MiAmigo.
Yours is a tough question to answer on a lot of different levels. Most of the problems exist because over the years, some in this "community" (phrased lightly) have simply become too emotionally involved in what could be and have forgotten what's really important.
The Amiga, whether you're talking the hardware, the software, or the whole package, is nothing but a hobby. Hobbies by nature are supposed to be fun. It's marginally acceptable for someone to have pride in their hobby, but there are those here who go too far in defense of their chosen platform. That applies to BOTH sides of the coin. Trolling by negativity has become accepted methods, and in fact no one really understands (or is willing to accept) why such activities are harmful by nature to both others and the community..
I will grant you that it was a long, tormented road to get from the caring, compassionate community we used to be to the unhappy dissidents who seem to remain. Most "real people" have long-since given up on the Amiga and moved on to other platforms.
Elaborating on "tormented roads", all of this started before most of the remaining miscreants even owned Amigas. In the beginning, we were all unified. We all had one single platform. There were 10x more of us, and we were happy as bugs in warm spaces to have them, play with them, expanded, and tinker with them. The Amiga literally covered up our entire lives with games, fun, and friends.
I know I'm very badly over-simplifying, but.... :
In 1994, assaulted by both market pressures and marketing incompetence, Commodore died. Some would argue that this was the death of the Amiga platform -- and on some levels they would be right.
In 1997/1998, hope came to light after the cadaver dogs were run off, leaving Gateway as the official owner of the name brand. More hope was given when they actually presented us with a future which -- at the time -- would have put us back in front of even the PC's of the world. We all got emotionally invested with Gateway's vision of the future. When the powers that be got tired of dumping money into the idea, they decided to discard the Amiga. This marks pretty much the second time that the Amiga community members felt betrayed and crushed. (Personally speaking, I mark the Gateway era as the last good time of hope for the Amiga).
Skip to 2000.
At the 2000 Saint Louis show (I believe it was StL. Hell, it was 5 years ago), Bill McEwen (a former Gateway consultant) appears before the remaining faithful and announces that they have "bought the rights" to the Amiga and they have lots of ideas (what have become known as "fleecyisms") about the future of the Amiga, which do not in any way involve the desktop. In other words (theirs), "AmigaOS is dead", but they would be happy to sell us an underpowered, overpriced PC to develop DE applications on. During an impromtu meeting with the UGN, McEwen -- in response to a question from a UGN representative -- confirms that they're going to build Amiga Inc with the intention of "getting bought out". Strike two for the remaining Amiga faithful who left that show (or attended virtually through the UGN) pretty much scratching their heads and confused.
During the period of 2001 through 2002 comes the big tech market crash, followed by many little scandals and rumors involving Amiga Inc. Rumors of bankruptcy. Rumors of evictions, rumors of unpaid employees. Infamous $50 coupons/t-shirts/whateverthehell that was were paid for by the community, and McEwen even hints that we've paid his rent for the month at the Sacramento show.
The Amiga community begins to literally hate "BillandFleecyCo" and even the name "Fleecy" begins to take on a more appropriate feeling because there's no hint of activity within Amiga Inc. Not by way of computer, Operating system, or even the damnable t-shirts. Continual neglect and even intentional disregard towards the community by Amiga Inc instills even more hatred and mistrust in the hearts of the remaining Amiga faithful. The online community begins to really dig in and rebel against McEwen and company as a direct result of Amiga Inc's actions during this time.
AmigaOS 4.0 and the AmigaOne are announced, but they have nothing to do with Amiga Inc other than the name. "DE is our only future concern" is spoken by McEwen. Sigh...
2002/2003 -- Enter the next self-proclaimed savior -- Bill Buck.
I can't say much about Bill Buck because my own history is smudged by my own stupid decision to follow the false savior. Some (usually trolls themselves) will now invariably take this opportunity to attack me yet again for my mistakes in the past. I've already apologized enough for the part I've played there, so to those people... Sod off.
Suffice to say that Genesi appears on the scene and we get to witness entertaining lawsuits against Amiga Inc (towards whom a LOT of us were angry at the time).. This marks the first real demonstrable time when we're all turned into trolls which could be best described as "armchair lawyers", trying the case in public on forums.
We're also given by Genesi, the promise of a new and exciting Amiga-esque future firmly as a desktop machine. No waffling, no promises of a "fleecy future", just the desktop that a lot of us had wanted. Hell, while legally dubious, they even had a team which wasn't instantly impeachable by the scandals of the past (like Amiga Inc was at the time).
The Amiga "community" divides at the base level between those who fervently supported Amiga Inc, those who followed Genesi, and even those who tried desperately to accept both as legitimate paths to the Amiga future. For the first time, the Amiga community was fully at war with itself. Most of our reasonable members have washed their hands of it and moved to the PC or even Macintosh.
2004 -- More legal wishwashyness goes on with Amiga Inc and KMOS. Most of us don't even care any more. Those you hear {bleep}ing about it are those who've chosen "sides" and fervently defend their side, thinking it's perfectly fine to do so by trashing the "other side". The online community splits into very strict lines with sites spread between;
"Those who believe in the true Amiga future"
"Those who believe that licensing a trademark doesn't mean you're the only possibility".
"Those who're willing to accept all paths, as long as SOMETHING -- hell, ANYTHING happens."
In short, the Amiga "community" as it once was, is dead.
2005 -- Amiga Inc / KMOS is deathly silent (save for t-shirts), Genesi is reportedly bankrupt, MorphOS has been abandoned by Genesi, the MorphOS team is rebelling for non-payment, and the Amiga community is still fervently feeding upon itself. Certain members of both "sides" are actively practicing "Guerilla marketing" by trashing each other publicly, both directly and indirectly.
In the end, I would bet that less than 5% of you experienced what the real Amiga community was like in the beginning. I doubt that any of you could really ever understand why I would have gone out of the way to start this site. It used to be that the Amiga community was about friendship, and it didn't matter whether you were in Los Angeles California, or St. Petersburg Russia.
In the beginning, we all had one goal, one love, one thing in common. The Amiga. This site remains SIMPLY for the hope that we can get there again, somehow.
