February 22 Is Coming

[Zobovor]

There are only a few days left until Google Groups is shutting down its Usenet access, so hopefully everyone who wants to keep posting here has some sort of contingency plan.

I'll be posting from NovaBBS, suggested by Travoltron, which has a very old school feel but is perfectly functional:

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/thread.php?group=alt.toys.transformers

For anyone who saw the brief discussion about using Reddit as an alternate discussion platform, the forum r/AltToysTransformers was created for this purpose, but the majority of ATTers wanted to keep it on Usenet in some capacity, so a mass exodus to r/ATT is not likely going to happen.

For those of you who are simply going to move onto greener pastures, I can't say I blame you. But, this forum was my very first online Transformers fan community, and I'm loathe to abandon it after all this time. Old habits die hard!


Zob (has discovered you can say awful things and get away with it as long as you put them in parentheses)

[Evil King Macrocranios]

On Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 9:45:36 AM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:

> For those of you who are simply going to move onto greener pastures, I can't say I blame you.

I think it's a good opportunity to change usernames. The fall of GoogleGroups will be my Goldbug renaming moment. So from now on my new handle is GoBackaTron.

> Zob (has discovered you can say awful things and get away with it as long as you put them in parentheses)

crazystevevilkingmacrocranios with rubber tires (DeJaNews should never have sold out to Google)

[Swivelbot]

On Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 6:14:44 PM UTC-5, Evil King Macrocranios wrote:

> I think it's a good opportunity to change usernames. The fall of GoogleGroups will be my Goldbug renaming moment. So from now on my new handle is GoBackaTron.

I accidentally renamed myself to Swivebot on NovaBBS.

Swivelbot (is kind of a moron)

[Optim]

On Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 12:45:36 p.m. UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> There are only a few days left until Google Groups is shutting down its Usenet access, so hopefully everyone who wants to keep posting here has some sort of contingency plan.
>
> I'll be posting from NovaBBS, suggested by Travoltron, which has a very old school feel but is perfectly functional:
>
> https://www.novabbs.com/interests/thread.php?group=alt.toys.transformers
>
> For anyone who saw the brief discussion about using Reddit as an alternate discussion platform, the forum r/AltToysTransformers was created for this purpose, but the majority of ATTers wanted to keep it on Usenet in some capacity, so a mass exodus to r/ATT is not likely going to happen.
>

It is really hard to use Reddit for anything other than short comments. And the comment tree are tabbed which is inconvenient because it can go off the screen.

NovaBBS is really the only choice. It is like Google Groups in every way. I hope everyone uses NovaBBS from now on.

I also hope that, on February 21st at 11:59PM, the last message on Google Groups states that "alt.toys.transformers" has moved to NovaBBS and that everyone is encouraged to go there.

[Swivelbot]

On Monday, February 19, 2024 at 11:16:41 AM UTC-5, Optim wrote:

> I also hope that, on February 21st at 11:59PM, the last message on Google Groups states that "alt.toys.transformers" has moved to NovaBBS and that everyone is encouraged to go there.

Since Zobovor has been here the longest (I think) he should make the final post on Google Groups



Swivelbot (A new adventure, how exciting)

[Joseph Bardsley]

In all honesty, this is actually a prudent and pragmatic idea. While the odds are relatively scant that this group will become overrun with an influx of new people in the indeterminate future, it is entirely possible that a select few - former lurkers, contributors who have been away for periods of time, or people who simply find us by random chance - may stumble on what will essentially be an ossified artifact of what once was a thriving community. We should do what we can to ensure that they know what happened here, and have a means of finding what remains of that community on its subsequent platform, if they wish. (I almost think of such a gesture as its own little Voyager record-like calling card, left with a final message for unknown future readers).

As for me ... guess it's time to finally figure out how to use NovaBBS, but I'm not going anywhere. It really is surreal to preside over the final days of what has been my oldest online community. I've been reading and posting since 1996, and am grateful that ATT has remained all this time. As a platform, and to draw on the Voyager metaphor again, I feel like ATT its own kind of archive of the best, the brightest, the most dazzling, and the most contentious and challenging moments that our fandom has navigated over the past three decades. Future readers may make of it what they will, but the fact remains: for many of us, this place was home for many years.

Joseph
(rereading Carl Sagan's "Murmurs of Earth" this weekend).

[IrrelliusSpamticon]

Apparently today Feb 20th things posted in Google are only showing up under Google and not other readers. Or maybe Gogle will dump everything to other readers in a massive end push. Who knows.

[Joseph Bardsley]

Just wanted to share an update. I'm still in touch with a number of former ATT-ers from back in the day, and have reached out to a few of them via email with a reminder of this impending closure and migration.

Specifically, I've reached out to Sharon "Tut" LaBorde, Rob Jung, Lizard, Tony Li, msipher, Lizard, Jim Lee, Steve Stonebraker, Gary Williams, Vulcana, Tony Klepack, Ben Yee, Onslaught Six, and the inhabitants of the Facebook Transmasters group, just because I know lots of the old regulars are there.

I also reached out to Kendrick, and Bobbi Carothers, but their old emails I had on file from decades past seem to be no longer valid.

Sharon got back to me a few moments ago, and will try to stop in today or tomorrow.

Just want to give folks an opportunity to reconnect if they can during this strange week of transition.

Joseph
joe.ba...@gmail.com

[Onslaught Six]

On Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 12:45:36 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:

> There are only a few days left until Google Groups is shutting down its Usenet access, so hopefully everyone who wants to keep posting here has some sort of contingency plan.

Can't say I do.

ATT was one of my original "homes" when I first entered the fandom around 2001-2002; I was 12 or 13. Even then, the only access I ever used for the place was Google Groups.

I never truly left the fandom, never stopped buying toys. In my new sphere, people see my gigantic shelf of TF, GI Joe and Power Rangers (amongst others) next to me on camera, what I now affectionately refer to as the "Hasbro shill wall." But, I stopped interacting with most of the fandom, for a lot of reasons. For one, I transitioned to 80%+ of my online interactions being through mobile, and forums are atrocious to interact with on mobile (or at least were in that era), and Google Groups wasn't even remotely useful on it--in fact, it still isn't; I couldn't figure out how to reply from the mobile interface and am now writing this on my desktop. (For what it's worth, I'm also married, have three cats, own my own house, and have been at the same menial job for the last 9 years--congrats, Zob, I think we work for the same corpo.)

That, and I often found that a "modern" TF fan's expectations and likes for the hobby definitely do not align with mine, and when you so vehemently disagree with a large community's opinion on things, it drains your desire to interact with them on a macro level. I never bothered looking for most other people's opinions on TF toys, or what little external media I gave a damn about (mostly the comics until IDW threw the universe in the trash, and then again with this Skybound nonsense) so I never found my way back here.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in what I've been up to, I used to say I was a musician, because that's what I spent all my creative energy doing, but that dried up somewhere along the line. Instead around 2018 I awakened a renewed interest in a hobby I'd always wanted to engage in: tabletop roleplaying games. In 2021 I ran my first Kickstarter for my first game, SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... which is a Cowboy Bebop-inspired TTRPG. The core rulebook is like 32 pages and it's very fun to play. More info in the links later.

It's ironic that I would pivot to TTRPGs because, well, the space is *entirely dominated* by the Dungeons & Dragons brand, which Hasbro owns. I can't seem to get away from the guys. If you thought TF fans hated Hasbro, you haven't seen anything until you see how D&D or TTRPG fans hate Hasbro. (That's why I call it the "Hasbro shill wall," because I'm still giving money to this corporation even if it's not through the TTRPG.) It has, however, given me a unique perspective about the company that many others don't have; often there is talk about when or if Hasbro will sell the D&D brand, and I have to be the one with 25+ years of watching this company to know that they don't sell brands--ever.

Anyway, this will likely be my last post on ATT; I don't foresee myself figuring out a Usenet reader or anything of the sort to engage here. Google Groups was a useful hub considering I could reliably check in to ATT if I was at all curious (and I did check in at a rate of maybe once per year over the last decade, just to see who was still around) and its loss will surely be felt by some. Another casualty of the corpo.

If anyone is at all curious what I'm working on, my personal website is (and will always be) http://onslaughtsix.com where I primarily blog about TTRPG content, but have links to all the other stuff including my social media. All the gaming stuff is available at http://tidalwavegames.com where you can check it all out and get links to our social media, including our Discord (which is fairly active and a fun hangout spot, not just about TTRPGs).

Until next time: Take care of yourselves; take care of each other. Black Lives Matter. Trans Rights are Human Rights. ACAB. Don't kill the part of you that's cringe; kill the part of you that cringes. Make Art, Not Content. Death to the Algorithm.

And stay gold,
--Onslaught

[David Connell]

On Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 12:45:36 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:

Just found out about it. I may not have been here much in recent years, but I always enjoyed checking in. Looks like I’ll have to find a new way to do that. I may be on TFW2005 most of the time, but it’s fun to go back to your roots periodically.

[Zobovor]

On Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 5:34:39 AM UTC-7, Onslaught Six wrote:

> ATT was one of my original "homes" when I first entered the fandom around 2001-2002; I was 12 or 13. Even then, the only access I ever used for the place was Google Groups.

Aw, dude. It's awesome to hear from you, and to learn what you've been up to. In my mind, you are still one of the "newcomers" to ATT... but one of the most charismatic and enthusiastic ones, by far!

Thanks for checking in and giving us a much-needed update. Glad things are going well for you!


Zob (has more cats than you do, though, so nyeah)

[ByPrimus]

Joseph Bardsley wrote:

> Just wanted to share an update. I'm still in touch with a number of former ATT-ers from back in the day, and have reached out to a few of them via email with a reminder of this impending closure and migration.

> Specifically, I've reached out to Sharon "Tut" LaBorde, Rob Jung, Lizard, Tony Li, msipher, Lizard, Jim Lee, Steve Stonebraker, Gary Williams, Vulcana, Tony Klepack, Ben Yee, Onslaught Six, and the inhabitants of the Facebook Transmasters group, just because I know lots of the old regulars are there..

> I also reached out to Kendrick, and Bobbi Carothers, but their old emails I had on file from decades past seem to be no longer valid.

> Sharon got back to me a few moments ago, and will try to stop in today or tomorrow.

> Just want to give folks an opportunity to reconnect if they can during this strange week of transition.

> Joseph
> joe.ba...@gmail.com

Goodbye, a.t.t.! Hello, a.t.t!

I was surprised and grateful to hear from you, Joseph, and appreciate you reaching out to share the news of a.t.t.'s next stage. All these years later, I'm still loving and collecting TFs, just like all of you. Plus la change, plus la meme chose!

By Primus, it's a nova world!
I'm Jim, By Primus!