I will never forget.
The old UI, the General forum, Shockwave Flash actually working in browser...it's all gone. I will never forget. Newgrounds is so...empty. I don't know why I check it anymore.
I'm not some 30something year old guy who remembers what it was like in 2004, so if you want to know the UI I was used to and miss so dearly, go to internet archive and go to any year between 2012 and 2018. This is the Newgrounds I knew best. When that UI went away and we got the current one, I immediately disliked it. How couldn't I? Tankman was gone from the top of my screen and everything looked all minimalist! I eventually got over myself a little, but as time has gone on, I have hated this UI more and more and more and more. Especially recently. There's no more textures behind the categories, just black with white Arial font, which looks incredibly boring. Not to mention, there's no drop-down anymore to view certain subcategories of each category! And you can't even select which category you're searching in from the home before actually searching it anymore - you have to search it first, then you get to choose the category. And, let's be real, the Newgrounds logo as is it right now is fucking sad. Now, you might be thinking, "Wait, what's wrong with it? All that changed was that the text became less rounded!" But doesn't it look incomplete to you? Like something's just, missing? Tankman. Having Tankman next to it is what made that logo cool. Now he's just gone.
The bottom of the screen used to have a buff Tankman with his helmet off. Then, at some point, I recall it being a Madness Combat agent. I can't remember for sure if it was only on Madness Days, but I do believe it became that permanently at some point. Yeah, that's gone now, too. And it's never coming back. Fuck, dude, look at Alien Hominid Invasion's artwork! It's just lacking that same soul the original Alien Hominid's art style had! I mean, it almost looks corporate. Newgrounds as a whole looks, and sometimes even feels more corporate now.
Flash dying is not the fault of Newgrounds or anyone who works for them. I'm going to keep it brief since everyone already whined about it when it happened, but you know, I really don't care. Using NG's external Flash player or the Ruffle Flash emulator isn't the same as running the real Shockwave Flash Player from before it was killed.
But the biggest blow Newgrounds has taken, I feel, is the closing of the General forum. Yes, there was drama, and yes, there were toxic people. So what? Do you think we also need to completely close down Discord, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and every other social media platform? You just cannot expect toxicity to not exist in public spaces. As long as people exist, toxic ones will as well. That's just the way the world works and has always worked. But I have never truly gotten over the closing of the General forum. That was like my online home, an actual community I could be a part of. I had left Facebook and Twitter because there were too many arguments and too much radicalism that I couldn't seem to escape, and I couldn't find enough good moments on these platforms for it to feel worthwhile sorting through all the garbage and all the hate. I had to leave Discord for a long time and only recently have I been willing to come out of my shell and go back there because I had to deal with a lot of doxxing and harassment there that I never dealt with here. Yes, I know some people on here were horrible like that and it did happen to some people. It never happened to me and as long as it hasn't, I will always be biased when it comes to safety. I've always felt way more safe on Newgrounds than any other platform I've ever been on. I actually managed to feel a sense of community, a sense of belonging when I started using the General forum more. I found people who'd actually accept me, who'd share my sometimes off-putting sense of humor, and who'd actually engage with me in conversation in a way that was pleasant. I'd actually come back to new notifications every day of people replying to me in the forum, giving me something to do and someone to talk to when I had nothing. And now it's all gone because, apparently, "you’re welcome to post about issues that are important to you on your blog but a dedicated thunderdome doesn't belong here." This refers to the Politics forum more than General, however a proper reason was never given for locking General, so this is the best we get. I lost my community because moderators couldn't handle some stupid drama, and we were all punished for it.
Here are some quotes from people who had reacted to the end of General, which really resonated with me:
"That was so sudden. I don't even know what happened..."
"Well shit. Now what?"
"What kind of retarded bullshit is this? Politics I can understand but General is too fucking far! Christ, I put in so much blood sweat and tears into the BBS since I started here and now it's fucking gone. What a load of shit...."
"Maybe bring back General."
The last post in General that is still here today is by biterrrr. It's titled "Wat to du on Newgrounds now?". That is so bittersweet, and so fitting.
In the recent words of Leif K-Brooks:
"I worry that, unless the tide turns soon, the Internet I fell in love with may cease to exist, and in its place, we will have something closer to a souped-up version of TV – focused largely on passive consumption, with much less opportunity for active participation and genuine human connection."
No. I will never forget.
