In Which Solstace Liveblogs The TVTropes Fora, circa 2008

So, using the magic of the Wayback machine, I have traveled back in time to the days of the PHPBB forums, and what an alien land they are.

In the following pages, I shall chronicle my exploration of topics long dead, one thread at a time, exposing my thoughts and linking curious things when applicable.

Join me, if you would.

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

I approve of this Liveblog.

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

TODAY ALL YOU NEOPHYTES GET TO SEE WHAT I USED TO BE LIKE

BEFORE THE RIOTS

AND THE PRISON RAPE

AND THE BOMBINGS

AND THE TIME I GOT A SHIV IN THE EYE

AND THE SATANIC RITUALS

AND THE LOVECRAFTIAN BLOOD ORGIES

AND THE SNIPER AMBUSHES

AND THE ROBOT INSURRECTION

AND *shot*

So, This is the latest link I could find that would work.

I'll approach this methodically, top to bottom. Which means the first sub board I'll take a look at is Yackfest.

First thread, with 0 replies and founded by Tangent 128 is an announcement titled "Television Tropes Fora". Which just goes to show how archaic things were. "Television"? As opposed to "TV"?

This amuses me.

It seems that we've always been this cool.

The rituals used to pothole, spoiler, and hide are all but foreign to me. It seems that our modern hottip has descended from a spoiler markup meant for images and paragraphs. Huh.

Anyways, first thread was short. So ends the first entry.

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

And the second thread in Yackfest is titled "Trope Related Dreams", and was started by a Ruthie A . Her avatar◊ seems familiar.

First post sets the example, as RuthieA depicts a dream she had, using a plethora of blue links. Tangent128 replies with an anecdote about how the only dream he remembers a nightmare from when he was five. It had something to do with a toaster.

Third post is from yet another familiar face, William Wide Web. No avatar, William? You must still have been a rather new face.

And even Fast Eddie ventured into Yackfest, complete with Narmy Nightmare Fuel avatar◊.

Now, I'm not going to comment on every post, because I'm lazy.

This obviously isn't something I inherited from my forefathers of the forums, because a troper named Fire Walk posts a nice Wall of Text depicting a dream of his, as does Brickman. His avatar◊ also looks somewhat familiar.

Skip a couple posts, nothing interesting, and then Fawriel makes an appearance, and gives a brief summary about how he dreams in the form of RPGs. Also, he appears to have a hand-drawn avatar, as is Fawriel custom.

Oh, Meta4, you're such a card.

End of thread.

edited 25th Nov '10 1:21:24 AM by Solstace

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

Brickman uses an avatar of a character from the same comic, Girl Genius. Ruthie A always used her own drawings; you can see another example on the Trope Tan page, I think.

Yeah.◊ Same style, very thin, tall, shy.

edited 25th Nov '10 1:25:01 AM by Tzetze

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

Where the fuck did she go, anyway?

I miss her because she's sorta emblematic of the (relatively) more innocent times.

Does RuthieA still post? I swear I've seen her avatar around here. Mostly in Wiki Talk.

edited 25th Nov '10 1:26:03 AM by Solstace

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

Find post by troper says no.

No, I haven't seen her in over a year. Shame, she was absurdly nice.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

It wasn't with the handle.

Now that I think about it, it might've just been someone using an avatar of Ruthie's Trope Tan.

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

Maybe she decided to get while the getting was good.

Thread three: Titled "Actor Dissonance", this thread was created by GG Crono, who I know I've seen around still.

Actually an amusing concept for a thread, really. The Elrond = Agent Smith and Frodo = Kevin makes me laugh, since I didn't put two and two together before.

Second post introduces Tropers/Rock, and third introduces Tropers/Kylor.

What roles will they play in the forum hierarchy?

Note: I haven't seen much of a social structure to the forum yet. The mods and admins mingle with the common folk, and the forum as a whole is still rather new, so there isn't an Old Guard or much of a concept of a Regular, either. Kinda cool.

Well, this thread doesn't provide much. Brickman and Zephid continue discussing the Elrond = Agent Smith thing, and that ends the thread.

edited 25th Nov '10 1:35:59 AM by Solstace

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

Yeah, someone was using Ruthie's avatar. Forgot who, so lol shitpost.

I'm pretty sure the contributions button was broken, because people who were active in the fora and I know I ran into while editing supposedly only edited the wiki ten times... which is ridiculous, of course.

Half-Life: Dual Nature, a crossover story of reasonably sized proportions.

I always get the strangest mental images when people talk about running into each other whilst editing.

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

Thread four is another short one, only two posts.

Titled "A Slurry Tale", it seems to be a couple posts of faux Shakespeare. Nothing interesting.

Thread five is called "You Need an Intro Forum". Obviously, this is before the days of "Meet The Tropers".

While Ruthie A agrees that there needs to be a forum for the newbies to introduce themselves, it seems others in the thread are under the impression that introduction threads do nothing but delay integration into the community.

Rather interesting, especially comparing the forum dynamics of then to the dynamics now.

Anyways, the thread quickle derails into talking about how Sonar Lasers from Mars make more sense than plain Sonar Lasers. Glad to know tropers haven't lost that ability over the years.

A couple posts after that, and events that are soon to come are foreshadowed by the user stm177

And immediately after that, Rock reacts with a response that we are all too familiar with...

And then Faw tells Rock to suck it. So to speak. He said it in a Faw-esque way, which means sexual implications were all but gone.

End of Thread.

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

A Slurry Tale is supposed to be faux-Shakespeare for Pulp Fiction. >.>

Half-Life: Dual Nature, a crossover story of reasonably sized proportions.

Oh, really? I may need to reread that, then.

Reread it. loll

Link to the thread, for good measure.

edited 26th Nov '10 7:01:20 PM by Solstace

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

Yeah, it's lifted from this: http://pulpbard.wikispaces.com/

It's sadly dead, though.

edited 26th Nov '10 7:23:51 PM by JackMackerel

Half-Life: Dual Nature, a crossover story of reasonably sized proportions.

I think Rock was still around when I started posting. If it was the same guy, at any rate.

‎"Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair."

Rock came back later.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

I figured Rock came back later. He knows who Tzetze is, and not by the name Aeshtaer.

Ecstasy is Sustained Intensity

Yeah, Fast Eddie had to finagle the phpBB code into something approximating wicks and the like.

Also, Yes, some of RuthieA's contributions still exist.

Hey Solstace, any idea when the next update will be?

Posting to say that I find this quite interesting.