The Bar is just like a bar. It is intended as a basic gathering place to talk about anything that wasn't appropriate for another subforum or thread. Everyone is welcome and you fit in by just wanting to be there.
If you walk in and find half the people in there are dressed in crazy costumes and talking about things that make absolutely no sense to you and also pretending they are some character, and you have to go to each and every table (new topic) to find simple conversation then frankly it isn't so welcoming.
It was one thing when it was just one or two RPGs but it is getting to the point that all of the general topics are relegated to the second page of threads behind active and locked RPG topics. Also, the RPGs already had a sub-forum that was made for the non-DFRPG games. It is not about who likes what or prefers what. There is A LOT of content on this forum, and keeping it accessible to everyone means keeping organized and putting things where they belong. It would be no different if people started talking about the books and spoilers in the Bar... it is not the right place and they would be moved to the appropriate place (like a lot of other threads, not just the game ones.)
I'm not sure where the I understand the reaction to moving some topics. They were not in the right place, regardless of how long they have been there. They were moved, not destroyed.
Billy's Game Den/RPG night is 4 subs down from The Bar.
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/board,38.0.htmlThere all the games can live and grow and not be interrupted by general topics, in effect making them easier to find. They will also live longer there. Long threads can be snipped when you feel it is necessary. This way people can talk in one space and play in another. Perhaps one of the 8 regular RPGers can be a bartender there to take care of these things.
Finally, as one of the founding members of Hellfire (along with Rashad and Aine, not Persephone who
took over when Rashad left), I can say that it is
nothing like it used to be. It's origins were lost in the Great Purge. It is now a game and not a hangout. It might have been the heart of the bar at one time, but I don't recognize it. If anyone should be melancholy or upset it's me (or Enjorous, or Mystic or a couple other people who were a founding Gods too.) But it's a just a topic, technically. The heart of the forum is the members, wherever they happen to hang out.
It's time for Hellfire to retire to Billy's and for some of the more attentive members to make a new "Bar." One that is OOC, and a great place to talk and bond and wander and complain and just hang out.
(And thanks for being as active as you are. It's one of the things that keeps this forum a good place- just now it's a place with better signage and acoustics.)