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Jul '19
As you know, I've been working on a lot of stuff lately, and you'll be seeing those changes in seemingly random increments. Posts are now able to be categorized under as many boards as you want, and that required me to go through EVERY post and manually set them. That means I had to go back in time, to the very first posts of Trash Epics. In doing so, I saw all that potential we had, and all those users who were once very active, only to see our userbase dissipate over petty squabbles.

I'm not going to lie about my feelings. No one here will ever understand how hard this has been on me. I've put so much of my life into this site, only to see 90% of its userbase turn their backs on it in favor of social media conglomerates, or even internet abstinence.

I went into this with the best of intentions, trying to provide an ideal place for horror boarders and trash fanatics even before the fall of imdb, sacrificing some of the best years of my life trying to make this place something that people could be happy to be a part of. I look back on the people who used to post here, and I miss them. They were all so enthusiastic to be a part of this at one point, but now where are they?

I've tried to reach out to a few of them, only to get no response. I miss the likes of shaza123, slasherfan85, moffat, RedHawk10, skeelo, sethyeah, FarmerVincent, deadandburied81, iceflamez, BarkingBaphomet, psychotronicbeatnik, Shadow-345, and countless others. And dare I say, I even miss Tromafreak.

I think about these things more than I care to admit. I feel hurt about it more than anything. I thought of these people as friends. I thought we had something special going here, taking a stand against the moral bankruptcies of so many other mass social media platforms that only care about fans and making money, only to find these people turn their backs on everything I tried to accomplish here, without any word as to why they're doing it.

I know a lot of it stemmed from politics. I was pro-Trump in the election era, but I never thought I'd lose so many friends because of it. Sure, people will tell you that they're not real friends if they abandon you over opinions like this, but it doesn't make it any less devastating. I've lost these so-called "friends" because I thought I had common sense, but in retrospect, I know I should have kept quiet about certain things, whether I believed them or not.

People you've been close to for years can be so willing to throw you away because you believe in something that they don't, and I guess it hits me so hard because I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't throw away my friends because they don't share the same political or religious beliefs as me. I'm 30 years old, and I feel so stupid sometimes for believing that people can legitimately care about things that are different than they are.

Trash Epics was never about making money. It's a passion project and outlet for movies first and foremost. Why so many people had to take offense to that is beyond me, but a majority of them left without a word. I'll never know why our most confided users left us, because they do so abruptly, as if we ought to know better.

Again, this is why I feel stupid, because I don't know why. Life is hard enough trying to make ends meet. I know I play the poor white trash card a lot, because I'm generally uneducated and spend far too much of my time making next to nothing, yet somehow, I seem to offend people enough that they want nothing to do with me. It's hard to wrap my head around, and that's why it eats away at my soul so much. I suppose everyone has their issues, and I'm not seeing the big picture, but so much of my life is overwhelmed with regret, because I know that somewhere down the line, I know I fucked it all up. For the life of me, I'm just too dumb to know how.


I've had about a hundred ounces of beer tonight and it isn't helping. I had a dream last night that took me back to my teen years when I had ambitions and enthusiasm, ready to make my imprint of sleaze and self-confidence in the world, but I lose more and more of that every day. I don't have the passion for anything, because most of my life is caught in the grind of working one job one day, and going to sleep early so I can make it to the next job on the day after. It gets to me, and while I try to utilize the rest of my time in working on site updates, I feel like it doesn't matter what I do. I never seem to get anything done. Markus must think I'm a real tool for failing so hard on these challenges, and he wouldn't be wrong. I drain all my energies for a cause that less and less people seem to believe in, and it's discouraging, but it's all I have, and I can't quit. The moment I give up on this site is the moment I die.

I thank God for those here who haven't given up on it yet. No matter how many bugs and server errors they've seen over the years. I just wish others could have had more faith in this place, and faith in me. As much as I want to hate some of them for leaving, I'm really only mad at myself for fucking it all up, and I wish things could be different.


In a perfect world, Trash Epics would have been the ideal horror board replacement. Instead, I see the likes of that godawful IMDB2, moviechat, filmboards, and even facebook getting it right where I couldn't. Sometimes, you have to bite the bullet and cut your losses. The days of the horror board are dead, people are sheep, and we can only ever work toward something new. These days, I guess I'm working only to keep myself distracted from my own thoughts, but they always bleed through, especially after a drink or six. Maybe I'm just not drinking enough, because I can't seem to drown these sorrows out. I wish I could reinvigorate audiences with something new and unique, but I haven't thought of it yet, and I'm not sure I ever will.

đŸ’Ŧ41 🚸 👀2k

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Ballz says:
#2

Jul '19 *
If I remember correctly, someone (don't remember who) on here a while back said they'd spoken to Shaza and apparently she doesn't really follow horror anymore. Not a prerequisite to participate on here, but it probably helps in maintaining one's interest. Plus, weren't she and Troma a thing at one point? I never knew any of the details, but I've always assumed part of why she left was because he got together with Onyx.

As for Skeelo, I think I follow him on Twitter. If it's the same guy, he's active on other film sites. I exchange comments with him once in a while and I could bring up Trash Epics to him if you want.

No clue about everyone else and I don't know what to tell you when it comes to convincing them to give this place another chance. I don't have anymore answers than you do, but I wish you wouldn't blame yourself like this. You're a good guy, and smart, and talented as fuck. Far more talented than me. You code websites, you write screenplays and novels, you film shorts, you record music. I believe you'll figure out a way to get us past this slump too.


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Ballz says:
#5, Reply to #4

Jul '19
I don't use Letterboxd for much other than the diary feature, but I can understand why Foz likes it so much. I do miss him though.

It sucks that politics got in the way of discussing movies. I wish people weren't so intolerant (and that goes both ways along the political spectrum), but that's just the way it is these days. No independent thought. emoticon


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Ballz says:
#18, Reply to #17

Aug '19 *
We haven't exactly given him much reason to return. If things ever pick up again, maybe he'll have a change of heart.


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Ballz says:
#24, Reply to #19

Aug '19 *
It sucks they'd rather be elsewhere, but I'm not surprised. Had to look up ICM because I don't think I've seen it mentioned here before. I'm certain the higher amount of active users is part of why they prefer there over here. It's hard for us to compete with that based on their numbers alone.

As much as I hope the Sci-Fi/Fantasy and October challenges help with activity around here, I'm not holding my breath. Sorry to sound all pessimistic, but I'm trying to be realistic. And the truth is, no amount of challenges and site redesigns are going to tempt people to leave a place like ICM. For the users you mentioned, they have their friends on there and they have more activity to keep them coming back. From their perspective, we offer nothing they can't get there.


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Ballz says:
#26, Reply to #25

Aug '19
emoticon That's one solution.



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