Topic: Do you guys realize this is our 5th "home"?

[Xessive]

I think this would be my 2nd or 3rd.. Yep, 3rd I completely forgot about the AOG boards Sorry I didn't mean to blurt it out!

[Ghandi]

I don't think that the revolution ever made it to an actual board, it was just on IRC. It didn't get too far before news of it got to AOG. But how glorious it was while it lasted.

[angrykeebler]

Have you all seen what AOG has evolved into?

www.homomojo.com

Yikes.

[scottws]

I heard about it, but I haven't been back to check or anything.

[PyroMenace]

I know who we left behind...

"OMG OMG I love Chingy!!11!"  and also Goldendarko and Raspewtin.

So many memories, I was still working my first job when I was on the IGN boards... damn that was a long time ago.

[scottws]

When did the IGN boards go Insider-only?  I think it was like Feb. 12, 2001.

[angrykeebler]

haha I remember Goldendarko..what a moron that guy was

[ren]

Raisa, what was your name on IGN? I don't remember you there.

[shock]

Yeah, it is amazing how you guys have hung together.

I was there at IGN, gamers.com(I went there when it was Pug and I and a couple of other people.  Mainly because I got banned for a week from IGN and had to get my fix somehow), AOG, but then I kind of dropped off for a while.  I missed the whole AOG drama, and rejoined TME a little bit ago. 

I still don't post much, and I know that you guys don't even notice me, but I still like coming around.   

[idolminds]

We notice you, though its because you smell.

[ren]

due to the TSS and all

[scottws]

due to the TSS and all

Hahahaha!!!

I remember not really thinking about it that way until someone pointed it out.  Ever since that time... 

[iPPi]

I've been on board since IGN.  Hehe.  My name has evolved quite a bit. 

[Pugnate]

I made a big deal about the Ender thing because I felt betrayed. I thought at the time Duck deserved more than an underhanded revolution. I actually felt he deserved an open and honest discussion after what he had given us. I also was upset because uptill that point I had put a lot of effort into AOG, including the migration from IGN and the reviews and the promotion and stuff.

I don't know why I put so much effort into AOG. I guess I gave the website a lot of my loyalty and then Duck came and fucked it up.

I was actually the one who brought Que in. I’ve actually never told this story before.

At the time we were seeking new editors and stuff and had finally filled our quota. Suddenly we got this 'fan mail' from this guy called Quemaqua. I think he said something along the lines of: I come to your website from time to time, and I enjoy the articles, especially the humor. But please don't take this the wrong way, I just think you guys need better editing.

He then proceeded to give lengthy examples of obvious blunders in our articles and how they could be corrected and made more effective-- mostly mine -- haha. I read his e-mail a couple of times and got really excited.

I had been looking for someone who could actually fucking write, to be on our staff for a while. At the time Duck did the editing and never gave it much time.

I messaged Que and he seemed quite touched and interested. It was the answer to my prayers, but as soon as I contacted Duck he disagreed. According to him we had already filled our staff.

So I think it was Cobra who I messaged and asked him to plead my case. So Cobra talked to Duck and then I spoke with him again and Duck finally agreed to let one final person in.

At the time things were looking excellent. I finally found someone who was dedicated and actually good at what he did, and our website was on gamerankings and rottentomatoes. It was even mentioned in PC GAMER – if for the wrong reasons. My reviews were mentioned on game boxes, the first of which was Wizardry 8.

But then things just got fucked up.

DuckFat had wanted to do crazy shit from day one, and it was only my influence that kept him in line. For example, did you know he wanted the website to have a pink and yellow colored theme? I think eventually he got tired of my disagreeing with him, and he just cut me off, which left me very upset.

I also find it funny that my friend shadowswhisper complained about the very things we did later, and everyone including myself told him to stop. I guess it got was too much for us later.

The gamers.com message board was created by DuckF for AOG initially. Since I was admin at the time I would try to get as many people from IGN to post at AOG as possible.

It was funny because I think Scottws and a bunch of other people got fed up by my efforts haha.


When IGN suddenly went insider only, I saw it as my opportunity. Unfortunately PMs were banned so I had only the subject line to work with. I sent a message to as many people as possible with something about going to AOG in the subject line.

It spread. People started helping me and passing the same message.

due to the TSS and all

haha man I remember that. I am sorry Toxy.

I had no idea what Toxic Shock meant, until I decided to do that lame shocking truth thread. When I searched on google, I was thinking jackpot. What is funny is how you changed your username after that hahahahaha.

[Quemaqua]

Heh, I've never heard anyone else tell the story.  I didn't know the part about anyone having to plead my case... I thought you did that alone.  I guess I must be thankful to Cobra, if that's whom it was who helped me get aboard.  I feel very blessed to have found you all.

But yeah, I had the same kind of betrayed feeling as Pug, even though I came in later.  I think what kind of happened was that Duck switched from Pug to me in terms of who was giving him what he wanted and putting in the effort, but ultimately he did the exact same shit to both of us.  At the time it was a little difficult to look at it all objectively, but it's pretty clear now how things happened.  A shame, but from this perspective I think it was completely unavoidable.

The only thing I miss about AOG was being admin and getting to see every last detail of the forum workings.  That was really neat.  It was my 2nd time modding and first time as admin after having been a forum flunky at various places for years.

EDIT - And oh how I remember the truth coming out.  Man, that was some funny stuff.  I keep waiting for someone to show me a link that proves my made-up pseudonym actually means "dog breath" in Japanese or something.

[Pugnate]

Heh, I've never heard anyone else tell the story.  I didn't know the part about anyone having to plead my case... I thought you did that alone.  I guess I must be thankful to Cobra, if that's whom it was who helped me get aboard.  I feel very blessed to have found you all.

See that was one of the problems I had with duckfat. He would make such idiotic decisions. It was obvious we needed you Que, because your writing gave us some class. I'll be honest, we all sucked. I mean some of us had potential, but Duck was never motivated to do any editing. He would go about hiring people who just simply could not write. Cobra was on the staff doing editing at the time, and at least Duck respected his opinions.

Duck was our leader at the time, and his biggest issue was his inability to comprimise. In my opinion there is no bigger man, than one who can admit he is wrong or has made a mistake.

It always came across that Duck hated agreeing with anyone else or changing his decisions. He kept you in the loop as long as you agreed with him.

I think Duck had an argument with Que at some point about something, when Que was unable to take his bullshit.

Duck sent me a message after a long time saying something along the lines of,"What is wrong with Que? Why is he so pissed off?"

All I wanted to respond with was, "FUCK OFF."

Man this has turned into an anti Duck thread fast.

Despite everything, I still feel some good for the Duckster. If it weren't for AOG, we would have all been lost.

[Quemaqua]

We do owe him that, I guess.  Just a shame things had to go down with as much bad blood as they did.  By the end of it I was raging pretty hard.

[scottws]

It was destined to go down in a bad way, I guess, but it didn't help - at all - that he enlisted the help of SiskoKid and madizm22 to just piss us off in that way.

He could have just been like, "I'm making a gay site.  You can stay if you want, or you can go."  Sure, we (at least I) would have still been pissed off, but it would have been softer thant what really happened.  The ultimate insult is that he later tried to ask people to come back, and when pretty much no one did, he referred to our time there as "The dark days of AOG" and shit like that.  Fuck him.

[Pugnate]

I think the problem was he was caught. What he has now he wanted from the beginning, but he knew that wouldn't get him traffic.

I showed him the easy way out and he took it. It excited him to get some traffic. But it ate him inside every day that the website wasn't exactly what he had envisioned.

He really went about it the wrong way. In the end he bad mouthed us on other gay forums to get those guys to post on AOG. He posted there as if he was a victim. This was before our anger.

You are right, fuck him.

He was like a prostitute.

[idolminds]

See that was one of the problems I had with duckfat. He would make such idiotic decisions. It was obvious we needed you Que, because your writing gave us some class. I'll be honest, we all sucked. I mean some of us had potential, but Duck was never motivated to do any editing. He would go about hiring people who just simply could not write.

Seriously, he hired me. What a nutjob.

[ender]

Crazy stuff. To be honest, everytime I'm posting I'm still fucked up by the fact that Savarian_Syan is Matt. That was the most mind blowing shit of all time. I still don't even believe it.

[scottws]

That was pretty crazy and sort of unforseen (or was it?  Do cool gamer chicks like savarian_syan really exist?), but I've completely gotten over it.

[idolminds]

Do cool gamer chicks like savarian_syan really exist?

Obviously, no. I'll always remember that because he broke the news on my birthday.

[Pugnate]

haha man when I still think about it, I still have trouble believing it. Sav didn't exist... it is hard for me to grasp.

I mean sure Matt is the same person when he is Sirean, but no not really. When he posted as Sav he seemed I dunno... darker? He was bitchy, he had a mean streak, yet Sav's personality made her feel real.

Now he just seems depressed, like he isn't letting his personality out. I don't know, it seems like Matt has lost his sense of fun/humor since the incident.

I am probably imagining all this.

One thing I am grateful for is that we got past it, and Matt is still with us. That is great.

[ender]

Yeah, it's just totally weird to me. I just think of it as Sav having died in some tragic accident and now Matt is some new guy.... yet not quite!

[Quemaqua]

Heh, it blew my mind at the time.  Then we became good friends and I honestly don't even think of Sav and Matt as separate entities anymore.  It's all blended together because he really isn't any different now than he was.  As weird as it was for me at first (and believe me, it was weird), it isn't even something that crosses my mind anymore.  He's honestly one of the coolest people I know.

[ren]

I think I'm the only one who found it more funny and awesome than weird. He totally fooled us all. It was great! I liked it.

[sirean_syan]

Aw hell. I'm sorry about that. Next time I take off another mask I'll make sure that it's not a special day to anyone. The fact that I wasn't shuned still amazes me and things have definitely turned out for the better (at least on my end). Hopefully the lingering doubts will fade with time... In a lot of ways I've purposely been more subded and quiet on the boards because I don't want to overstep my bounds. So, you haven't really been imagining things, Pug. Que has the advantage of being able to actually talk to me, so I'm sure that's helped him. At least now I can actually attend any sort of meeting that happens.

For some reason I sorta caught the tail end of a lot of the AOG drama. I must have been away for a couple days or something and came back to find a huge fight... actually, I'm remembering now that's exactly what happen. I don't remember where I was, but I do remember coming on and having to read through a huge thread pretty much after the fact.

[idolminds]

You have more masks? ZOMG! You're actually a chick pretending to be a guy that was pretending to be a chick!

[sirean_syan]

No.

Actually, have you ever seen V? Not the newer movie, but that old sci-fi classic.

[Pugnate]

Or maybe this is like Mission Impossible?

Sirean removes one more mask and is actually Tom Cruise!

[sirean_syan]

You take that back! Really, the thought of being like Tom Cruise is just offensive.

[idolminds]

HAIL XENU!

[scottws]

No.

Actually, have you ever seen V? Not the newer movie, but that old sci-fi classic.

I've seen it, but I'm not sure what you are alluding to.

[Pugnate]

You take that back! Really, the thought of being like Tom Cruise is just offensive.

I apologize. No one deserves that.

[sirean_syan]

I've seen it, but I'm not sure what you are alluding to.

I think I got my sci-fi movies right.

(click to show/hide)

They're lizards underneath the human masks!

[scottws]

Ah!  Been a real long time since I'd seen the movie.

[Pugnate]

haha that show brings back memories. I can hardly remember it, except for the lizardy stuff.

I used to watch the TV show when I was a kid, and I remember looking forward to seeing them as their lizardy selves, yet being frightened at the same time.

[gpw11]

What the hell is TSS?

Edit, oh, wait.....Toxic Shock Syndrom?  Is that what he was named after?  hahahahahahahaa.  Who is that now?






I had a girlfriend in like grade 9 who was terrified of it because her mom was sure to warn her about it pretty much every day when she was 11 or 12.  Awesome.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I have never heard the story of how Que got into AOG via Pug and Cobra, interesting story.

Anyways, I actually lurked on AOG from behind W7RE's shoulder for awhile because when I first moved in with him he was constantly on the boards and I usually hung out in his room from time to time and sometimes he would show me a funny post or topic someone made and I just eventually joined because some of you guys seemed cool.

Oh man the AOG drama, I remember being totally surprised by it because I hadn't been on the boards in like a month and I come to the boards just when everyone was in the thick of things.  To be honest though, I was very glad when the move to TME came to be because I was getting sick of the Christian bashing and other dumb fucks who hated any kind of conservative views and would chastise those that had them(you know who they were I don't need to say their names). I consider myself Atheist and probably more liberal than conservative and it was getting old!  There was always some dick spouting out shit about Christianity fucks everything up or making retarded comments about Christianity without considering feelings of those who believed in it, including one of my best friends, W7RE.  I remember laughing about the whole tolerance message they were tyring to send because it was completely false, it ended up being "We tolerate your views as long as you are not Christian or conservative".  I was also getting tired of a lot of the people there who posted like 10 year olds and couldn't carry on a debate or conversation without personally insulting you.

I remember W7RE telling me about Sav-Matt when I was without a computer and just going "What the fuck?" for a minute or two and then getting over it.

Also Sirean, I guess it wasn't just my imagination about you being more subdued since your announcement but you don't need to be, I remember you posted almost as frequently as MysterD or Que, so get to posting more!