Where have all the pirates gone?

[anthrobabe]

I miss me some Pirates!!!!!
with apologies to Baooni Tyler

"Where have all the pirates gone?
and where is all the grog?
Where are the bilge rats
to fight the rising guards?

Isn't there a Captain Morgan upon a rotten mast?
Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need

I need a Pirate
I'm holidng out for aPirate till the end of the night
he's gotta be stout
and he's gotta be awake
and you know he's fresh from a fight
I need a Pirate
I'm holding out for a Pirate till the morning light
He's gotta be single
and it's gotta be soon
and he's gotta own his own ship

Somewhere after midnight
in my wildest fantasy
somewhere just beyond my reach
there's a hook reaching back for me

Racing on the waves and rising with the deep
it's gonna take a mega pirate to sweep me off my feet

I need a pirate.....

[DaveL]

Shhhh...Don't tell the authorities we be hidin' here. Those Royal Navy swabs will have our heads.

Felow Sibs, in all honesty, the lads have decided, despite some initial reluctance to return to the old place. The gang are having a ball back at the old place, where Pirates first began. The old format, larger board and bigger input just works better for writing long winded and humorous threads.

I was absolutely torn up last year when the 'storm' hit. You guys are my best friends and I was too shattered to post, let alone moderate when you all departed. Coming here with the Pirates just seemed right. But there has been alot of yearning by the gang to go back fire up the old site.

We love you guys and are eternally greatful to you all for having us here. The Pirate-Toadfish marriage has been a great success and although we will not YArring here as often, we will still be here. I still have lots to discover/contribute as a Toadfish in particular.

Pirates, is fun and we feel it can work well anywhere, provided no one takes it too seriously (like Taichi ). The bigger board also provides us with a good chance to screen refer prospective novices.

So I hope you guys are OK with it. PM me if you want to talk more.

Cheers,

Dave

[ivor]

So you guys want to throw in with the likes of them?  We don't have some big book deal to finance the site.  I am frankly a hair disappointed. 

[Bruder Cuzzen]

 I haven't gone anywhere and am not about to leave . When i was practically alone at TOP i found it extremely difficult to post without some sort of feedback .

Now the same thing has happened here . :

One benefit from the raiding party is that a fair number of new pirates coming upon TOP might make fine toadfish material . The raid has been a great success so far (IMHO) . Many tickled funnybones , I feel they must read some of the HOT pirate threads . There are many gems in Pirates Cove the newbies might like .

I'm trying to think of a way to get them here for a visit without stepping on toes , any ideas?

[ivor]

Bobby let the monastery go without a fuss so I can't see doing any kind of recruiting directly from TOP.  The monastery runs on a shoestring budget, so I can't see us getting out from where we are without help from the current user base.  It takes team work.  I am more than willing to pay for FIOS myself.  I just can't afford to put up a server by myself. 

[ivor]

I suppose it's my fault.   I should have taken donations earlier when there was more interest.  I wanted to have an independent toadfish financial entity but there wasn't enough interest.  I didn't want to commingle the funds.  I didn't want anybody to question my commitment.  I kept thinking that I would be able to swing a new server but I couldn't. Now what do I do?

[DaveL]

Why be disappointed? There should no hard feelings from anyone at either end. Pirates has always been above board politics, although as a Mod, I can fully understand. I know how you felt and I felt that way too.

But we Pirates are here (and there) to be happy, not bitter or bemoaning what went on last year. Quite frankly I'm tired of feeling sad about it. Qwerty and I were the biggest objectors to last years events - remember. But we are still posting onboth forums, because of the friendships and common ground at both sites.

Lets move on, please. I still don't feel fully welcome or accepted over there either (and may never will be), but it's just how the others feel. I've been fully open about the feelings of the gang during the raiding party for some time now.

The others can speak for themselves, but I can honestly say we are back doing what we were happiest doing. I've fielded countless PM's from the other Pirates saying how greatVenganza is really where they feel most comfortable.

'The likes of them?'. Do you mean 'a bigger bunch of Pirates?' I hope so , because that's the main reason for posting back there. Not because we endorse what happened last year. I certainly don't.

There are still some good folks there, who I would gladly send over. Hey, we found Solipsy,Pachy, Anthrobabe, Brother Cuzzen (ok so I didn't get E.Raser, but I tried  ) . If I'll find anyone else I will definitely send 'em over.  

[ivor]

I was the first to talk to ERaiser and realize that he wanted to be where he was.  I accept that.  I suppose I must sadly accept that you really don't want to be here either.

TOP will never be anything more than what it is now.  The monastery could be much better than what it is today.

I would rather die here than live there....

[DaveL]

I was the first to talk to ERaiser and realize that he wanted to be where he was.  I accept that.  I suppose I must sadly accept that you really don't want to be here either.

I didn't know that, but Darren you didn't read my inital post.  I would never abandon you guys ever.  And yes I'd gladly donate to the Monastery (Australian currency and all  ).

The pirates want to go post at Venganza. Fine. I support their decision either way. But, surely they/I are/am not the only people to post on other forums.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

I'm on a few forums but spend the majority of my limited surf time here .

I head to TOP just for pirates . Speaking for myself it doesn't take much time to banter with newbs , since my posts are generally short .

Darren I think what DaveL is saying is the lads will be away from NewPortsmouth for bit longer than they intended since they are on a creative roll .

An earlier thread touched upon the real necessity for forum growth and IMHO the lads are gaining new fans ... perhaps toadsfish be amongst them ?

BTW I can also send you something Darren but I don't trust the internet , how about a visa cheque via snail mail ?

[DaveL]

Thanks BC, I think you've nailed it. I'm just so darn nervous explaining the whole raiding party concept (heck, what will the others think etc). I was only trying to be honest. The lads are on a roll, it is true.

This place is quality, not quantity.

PS I also chased E.Raser, but I didn't quite understand his response 
I realised when he didn't show, he was just staying put.

[Black Bart]

Arter extensive an costly sailin around...I believe he be now called E Razer 2.  Nobody else could write stuff loik that!

[ivor]

Don't mind me.  I'm just a pain in the ass.    I'm just a little worried about the monastery.  You guys better not leave.   

[Griffin NoName]

I don't think the Monastery is dependent on a new server to the extent of survival. I think other factors - community - are and have been more important. A new server would help though.

I also think there's a difference for some of the Pirates in that they weren't really aware of or involved in what happened at TOP. Different perspectives. And at the end of the day, forums for many people are simply places to enjoy and each one of us has different perspectives on that too.

For most of us here, we tend to post in certain threads and not others, interact in some ways and not others. I think one of the good things is that there is a bit more over-lapping of interaction in different areas than maybe happens on other sites because we are perhaps more open to others concerns/interests because of the nature of the place.

Perhaps when we have the new server we should have a marketing drive to avoid getting to the point where we feel it is a necessity.

E.Raser managed to communicate to me that it takes him a long time to read and post due to language (!) and doesn't have enought time for two sites......

And I miss my piratical friends lots but I can't find the humbleness to join them in raiding.

[ivor]

I best not drink with the squidlings anymore. 

If we get a server I can let the spiders back in.  We'll turn up more on the search engines.  I can also turn FCGI back on which makes the site run really fast but we won't get the 500 errors.  Also just a few users makes the site unbearably slow.  All the weirdness with Joomla and SMF will go away too.  I think that is a huge turn off. 

Griffin, could you try toadfishmonastery.org and see if it is as slow for you as toadfishmonastery.com is.  There's no content or template there yet so there isn't anything to look at.