OK so now that a few got some things off of your chest, I guess we can step in...
A lot of the users brought up some great points (see
@Tbad556 and
@ChaseTuff) so I don't want to drill it in any more than it has. I think one major problem is that there seems to be a good amount of users who hover in just this thread alone (or at least the HHN section), and that can probably lead to some "stir craziness". We had every intention of trying to control this thread and felt we were doing pretty good up until all the COVID craziness started happening. Because it's been such a stressful time in the real world, I feel we've also been pretty good with letting the thread be its own thing outside of trying to at least keep it on track a few times. This thread has been one of the toughest ones to mod over the years because of the need to talk about something instead of letting the discussion happen organically and admittedly there's a thin line of what is speculation and what isn't. Speculation, in our minds, is based upon some semblance of fact or, at least, some "verified" rumor. I know it's difficult to really decipher what is verified or not, especially because those who know obviously can't share how they know or divulge much beyond some bread crumb discussion (and that opens up another issue because I know very well a few hate how that information is shared/the users who share them). I know we had this convo before a few months ago, but we've reached almost 500 pages on an event that we know practically nothing about and that's kinda nuts. As evident by some of the posters in the past few pages, some just come here for concrete info. Due to that, we tend to err on the side of their forum experience - because ultimately, it helps everyone when the thread is presented with some structure. As posted on Day 1 - "
there will be periods where there is no speculation or news, and that's OK. When there's something to discuss, there will be something to discuss." The forum exists beyond the Spec thread, and - within reason - you can talk to your heart's content on other threads about theme parks. The Icon and Lore thread created the other day is such a "duh" convo to have but it finally took THIS YEAR to create it. I really wanted to let you guys vent because we're kinda stuck on how to go forward other than just outright shutting down Spec and keeping discussions strictly about what gets actually announced.
I'd ask to please just see the other side of things and don't stay away for too long. I've been doing this for a long time, and the mods have been around a bit to know that even though you had every intention of making an innocent post, it can spiral out of control. Hope you come back sooner rather than later.