: However, I can't help but worry. Even after the launch of Halo Infinite this
: place has started to feel more and more like a mausoleum, far more so than
: the older Marathon Story Forums. None of the old-timers seem to pop back
: in these days, if only to say hi, and I worry that this place might not
: last much longer. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and being foolish about all
: this, and that this place will last a long time in one form or the other.

: Claude, if you're still around and paying attention to this place, I want to
: say thank you. This site gave me solace during a particularly miserable
: time in my late teens, and I'm genuinely grateful for everything you've
: put into this place.

I'm still around, and paying sporadic attention. I totally feel your mausoleum description, because I'm partially responsible for that - a place that's so far behind the times technologically (most gaming conversation takes place on social media these days) needs active curation, and that's something I walked away from a few years ago.

It's not going anywhere; it runs on perl, which will likely never die (heh), and it costs me a couple of hours a year to keep running (every once in a while, a system update breaks things, and then I have to fix them)... but as you've said, it's only really as alive as its community, which is much, much, much smaller than it used to be.

I would never in a million years trade my time with bungie.org for anything - it's been a huge part of my life for an eon, and while there have been a few bad moments, the experience has been overwhelmingly positive - but it probably won't ever become the force in my life that it was a decade (or more!) ago. I guess that's okay - life moves on... but it's a little sad, too.

As long as people wanna stop by, though, I'll do my best to make sure the lights are on. :)