So, I could go into a really elaborate attempt to describe what I recall of AGN's history here. I won't, because that would obscure the point I'm going to try to make, it would be boring, and it would likely be inaccurate. Instead I will insert references to things as relevant to my general point, minor examples on the side for you to consider or ignore as you please.
What I'm going to do is basically express something really general that I feel has always been an issue, but not try to cite examples to back that sentiment up because I haven't the enthusiasm for it.
AGN has been a good community at times. It's inadvertently had huge effects on my life, and sometimes so for others as well; but mostly it's just a place where people hang out and talk. That's well and good. Many smart, clever, cool people have come and gone here.
Unfortunately, AGN has never, ever had structure, balance, or fairness. There were times when it was reasonably well managed, namely with Shadowblazer and Eckels handling things, but they've moved on to dealing with real life, and good for them. But as a community, AGN has always been skewed. War Lord cares just enough to own the place and try to keep it up and "alive", but has never really tried to make it a good forum community in my opinion; originally his friends were given leeway to do whatever they wished and consequences be damned, even if they were morons (anyone remember Frost?). This is not good management and it was harmful to the community. Since then, the problem has shifted around to different sources over time, but the consistant theme that remains is unbalance, unfairness, and always at least one petty, stupid feud going on. This continues today.
Sure, there are "terms of service" and it sounds well and good, but having rules, practicing them, and furthermore making the right compromises to maintain a peaceful, fair, friendly environment, are all quite separate things. AGN has never once succeeded at the latter, although the huge influx of people in 2001 combined with a lack of developed bad blood and bad staff helped keep things nicer for a time (not that I'm saying the present staff- what little seems to exist of it- is in any way bad, but there have been some very dubious examples. Mercy comes to mind in particular, and while I've come to respect him as a person and the general mythos about him is greatly exaggerated, Breaker was indeed a "strong arm" and has expressed, directly, that he doesn't care about the good of the community a whit).
AGN has never been friendly. The chat was a childish dictatorship until people lost interest so much that the thing has pretty much withered and died. The forums are little better, save that people have cared enough- many of them only due to rose-tinted memories and desire to talk to somebody in a semi-active forum for the heck of it- to actually still attend. A very few people. AGN has lost easily 2/3rds of it's long-time regulars; here's a list from memory. To add to the fun, I'll put a mark by any person that was gone for any significant chunk of time:
Warlord*
[strike]Shadowblazer
Phantom Menace
Nutz4Linux
Radium[/strike] (my memory fails)
Warlock (see above)[strike]
Sarria (orignally known as Skeeve22, also KingArthur)
[/strike]Jennifer (Originally known as Tails)*
Glenn the Great*
Moocow
Mrz84
[strike]MetaStaiford[/strike]
Vegeta1215
Lilith (Originally known as QueenXaviera)
[strike]Kenage
Kariqual Insanity
Plith
Nonsensical[/strike] (?)
Darth Chronic*
[strike]Goatboy
Axel
Breaker[/strike] (?) (Hello, sorry if I'm a bit rude to you with all this XD)
[strike]Mercy [/strike](Some abscenses are good in the opinions of some)[strike]
Ibis, God of Magicks[/strike] (for personal reasons not pertaining wholly to the nature of the forums... although that likely didn't help)
[strike]Zeo
Elemental_Knight
Dark Templar
Peach
Starkist
TGF Guy
JJ Maxx
Foxy
MrGame202[/strike] (I think that was his name? The old moderator guy?)
Dark Nation (?)
[strike]Eckels[/strike]
Cyberkitten*
[strike]Zaphod Q. IX[/strike] (Did I mention some abscenses are good?)
Beldaran*
Valerie/VEL
[strike]Aegix Runestone[/strike](?)
ShadowTiger (originally known as BrittainHero4)
Goki (?)*
Phattonez
Aegix Drakan (sorry!)
Biggiy05
Glitch
I could try to go on, but I think it makes enough of a point that I can think of 20 regular members who are long gone and not as many who are regulars now.
AGN can be a nice place to talk, now and then. But ultimately, there keeps being some stupid drama, etc. etc, bannings, etc. etc, bullshit, on and on. This cannot be blamed entirely on individuals' personal problems, although they certainly play a part in it.
The thing is, the community is not really fair, not really balanced. Sure, Glenn has flaws, but all present drama is tainted by old experiences; there's this huge, glaring assumption by most that he will never, ever change. He's not even allowed to anymore. Punishments and warnings are doled out on reputation, not on legitimate, fresh experiences. No one tries to keep an open mind or perspective.
There are almost no staff members. It's not even really a staff, it's just a couple of people running things the way they personally feel is right. That's well and good, but that's how AGN's always been run, and it's not well and good at all; it's crap. AGN should have a real staff, with real rules, with real "clean slates", open process, and input allowed by all members.
Also daunting AGN is a lack of purpose. ZC was a hell of a purpose, yes, and the program is still being improved, but it's not enough to make the community work anymore; it's old news. Real old. 5 years+ old. Shattered Earth, frankly, always struck me as unambitious, uncreative, and unstable, and it never improved and collapsed pretty quickly and easily; it's pretty damn dead now. The whole "Classic NES site" thing is a neat idea, but (A) it's been done, elsewhere, better, many times, and (B) we lack the real staff and enthusiasm to actually make such a thing worthwhile in it's own right.
Finally daunting AGN is a lack of stability. I'm sorry, but to be totally blunt, zeldaclassic.com is a piece of shit. It's updated annually, has a broken quest database, and not only features ancient versions of ZC in it's downloads area, but no clues as to how to find the super-secret hidden legendary mystical betas that can only be found via tiny-ass link on the forums. You expect people to find out and be interested by this?
Add to that the weak traffic of the forums and growing lack of interest, and frankly, AGN's starting to look like nothing more than a zombie of what it used to be.
Split off from AGN are many communities that are doing far better than it is, it seems. Gaming Universe and PureZC in particular come to mind; Kenage pretty much has to hide out and change her name to get away from this place, at that, and I find that sad; but yes, her forums are much nicer than these, too, and have more activity. Hell, while their site may be faulty, it's sadly a much, much better Zelda Classic resource than Zeldaclassic.com. At least you can actually, y'know, download custom quests and tilesets and stuff there. While I don't frequent it, I have to say their chat's looking a lot more lively and nice than AGN's has in 5 years, too.
In other words, what Breaker said to me some time ago is exactly right: "AGN is a small and dying forum." The thing is, it's dying because it lacked self-control in the first place, which lead to shooting itself in the foot repeatedly, then it curled up and waited to die while occasionally having violent tremors that seem like wild, far-out parties from it's perspective.
I hang around- and I use that term loosely given how I pretty much just randomly pop in when I feel like it- only because of nostalgia (which is never really satisfied by such visits) and because, at least for the time being, there's a few regulars around who might give interesting responses to stuff I say. Maybe.
My thought, then, is that if anyone cares enough to stop AGN from continuing this downward spiral until it crumbles altogether, then not only say so, but start doing something about it while you have some sort of a chance. AGN needs a staff, if the current staff is willing to work with it's people enough to enlarge (I recommend trying to do so fairly, like letting people request it, considering it, evaluating it, and making an open process of the whole decision; no BS random admin'ing of people you happen to like); there are people here who, if they cared, were interested, maybe brainstormed, could come up with ideas together for some kind of real projects or purposes to the site; and for god's sakes, does no one exist that can fix zeldaclassic.com? The site is just plain awful, and it's doing ZC a disservice just by existing in such a state.
These are just my thoughts. Do with them what you will.
P.S., I'm not officially sure who did that although it's pretty easy to guess, but I disincluded Amber because I didn't want to "drag her into" my little AGN rant, as I consider her a good friend. I was also trying to list main regulars that people would remember; Amber posted less than a hundred times if memory serves. Editing someone else's post without announcement in some kind of strange attempt to make a personal jab is sure kindly, professional, and mature, though.