<P><B><JC>The Legacy of the Forums</JC>
<P><JC>by Digital Ronin</JC>
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<P>Things change, and nothing tells you if it's for worse or for better - except your own will.
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<P>I saw a bit of the 'Time before Time', I saw the 'Second Generation' arrive and the I saw succeeding ones come and leave, I saw what is now only remembered as 'The first Exodus' and I saw the second. 
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<P>I remember the uproar caused by the first Exodus, for it was the first time that people noticed these forums are changing, and it happened long before what most of you now think of as 'the ol' times'.
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<P>Good people arrive, good people leave, bad people arrive, bad people leave, and yet different people arrive.
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<P>But the community stays. Ever changing, but always there. And, to quote a line from a book I always hated: "You cannot repeat the past." (The Great Gatsby)
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<P>I always thought of this fact as something depressing (and still do in some way) but with the time that I spent watching over these boards, I also noticed the positive facets. Old things give way for new ones, and those new ones can be better than the old. They don't have to, but they can. To use a quote from a trading card: "Loss begets renewal."
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<P>And in the end a risky gamble for something good is better than probably being stuck with something bad for eternity. Change does not always bring good things, but it is a good thing.