FFP's History, A rich and complex past, indeed.

[BLEARGH!!!]

Over the past few years, our precious FFP has gone through several phases. Some of them could be considered "Golden Ages" of the forum, others less so. Nevertheless, it has gone from a small, manageable site for a few select friends to share their thoughts, to a place full of conflict and argument, to a forsaken wasteland of bitter memories, and finally come full circle, reborn anew. Overly-poetic descriptions aside, one of the things FFP lacks is any sort of recorded history. Newly registered members (as unlikely as that seems) would be oblivious to the epic battle and eventual compromise of the G-Mod position. They wouldn't understand the deep and insulting meaning behind the name Yutaro. They would be terribly confused every time Mentos was addressed as THoT. And most importantly, they wouldn't know the FFP legend that is Rhox. Which is why I believe it is high time someone compiled a brief yet descriptive history of FFP. Something that would let new members fully appreciate all that this little site has been through. Of course, it would have to be someone who has been here from the beginning, someone who knows all that has happened since FFP's infancy. If you haven't already guessed where I'm going with this, I suggest you familiarize yourself with a few of the members. TrueBlue, I'd like to formally request that you whip up another one of your oh-so witty pieces of literature gold, this time based on the trials and tribulations of our beloved forum. I realize that if you take up this task, all I can expect are insults and abuse, but I would really like to see the complete history of FFP condensed into a few paragraphs, from the point of view of its most loyal and active individual. And I'm sure the "n00bs" would enjoy it, too. Give it some thought, and if you're interested, go for it. With any luck, it might actually prove entertaining.

-Rhox

This post has been edited by BLEARGH!!! on Dec 20 2005, 12:35 AM

[Koneko-hi]

... Pinned for the sake of a good idea.

[Matthias]

Hurray! You're making a nice post.. it's just in the wrong section so I'll move it to where it should be. ^^

[Another Rhox]

All right, I suppose it does belong in the Flagship. But hell, it's such an awesome idea that it could be in pretty much anywhere. Yeah, it's that great.

[TrueBlue]

*laughs* Gimmie a break, man. I was a total n00b during all those flame wars...

But what the hey, I'm honored. Or insulted. Not sure. But I won't write it right now, because even super genius type people like me have to sleep.

[Another Rhox]

At 11:30? Damn, I got to bed at 8 a.m. this morning. Anything before 5 is hella early for Travis. My mom thinks I'm a vampire. So I bit her neck, just to show her.

And yes, you were a total "n00b" back then, which is why I'm sure I'd find the trip down memory lane quite entertaining. Hell, I'd do it myself, but I'm lazy, and it's not like I'd be too accurate. I'm biased, I know it. You should be honored. Honored and insulted. That is exactly how you should feel. Most things I say have that effect. It's best to get used to it.

[Matthias]

Well honestly, I wasn't (and still aren't) such a professional at this stuff either.

[TrueBlue]

Well, unlike vampires, TrueBlue has to get up for church-Wait, that was posted Friday... I'm not Catholic...

...Eh, I had something to do the next day... I think I stayed up another couple hours playing videro games, anyway.

Alright, since I'm in a good mood, here be a history (I didn't do any research, so it's entirely from memory. Unmentioned-lurkers-who-used-to-be-active: Hehe, I forgot you on Christmas!).

-----

In the Beginning, G-d created the heavens and the Earth. And the Earth was void and without form, but then G-d put stuff on it and some 10,000 years later, there was a forum... Not just any forum, no, this forum was special. See, this forum... was... um...

Started by Joe! And I think it was his first, but heck if I know. Also, TrueBlue was (and still is) the top poster, which makes it even more special. But like, an hour before she signed up, some random guy (One'o Joe's friends) named True_Hero_of_Time registered. As you can imagine, this was hell to type, so he was soon dubbed "THoT", for short, and the forum called Final Fantasy Portal now had four members ("Zany_Zora" was second, but she next-to-never posted).

Eventually, FFP gained more members, two of which were parkspapercut and Lucca. They were some pretty cool people, and soon became gods mods. Then Blade, ~!*YuTaRo*!~, Necros, and some other people joined, too. Oh yeah, and there was some Riku person... I don't really remember...

And then... there was... Rhox. He's a jerk from some other place, and TrueBlue and Necros didn't like him. At first they tried to convert him to Christianity, but Rhox clearly didn't want to be converted, so they gave up. And a flame war started and lasted for what seemed like forever. I don't remember how it started. Eventually Matthias relieved TrueBlue and Necros of their mod positions in an effort to stop the madness, but that really ticked them off, so they left. Like, a week later, Necros convinced TrueBlue to come back (But she's still mad about that mod thing, jerkfaces...). This flame war is often reffered to as the "miscommunication" by Matthias.

And then there was another flame war...

And probably another one...

And then an uneasy lull... Then TrueBlue and ~!*YuTaRo*!~ started fighting, which ended in a nasty PM, some yelling, and TrueBlue threatening to leave again. What? Somebody had to say "Shut up! We don't like you!" to her face. (Seriously, NO ONE liked Yutaro after a while. I think Matthias was the only one who ever tolerated her, but he tolerates just about anything.)

...Ugh...

Then there was some Vote For a G-Mod election poll thing... TrueBlue would've totally won with the votes from her loyal followers, but then Rhox the Jerkface went and voted for THoT to make it a tie, so they both became G-Mods...

Then Matthias decided to invite some fangirl friends over to the forum, and there was some idiot named Edward... And Rhox made himself useful and chased them off in a short flame war... TrueBlue wasn't really paying attention, so she didn't get involved much... Necros, Lucca, Blade, and ppc had become inactive... THoT lost his password, or something stupid like that, and got a new account, dubbing himself "Koneko-Hi", and effectively marking his sudden brain-warp from helpful to Jerkface Junior...

-----

So there's yer basic unedited-and-probably-out-of-order-history of FFP from overly-biased me. It's a little long, but I still left out a bunch of stuff... Like Rhox being banned and unbanned and banned and unbanned... And then the whole impersonation thing, which was kinda random... And... Done!

[Matthias]

O.o What do you mean? Yutaro was a really nice person! Anyways, I guess I have to say my part too...

Originally, I had started a weirdo forum called "The Zelda Forum" which I lost the password to. Then I got interested in Dark Cloud/Final Fantasy because my parents had bought a Playstation 2. After joining FFF *Points to Ross's Affiliate Button* I got very inspired to make a FF forum. Plus, I had joined IFStyles which is the best source ever and thus I made a simple forum (similarly modeled after the Stock Pot Inn, Team Anti Forums) except with a few additions.

When True told me she had internet access, I called her up and dragged her here! I also posted the link at Team Anti and zanyzora + THoT joined. Then I had the link in my sig at FFF which brought over Lucca (a FANTASTIC FRIEND), PPC (Really nice and supportive person), Ross (who comes once a blue moon), and Yutaro (aka ~!*YuNa*!~ on FFF). Later on, Necros, Blade, and Yume joined. Things were going great. It was practically the "golden age". But like Arthur Clarke says, "Gold is the color of autumn (the end)... the golden age was coming to a close."

I have no idea what came over me, but I take full responsibility for it. I started to try and make this the biggest/best Final Fantasy forum ever. In a way, I had become obsessed with the "commercialization" of this forum. I joined 5000 million topsites, requested 1000000 affiliations, and changed the set up of the forums 5 times (I think O.o). THoT's "The Sacred Realm", I found, was a lot better than my site so I set out to advertise there. That brough Rhox over... the person who's been banned 5 times (I think).

Soon a skrmish of sides began to appear with a Global Moderator on each side (Necros and TrueBlue VS. THoT and Rhox). The other staff and I tried to put out the fire, but that ended up in the leaving of most of the other staff not involved in the fighting. All I remember from it is waking up everyday to come to a haven (which I originally thought of this as) but instead being in the crossfire. I felt so lost and I did something really stupid. One day I was reading an article on moderators. It said something along the lines of "Moderators are an example for members. If moderators break a rule, you shouldn't hold them as gods and give them immunity. You should grant a punishment to show that everyone follows the rules." Or something. In any case, I felt so desperate (and I had no idea THoT was locked in this war as well because I stopped reading because I stopped caring). Therefore, I had demodded Necros and True with the statement, "You will be remodded after you settle this." (Something along those lines) Remember that I had stopped reading so I had no idea that the skirmish was settled. Therefore, Necros and TrueBlue left... and it really shattered me to pieces because I had no idea what I had done. What was worse was that they came back saying "I don't care anymore! You all can die!" and I really broke down.

I don't remember how but Necros agreeded to let me speak my part. Apparently there was a "miscommunication". True/Necros thought I said they wouldn't be remodded and I had no idea that the matter was already resolved. A miscommunication kills a forum... I guess it shows how little actions can make such a big difference. Anyways they came back, but we fell into a near death state. Everyone had left because of the war and then the people that were in the flame war mostly left as well. True and Koneko stayed though. Things had gone full circle - we were back to where we started, but our reputation was ruined. No one could consider this place as a place full of promise. They remember it as the place where everything fell apart in a flame war... the flame war forum. The three of us tried to keep this forum alive (with Rhox coming around now and then), but to no avail. Yume invited her friends over but their stepfather made them not come here after reading the history of our posts.

Still in a near death state during the summer, True constantly said, "It's alright! The place will pick up again after school starts." It didn't though and I eventually left this place for dead, only coming here to go to the links for convience. Occasionally we posted things but a reply didn't come until 3 weeks later.

Time passed and Rhox came back another time, but changed (Yume, my best friend, had given him serious conversations and made him nice). However, we didn't know it was him because he was disguised as a person named BLEARGH! I hadn't IP banned Rhox because I trusted him to just leave things in peace. I really thought we had a dedicated member and Rhox on AIM was very generous. When I found out it was Rhox and he attacked the forum again, I felt erased from the cosmos. I had so much hope in both BLEARGH and Rhox that he'd changed, but he threw my trust back into my face. I felt like I could never trust anyone here again.

Then one day, Lucca (aka Al Bhed Girl Merlin on FFF) went back to FFF. I had joined her forum "Brotherhood of Spira" and started to talk with her really often. After she heard about the FFP situation, she was very very supportive and went back to help me settle things down (for a little activity had come but it was all insults and flames). She really helped to get my confidence back, but we did fall into the neardeath state again. After a while, FFP looked really messy so I came back and cleaned everything up. Then people started coming back one by one bringing us to the present.

This time I won't get obsessed with commercialism. I like this place just the way it is. (Sorry I know I missed a lot of stories but I don't have the time to get them all in)

[Another Rhox]

Well, other than making me feel like an asshat, that was a helluva lot better than TrueBlue's pathetic little summary. Honestly, hers wouldn't have bothered me so much if she had at least managed to come up with a better insult than "jerkface". Call me a douchebag or something, will ya? Anydangway, Joey's was a damn good history, although I never "attacked the forum again" after goin' all Jason. Still, it covered pretty much everything very nicely. Here's to never having to write a eulogy for this place!

[Blade]

Good to see you didn't forget little ol' me in your historian rant Matthias. (Same goes to True.) I logged in today to check my PMs and I saw this topic and went to check it out. You really captured the history of this forum well, both of you. Good job. Well, this is a little bit off topic but: I'm probably going to be back full time like I used to be. I was just really busy with school that I forgot about this forum. Sorry. But, as I said, I'll probably be back full time. Again: Good job with the history.

[Matthias]

Yay! I've been guilty of inactivity too. Partially because of homework and partially because my computer was busted. Anyways going around and deleting spam topics. Welcome back! I dunno how we keep inching on though XD

[Blade]

I predict this forum will survive for many more years. It has gone through many hardships, but in the end, everything ends well. You're a good leader Matthias, and True is not one without wisdom either. If anyone can lead this forum to a long and great web-life it is you. And True. I think in his own special way, Rhox helped define this forum as well. I don't really know if what I just said about Rhox was just bollux, but still, without him, FF Portal would be a very different place. If I had a chance to go back and change the history of this forum, I don't think I would mess up a thing. I'd do everything the same. Well, maybe I'd get on more, but apart from that, heh.