How Was SBM Like Back In 2004-2009

ssj4gogita4

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Rising in popularity. Lots of posts and great debates. I think the threads back then were a lot better but maybe because some members were a little older or more mature to actually make great topics than just posting crap in the dump of today.

I have more memories of 2004-2009 but probably because I had more focus on it than I do today.
 

PinkPearl

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ssj4gogita4 said:
Rising in popularity. Lots of posts and great debates. I think the threads back then were a lot better but maybe because some members were a little older or more mature to actually make great topics than just posting crap in the dump of today.
Hear you on the thread quality. Probably because there were less topic fads? Threads were better back then, but I still feel like there are more "hot" topics now...especially in the Spongebob forum, I feel like now all it is is comparing pre/post movie seasons or talking about things that are over/underrated. We need a serious topic revival! Of course, that's not to say that we don't have many great topics.

Threads back then also included a feature where you could quote a whole string of posts, so discussions were liable to get off-topic very quickly :P There were little fights, but less real drama, and I only remember seeing a couple members get banned...maybe 1 or 2.Oh, and LOTS more internet lingo... more use of "pwned" and stuff like that.

When I first started here, the forum was also very generic-looking.
 

The Drifter

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2004-2009: The highest point of human existence
2009-Eternity: HeII inside another heII inside a trash can. And that trash can is floating down in a sewer. And that sewer is located under another heII.
 

The Dark Knight

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*Takes a puff out of a candy cigarette* Back in my days...Golly, I just realized I haven't even browsed the forums recently enough to even compare. I am just a lonely old fart.

Ah, I remember the real world discussion fights.... *Eyes glaze over* Them was some times.....
 

TattleTale Strangler

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I agree with the idea that 2004-2009 had a lot more "actual" topics. There were definitely more topics related to the current news, or current events going on in the world. Memes weren't widespread, but members used internet lingo like "pwned" a lot. xD

Debates were a big thing back then. I, for one, had gotten into a lot of debates during my time at SBM, some of them not ending great. I was even suspended one time because a debate got a little too heated.


The Dark Knight said:
Ah, I remember the real world discussion fights.... *Eyes glaze over* Them was some times.....

^ This.

MSN chats were all the rage back then. If you were anyone, you had other members on SBM added on MSN. It was the thing. I would argue that "There were less fights" is inaccurate. Fighting just took place outside of the forums, due to a higher chance of being reprimanded. I feel like SBM, in this sense, was more strict then than it is now.

Similar to today, the SBM of the past focused a lot on weekly games. Screenshot Edit comes to mind, but there definitely were other games that were held weekly.

I miss teams. Like, a whole lot. Joining a team, having a forum dedicated to a team... that was really cool.

For me in particular, SBM 2004-2009 was a period of time when I explored many interests. Animating using Adobe Flash had become a popular thing, and using Photoshop became commonplace. SBM, at one point, had "SBMstory" which was a MapleStory server for SBM. Before the private server, it was really common to share in-game usernames for MMOs on SBM, not unlike sharing MSN accounts.

Nowadays, we don't see any of these. I think it's just the evolution of technology. Times are a-changing.
 

Mr. Dr. Professor Patrick

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BagelsinEurope said:
SBM without memes or fads. It's like a different forum.

SBM has "fads" back then for sure. The whole fad thing peaked around 2009, and then died until you all recently revived it as "memes."

SBM was mostly a place for us to communicate about the things everyone talks about today. Now we have Facebook where we find information (e.g. Alan Rickman's death), but back then, our primary way of communication was Windows Live Messenger (very popular with SBM) and through SBM. A lot of the posts back then were high in content because social media wasn't a big thing back then, so the only way to discuss about the latest news and other topics (e.g. Mr. Meaty) was through SBM. Nobody was on Twitter. tumblr was just a thought in someone's head. Facebook was just now gathering traction. In fact, Facebook didn't even really hit anyone on SBM until 2008. You can easily see why SBM was significantly different back then - the overall purpose of SBM was to discuss about stuff, not post silly things like we see today. It's totally cool that SBM is changing! If it didn't, surely SBM would have died by now. The decrease in activity around 2009-2011 was a result of Facebook taking over the original purpose of SBM, and I'm glad that SBM evolved to fit the needs of people today.

MapleStory was definitely a huge thing in 2007-2008. Everyone played it. It was in such a large degree that people were like "Is this a website about SpongeBob, or a website about MapleStory?"

If anything, the reason why older members are so nostalgic for old times is because Facebook and Twitter have really taken over what we used to have here on SBM. And of course, we miss it like crazy. Likewise, one day you all will be looking back on while some place named Flabsterbit (I just made that up) allows you to share funny memes and everyone is on it and SBM's purpose will not be needed anymore. SBM would have to change again, and you'll feel the same way we do right now.

As TTS was saying, the reason why we had so many debates on here was because we didn't have somewhere like Facebook to debate. We were in middle or high school, so we didn't have a true place to talk about things. All we had was SBM.

I hope that helps with your question. :)
 

PinkPearl

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Edit: Bigger image!

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Another thing I remember is longer chats in the Desktops topic. People were always interested in the programs people had on their computers. I didn't know how to post desktops at the time (and couldn't, as it was a family computer with our picture on it), but it was fun.
 
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