On a serious note, I come from a private group called The Halo 3 Academy. When we were in full swing there were something like 3000 members, we ended up on Bungie Favourites blah blah The thing is though we had a real community, we played together, we came on Bnet to discuss various things daily, from that time I've actually made some real life friends that I sometimes drink with! The sense of community was like nothing I've ever experienced. I'm a Mythic member now (or was) and I feel like I still post here every day out of habit rather than any sense of community because that is long gone unfortunately.

zOMG. Somebody said it. I agree 100%. It's one of the reasons I left and why I only visit once a week now instead of once every 30 seconds. EDIT: I posted this in another thread but it fits better here; Sigh. I wouldn't know where to begin. I'm still young on this site compared to some but i've been here for 6 and a half years. I been involved with and created many Bungie community projects such as [url=http://bungie.wikia.com/wiki/Community_Joes]Community Joes[/url], the [url=http://bungie.wikia.com/wiki/The_Community_Carnage]Community Carnage[/url] and [url=http://bungie.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page]Bungiepedia[/url] and far more - even with Destiny such as being a founder of [url=http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_Wiki]Destinypedia[/url] and [url=http://insidedestiny.net]InsideDestiny.net.[/url] As most members during 2007-8 I came and signed up for the Halo 3 stats. That's all I cared about. I browsed the forums here and there but never posted until Halo: Reach. Everyone was so friendly, the Ninjas (apart from Tom T), the Employees and the members. The more I posted in the forums, mostly the old Community forum the more I felt apart of this awesome BUNGIE community. The darkness came and [url=http://halo.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=75065465&postRepeater1-p=1]we were left to fend for our selfs[/url] listening to rumours in the wind waiting for Destiny. I used to log in every day and even viewed/posted on the site on my mobile to and from work - [url=http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx72/TheArbiter93/41C0495F-C7D9-4F5A-B65D-D4EA6399D177-1420-0000020CC1251F79.jpg]even though it broke sometimes.[/url] Then the new Hawtness came and we didn't know what to expect. I remember coming home from work on my phone trying to view the new site. I was so excited to be apart of the community when a huge update was upon us. That's when the community really fell apart. [url=http://bungie.wikia.com/wiki/Bungie.net_Beta]We had new features[/url] but we also lost a lot more. Many fellow community members left in anger as they felt abandoned because as Rollin pointed out in his thread, the site had been designed for the DESTINY community, not the BUNGIE community. There IS a difference. I stayed for as long as I could, I hated the update, sure it was new and fresh and snazzy but personally it just didn't work. I stayed, as Bungie said many times that the Bungie community would be transferred over, that the groups will be given back their powers and that site changes were under way. A year passed and by that time I was a Bungie.net Mentor (we had no white badges at the time). The site still had not and hasn't changed to benefit the community. I left Bungie.net and resigned for that reason and for personal reasons too. I now visit once a week if that. I miss the old site and the old days. I actually loved halo.bungie.net and my heart really does ache with memories when I think about it. Everyone knew each other, everything was in order, everything was easier to view. However this thread is about us giving feedback.. again about the site so here we go. [b]FEEDBACK[/b] What I'd like to see returned: 1) BLACK SCREEN Firstly I would like to be able to change my screen from white to black. I can't stand really white blank backgrounds and it's not fair when my brother is trying to sleep (I share my room) that in the corner of his eye theres a huge frackin' white screen. Not only that but it's actually easier on my eyes. Why was the option taken away in the first place? 2) PINNED THREADS Important information and employee threads where great and easy to find when they were pinned at the top of the forum page. Not only for regular members but new guys too. 3) HOT TOPICS Hot topics pinned on the right hand side of the forum were also awesome. It led to more community conversation and led to you to what everyone was talking about whilst still viewing the normal threads without having to go to a complete new page called 'trending'. 4) COMMUNITY INPUT What the heck happened to custom community avatars and group themes. Some of us spent hours creating artwork for the community by the community. I really would like to see threads such as '[url=http://halo.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=18748346&postRepeater1-p=1]Avatars and User Skins[/url]' return. It should be easy to do with the amount of Bungie employees available now. 5) THE GALLERY One of my top referrers for InsideDestiny.net is [url=http://halo.bungie.net/forums/posts.aspx?postID=76089759]this thread - over 6,000 people have reached my site via it.[/url] The gallery allowed us to post our creations directly onto the Bungie forums without them being lost in a sea of threads and never replied too. 6) POWERS FOR CHAPTERS [url=http://bungie.wikia.com/wiki/Chapter_Themes]Private groups once had amazing customisation[/url]. Now they're just a shell of what they used to be. Why have Admins lost powers AFTER a site update, if anything shouldn't they have got more? What happened to in-group member titles ect. 7) CUSTOM PROFILE Lastly (for now) with so many members we could do with customisation. For example on Halo.Bungie.Net we had titles such as Mythic, Exalted and Senior ect. I'm not saying that these should be brought back but [url=http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2unx5hw&s=6]maybe something like nameplates.[/url] As humans we have a desire to distinguish ourselves and not to look like everybody else and so the same goes for internet users too. A small number badge that shows only when you click on their profile is just not enough. Colours and shapes related to Destiny, Bungie and Halo if allowed should be used. I'll create some examples later. Make Bungie.net pretty again. [url=https://insidedestinydotnet.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/trial1bars.png]Anyone want a cool swag bar?[/url] Here is a [url=https://insidedestinydotnet.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/example.png]Forum example.[/url] [b]FEEDBACK[/b] What I'd like to see taken away: 1) HASHTAGS Really, this is not twitter or Facebook. As it's been stated by many people it's not a freakin' social site, it's a gaming website. Hashtags really don't work on here like they do on Twitter. Hashtags are even pointless on Facebook. IMHO it makes the site look cluttered. 2) SUB-REPLY Again, this really really makes the site super cluttered and hard to find what out what people are actually talking about. I would like to see thread posts in date/time order all in one screen with quotes instead of having to click little arrows. You miss so many posts and waste so much time.

All of this is exactly how so many members feel right now. The site feels like a shell of what it should be, the game feels like a shadow of what we hoped for, and the community at large is...some other poetic comparison. It's in shambles to say the least. I don't find myself wanting to come on here anymore, and for the most part I don't, or only stay in private chats. For so long I've said, "They promised [insert promise here], so it's coming." Now, that's just not working for me anymore. I really hope things come together in the near future. I want this community to flourish again; I want the new members to learn our ways and respect our traditions.

(Yes, I know I'm going to get ragged on for this...) But honestly, I think a big part of it started with the site update. Bungie.old had an entirely different tone of discussion, and was extremely well organized and moderated. At the time of Bungie.next, I believe I likened the new thread layout to a chaotic hybridization of Youtube comments and Twitter, and I have to say that any change in that perception since then has been minimal. I also know I was not the only one who felt a little perturbed by the new setup, and I was not the only one who was entirely put off by it. The intention at the beginning seemed to be to bring the new fans of Destiny into the folds of a tight knit community. Instead, that community has been spread apart and absorbed into the overwhelming mass of Destiny players, many of whom are here simply because Destiny is the current big thing and will be gone as soon as the next game comes out. The whole social element that Destiny was supposed to have also kind of failed, in my opinion. There's no public chat, no matchmaking for many of the events, no in-game clan functionality. Everybody's just sort of being alone together. People play with their friends, or they have to search out new friends outside of the game (in the Community forum, where it doesn't belong, for instance). I made a sort of joking suggestion the other day that we should all decide on a certain spot in the tower where you go and hang out to let everyone know that you're looking for someone to play with. Most of the old private groups have been reduced to chat rooms completely unrelated to the groups' original purposes. I have one group chat message in my inbox right now that just says, "I'm pooping atm,.So no pants." Don't really want to know the context of that one. I do think the group chats are a cool addition, but the implementation (especially with regard to notification) is a bit... unpolished, from a user perspective. It does seem like if we want to build the community back up again, we'll have to do it largely on our own. I think Bungie has their hands full with their own problems at the moment.

This made me cry....

In some ways, the Darkness honed our community down to those who truly wanted to engage and be engaged by others. Coming out into the Light has brought in a new infusion of fresh blood who haven't had the years to hone their sense of self, let alone their sense of community. The Community forum was once filled with a foraging, questing essence of camradarie against the Darkness, ranging from coordinating meetups at PAX and beyond to tracing the tangled web of mythic reference that Bungie infused their games with. We rode the hype train, we cursed the servers of Amazon during the great Swag Bag debacle, we conspired together during the Alpha Lupi challenge. Some of that has been lost in the white noise now, and in some ways, private groups have contributed to the diaspora of veteran members from the main forums. In other ways, private groups have provided some of the greatest ties of unification, and for many, they remain the main thing that keeps them bound to the Bungie community at this point. The Mentors were established to try to form a cohesive link from the past to the present, and to make this a more welcoming place. Ultimately, we all need to take ownership and say hey, this isn't just their role. Each of us needs to realize our own might in all of this. Argument is good. Engagement is good. Reasonless frothing at the mouth is just about as useful as a rabid raccoon on a subway. There may be some momentary entertainment value, but it's no longer so fun when it bites you on the leg. I haven't given up on this community, but I'm all too aware that it will never return to what it once was. That doesn't mean that what it can evolve into isn't as worthwhile, and I certainly plan to be here to help prod and poke it along. Somebody has to take the photos that document our history, after all.

Do you think that there should be a chat to talk with other guardians in the tower?

Bungie doesn't care.

Bunp