I can see how it would be difficult to escape HHN if your circle of friends works the event. As for the rest… maybe I’m just an old guy, but disconnecting from social media and even avoiding this particular forum can be beneficial. You’re a good poster, so it would be this forums loss, but HHN fandom is such a small, esoteric bit of the net it really can be avoided.
And yes, the Terrifier conversation was great. I’d love to see more discussions along those lines. Horror is such a tricky, multifaceted, socially relevant genre that there’s a lot to explore.
I do appreciate the kind words. It is definitely a rather small problem reflected and echoed greatly by my personal and fairly singular spot in life currently. The repetition has definitely begun to grind though, and it's coming from far more places than just here.
It's certainly nothing I would leave the forum over,
(I've been here since the Wet n' Wild closure, yall ain't never getting rid of me at this point haha!), because even here the HHN thread is an anomaly. It has its' own flow and expectations compared to the rest of the forum. It's a lot more fast-paced, antsier, and a lot more reactive. Not
as much of the larger, Terrifier-type discussions as other threads. A lot of regulars are here seemingly exclusively for Halloween discussion, and rarely dip into the larger part of IU. One can definitely enjoy the site without engaging with HHN threads much.
I do find it surprising just how ravenous this thread can be; especially with information that by all measures, they already basically know all that there is to know about it. It's just such a different beast compared to the rest of the site, and while I may have understood the appeal at some point, by now the novelty has worn off and I'd honestly rather they just drop the event information all at once on August 1st or something. I just don't get the intensity of it, or how someone can just be in constant, vigilant HHN mode for literal years and not get even a little tired of it.
It just feels like ... say, if back when
E3 was a big event; when it was the Christmas day for gaming news and announcements that it was for decades; What if by St. Patricks Day, we knew about 80% of the lineup of game reveal trailers for the presentations in June. and right after that week of big reveals, there was constant buzz and energy towards digging up the next year's reveals, and that energy about E3 just .. never stopped. For me, it would absolutely grow stale.
E3 was special because we didn't actually know what was going to happen; and because it was unusual and unique for so many games to be announced all at once. It was the singular week a year where any possible upcoming game could be shown off. Would it be fun to have that E3 energy all year? Maybe at first, but honestly after awhile, it's just overwhelming, and there probably wouldn't be all that much to talk about over a full year, and eventually I just kinda wish I could enjoy the actual reveal trailers again without them all being spoiled 8 months ahead of time. The events are special because E3, and HHN, aren't always happening; but for me, E3 kinda never ends? And it's unfortunately difficult to tune out of completely.
As I brought up in my original post though, I totally get how someone out-of-state; who isn't surrounded by the event year-round; that gets to experience seasons in a regular way; or anything like that might want to anticipate their upcoming trip or get ready for the chill autumnal weather. If this is anyone's thing, all power to you. It's just something that was on my mind regarding this speculation scene in particular, and my relationship to it.