I am here about half a year, (wrote many posts read yet more post of others),

but I must say this forum began to bore me till bottom. many praises it, its advantage is really it is on topic, and there are very many people doing close things, but also this forum has some boring force to me, I feel better for example when reading articles in the google, also some other places like old usenet has some kind more indepth attitude than here, not to mention a plactic graphical form of this place i dont like too.. So I think if it is worth to stay it or it is better to move on to antoher place of focus

has some other person such kind of feelings too?

hear hear, +1.

Not boring exactly, it's worse for me, it's more like the driving community has found a rut.

1. The forum has a lingo that's been developed for years, so really obscure comments made by veteran members are acceptable.
2. Controversial ideas, or fuzzy topics aren't welcome. Since I made my first topic investigating how MMOs are viewed and I got some pretty closed-minded responses even when I emphasized I wanted opinions. (MMO is a term tied to pop culture, same as virtual reality. They mean completely different things depending on location and time, no responses seemed to get that.)
3. There's strong evidence that lurkers will poll negative votes on topic starters without being clear as to why, which is very abrasive and may dissuade new posters from giving positive feedback. It's a peer pressure driven social experiment wherever you go.
4. I end up feeling worse for trying to explain myself, which is an apparent must. Every post I write turns into a book report or I doubt it'll meet the elitist standards required to get considered here.
5. I never post expecting positive anonymous feedback, or serious help. Like anywhere else, people want you to scratch their back first.

This might as well be a list of grievances. I think I helped a couple of people, but I'm not a teacher or old enough to think of myself as one, so it's not a big plus. Maybe I'll give #5 a try for once, but I doubt I'll be able to do that and be helpful at the same time. So I guess as a developer there's not a lot of growth room in this one forum, unless you're a math/language genius.

I think part of fir's criticism is with the moderation policies
--whenever there's a controversial thread (read: flame war), we ask it to get back on topic, and then lock it when it doesn't.
-- the user base also does the same via the ratings system, where contaversial users (read: ignorant) get bombarded with downvotes.
Both of these mean that there's little controversy in discussions, but at the same time, there is a bit of a clique of popularist flaming, where insulting unpopular users isn't downvoted...

As far as this forum goes, things used to be crazier. A lot crazier. A lot of crazy bullshit and screwing around. But that's largely faded away, for a variety of reasons. Whether that is good or bad, I don't know.

So its not on my head huh?

When I first found out about that forum, I loved it so much cause this wasnt just a bunch of snob buffons desperate trying to prove how awesome they are. I remember seeing moderators swearing and making fun just as average users, and I found it a paradise. Compared to things like stack overflow where awesome topics are closed for religious rules being followed by ppl desperate for reputation points. It would make sense to me if ppl could change the points for money.

Btw, what happened to evil steve? he was so frequent.

There's none (OK, very little) of the crazy screwing around, trash-talk, personality cults or other nonsense you might see elsewhere. That kind of stuff has it's appropriate place, and this forum just isn't that place.

Walk back a few years in the lounge and you'll find it. The mid-2000's were pretty crazy round here.

there is a bit of a clique of popularist flaming, where insulting unpopular users isn't downvoted

It is fairly aggressively moderated, though. Except where they insist on digging their own graves.

Controversial ideas, or fuzzy topics aren't welcome. Since I made my first topic investigating how MMOs are viewed and I got some pretty closed-minded responses even when I emphasized I wanted opinions.

Fuzzy design topics are very hard to respond to, and game design isn't exactly the most vibrant corner of our community. Plus, your ideas are pretty out there. I'm not sure you'd get any better feedback elsewhere either.

There's none (OK, very little) of the crazy screwing around, trash-talk, personality cults or other nonsense you might see elsewhere. That kind of stuff has it's appropriate place, and this forum just isn't that place.

Walk back a few years in the lounge and you'll find it. The mid-2000's were pretty crazy round here.

Those Iraq War threads with lessbread! The forum is less interesting from that perspective than it used to be, but if you were here for entertainment you were never at the right place anyway.

And what about TA?

I'll admit the forums are less entertaining than they once were. Once upon a time, a mod could spend a good two hours clamping down on outbursts of goatse, a certain clique of people could spout their exclusive "place that shall not be named" secret TA club horseshit and feel good about their awesomeness, and still other users could have their computers compromised by fongerchat malware, It was great fun, good times were had by all. The thing is, at some point the site needed to make a choice. Was it going to be a professional community with the common tie of game development, or was it going to be the gamedev version of 4chan with all the associated juvenile bullshit? I, personally, think they made the right choice. Other opinions differ.

I try to keep it interesting ;)

No, really, this is a very professional website, and I know that when I have a serious question, and need some solid and good information, I can come here and get that. Not a bunch of goofy people acting like they know stuff here.

So, I use this site for that purpose, and to get a feel of the industry as well (as in what type of people work in the industry).

I see this site as a resource for information, not as a hangout spot, and my posts usually are made to be a resource for beginners like me who may have similar questions when they come to this site.

Gamedev is great for getting answers, but it's not a social forum by any means.

Actually, it was, it the good old days of 199x and maybe 2007-ish or something.

Personally I think when Unity was released for window, people started to move to other forum. When Unity Basic released for free, more people move. When UDK have free and $99 version, now a lot of people leave.

Today are no longer the day when you want to create a game, then you learn Win32 and DirectX programming. So most people 'lounging' around in the respective game engine lounge.

The same with Andre La Mothse XGameStation forum. It was vibrant then. But now almost like a wasteland.

But Gamedev programming forum still useful.

My opinions on why GameDev Lounge is boring:

1. All of the topics are about procrastination, technical subjects, coding, humor in a professional setting, abstract questions leading to nowhere, and minor things involved.
2. Game programming is a serious business.
3. Programming in general isn't as debatable or discussion worthy as something you would react to, unlike this.
4. There's nothing out of the ordinary in programming. Everything is to be expected.
5. No surprises. None of them, which is the most lacking bit in the Lounge.