended) that I get EVERYWHERE else with a few "Oh, that reminds me, I've been painting/converting..." posts sprinkled in. I didn't start reading this blog for the news and rumors, I came here for the excellent hobby posts.

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  7. I look forward to a more personal blog. There have always been some great articles on here, and in an effort to be more I understood the news articles, but I always felt DFG was closer to FTW than a BoLS type site and can appreciate it returning to those roots.

    Good luck to you and I hope to be here for the next iteration of DFG.

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  8. Like others have said. The Hobby is for the Hobbist. It is an individual thing with social interactions and connotations.

    Blog about what you want...it is your blog. When it stops being fun, time to re-evaluate.

    This is why my blog is about 40k and weightlifting. Two seemingly unrelated activities. But, it is my blog about what I like to do...you either dig it or you don't. I don't write for others, I write for myself...kinda thing.

    I get a kick out of high view counts or more followers...but I will still do what I am interested in.

    So, go for it. Keep it Simple, Keep it fun.

    BDS

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  9. I completely understand where you're coming from TJ. Being such an active blogger can trap you at times but changing DFG over to a personal blog will certainly be a refreshing change of pace.

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    1. Thanks EoE. I believe we still have a challenge in the works ... Someday.

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  10. It doesn't matter what your name is, or how many posts you've burned, or how many people run this blog. As long as you continue to write excellent posts whenever you feel like it, people will still come. So do whatever you like! It is your blog, and if you don't want to write a post you don't have to. Look at my blog, I haven't posted for 4 weeks and I am yet to wake up to an angry mob of disappointed readers. (But then, 18 or so people isn't a very intimidating mob. In fact 17 as I follow myself! :D)

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  11. I will still be showing off conversions, painting, tips and talking about competitive stuff too. I just won't be running filler and I'm going to post when I can rather than feeling obligated to post every day.

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  12. Dude, don't scare us like that! "I'm changing my handle", not "X is dead!"

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    1. Sorry SoT, some of the flair for drama must of clung to me!

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  13. Thank you to everyone. It felt great to get that off my chest, but I really didn't expect so much positivity and support from the community ... And to not only get it from familiar friends from years of blogging, but from readers I have never heard from before. I don't know what to say other than I'm not going away or anything, you're just going to get less fill and more thrill out of me. I have a lot of stuff I have been working on and I am excited to show you. I have a big trip this weekend to a GT at my favorite FLGS and I actually plan to sit in one spot and paint and chat all day this Friday ... Followed by two days of tournament play. Wish me luck and hopefully I get some more WIP posts up!

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  14. I'm excited to see how things go with the change. Best of luck Tj!!

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  15. T.J. do what you do, brother. You've done far too much for this world to be worried about people being upset that you want to be yourself. You owe none of us an explanation, and most won't ask. I will always watch on as a supporting friend, no matter the content. You have to enjoy as much of the time you have here in the real world as you get. Drive on, Devil Dog!


    -Deus-

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  16. Although I'll miss the OST handle, glad you are going to be with us and look forward to more insight into your own hobby.

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