(Oct. 09, 2017 7:27 PM)Kai-V Wrote: Man, someone sent me a very sweet message and made me realise that today, October 9th, is actually the ten-year anniversary of my registration here.
As some of you may have noticed, I have been very inactive, sometimes not there at all, since September. I went to Japan several times this year, which caused me to lose track of new replies here and of Beyblade in general, and I started a new job and moved out into a new apartment, which still requires cleaning and unpacking time. However, on top of that, Beyblade Burst has caused me to care a lot less about Beyblade in general, and it honestly pains me to see the state of this message board and the community at the moment. It makes it seems like the dedicated work accomplished on this website in the last ten years was all for nothing. Because even if Beyblade interests me less, I never once wished to leave this forum in the poor state it is in, for the sake of the community... I really hope that, on December 4th 2017, we can celebrate more than the one-year anniversary of a catastrophy, somewhat. BeyPoints paralysed, Credits paralysed, core features paralysed, etc. Thank you to those who have stayed faithful despite all these issues.
The truth is, though, that fixing all those problems created by a very precocious layout renewal launch makes us rely on one person only, who understandably has a life to lead besides that, and has been working multiple hours almost for free... And even if we empathise, it makes us so helpless. There is no way we can fix this layout on our own, because it has now evolved to one using bypasses and a language that none of us understand anymore, whereas we could manage previously with the more regular MyBB layout. I knew that this upgrade would bring us a lot of trouble since I knew that there would be no one to teach us how to work with this new programming language afterwards. History repeats itself.
Anyway, to end this message on a brighter note: for whom, here, is the World Beyblade Organization very dear?
Well, I'm a bit late to the party, but I suppose my lack of activity on this forum is nothing surprising at this point. This post makes me incredibly sad, as does the influx of "going away" messages from members I remember in my time here. Looking back at the period of time in which I was active on the WBO makes me incredibly nostalgic and reminds me of some of the happiest years of my life. The sense of community I felt while attending tournaments and contributing to competitive knowledge on the forum was incredible, and I've tried to stay in touch with some of the people I've met on here over the years, like Leone19 & BubloZX, although I've fallen out of touch with most.
Metal Fight Beyblade will always hold a special place in my heart, but I can relate where you wrote that Burst caused you to care less about Beyblade in general. The design of the new system being less intuitive, and the burst factor has made it more difficult for me to throw myself into competitively and appreciate aesthetically, and with MFB being so difficult to get a hold of these days, interest in the system has really died down as a whole. Being a university student with other interests, I don't have the time or the finances to fully immerse myself in Burst, but I've continued following new releases to an extent. My main link to the Beyblade community at this point is a Discord server I've been running for the past two years, and I can honestly say that it's the main thing keeping me involved in the hobby since I became inactive on the WBO (I'll also be attending a tournament next week, so that should be fun!).
As a forum veteran, the new layout of the WBO had a bit of a learning curve for me (and I don't think I'm wrong in saying that it's one of the main reasons Leone19 hasn't posted on the site in over a year) but I guess I'm getting to the point where my age is starting to show and technology is difficult to keep up with :
I don't think that the lack of constructive/competitive contribution that the forum faces is something specific to the hobby, but rather an issue that plagues forums and online communities as a whole. As the internet becomes more readily accessible, it's been my observation that fan communities have fewer young contributors who are willing to dedicate their time without an incentive in place, and younger generation appears to be less interested in navigating forums in general.
In any case, thank you for all the time and effort you've put into growing this community, Kai-V. I've always admired and respected the work that you've done and please know that Beyblade wouldn't be as dear to many of us if it weren't for you. While I may be less active on this forum than I was a few years ago, I will never go inactive because of the love that I have for the hobby, and once I return home for the holidays I hope to get back into testing, if only a little
![[Image: 2aj5k50.jpg]](https://i68.tinypic.com/2aj5k50.jpg)
![[Image: 1fftwi.jpg]](https://i66.tinypic.com/1fftwi.jpg)
![[Image: ig94b9.jpg]](https://i63.tinypic.com/ig94b9.jpg)
![[Image: jFAMV2B.png]](https://i.imgur.com/jFAMV2B.png)
![[Image: 10.jpg]](https://www.nodiatis.com/pub/10.jpg)
![[Image: 1gkT0XF.png]](https://i.imgur.com/1gkT0XF.png)
![[Image: 2qs1i88.jpg]](https://i68.tinypic.com/2qs1i88.jpg)
![[Image: xckr6f.jpg]](https://i67.tinypic.com/xckr6f.jpg)
![[Image: 30j5s2f.jpg]](https://i67.tinypic.com/30j5s2f.jpg)
![[Image: f759d58.gif]](https://i.imgsafe.org/f759d58.gif)
![[Image: rcFJUxo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/rcFJUxo.png)
![[Image: 2hdvatw.png]](https://i64.tinypic.com/2hdvatw.png)
![[Image: h6sIxPy.png]](https://i.imgur.com/h6sIxPy.png)
![[Image: AqKPC.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/AqKPC.jpg)