So I think this was about due

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So I think this was about due

Post by SupSuper » Wed Jun 26, 2013 8:54 pm

Back in the early days of the Team17 Forum when APJ was still running the place, he kept a very tight leash on any kind of off-topic/spam posting, since this was back when the internet was much more serious business. The community still craved for a place to just post about stuff though, so eventually he settled on a compromise. And thus the Open Discussion forum (colloquially known as OD) was born, devoted strictly to posting about stuff (within the rules).

However, this was a privilege, not a right. To keep the place in check, the Open Discussion was only accessible to Seniors of the forum (anyone with 300+ posts IIRC), and hidden to everyone else. To avoid spamming your way to it, nobody was allowed to discuss or mention it at all in other forums, and being caught doing so would have serious penalties. It was a complete secret to everyone but the select few. Later on having "300+ posts" became a much more common thing, so to keep spammers out, the policy was changed to "invite-only". This tradition was proudly carried on by every future Team17 webmaster.

So OD members enjoyed just posting about stuff, talking about games, life and what-not, and this kind of more personal discussion caused a "community" to form inside OD, with a lot of members getting in contact and becoming friends outside of the place. It was the home of many silly discussions, games, meet-ups, projects, gimmicks and what not. This kind of segregation also caused tensions and internet drama though, specially since like all secrets, it wasn't very well-kept and caused a hub-bub everytime someone outside OD caught wind of it and got all serious about it. In the end it was just another place to post about stuff on the internet, and it was much more inactive than the rest of the forum anyways. It was an interesting place to be sure though, and the first internet community for a lot of us.

So there you are. The mystery, or what's left of it, is over.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Thurbo » Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:41 pm

That was already revealed to the entire Team17 forum as Bethany "accidentally", more like "unwittingly", merged the Off-Topic forum section with the OD section. All of the OD posts were deleted a week later. :P

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by MtlAngelus » Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:55 pm

SupSuper wrote: So OD members enjoyed just posting about stuff, talking about games, life and what-not
And messing with outside people. Don't forget that part. It was the best part. :p
Thurbo wrote:That was already revealed to the entire Team17 forum as Bethany "accidentally", more like "unwittingly", merged the Off-Topic forum section with the OD section. All of the OD posts were deleted a week later. :P
Actually, it was restored. Well, it was technically "archived", but we could still post on it. It remained largely unused after that tho.

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Bloopy » Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:23 am

It may have been 500+. It was changed to invite only by the time I reached the required number of posts, and you buggers took forever to invite me. :P

The avatar fads were one of the best things, even though I think I only participated once. I don't know if that magic could ever be created again on another forum.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by SupSuper » Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:41 am

Thurbo wrote:That was already revealed to the entire Team17 forum as Bethany "accidentally", more like "unwittingly", merged the Off-Topic forum section with the OD section. All of the OD posts were deleted a week later. :P
Only that wasn't what happened at all. :P It was unhidden for a while, then hidden again and some threads moved to OO. See that's the whole point of this thread, sharing history.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by KRD » Thu Jun 27, 2013 1:35 am

Tied second coolest Worms-related secret society, I tip my hat to everyone who made it a thing!

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by MtlAngelus » Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:15 am

SupSuper wrote:Only that wasn't what happened at all. :P It was unhidden for a while, then hidden again and some threads moved to OO. See that's the whole point of this thread, sharing history.
Actually, she did merge both forums, and thus un-hid OD in the process. I think she wasn't aware that OD was a hidden forum and just kind of wondered why there were two sections that served the same purpose, and thus decided to merge them.

She then sort of tried to move some threads back when some of us pointed out personal info had been shared, and then she sort of decided to sod it and just put everything back where it was. :p

At least that's how I remember it. 8-)
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I take all the credit.

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Zeor » Thu Jun 27, 2013 3:11 am

MtlAngelus wrote:Actually, she did merge both forums, and thus un-hid OD in the process. I think she wasn't aware that OD was a hidden forum and just kind of wondered why there were two sections that served the same purpose, and thus decided to merge them.

She then sort of tried to move some threads back when some of us pointed out personal info had been shared, and then she sort of decided to sod it and just put everything back where it was. :p

At least that's how I remember it. 8-) .
Sounds about right to me, yeah.

In retrospect, OD sure was at the center of a lot of nerd drama, but I still miss it.

I was talking with Plasma the other day about the forum going down, and when I said something about having been there almost daily the entire time, he said he thought I went absent for a few years. Didn't occur to me until some time later that the "outside forum" probably did think that. :P I was almost OD exclusive for some time.

I'd hesitate to say I regret it, to be honest.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Akuryou13 » Thu Jun 27, 2013 5:30 am

Zeor wrote:
MtlAngelus wrote:Actually, she did merge both forums, and thus un-hid OD in the process. I think she wasn't aware that OD was a hidden forum and just kind of wondered why there were two sections that served the same purpose, and thus decided to merge them.

She then sort of tried to move some threads back when some of us pointed out personal info had been shared, and then she sort of decided to sod it and just put everything back where it was. :p

At least that's how I remember it. 8-) .
Sounds about right to me, yeah.

In retrospect, OD sure was at the center of a lot of nerd drama, but I still miss it.

I was talking with Plasma the other day about the forum going down, and when I said something about having been there almost daily the entire time, he said he thought I went absent for a few years. Didn't occur to me until some time later that the "outside forum" probably did think that. :P I was almost OD exclusive for some time.

I'd hesitate to say I regret it, to be honest.
Lol, I've wondered about that since I got added to OD as well. What did the forum look like to those not in OD these last few years, because OD remained at least somewhat active, in terms of friendship and community, well beyond the Fanart section or OO. How dead must things have seemed without those few active OD threads? Or was I just absent from the mass public even as I remained active in OD, and just didn't realize I was excluding myself from the general populace?

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Thurbo » Thu Jun 27, 2013 1:15 pm

What it seemed like was a lot of people that never ever posted anything anywhere still constantly showed up in the currently online members bar. Very curious.

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Akuryou13 » Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:25 pm

Thurbo wrote:What it seemed like was a lot of people that never ever posted anything anywhere still constantly showed up in the currently online members bar. Very curious.
Well there WERE quite a few people who legitimately did that. The moment their name was referenced, they would reply as if they'd been there all along, but would never post in normal conversation.

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by MonkeyforaHead » Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:08 pm

Bloopy wrote:The avatar fads were one of the best things, even though I think I only participated once. I don't know if that magic could ever be created again on another forum.
I know Zero doesn't think too highly of it on the whole and it's true it's an incredibly strictly policed place which is kind of necessary given its population, but bits of magic are born on Something Awful every now and again. The CAD mock thread can be a bit hit or miss, but every now and then some incredible artists would crop up with their own input and interpretation of the cast, or someone would come up with some insane, elaborate interpretation of an underlying story that was entertaining and oddly plausible. It's kind of akin to looking at Garfield in its current state and remembering that old story arc that seemed to indicate the comic as we know it is all taking place in Garfield's head as he slowly wastes away in the abandoned house once owned by Jon.

There was the ever-present joke of Duke Nukem Forever in the Games forum. Any time it came up, AxeManiac, one of the moderators, would put on this facade of spreading the one true gospel of Duke, painting him as this messianic figure preparing for his second coming, etc., and anyone who spoke sufficiently ill of the Duke was FOREVER BANNED -- which was not an actual probationary status, but instead a big branding avatar that could not be replaced by the user, to be removed only when DNF was released. Except then DNF actually was released, not too long after, and so the condition was changed to "when DNF and Half-Life 3 are released".

Unfortunately I think all the posters with that avatar have since moved on to other things or gotten themselves legitimately banned by other means. Perhaps there is someone left just biding their time, waiting for HL3 to make their reappearance and request their avatar privileges back. Perhaps we'll never know.

And then there was the birth of Let's Play, which exploded so violently it had to be segregated to its own subforum and eventually spilled over onto YouTube in the worst way imaginable and now we have PewDiePie and the like. But I specifically remember an LP of Sprung early on, an astonishingly laughable launch-window DS non-Japanese visual novel / dating sim in which among other things the protagonist has the option to just spontaneously mace anyone in the face at any time after receiving it (usually resulting in an instant game over). References and in-jokes spilled over into other LP threads at the time and it spawned an avatar fad of its own.

Wow. I actually joined there 7 years ago. It's not as old as OD, but I'm kind of nostalgic about SA too. :P
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Bloopy » Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:49 am

Thanks for the wall of text. Now allow me to rephrase. :P I don't know if that magic could ever be created again on another forum by us as a group, because there's no longer a single forum ripe with unsuspecting newbies that we all use. Maybe we could quietly assimilate into the TUS community and then spring it on them.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by MonkeyforaHead » Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:50 am

For your '13 or 1300 words' needs, look no further. Nothing in between.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by StepS » Fri Jun 28, 2013 11:40 pm

oh so that's why. well then this finally breaks my suspicions about all of the ollies being the one same physical man.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by worMatty » Fri Jun 28, 2013 11:47 pm

I remember when I was enrolled in to the OD brotherhood it was like becoming aware because a superior human race had bestowed upon you intelligence and lifted you up in to their plane of existence.

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Slick » Sat Jun 29, 2013 1:45 am

It doesn't matter at this point but I found out about OD a long time before I actually joined. And knew who had access to it.
But even then, it was counted as a privilege to be invited. It wasn't just a secret forum, but a secret forum in a forum {read forum Inception} of a gaming company that anyone could find and access.
Not exactly like being apart of a select few on a Nintendo of America forum, but it was still pretty cool.
Best part about it was always referencing it out side of OD to only add to the conspiracy without never revealing anything.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Xinos » Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:13 pm

I.. I don't actually remember gaining access to OD, It was too long ago! :o

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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Zeor » Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:41 pm

I defaulted in back when it was just a minimum post requirement. I still kind of wonder if I would have made it in otherwise. :P Maybe.
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Re: So I think this was about due

Post by Pooka » Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:52 pm

I remember getting access, which was curious on account of the fact that I barely ever posted on the Forum.
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