I was just curious

[iggymcfly 0]

Like, how do we ever get them? If you can't read the forums without signing up, how do new people ever find us? I can't imagine signing up for a site that I'd never looked at.

 

Are we at the point where everyone new here comes because they actually know someone on the forums? Because if that's the case, I'd expect the site to die a slow and painful death.

[IllustriousOne 0]

I know this is crazy, but we have this thing called a main page, and when articles are posted (and I know we go awhile sometimes without them) there's talk about discussing things in the forums. Thus, readers of the main site gravitate to the forums and sign up.

 

Voila.

[Guest cosbywasmurdered]

That's just crazy enough to work.

[Mole 0]

What do people Google to find the site?

 

"How to be a smart mark?"

[iggymcfly 0]

I guess my thinking on the subject's just kind of egocentric. I just figured that since I have no interest in the main site any more that probably no one else does either. Well, that and the fact that there are about four articles posted there a week.

 

It just seems a little farfetched though for someone to sign up for the forums just because of an occasional mention from the main site though. Maybe if they were pimping it harder it would make more sense. I'm not denying it happens, but I personally can't imagine signing up for a message board without reading through it to see if it was worth my time.

[Guest DeputyHawk]

Wait, you can't even READ the foums without signing up? I thought you just couldn't post. What's the reasoning behind that? It sometimes seems people WANT this site to die...

[Guest Vitamin X]

It was to counter the vast majority of lurkers on the forums, but all they do is just go somewhere else. Which is good, because it's nice to have people consistently posting.

 

Some of the new members have been pretty cool. We just still have a couple idiots that have been here for a while, but none of the new ones are too bad.

[Black Lushus 0]

Now that I think about it, I honestly can't remember how I got to this forum in the first place...I'm talking waaaaaaaay back like 5 years ago through all of it's early incarnations...

[Youth N Asia 0]

I've never read anything on the main page, I just linked to the board directly

[Dr. Tom 0]

Wait, you can't even READ the foums without signing up? I thought you just couldn't post. What's the reasoning behind that? It sometimes seems people WANT this site to die...

Because guests use up as many server resources as regular members. And since we don't have a Cray supercomputer running this site, we decided to conserve resources by forcing lurkers to sign up or move on.

[Ripper 0]

I think that $cott Kieth was the one that got me to the forum back when he used to talk about his forum all the time. This is the first and only forum that I have ever signed up to, although I used to chat on the WWE chatline. I was the only person there that watched more than WWF. I still remember arguing about how the Dudleys would be an important tag team and how Chris Jerhico would be a great addition to the show. I got a lot of "the Dudleys suck because they studder" and "Chris Jerhico sucks because he is teh ghey with his long hair" so i decided to go to the site that the jaded angry fat canadian was always hyping. Been around you bastards every since.

[Jingus 0]

I always hung around Scoops way back in the day, and never really found another "home site" once they closed down. I eventually found The Smarks some kinda way back when Keith was king, been here ever since.

[Slayer 0]

I don't remember exactly how I got here, but I think it I found it through 411

[Art Sandusky 0]

I heard about TheSmarks via Wrestlecrap in May of 2001, but never looked at the forum much until December, and didn't sign up until January, when the yellow board was around and it was the slowest fucking website ever. After it changed over, I signed up again right after Wrestlemania XVIII ended.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Now that I think about it, I honestly can't remember how I got to this forum in the first place...I'm talking waaaaaaaay back like 5 years ago through all of it's early incarnations...

I'm the same way ... I lurked for a while and just read what others were posting, and then finally just joined.

 

And TSM has been a better place as a result.

[Jingus 0]

Oh, and if at any time we could afford the extra server capacity, we should really change the board back to being able to be read by anyone. I hate boards that force me to sign in just so I can read what's posted, it always strikes me as being exclusionary and elitist.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Well then, it goes right with our way of posting.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

I miss the days of crz

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I heard about SKeith through Rajah, and the Keith version of the board was pimped on some Rajah column. I lurked for a long while, and I can't remember what made me decide to start posting. I think it was on the end of the writing run i did on WrestlingClassics back before one of it's deaths.

[iggymcfly 0]

I had this shitty, slow pop-up ridden site I used to post at, and then I saw that this site worked fairly well, and got a lot of traffic, so I signed up. I posted all the time, for a few months, then I got bored with wrestling, and hardly posted at all for a year. This fall, I started posting all the time in Sports during college football season, and now I'm at the point where I waste way too much fucking time on here. I think how much I've been posting the last few months reflects directly on my life being too boring and empty right now.

[haws bah gawd 0]

I heard about this site through LordsofPain.net. I'm sure everyone here has been there at least once. Jackass Tito rules their forums with an iron fist, and bans you for disagreeing with him, not to mention he has an unhealthy obsession with Kurt Angle. They would post The Dame's Diatribes (JESUS CHRIST, HOW I MISS THEM!!!!!) for the weekly TNA shows, and would link back to TSM at the bottom of the reviews. I loved reading the Dame's show reviews because he was extremely descriptive, with match background recaps before reviewing the actual matches, and for the fact that he actually described everything that happened in the match. This sure beats the usual "Random Wrestler jumps off the ropes with an attack, gets slammed, theres the finish", reviews. I didn't have a problem signing up for the forums here though. I enjoy what I read here, and hope this place stays around for a long time.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I'm pretty sure I found the board through a link from 411wrestling years ago. I've been posting on the versions of this board since 2000 or 2001

[Guest Vitamin X]

I found the board through TheSmarks.com and saw it was the old Rantsylvania boards, which were filled with too much negativity and smarkism for my taste. I signed up and lurked anyways because the people seemed to be good sources of info, then when it became the TSM we all know and love today, I still lurked for about a year or so, posted for a few months, got pissed off with the idiots in the WWE folder, came back, discovered the other folders, then left again, and now I've been back with no life since I spend entirely way too much time on here when I don't have anything to do since I still don't really know anyone to hang out with here in Miami.

 

Or at least anyone worth talking to. I get my kicks and interesting discussion from this place.

[Ted the Poster 0]

That's frighteningly sad. Go see a movie or something.

[Slayer 0]

I get my kicks and interesting discussion from this place.

Hi

[Guest Vitamin X]

That's frighteningly sad. Go see a movie or something.

I do, all the time. I just haven't found people I feel comfortable to chill with here, I've only been here about a year or so.

 

It's not like I'm unhappy with it, I just accept it and move on.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

If you type in smart marks at Wikipedia.org you can find this site.

 

I thinkk Scott Keith mght have been associated with this site or linked to it or something and so I signed up.

[Guest Vitamin X]

edit

Edited April 24, 2005 by Vitamin X

[LatinAssasin 0]

I heard about this site through LordsofPain.net. They would post The Dame's Diatribes (JESUS CHRIST, HOW I MISS THEM!!!!!) for the weekly TNA shows, and would link back to TSM at the bottom of the reviews. I loved reading the Dame's show reviews because he was extremely descriptive, with match background recaps before reviewing the actual matches, and for the fact that he actually described everything that happened in the match. This sure beats the usual "Random Wrestler jumps off the ropes with an attack, gets slammed, theres the finish", reviews. I didn't have a problem signing up for the forums here though. I enjoy what I read here, and hope this place stays around for a long time.

Same here in regards on how I found the site.

 

Only reason I signed up is because y'all blocked guests from lurking. So now I just lurk as a member.

[IllustriousOne 0]

Guests can now view the board again as per the server upgrade.

 

As an aside: Scott Keith was the founder of the site that basically spawned this one a couple years ago, and that's really a very loose affiliation at best.