Hey, you all just mention how nice Jazzin' in the old days has been, and how bad the new days are. I don't know the old days, I play Jazz2 since it has been released, but the first time I played online was in May 2001.
So I just know the new days which most of you don't like (it seems so!). But did you ever think of reasons why they are so bad? You all mention the "rookies". Who is a "rookie"? Someone that starts playing right now? And, for most fo you, someone that is, in addition, bad. But why are they bad? Just watch what happens all the time in our servers: someone, a new Jazzer, perhaps he's playing his first time online, joins a server with good ppl in it. What will they say? I'm sure, and I've already seen this, that they say: "a rook! Ban the rooks". And then this guy is out of the server.
This is what you say everywhere you go at the moment. Everyone thinks bad of rooks, but nobody gives them a chance to become better. What would you, for example, have done if you would not have been the first Jazzers? Would you have liked the "old" guys banning you out from every high-quality server? Sure not.
But this banning is really the biggest problem of the new days. How can someone become better if he's still banned? That way, you'll only make the "rooks" come together in their own servers. And that way you make them hate you. You probably laugh now, but this is no joke. A community can't survive without new guys, and with your opinion of new players, the Jazz2-community will die, and not in a few years, but earlier.
I had luck. For you old guys, I'm a nub with my few months of online-experience. But why had I the luck to become better? I found someone that helped me: Aiko. He helps most german Jazzers (what I am) to become better, at least when he hosts good lvls, and good ppl join. He don't bans the "rooks" them, he lets them take part and play. So they can become better, and perhaps they are no "rooks" any more after a few weeks.

Another thing you mention what would be bad in the new days is that nobody knows martins levels. I also didn't know them 2 months ago. But how should I? Nobody hosts them, the old guys run away from the "rooks" to 1.23, and there are still good lvls hosted. The servers with good lvls in TSF are rare, and the most new players got Jazz2 with the SpecialEdition, I think. And this edition installs TSF automatically. So where shall they get 1.23 from, if they can't even contact anyone because they are still banned?
Perhaps a dedicated TSF-Server could help...



I hope you changed your opinion about the new days a bit now. And if so, we'll perhaps be able to talk about the good old days of 2001/02 in five years...