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The History of the Board


Jon Targaryen

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Here is a history of the Board. Some of you will remember some of the events depicted fondly. For others, this is a chance to learn some of the history of our little community. :)

I need some help with recent history. You'll see what I have at the end but there is a lot more I know I'm missing. Please add anything you think should be included.

Note: This is basically a reposting of the thread Ser Camaris created at the old board. I am in debt to him for organizing the original thread.

Founding

Peter Gibbs created Dragonstone as the first major ASOIAF community. He had a FAQ and a board. KAH, Revanshe, and Jeff were there when Ran got there. Ran came in 1997 sometime. Dragonstone crashed and never recovered and Peter moved on to real life. Revanshe started a board on eesite and a website with then current information. Revanshe went to medical school and entrusted the board to Ran and the website to LindaElane, Relic and Benjen. We arrived at EZBoard on September 12 2000. So ends the founding. Original Board Members �€“ Peter Gibbs, KAH, Revanshe, Jeff, Markus, Ran, Min, LindaElane, Dirji, snake, Padraig

Events

Food Wars/Onion Wars - I wasn't there to witness it. Amyrc, Laughing Storm and Levendis. Onion King and his son Burger King versus forces of Good King Bronn. December 2000 My humble contribution was the Hannah Barbarians, led by the fearsome Cpt. Caveman.

The First Trial of Seven. Jan-April 2001

The Second Trial of Seven which led to founding of Songs of Westeros. April 15th 2001

Zorse Wars �€“Prince ByTor, Maltaran, Flayed Man and Lannister. United with armies of Smooove Billy Dee (Young Wolf). May 2001 IIRC, Laughing Storm brought back the Onion King to aid the Zorse, but he waged war for leadership with Young Wolf, who would accept no leader but Billy Dee. This created internecine combat within the Zorse ranks even as Amryc rallied forces to the banner of Good King Bronn to drive the Zorse from Westeros's fair shores.

Golden Zorse Awards Ceremony with Lord Baelish, OsRavan, Papz, Scaledun and CelticBrennus

The Onion King - another mock war

Porn Wars �€“ they might be midgets late 2001 early 2002

Emergence of Littlefinger Anti-Defamation League and later anti defamation/defamation leagues. Later banned by Ran.

Elect A President campaign

Restoration as told by Amryc (whiskeyjack) �€“ Jeor got it partially correct. The Restoration wasn't really a reaction to gratuitous posts. That would have been a little bit more than hypocritical, since Storm and I were responsible for a lot of threads like the Food Wars. Rather, it was a reaction to the inner-circle, clique-ish feeling that had overtaken the board at the time. It happened right after the first Wordcon where the BwB was a major presence (in Philadelphia).

See, that was supposed to be the irony. A clique to make fun of the cliques. It started mostly with the people involved in the role playing events that have since been moved over to Songs of Westeros (the Trials, etc.). We just thought up titles for each of us (Lord Commander, Prophet, Archmaester, etc.) and then put the titles in our signatures. People started asking about the titles, so we let other board members join in....we came up with a 'mock' command structure, where each new member would fit into a category set under each of the original members. Example....I was the Prophet, so a few people became Zealots.

One thing you have to realize is that most of the original Restoration members were into RP, so this kind of became another game for us. In fact, I was going to turn it into a free-form story thread with RP elements, where each person plays his character. No idea how it would have worked out, though, because there was an enormous backlash.

This is where the irony failed to hit its mark. A few people became upset about our clique. Since ours was a bit less subtle than the others that we felt existed, we became pretty obvious targets. A big flame war ensued. It was probably the first 'what is wrong with the board' series of threads that I can recall. We became vilified for both creating our own inner circle and claiming that another 'non-existent' inner circle existed on the board. Storm ending up leaving for good. I left for a few months, but came back for a variety of reasons. As Jeor said, though, I don't participate in discussions outside of sports as much as before.

I also recall that we had some sort of United States of Westeros government game with Senate elections. I think SergioCQH started it. I recall that Sword of the Morning was Dragonstone Senator. Then, in a beautiful effort, Manwoody (Senator from Dorne), Dirjj (Targaryen Royalists) and myself (non-allied brigands from the Reach) conspired together to foment rebellion against those ridiculous attempts at a Republic.

Buying 4 ASOS chapters. Fourthman did the copying. Bought in Nov 1999.

Jeor and Ants started the Aussie Threads in Oct 2000.

Off-shoot Boards

Board Beyond the Wall - first splinter board, a board for Revanshe�€™s website, known for creative writing and the book exchange �€“ link to board �€“ created by WolfBrotherRelic (Relic). Founded sometime between Jan and April 2001 Majority of the Neck can be found here.

Creation of Songs of Westeros board - second splinter board, dedicated to user-created wargames �€“ link to board - created by Amyrc (Whiskeyjack) and Laughing Storm. Most trials can be found here.

Storm�€™s End board �€“ 3rd splinter board, many Euros dedicated to feminism created by Cerys the Patryn (Lyanna Stark) and Scaledun

The Fingers �€“ created by Lord Baelish and Ghost of Nymeria

Ibben �€“ created by Papz

The Chat Board �€“ created by OsRavan, board simply for Chat

Creation of the Dark Fingers board �€“ founded by DarkLight140 and Lord Littlefinger, the founders participated in a 1000 post Spam thread in ASOIAF until it was deleted. In a fit of rage, they created their own board for spam.

The Writers Board �€“ founded by Lannister in 2002 before ConJose.

Melisandre�€™s Child�€™s board known for the Flame Shack

People

In order to avoid ego-tripping, I will only include one person (other than the founding members). That is Lord Manwoody. He was a moderator on EZBoard who died due to an illness. He is sorely missed.

The Brotherhood without Banners

Starting of Brotherhood without Banners

Lannister came up with name BWB. There was voting on different names including the Fans Beyond the Wall, and the Bloody Mummers.

PhilCon 2001 - Knights of the Cheesesteaks �€“ Padraig, Lodengarl, Lannister, Trebla, Telisaine, Aghrivaine, Yagathai, Babyraven, Lillith of Tarth, Greengerg, Trackerneil, Jeff, Andromeda, Ser Knight Somerville

Also in 2001 Archon in St. Louis

Trebla, Terraprime, Gareth of Starfall, Castellan Hauberk, Toryx

Conjose 2002 - the infamous Lady Mormont chapter, Knights who Said "Hint!" ConJose Con started by Lannister. It was formed in the lobby of the hotel with Caress of Cersei, Trebla, mouse and Aghrivaine. Lannister did not post it though.

Nicknames after ConJose.

Caress �€“ I tug my braids

Telisaine �€“ I shovel shit

Lannister �€“ A Lannister always hoards his nuts.

Padraig �€“ Devil Bunny

Lodey �€“ I LUV Harry Potter

Aggie �€“ Wandering Monkey Molester

Dirij �€“ Bleeding Heart Liberal

Torcon 2003 - Knights of Lamprey Pie �€“ further info at BWB site

NorEasCon 2004 �€“ Knights of Ye Old Roast Beef

GlasCon 2005 �€“ Knights of the Haggis

LACon 2006 �€“ Knights of the Pink Dog

Mods

Ran was an administrator since before the start of EzBoard.

KAH was the only mod at the founding of EzBoard.

Trebla, Lord Manwoody and Terraprime were created mods at the same time.

Then came Dalla with Child, Harry the Heir and Mormont.

Davos was added sometime later.

Linda became an Administrator at the new board.

Lodey was chosen to lead the BWB forum at the start of the new board.

Jon Targaryen was chosen to lead the General and AFFC forums in Feb 06

Werthead was chosen to lead General, AFFC and Literature at the same time.

Also at the same time, Zahir Al Daoud was chosen to lead Literature.

During the AFFC Re-read Project, Cteresa was chosen to lead that.

Caress of Cersei and dajamieson were chosen to lead BWB along with Lodey after LACon.

Brudewollen was added as Entertainment leader in Sep 06.

Xray the Enforcer was made a global mod at the same time.

Sophelia was made leader of Forum Games at some time.

New Board

The Thread That Never Ends �€“ started by OsRavan with the description �€œIt just goes on an on my friend�€� Moved to Forum Games and does not count towards post count

Naked Hatted Avatar Week �€“ started by Zakalewe and is what it says

Splintering of old Miscellaneous �€“ Miscellaneous was splintered into General Chatter, Entertainment and Forum Games

So if anyone has anything to add, post it here. Thanks. :)

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I oppose this distribution of vile lies and calumnies!

I shall provide you the real history of the board, as follows.

I was first.

The rest of you are still newbies, as far as I am concerned!

Thank you, and please leave your praise and adulation at the bottom of the thread.

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Jeff and Andromeda, who do not post anymore, were also a founding members at Philcon. :)

ETA: Oh and SirKnight Somerville!

and the only thing KAH was first at was WRONG BOOK THEORIES!!!! :fence:

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Peter Gibbs created Dragonstone as the first major ASOIAF community. He had a FAQ and a board. KAH, Revanshe, and Jeff were there when Ran got there. Ran came in 1997 sometime.

I thought the Dragonstone board was started in 1998? Around the time aCoK came out. Now admittedly, I didn't arrive until the beginning of 1999 but I never had the impression that it was around well over a year.

Thank you, and please leave your praise and adulation at the bottom of the thread.

I'm thinking!

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I thought the Dragonstone board was started in 1998? Around the time aCoK came out. Now admittedly, I didn't arrive until the beginning of 1999 but I never had the impression that it was around well over a year.

Yes, that is what I got from Markus too in the old thread. But Ran said what I have up there.

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Events

Food Wars/Onion Wars - I wasn't there to witness it. Amyrc, Laughing Storm and Levendis. Onion King and his son Burger King versus forces of Good King Bronn. December 2000 My humble contribution was the Hannah Barbarians, led by the fearsome Cpt. Caveman.

The First Trial of Seven. Jan-April 2001

The Second Trial of Seven which led to founding of Songs of Westeros. April 15th 2001

Zorse Wars �€“Prince ByTor, Maltaran, Flayed Man and Lannister. United with armies of Smooove Billy Dee (Young Wolf). May 2001 IIRC, Laughing Storm brought back the Onion King to aid the Zorse, but he waged war for leadership with Young Wolf, who would accept no leader but Billy Dee. This created internecine combat within the Zorse ranks even as Amryc rallied forces to the banner of Good King Bronn to drive the Zorse from Westeros's fair shores.

...

Restoration as told by Amryc (whiskeyjack) �€“ Jeor got it partially correct. The Restoration wasn't really a reaction to gratuitous posts. That would have been a little bit more than hypocritical, since Storm and I were responsible for a lot of threads like the Food Wars. Rather, it was a reaction to the inner-circle, clique-ish feeling that had overtaken the board at the time. It happened right after the first Wordcon where the BwB was a major presence (in Philadelphia)...

Wow. Reading about all of that stuff again makes me feel old. :P

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Something you lot may not know was that I was - in Pure Lurker Mode - around for some of these events.

I first read AGoT and ACoK in mid-1999, around the time that ACoK and Legends I came out in paperback. I was already a big fan of WoT and had lurked on Wotmania for about a year by that point without posting (almost as long as Wotmania had been in existence, actually). This was because my mum refused to get Internet access at home, so I just checked out the WoT sites whenever I popped around my mate's house. For reasons I don't recall, I never bothered checking the ASoIaF ones though. Then I randomly stumbled on ASoS on the very day it was published, devoured it, and started lurking on the ASoIaF boards shortly after, to see when ADWD would be coming out (erm...still waiting ;) ). So this would have been some time around September 2000. By this time I'd moved into my own houseshare...where we were still not allowed to get the Internets :rolleyes:

So I lurked on the board for nearly five years, sometimes at mates' houses, sometimes in Internet cafes. Idiotically I never signed up, something I regret to this day, and I didn't just move somewhere that would let me get broadband. It wasn't until RL circumstances forced me to move in July 2005 that I was finally able to get broadband and sign up on the board. It was a good time to sign up as AFFC was coming out and one of my first posts was a lengthy report on GRRM's signing in Norwich, which made it onto the SSM and I believe first brought me to Ran's attention (which is a bit like having the Eye of Sauron descend upon you ;) ). Then I was made mod at the start of 2006. Yay!

So the weird thing is that when I first signed up on the board I was already familiar with who Kal, Mormont, Ran, Os, Pod, Trebla, Cersei Caress etc all were, though they had no clue who I was.

Oh yeah, and because of this board - more or less - I ended up moving five hundred miles to another country, which is quite surreal when I think about it.

So, the board is ten years old, more or less? Surely an excuse for a party? :cheers:

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Couple of things...

You put Levendis participated in the Food Wars...assuming this is all in chronological order, I dont think this is accurate. Im pretty sure he popped his silly stuffs in around the time of the Zorse Wars or shortly there after.

Also kind of strange...I recognized Werthead's screenname from his posting prior on Dragonmount before he came here. Not many crossed over from Dragonmount, but a few of us did. I remember him being big into the various WoT theories and what not.

Zorse Wars info is also slightly incorrect. The 4 Zorse men were PBT, Flayed Man, Krafus, and Brady...if I recall correctly. Its been a while, but basically the Zorse men who worshipped at the Church of Zorse joined forces with King Billy Dee and bunch of freaking n00bs, and waged wars on some of the more established forces on the board...Amryc, Lannister...all the Food Wars people. Ironically, I guess the Zorse Wars was the old school equivalent of the TTNE, though the pro-Zorse crowd simply spammed nothing but Zorse rhetoric and pictures. Hell, Stormborn (old name some people might recognize) became a council member in about 4 days because of all the Zorse spam. Ran finally threatened to ban anyone who brought up the Zorse again, and the Church of Zorse was effectively shut down.

I think the Food Wars was possibly revisited again after the Zorse Wars or even during the same time. Wherein Lev became involved at some point.

That is all.

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Well, I wasn't around constantly. It was like logging in for an hour or two once a month or something, and I missed shitloads (I had no idea about Manwoody passing away until after I signed up, for exampel).

That reminds me of my never-completed project to transfer the BwB Google Map project to Google Earth. I spent three weeks doing that, put up about 150 people, got it done nicely, and then my computer died and took all the files with it. I was too cheesed off to ever go back and re-do it.

I think my other largest contribution to the board was the PC Games Top 100 thing we did last year, which was a great success. I posted it on a couple of gaming sites after they put up their usually asinine lists and I got a lot of people saying our list wiped the floor with the commercial ones :)

Oh, and there was making the R+L=J topic a sticky in General, which immediately cleared up about 50% of the posts on the front page of the subforum at any one time. I'm quite happy about that :)

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Also kind of strange...I recognized Werthead's screenname from his posting prior on Dragonmount before he came here. Not many crossed over from Dragonmount, but a few of us did. I remember him being big into the various WoT theories and what not.

You mean Dragonmount the WoT board? I joined up there about the same time I joined up here (or, more accurately, on EZboard about two months before we moved here) and Wotmania (joining up on Wotmania after seven years of lurking there was even funnier than joining up here). I was never a member of Dragonstone (the ASoIAF board) though. Or at least not that I remember :unsure:

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You mean Dragonmount the WoT board? I joined up there about the same time I joined up here (or, more accurately, on EZboard about two months before we moved here) and Wotmania (joining up on Wotmania after seven years of lurking there was even funnier than joining up here). I was never a member of Dragonstone (the ASoIAF board) though. Or at least not that I remember :unsure:

Yeah, I wrote Dragonmount didnt I? Now you got me paranoid. I recognized your name when you began posting here, from that board.

Anyhow, only others that I know of that originally came from DM to here was myself, Brady, and Rhelle. Not sure if any others have stuck around here, because I know some of the DM people are intimidated by the rapid fire posting that happens here, and the size of the board.

ETA: Ah, I see so you joined both at the same time...hhmm. Guess I never paid much attention to the book posting here. :lol:

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Sadly, I don't think I've been a part of any events here that would be considered part of the board's history :unsure:

Edit: Though it would be cool if people posted their own personal history on the board.

Since you asked...

I didn't really lurk long before I joined. Think I did a google search for places to talk about ASOIAF and the old board popped up. This was about a week before it got moved to this current board. So I started reading a few of the book threads, then it got moved here and I was tempted to join right when it moved, but had nothing to add to any of the topics. I must've signed up when I eventually thought I had something worthwhile to contribute to a thread. My memory's slipping, but I think it was a thread about how badass Syrio Forel was. And I think my contribution was to add one of those "Chuck Norris facts", inserting Syrio's name instead. Truly groundbreaking stuff.

I believe it was: "Syrio Forel once visited the Virgin Islands. They are now known as the Islands."

I dunno. Sounds kinda lame now, but at the time, I thought it was gloriously funny. But I've matured over the years and now realize it for being a pretty bad post.

Ah, who'm I kidding? I still think it's damn funny :P

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Though it would be cool if people posted their own personal history on the board.

I didn't lurk but I came to the board in the Fall of 2000 shortly after reading ASOS. I didn't join but looked at some of the theories. I did the same after my first re-read in the Fall of 2001. Then I joined in the fall of 2002 to participate in the ASOIAF Re-Read Project.

I basically stayed in A Song of Ice and Fire (now called General) and A Feast for Crows. A few months after the new board was created, in February 2006, I was made a moderator of General and AFFC.

More recently, I post more in BWB and Entertainment.

That's the brief history.

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I vaguely remember eesite as a lurker. Dragonstone must have just closed up shop, I think. Then I lurked more on ezboard and eventually started posting there. My first post ever was along the lines of "everybody is going to pitch up here for the first time and offer up his best theory [eg R+L=J] as if it's never been thought of before, so get used to it". ;)

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Something you lot may not know was that I was - in Pure Lurker Mode - around for some of these events.

So I lurked on the board for nearly five years, sometimes at mates' houses, sometimes in Internet cafes. Idiotically I never signed up, something I regret to this day, and I didn't just move somewhere that would let me get broadband.

I think I lurked for a good 7 years off, very sporadic for the first couple. I was working crazy jobs at that time and I remember many of nights at the Children's Home filling out reems of paperwork at 2 am and taking breaks to read what was going on with my Favorite author and stumbled onto the old forums and Westros.org sometime around that. (I am not sure which was first.)

And, like Werthead, I regret not joining sooner. I look foward to tossing my 2 cents in when the next book comes out.

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