Hello, everybody. I thought I should do something special, since we're inching up on Twists and Turns' 3 month anniversary. So, here is the Battle of the Message Boards! And afterwards there will be some miscellaneous news.
First, of course, must come the Town of Odyssey, also known as the ToO. Probably my most favorite thing about this message board is their cool acronym. Now, I am not a member. I will be saying flaws in all of the message boards, as well as the good things, so don't get mad if your a ToOite, or whatever.
The Town of Odyssey started on April 1, 2005, when the first Adventures in Odyssey forum, The Town Hall, began to get "a little heated", as the AIOWiki describes the situation. People went hog wild for this new board, with approximately 1,500 posts made in just that first day. Currently, there are 945,939 posts on the Town of Odyssey, with 1,172 members. The statistics are just mind-boggling, honestly, that a message boards for a radio drama could even exist in this day and age, much less have almost one million posts.
Now, time to give you my opinions on the ToO. You would think since I am not a member I have no idea what I am talking about. Though I am not proficient in this message board, I still check it quite frequently, and know a good deal about it. I have talked with CreativeThinker101 quite a bit on this topic, as well as a little with whittaker96, both ToO members. They both have under one-hundred posts on there. CreativeThinker stated in a post on Campbell County:
"...I would say the ToO is a very big, very confusing board that gets off-topic. I don't like it all that much,since half the time you don't know what anyone's talking about. And it's becoming a little old-fashioned in the age of web design, to be honest...."
And that's from a ToO member. Now, here's what I think. Like I said, I check the ToO for Odyssey discussion mainly. Trouble is, the Odyssey subforum, "Whit's End", is one of the least popular places on the board. In the last week, only five topics have been commented on. Maybe I am being too judgmental, without being on the board and all, but this is an Odyssey forum, so let's at least include Odyssey in there somewhere, folks!
Also, I've noticed on several Odyssey topics that they turn it into an Odyssey/Doctor Who mashup. I don't watch the show, I've only heard of it, and a good portion of what I know of it comes from rading the AIO-related topics on the ToO. If you don't believe me, follow this link: http://thetoo.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=32063 . Though it starts out like a normal topic, it quickly turns into the Twenty-Seventh Annual Doctor Who Convention.
But, let me give a tip of the hat to the notable members on the ToO. Notable members include Peachey Keen, Marvin DeSanchez, Christian A., Bren, Vic (aka Victoria Donahue), and fodo14.
The Town of Odyssey started on April 1, 2005, when the first Adventures in Odyssey forum, The Town Hall, began to get "a little heated", as the AIOWiki describes the situation. People went hog wild for this new board, with approximately 1,500 posts made in just that first day. Currently, there are 945,939 posts on the Town of Odyssey, with 1,172 members. The statistics are just mind-boggling, honestly, that a message boards for a radio drama could even exist in this day and age, much less have almost one million posts.
Now, time to give you my opinions on the ToO. You would think since I am not a member I have no idea what I am talking about. Though I am not proficient in this message board, I still check it quite frequently, and know a good deal about it. I have talked with CreativeThinker101 quite a bit on this topic, as well as a little with whittaker96, both ToO members. They both have under one-hundred posts on there. CreativeThinker stated in a post on Campbell County:
"...I would say the ToO is a very big, very confusing board that gets off-topic. I don't like it all that much,since half the time you don't know what anyone's talking about. And it's becoming a little old-fashioned in the age of web design, to be honest...."
And that's from a ToO member. Now, here's what I think. Like I said, I check the ToO for Odyssey discussion mainly. Trouble is, the Odyssey subforum, "Whit's End", is one of the least popular places on the board. In the last week, only five topics have been commented on. Maybe I am being too judgmental, without being on the board and all, but this is an Odyssey forum, so let's at least include Odyssey in there somewhere, folks!
Also, I've noticed on several Odyssey topics that they turn it into an Odyssey/Doctor Who mashup. I don't watch the show, I've only heard of it, and a good portion of what I know of it comes from rading the AIO-related topics on the ToO. If you don't believe me, follow this link: http://thetoo.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=32063 . Though it starts out like a normal topic, it quickly turns into the Twenty-Seventh Annual Doctor Who Convention.
But, let me give a tip of the hat to the notable members on the ToO. Notable members include Peachey Keen, Marvin DeSanchez, Christian A., Bren, Vic (aka Victoria Donahue), and fodo14.
After several years, another message board appeared. Previously, the ToO had some competition from a smaller message board called the Electric Palace, run by Brendon McFarland of the Whit's End Podcast. After that died, Brendon took another whack at the message board scenario, in which he produced The Campbell County Message Boards. This board was launched in October 6, 2009, and became an immediate success, though not such as the ToO.
Campbell County, no matter whether you like it or not, has to be given credit. It's been shut down, at least one time to my knowledge, and I believe there were several other times, as well. The County currently has a total of 30,377 posts, and 128 users. A far cry from the mighty ToO. However, this place has some of themost unique features. Examples include:
1).Usergroups for people of different interests. Includes Debate Team, The Artistes, Girl's Group, Guy's Group, and more!
2).Blogs. Ever wanted to start a blog? You can do it on CC!
3).The Bookshelves. A place where the users can put their own pieces of literature.
This is just an amazing board that everybody should be a part of. If you're not posting on it much, you should post more. Bren did an amazing job getting this together and restarting it. One look at the board tells you how amazingly creative a person he and the members are.
Notable members for this board include: CreativeThinker101, Pound Foolish, Marvin DeSanchez (former), Peachey Keen (former), HannahJ, and T.S. (myself).
Campbell County, no matter whether you like it or not, has to be given credit. It's been shut down, at least one time to my knowledge, and I believe there were several other times, as well. The County currently has a total of 30,377 posts, and 128 users. A far cry from the mighty ToO. However, this place has some of themost unique features. Examples include:
1).Usergroups for people of different interests. Includes Debate Team, The Artistes, Girl's Group, Guy's Group, and more!
2).Blogs. Ever wanted to start a blog? You can do it on CC!
3).The Bookshelves. A place where the users can put their own pieces of literature.
This is just an amazing board that everybody should be a part of. If you're not posting on it much, you should post more. Bren did an amazing job getting this together and restarting it. One look at the board tells you how amazingly creative a person he and the members are.
Notable members for this board include: CreativeThinker101, Pound Foolish, Marvin DeSanchez (former), Peachey Keen (former), HannahJ, and T.S. (myself).
In May 9, 2012, (Before Campbell County was relaunched, mind you.), Jacob Isom opened a whole new avenue in the form of an Adventures in Odyssey message board. Not just any message board, though. Not like the ToO or Campbell County. This was a whole new setup, designed to talk specifically about Adventures in Odyssey. In the words of Jacob Isom himself:
"...We understand that there are larger scale message boards in the AIO online community to allow for fans to discuss anything and everything from Adventures in Odyssey to prunes (and we recommend them!). The Soda Shop Message Boards have been provided mainly to discuss Adventures in Odyssey- a more narrowed-down message board pertaining to Focus on the Family's popular audio drama for "tweens". Age doesn't matter at the Soda Shop. Feel free to step up to the counter and join the conversation....."
Currently there are 21,147 posts on the Soda Shop, as well as 137 users. Basically the board is about Odyssey, though recently there has been more of a downturn to Odyssey-related topics and an uswing in games. However, considering this message board is newer, things can turn around. Not that that's a bad thing, though.
Notable members include: T.S. (myself), Christian A., The Old Judge (Please don't think I'm conceited.), Wooton Bassett, CreativeThinker101, Aaron Wiley, Bren, and Jacob Isom.
Overall, I would say Campbell County wins, in my opinion. However, that may not be yours. Please tell me your favorites in the comments below. And now, for the news.
"...We understand that there are larger scale message boards in the AIO online community to allow for fans to discuss anything and everything from Adventures in Odyssey to prunes (and we recommend them!). The Soda Shop Message Boards have been provided mainly to discuss Adventures in Odyssey- a more narrowed-down message board pertaining to Focus on the Family's popular audio drama for "tweens". Age doesn't matter at the Soda Shop. Feel free to step up to the counter and join the conversation....."
Currently there are 21,147 posts on the Soda Shop, as well as 137 users. Basically the board is about Odyssey, though recently there has been more of a downturn to Odyssey-related topics and an uswing in games. However, considering this message board is newer, things can turn around. Not that that's a bad thing, though.
Notable members include: T.S. (myself), Christian A., The Old Judge (Please don't think I'm conceited.), Wooton Bassett, CreativeThinker101, Aaron Wiley, Bren, and Jacob Isom.
Overall, I would say Campbell County wins, in my opinion. However, that may not be yours. Please tell me your favorites in the comments below. And now, for the news.
Social Shoutout 7 is now released, and in it Brock and Evan discuss the Get in the Show auditions, the Get in the Show Music Video contest, Clubhouse magazine, and more!
Thre Imagination Station Books #1-#3 are now in a collector's pack, and only for $11.99, wheras, acoording to the AIO Update, buying them seperately would cost $13.47. Personally, I enjoy the books seperately, because they each have their book number, more cover art, etc. Here is the summary of this book: "Climb aboard, kids! Travel back in time and sail with the Vikings, meet a Roman emperor, come face to face with China's Kublai Khan, and experience a host of other historical adventures in the Imagination Station series for young readers. This set includes the first three books in the series: Voyage with the Vikings, Attack at the Arena, and Peril in the Palace."
Agent 3XQ has finally got to his twentieth post, roughly two years after his first one. This "Agent's Log" is titled, "Mysterious Notes", and is actually quite nice. You can check that out at
http://agent-3xq.blogspot.com/ .
http://agent-3xq.blogspot.com/ .
Out of Control in Odyssey has released their first feature, entitled, "The Odyssey Phone Book". It is a collection of all the people in Odyssey, where they live, and all that information. You can check that out at http://odysseyoutofcontrol.blogspot.com/p/the-odyssey-phone-book.html .
I know, I haven't used this logo in forever. Do you know how you see a teeny-tiny detail in something, and are utterly shocked when it finally hits you what that detail meant? Well, I saw something on Google that the Boredom Buster Podcast's website had been updated twenty-one hours ago! So, I looked on it, and here's what I found: http://boredombusterpodcast.weebly.com/blog.html .
Just Another AIO Blog released their AIO Websters ceremony yesterday, as well as a review of "Wooton Knows Best". Here's the link to the ceremony: http://justanotheraioblog.blogspot.com/ , and here is how Twists and Turns did in its respective categories.
*Warning: The results of the AIO Websters will make you hoot and holler like a maniac at how Twists and Turns came up in the standings so loud and uncontrollably that there is a 99.999999% chance you will get shipped off to an insane asylum in the Aleutians. Thank you.*
In the category of Favorite New AIO Site/Blog/Podcast, Twists and Turns came in fourth with 13% percent of the vote.
In the category of Favorite AIO Blog/Site Post, "One Month Anniversary....And I'm Celebrating with Orbs", Twists and Turns' representative, tied for third place with 0% of the vote.
In the category of Best AIO Blog/Site Feature, The Courtroom came in fourth with 12% of the vote, and The Imagination Station came in fifth with 6% of the vote.
In the category of Favorite AIO Website, Twists and Turns ranked second with 21% of the vote, losing to The Odyssey Scoop, (That's a given.), which had 51% of the vote.
*Warning: The results of the AIO Websters will make you hoot and holler like a maniac at how Twists and Turns came up in the standings so loud and uncontrollably that there is a 99.999999% chance you will get shipped off to an insane asylum in the Aleutians. Thank you.*
In the category of Favorite New AIO Site/Blog/Podcast, Twists and Turns came in fourth with 13% percent of the vote.
In the category of Favorite AIO Blog/Site Post, "One Month Anniversary....And I'm Celebrating with Orbs", Twists and Turns' representative, tied for third place with 0% of the vote.
In the category of Best AIO Blog/Site Feature, The Courtroom came in fourth with 12% of the vote, and The Imagination Station came in fifth with 6% of the vote.
In the category of Favorite AIO Website, Twists and Turns ranked second with 21% of the vote, losing to The Odyssey Scoop, (That's a given.), which had 51% of the vote.
Installment 8 of Adventures in Connellsville is out, and boy is it exciting! There's an alley! There's people tied up! There's a kidnapped little boy! There's....Well, you'll just have to figure the rest out. You can check that out at http://justanotheraioblog.blogspot.com/p/adventures-in-connellsville.html .
Abby and Mandie's Adventures in Odyssey Podcast has hit its tenth episode! In this edition, they interview Ashley, a fan who made a video edition of The Labyrinth, Part 1. Now, ten is a big milestone, because all of the fan podcasts that didn't make it, to my knowledge, never broke the "ten" barrier. So, good job, girls. Keep up the great work! And, you can check that podcast out at their new website! That's right! Abby and Mandie got a new website yesterday! It's http://abbyandmandieshow.cluhost.info/ . ANd just so you know where to find the podcasts, go to "Blog". They're all listed chronologically, so Episode 1 comes first, and so on and so forth. The newest podcast will be at the bottom.
So, everybody, I hope you have a great Labor Day. I'm sorry if my last post wasn't good, considering I only garnered two comments from it. Well, that's all for now, so stay tuned, and I hope you enjoy Twists and Turns!
---The Old Judge
(Oh, and just so everybody knows, I counted my posts a couple of days ago. This is Number 44!)
---The Old Judge
(Oh, and just so everybody knows, I counted my posts a couple of days ago. This is Number 44!)
