hybridplague

Well, i think that about does it for me and SG. It's been fun, but it is now time to go. I've had a feeling this was coming, in fact i think it's been here awhile, but it's now official. The new site is what did it. Not the new site on it's own, mind you. There are a lot of things i don't like about it (a lot a lot), but i'm sure some of those will be changed as the 4.0 Hatred thread seems to suggest that such disliked features are very mutual, and others i would get used to over time. The new site is the manifestation of where i think SG has been moving for awhile, i.e. a more corporate direction.

I remember when i first discovered SG several years ago, when it had only been online for a few months. I didn't have a credit card, and really i was just looking for porn, so i looked around for awhile, thought "That's pretty cool," and promptly forgot about it since i had no way of getting member access. When i saw the commercial for the SG first tour DVD, i instantly remembered SG and was surprised how big it had blown up to be. I got the DVD from Netflix, and half way through the movie, i paused it, got online, and became a member. I was instantly disappointed that two of the SGs that i had joined for, Stormy and Shera, had already left the site, but i found several other SGs that i liked, and i started reading through the boards.

It was fun for a while, but i was a little bothered when i saw the MySpace Suicide Beauty Queen Contest, as well as other agressive ways of advertising the site. I was under the (mistaken) impression that SG was a counter-culture web community, one that prided itself on creating a unique product and marketing it to a niche market. Perhaps it was at one point and i just missed that time. Many of the new sets are highly photoshopped, showing that fake sheen of an artifically enhanced photo like on so many porn sites, and the use of "Blog" instead of "Journal" is an unforgivable offense.

The marketing has just become too blatant, too pandering, and i think the new site completes that with a frilly, showy, but notable less usable site than it was before. It seems designed more to entice would-be users rather than for the ease-of-use of current members. I am just not interested in being part of something so commercial in nature; i feel like i'm part of a mainstream fad. If i'm going to be part of a fad, it's going to be a marginal one, not a mainstream one.

So goodby SGland, it was fun while it lasted. I enjoyed my stay, but it is time for us to part ways.