Link to original post: Teran's SWF Journey
(Incredibly cool story alert.)
It’s coming up to a year since I registered on this site, and now I felt it’d be fun to look back and chronicle the whole ride I’ve taken.
(Massive shoutout section at the end. <3)
Just like basically everyone on this site, I signed up unknown, a boy who just liked to smash. I’d dabbled in competitive Melee before, and had checked this site several times over a couple years before signing up, but to be frank, it was just a reference point and nothing more. I’ve always had a general distaste for forums, and they way the members act (especially concerning new people), so I never felt the desire to sign up. Come 2008, and Brawl was released. Obviously I checked the site for the instant scoops on what ATs may be discovered, so I found myself browsing the site more and more. Still, I had important exams in the summer, and coupled with the fact that 08ers weren’t exactly the most welcomed class of new members, I held off.
Fast forward to October 2008. I finally decided that my misanthropic and somewhat antisocial nature would mean none of the negative vibes would bother me anyway, so I thought **** it, and signed up. Despite my personality, I’m very well mannered and somewhat shy in new surroundings, as is demonstrated in my Meet and Greet thread here: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=201182.
So where did I go from there? Well, since I was here for nothing but information, I decided to go to the board of my main, Falco. I lurked and posted with a few tidbits even there. Luckily I was never attacked or anything, but maybe that’s because I don’t say anything when I’m not 100% sure what I’m saying is correct. You should always know what you’re talking about, because people like to shove bull**** back down your throat on the internet, SWF is no different.
The Falco board was really relaxed and cool though, although pretty much everyone that used to post there except for Denzi and Ozz have vanished. Still, Falco boards are pretty awesome.
Inevitable, I found myself talking to people on the boards, something which I never had the intention of doing. SWF is really like no other forum I’ve ever seen. It has a very, very strong social aspect. We have whole rooms dedicated to region socials, not to mention the general rooms like the Pool Room, which allow you to discuss something else other than bloody competitive Smash. The social side of this place is even further demonstrated by the mysterious Back Room, where the criteria for getting in are not truly known. Of course they say that you just have to be cool and not try and get in, but alas, who knows unless they’re inside?
Since I grew tired of competitive smash discussion all the time soon after I’d signed up, I found myself branching out more to these different areas of the boards. It was at this point that I found two places. OTL, and User Blogs. Despite the general disdain for wifi, it really wasn’t practical for me to smash with friends often, since the only friends that I could smash with live about an hour away from me. Such is the curse of going to a Central London school, with boys from all corners of London, or even outside, commuting in to attend.
I remember the first wifi match I lost being against Sir Orion (now Ryusuta). It was pretty lame, but at the same time, I felt that the loss was convincing enough that wifi johns wouldn’t cut it, and I realised that wifi had more value as a training tool than most people make out. You can improve off wifi, there is a lot you can learn from wifi if you don’t have people nearby to play often. It beats nothing, don’t knock it. Still, nothing beats in person matches of course. So I decided to enter tournaments in OTL every now and then, and not doing horribly but getting byed a lot because of school work or whatever (no johns). To be fair, I wouldn’t have had a chance of winning at that time anyway.
At this same point in time, I was reading through blogs, and finding it an intriguing place. Why? Well to me, it felt like I wasn’t just looking at names and avatars posting, but actual people. UB was a very quiet place at that time compared with now, in fact, it was more of a distant corner of SWF. It was really nice too, lots of tl;dr blogs, and lots of cool stories. I like both, people were actually putting a bit thought into them, while the humour while not so well developed at the time, was still present. I remember there was one particular dude whose blogs were always a good read. I got to respect this member a lot without even knowing or talking to him, but the chronicling of one’s thoughts through a blog can allow a connection with your audience that posting about game related topics just can’t. This dude happened to be my predecessor, Jam Stunna, the Don of UB. No joke, even as a mod now, I’ll ask him for counsel on things from time to time.
So what happened in that period? Well to be honest, it’d be a bit difficult to chronicle just about everything, that would be absurd, the journey is a gradual process after all. Still there was one member from OTL who I consider my first good friend on this site, he was called Samusbrawler at the time (lol), but now he’s called DTP thanks to Premium (buy it, it’s good). Most of our conversations would be over IM, but we somehow managed to get a VM wall post number of over 1000. Shows we talked a lot. We also talked on Skype too. My trademark sarcastic and wry personality was beginning to become far more obvious at this point, which helped make some love me, and some not like me so much. I’m the sort of person that a lot of people will dislike at first, they may have found me abrasive, mean, unapproachable, and quite a lot of people have said I’m intimidating. I don’t know, maybe I’m all those things, but people who actually talked to me seemed to grow to like me. I suppose I’m of the sort that has to grow on people rather than being instantly liked, although some people like me straight away because they like my attitude.
UB was starting to grow but was still relatively quiet. There was one pretty incredible thread late in ‘08 that everyone might remember. This thread made me split my sides so hard with laughter, that I decided to make a social group about the greatest SWF member of all time, MaxfireXSA. Of course, this gave rise to a meme that will never die, or rather, a cult. The thread in question is here: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=204422
So UB continued being its nice, quiet self until one day…
One day one thread arose, a thread which I’ll never forget. http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=214891
As a moderator with my current attitude now, I’d probably have kicked my own *** for what I did in that thread. Being realistic however, I really enjoyed the shenanigans in that blog, and it even spawned a new meme. Although this thread was great, it did have a very strong negative in the aftermath. It opened the floodgates for dumb spam, and the journey of UB as we know it now had begun.
At this time I was very much a UB man, the Falco boards and OTL were still frequently visited, but UB was my haunt. I’m not gonna lie, it was spammy as hell, and I didn’t actually enjoy that very much, because to me there has to be some humour behind it. Spam for the sake of spam is just stupid, and unfortunately, there was a lot of that. It was because of this trend, that post count was turned off. Hopefully one starlit night it’ll be turned back on, but I think there’s some work to do before that proposition would be feasible.
I was becoming more and more noticed during ‘09, now with a blue name, and getting a rep for being that… weird guy from England. I could be incredibly silly and outrageous at times, but yet I was actually capable of intelligent posting. Guess I’m some sort of evil clown, but that doesn’t make me dumb! By this point too, my friend list had grown substantially. I was talking to Glyph (first mod friend <3), Chaco (not a mod at that point), Mithx/Mith_, had Spadefox/Onishiba hitting on me all the time XD, so yeah, ‘twas fun.
Now this was at a period immediately prior to the OTL explosion, which I’ll talk about in a minute. Now bear with me as I talk about the brewing storn in UB. The spamming and trolling was reaching epidemic levels, and the place was rarely looked into by mods. Now it seemed that the once quiet and self governing area of the boards was going to need a moderator. Still, nothing was being done at this point, except for a lot of mini modding and more insults. It was pretty funny to observe, actually.
Now onto OTL. I think it was some time around March, and I can’t be 100% sure because Azua hard deleted the original thread
, however it was somewhere around that time. OTL was a very social board, and we all used to talk in the tournament threads, but of course this had a somewhat detrimental effect on the actual running of the tournament itself. In light of this, Azua cooked up the idea of a social thread, and we were the pilot guinea pigs. This thread really made OTL, which turned us into more of a family than a community that liked playing Brawl online. Several members, (including myself), came out in this thread. It was pretty hilarious, since it turned out that about 70% of OTL was gay/bi, Actually it was probably more, but I like conservative estimates. It was at this point that the Teran everyone knows was really on full display. Imposing, wry, misanthropic, I was on a roll. I was becoming cool *gasp*, and I was the champion for number of posts in the social thread.
Then of course, the thread was closed due to some stupidity, then due to continued stupidity, was hard deleted and a new thread was made. The loss of the first thread was sad, but hey, the second served us just as well. OTL Social has had a knack of getting closed and replaced, but this one has lasted for quite a while, although unfortunately, I’m no longer the top poster in that thread. Must be because of how OTL has changed, but I’ll come onto that.
Come April 1st, and of course, another great day on SWF. It was April Fools. Maxfire became an admin, the whole site constantly changed shades of colour, at a rate of about once every 30 minutes. Admins changed custom titles and names, I was changed into Pliskin II, I announced my hatred for UB, every moderator was transformed into some sort of Mic_(insert number here). Hilarious, it’s hard to think a forum can generate so much fun, but then again, it’s better than more objectionable forms of fun.
My 18th birthday was fast approaching. So, of course on my birthday, I had a riproaring day out with my close friends, and had a very nice long rest until the next day… and then I woke up.
I woke up to almost 30 notifications, my VM wall had been completely and utterly swarmed by OTL well wishers. This was perhaps one of my best memories from SWF, that I didn’t just get a couple well wish posts, but a giant OTL party on my wall. It’s weird, you think it’s just an online community, you don’t see these people in real life, you’re miles apart scattered all over. Yet I really felt somewhat special, especially the matches against KawaiiBunny/Nya~! :3 which made me feel even more special. :D
Yeah, it’s nice having people that care about you, even though you may not know them in real life. SWF is the only forum I’ve seen where people are more than just forum buddies, becoming genuine friends.
Life in SWF continued to be filled with hilarity, drama, and good discussion. I was all over the place, I had earned the hatred of Tom (who went on to become one of my close friends on SWF, what did I say about growing on people?), and was starting to become known as the UB guy, and OTL’s resident nutcase clown. By this time, my skill with Falco made me cringe at the first replays I’d ever recorded, but this was a great sign that I’d improved dramatically. I’m pretty good now, you know! OTL’s mascot gay couple Barge and TSM (no longer together), were still around, and of course, it was all pretty much just a giant love orgy at that point. OTL was the cool place to be, we had random mods posting there, random spammers coming in, it showed it was the place to be.
Some day in May, one blog was made. One blog that has secured itself in the heart of SWF infamy. It was none other than the Koth blog. http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=232968
In its young life, UB was already becoming quite the generator of SWF lore. A lot of people were suspicious at the time, some people believed it. I just decided to give false sentiments and not believe him. Of course, it’s hard to immediately shoot something like this down, mainly because the flood of “OMG KOTH IM SO SORRY”, and of course, the fact that you’d look like a complete ***hole if you challenged it.
So…
The story stayed and Koth “returned”, adding more holes to his stories, and making up more bull**** lies. Then of course, you might remember this one certain blog in June…
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?p=7603303
This blog is perhaps what brought me the most SWF “fame”, if you will. I appreciated the thanks of people for exposing, but there was this sort of Teran is cool bandwagon that I didn’t like. I didn’t like the fact that people liked me for this one thing. People who’d made a habit of flaming me were being cool. I was “that guy”, for a while. I have to admit waking up to over 20 notifications was amusing. In a way though, I’d like to think that people would rather continue hating me as they should have, rather than liking me because I was cool. I guess Azua props are like instant cool currency on SWF. She totally kicks my *** in the Shack though. Nah not really, because I’m not dumb, but anyway…
I was indeed, that guy for a while. Soon after this, a new phenomenon was born. It was called “partychat”, and it was pretty awesome. At this point in time, my friends list had changed somewhat. Most members of old OTL had vanished, and the social thread had become the haunt of new dudes. Of course, I have nothing against new guys, but of course it’s analogous to when family leaves your home and you’ve got a load of roommates. It’s not a problem, but it just doesn’t have that close, comfortable atmosphere that family provides. I still own OTL though, don’t listen to the lies of Glyph and Chaco. Also, AlphaZealot’s name there is just a relic, he’s just using his Overswarm alt these days.
The partychat are: Zero Beat, KevinM, Chaco, Tom, SkylerOcon, Marc, Air, KawaiiBunny, Omni, and Dekuu!
Trust me, these dudes made my nocturnal summer completely awesome, not to mention I had another true bro in the form of Straked on AIM too.
OTL was dying, and UB was going through a tumultuous phase of crying and whining, “rules are too lax”, “rules are too strict”, and whatever other nonsense that people who can’t be satisfied spewed, and then came the shell shock.
Jam Stunna’s resignation. THE man to mod UB was stepping down, and now the place was falling into disrepair. People were getting away with **** they shouldn’t have been able to, the place was devolving. My favourite room was going down the dumpster, and there was only so much Smods could do to pet the place. After all, they mainly rely on reports, considering there was no official mod at the time. Of course, credit to Virg for keep some of the nonsense in line there.
Then of course in August, I received a message from Crimson King.
“And he’s messaging me why…?” I thought. I’d had a couple run ins with the Master of Destructions before, some of them cool, some of them… not so cool (don’t worry, that’s life yo!), but I couldn’t see why he’d actually be messaging me unless it was for a thrashing or something. Then it turned out I was chosen to mod UB. Now, I knew being a mod wouldn’t be all fun and games, but hell, if there was one room to mod, it was UB for me. I didn’t really hesitate to say yes, (well I did actually, but it’s not what you think), and so I woke up the next day… with 935086039568 notifications and a red name. Of course, my disappointment was great when I found that there were no videos of Azua eating babies in the Staffer Shack, or Crimson King blowing up the city of Gotham, while Virg swept in to save the day.
BUT OMG I COULD SEE THE STAFFER SHACK. No, it is not the Staff Nightclub, it’s all toilin’ an’ sweatin’ to make this site a better place for you! WE WORK FOR YOU GUYS YOU KNOW.
Also I found I was co-modding with CK, who’s pretty much the perfect guy to be teamed with. It’s good having a mod you can agree with, lol.
Anyway, I’ve found modding to be worth all the extra responsibility. First of all, I keep my favourite room nice and tidy. Keeping UB tidy actually feels great, I’m pretty much a dinosaur of that room, although Jam probably predates me slightly. This room is pretty much the room that I became Teran in on SWF, all without post count, because it’s the good posting that matters, not the arbitrary number you get for it!
So what’s it been like as a moderator? Well, I had to infract a LOT for a good while. Well, it was mostly warnings at first, but people didn’t quite get the message about how the place was going to be run so, I decided to be a bit more direct in my approach. It’s been tough, and I’ve taken a lot of abuse for it, but now the place has calmed down, and it’s slowly becoming far easier to moderate. I don’t have to check every two seconds, although I do anyway because I’m always looking through the room. Bringing UB out of the original madhouse it was under no moderation made me feel accomplished, and it makes me feel good that several people who would never have visited the room before because of its old nature, have now started posting there.
Now I’m out and about in The Legion of Doom, UB, Disco Room, OTL (from time to rime), Falco, and I even check the Staffer Shack! Aren’t I responsible? It’s been a hell of a ride, one that I didn’t expect in the least. From hating forums to being a moderator on one, from wanting no friends to making very close ones. Such is the nature of the Smash World Forum which is bad for your children and where all false information is reported to the staffs.
Now that I’m basically a year old in SWF terms, and the moderator of UB and Falco, I really thought it would be nice to look back and just have a brief (lol) chronicle of my times on this place. HOW DID IT ALL HAPPEN?
Dunno dude, I can’t reveal Staffer Shack information.
I’ve tried to avoid mentioning names as much as I could in case I missed some out in the wall of text. So, I decided to go for the wall of shoutouts instead. Here goes. (In no particular order of importance, except the last. <3)
Samusbrawler/DTP: Well dude, my first SWF friend. You loved me before I was cool! You still pretty much own my VM wall. We don’t seem to talk much now, but screw you man you’re on often enough. Get on AIM or something, it’s been too long.
Glyph: My first mod friend! Yeah, because we all know we ignore all people with yellow names. XD
Joking aside, you were the man, and still are the man. Always made me laugh, and have always been super chill. You were pretty elusive for a while, but it’s great to have you back again. You are the original master of OTL. Remember the edit wars we had? Great times.
Chaco: Chaco taco! Baby boy Chaco! Chaco that homo mod who infracted me. A great friend is you, and someone that’s really easy to talk to. I always enjoy our long talks, and we’ve had a lot of really long talks. I remember we once ignored partychat for a whole night because we were talking about things. You’re really smart and mature for your age, but you’re mainly just funny and great to talk to. If you were gay, I’d kidnap you.
Barge: Lol, where the hell you at man? Vanished into the wind, but still, hopefully you’ll see this. You’re a big dog in OTL, even though you quit Brawl. You were always pretty laid back, although I must remind you that all gay people are going to hell.
Sir Orion: You showed me wifi was alright! You also used to beat me a lot. Not anymore!
You got me off my high horse though.
Shadowfirex100: F35 tourney series was awesome. You were a great director when OTL was in its prime.
Denzi: Everybody’s favourite Falco boarder. <3 Never a spammer, but funny too. Always a nice guy that’s been helping out on the boards. Saluted!
Mith: You don’t come here that often anymore. Man we had the funniest conversations back in the day. Sarcastic jokes about SWF staff (sorry guys), talking randomly about games, what we did last night etc. Always a comedian, you were the man in Falco boards and had your magic touch in UB. Miss you man. ;__;
KawaiiBunny: Karina, the resident adorable girl. Always sweet, even if it’s hard talking to you because you’re shy as hell. It’s aight though, you’re still awesome, and you made me feel really good on my birthday. What I just said doesn’t sound wrong, you know why, too.
TSM: Ben, Ben, Ben. A really soft hearted kid. I always get amused when I talk to you, because you care about people and stuff. We don’t talk much now, but that’s probably because you’re never on AIM.
Jam Stunna: The man. Intelligent, realistic, hard working. Basically, the sort of person I respect. Not to mention, it’s always enjoyable talking to you. You also shaped the best parts of UB, and even now, I still kinda think the threads going to get locked when you post, then I realise I’m in charge now. Still, you have the aura man, I don’t think I can infract you. (Actually, of course I can, I’m actually looking for revenge)
FMOI: You ran amazing tournaments, as well as being a pretty unique character. This of course, makes you infinitely more interesting than most people, so this is why I’m giving you a shoutout, because I think you’re cool.
Dekuu: Man for the longest time, I thought you were gay. Must’ve been because you mained Peach, had long hair, like pink etc. Still, your sarcastic humour is always great fun, I really enjoy your company. Not in that way though, iunno, maybe I would, but I don’t live in Costa Del Sol or wherever the **** you live. ;D
Kinzer: You’re a cool cat.
Heartz: You are very tomboyish, which of course, makes you very cool. Always a fun presence in OTL, and a really welcoming and kind member. Apparently you’re really mean irl, but I couldn’t imagine it. Oh well, I think I’m going to prank you soon.
KevinM: KevinMadcool. KevinMadsexy. Whatever, you’re definitely one of my closest friends on SWF. You’ve never given me ****, and we’ve always gotten along. You’re trustworthy, hilarious, and just a true brah. You are the King of partychat and LoD’s Unofficial Champ. Also as Kanye would say, you’re the greatest Smod of all time. It’s funny, I think we made friends when you infracted me or something. Funny huh, that’s usually how most people make enemies, lol.
<33333333333
Tom: Well obviously you have to follow Kevin, since you’re either the same person, his brother, or his gay lover (lol rhyme c wut I did thar?) It always makes me laugh how we started off.
THERE ARE ALREADY SO MANY REASONS I CAN‘T STAND YOU, WHY NOT MAKE IT A BAKER‘S DOZEN?
Remember that? Ah good times. Things change don‘t they, I grew on you or something, because now you‘re another person I consider a really close friend. I can talk to you about a lot of things, and since you‘re a cat I find it so much easier than telling a human. I love you, Momo, and your all round awesomeness. “Giovanni is a bad man!”
Zero Beat: José Salvador Torres El Conquistador de Leon. Myyyyy bro. Good times good times. We’ve talked about pretty much everything. We know a lot about each other man! I can trust you with anything. Funny, I think we made friends when I called you a ***got or something. Again, funny how people meet, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles! Can’t go into THAT much detail, because most of it is personal stuff, we can’t be spillin’ the beans on here man.
SkylerOcon: You think Majora’s Mask is the best Zelda. One reason to like you a lot. Still, that’s obviously not the entire reason (I swear). Just like everyone else in partychat apart from that Airgemini thing, we can talk about things. Another great friend, someone I can talk to easily. The only problem with you is the fact that you’re really tall. XD
Airgemini: It’s fun being mean to you. I suppose that’s not nice, but everyone knows Teran isn’t nice Still, everyone secretly loves Air, so sleep well, and just keep taking the abuse like some sort of kiss from someone with lots of spiky studs coming out of their lips.
Marc: You’re… Dutch. :x
Despite this fatal flaw, you are in fact, another really cool cat. Completely chill, and completely free of bs. A winrar is you, hopefully I get to meet you at a Euro tourney one day. Definitely want to chill with you some time, and it’s more feasible with you than the others. :D
INFERNOOmni: Another fun presence in partychat, and always to watch in mafia. You’re also a black man, which increases your coolness rating.
Lythium: WELL DUDE. You were that really nice girl that was always fun to talk to. Then you slipped off my radar for a bit, then came back on. Then I started Godzilla’ing UB, and then like, woah dude, you were Broomed! You totally deserve it for being so cool. =D
Xiivi: **** you!
Sasukebowser: Umm… still don’t know wtf you are. However, I DO know you can be a cool dude.
Mini Mic: For being a hilarious Australian guy with lots of mean things to say. Still, as mean as you wish you were, you’re a very nice person at heart. If you want to be truly evil, you need lessons!
Spadefox/Onishiba: Lol, Russian or Austrian. Whichever you identify yourself as, I’m just going to say lol.
Sinz: You’re… kinda weird, but not as weird as me.
Frown: Always coming up with entertaining blogs and Disco Room threads. Keep it up.
Victra: You’re straight? Lol, and I’m not, the irony kills me inside.
Crimson King: Intelligent, humorous, and of course, a great colleague!
I think we argued a couple times when I was a regular member. Good times, I find it all pretty funny. Too bad you now have to deal with me modding the same room as you.
KayLo!: Well dude, we can talk about all kinds of stuff and it’s all cool! A girl that isn’t full of bull****, you’re awesome! <3
Xsyven: I don’t know, should I hate you? I’ll just put you here anyway because you’ve been really nice on most occasions. Still, screw you and your stupid anime hair.
Azua/Queen Killingspreejoy: You’re not actually a killjoy, change your name back or some ****. Easy to talk to and gets **** done. Not to mention, you’re completely bs free! Also, you’ve never yelled at me, so I don’t have a reason to be scared of you.
Mike G: Like your name suggests, you are a G. Only talked a bit recently, but that doesn’t mean you’re awesomeness doesn’t deserve recognition.
Mic_128: You make me laugh, a lot, so of course, you get on the list. It’s actually pretty hard to genuinely make me laugh so props.
SOLID: You talk more than a girl. Still, you’re pretty cool for a 13 year old boy.
SuSa: You’re a pretty unique guy, so obviously entertaining to talk to. Loose hair > ponytail.
Spire III: Likes MM! Also, you’re pretty relaxed and fun to talk to. A semi frequent member of partychat!
Sudai: I miss your pink font scheme. D:
Godsmith: You gave me some incredibly entertaining times with our AIM conversations. So man, how’s the baby doing?
Steel: Screw you. Nah not really, I ike you for some bizarre reason.
Hylain: Likes MM, drinks Dr Pepper, and comes from TX. As an added bonus, you’re also a nice guy.
Livvers: Another genuine character and someone that’s easy to talk to. You should like, be a guy or something, although for your own safety, maybe not.
Vlade: Australian Falco main. <3
Vyse: Really awesome guy, Australian, does Falcon poses, and Diddy Ftilts. Afine, fine human being.
Youko: My Blog of the Week rival!
Although not anymore because I’m not eligible anymore. D=
Best for last…
Straked//Alex: My best friend on SWF, and possibly the greatest human being I’ve ever known. Probablt even better than myself, which is a lot coming from a narcissistic **** like me. We talk a lot, a lot more I talk to anyone else on this site. My chat logs from you are bigger than my partychat log, which is a pretty outstanding achievement. If there’s anybody on SWF I absolutely MUST hang with irl at one point it’s you. We have the same favourite pokémon, both enjoy Pokémon with the same perspective, think alike in many regards, and we’re both gay so we can talk about stuff even more without it feeling weird. So, basically, you’re my bestie on this site, and would probably be the same irl if you didn’t live in Timbuktu. It’s okay though, getting to know you has still been awesome. Oh yeah I forgot, you’re my fiancé now, so like, no johns about not visiting London sometime. <3
If I forgot you, it’s because I’m utterly exhausted after writing this and it’s now like 2:30am. Still, it’s been great to write, and if I have missed you and you think I would’ve put you on, just give a little shout if it really breaks your heart so much.
As for now, thanks SWF, for a great year. Now stop spamming my UB before I ban you all!
(Incredibly cool story alert.)
It’s coming up to a year since I registered on this site, and now I felt it’d be fun to look back and chronicle the whole ride I’ve taken.
(Massive shoutout section at the end. <3)
Just like basically everyone on this site, I signed up unknown, a boy who just liked to smash. I’d dabbled in competitive Melee before, and had checked this site several times over a couple years before signing up, but to be frank, it was just a reference point and nothing more. I’ve always had a general distaste for forums, and they way the members act (especially concerning new people), so I never felt the desire to sign up. Come 2008, and Brawl was released. Obviously I checked the site for the instant scoops on what ATs may be discovered, so I found myself browsing the site more and more. Still, I had important exams in the summer, and coupled with the fact that 08ers weren’t exactly the most welcomed class of new members, I held off.
Fast forward to October 2008. I finally decided that my misanthropic and somewhat antisocial nature would mean none of the negative vibes would bother me anyway, so I thought **** it, and signed up. Despite my personality, I’m very well mannered and somewhat shy in new surroundings, as is demonstrated in my Meet and Greet thread here: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=201182.
So where did I go from there? Well, since I was here for nothing but information, I decided to go to the board of my main, Falco. I lurked and posted with a few tidbits even there. Luckily I was never attacked or anything, but maybe that’s because I don’t say anything when I’m not 100% sure what I’m saying is correct. You should always know what you’re talking about, because people like to shove bull**** back down your throat on the internet, SWF is no different.
The Falco board was really relaxed and cool though, although pretty much everyone that used to post there except for Denzi and Ozz have vanished. Still, Falco boards are pretty awesome.
Inevitable, I found myself talking to people on the boards, something which I never had the intention of doing. SWF is really like no other forum I’ve ever seen. It has a very, very strong social aspect. We have whole rooms dedicated to region socials, not to mention the general rooms like the Pool Room, which allow you to discuss something else other than bloody competitive Smash. The social side of this place is even further demonstrated by the mysterious Back Room, where the criteria for getting in are not truly known. Of course they say that you just have to be cool and not try and get in, but alas, who knows unless they’re inside?
Since I grew tired of competitive smash discussion all the time soon after I’d signed up, I found myself branching out more to these different areas of the boards. It was at this point that I found two places. OTL, and User Blogs. Despite the general disdain for wifi, it really wasn’t practical for me to smash with friends often, since the only friends that I could smash with live about an hour away from me. Such is the curse of going to a Central London school, with boys from all corners of London, or even outside, commuting in to attend.
I remember the first wifi match I lost being against Sir Orion (now Ryusuta). It was pretty lame, but at the same time, I felt that the loss was convincing enough that wifi johns wouldn’t cut it, and I realised that wifi had more value as a training tool than most people make out. You can improve off wifi, there is a lot you can learn from wifi if you don’t have people nearby to play often. It beats nothing, don’t knock it. Still, nothing beats in person matches of course. So I decided to enter tournaments in OTL every now and then, and not doing horribly but getting byed a lot because of school work or whatever (no johns). To be fair, I wouldn’t have had a chance of winning at that time anyway.
At this same point in time, I was reading through blogs, and finding it an intriguing place. Why? Well to me, it felt like I wasn’t just looking at names and avatars posting, but actual people. UB was a very quiet place at that time compared with now, in fact, it was more of a distant corner of SWF. It was really nice too, lots of tl;dr blogs, and lots of cool stories. I like both, people were actually putting a bit thought into them, while the humour while not so well developed at the time, was still present. I remember there was one particular dude whose blogs were always a good read. I got to respect this member a lot without even knowing or talking to him, but the chronicling of one’s thoughts through a blog can allow a connection with your audience that posting about game related topics just can’t. This dude happened to be my predecessor, Jam Stunna, the Don of UB. No joke, even as a mod now, I’ll ask him for counsel on things from time to time.
So what happened in that period? Well to be honest, it’d be a bit difficult to chronicle just about everything, that would be absurd, the journey is a gradual process after all. Still there was one member from OTL who I consider my first good friend on this site, he was called Samusbrawler at the time (lol), but now he’s called DTP thanks to Premium (buy it, it’s good). Most of our conversations would be over IM, but we somehow managed to get a VM wall post number of over 1000. Shows we talked a lot. We also talked on Skype too. My trademark sarcastic and wry personality was beginning to become far more obvious at this point, which helped make some love me, and some not like me so much. I’m the sort of person that a lot of people will dislike at first, they may have found me abrasive, mean, unapproachable, and quite a lot of people have said I’m intimidating. I don’t know, maybe I’m all those things, but people who actually talked to me seemed to grow to like me. I suppose I’m of the sort that has to grow on people rather than being instantly liked, although some people like me straight away because they like my attitude.
UB was starting to grow but was still relatively quiet. There was one pretty incredible thread late in ‘08 that everyone might remember. This thread made me split my sides so hard with laughter, that I decided to make a social group about the greatest SWF member of all time, MaxfireXSA. Of course, this gave rise to a meme that will never die, or rather, a cult. The thread in question is here: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=204422
So UB continued being its nice, quiet self until one day…
One day one thread arose, a thread which I’ll never forget. http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=214891
As a moderator with my current attitude now, I’d probably have kicked my own *** for what I did in that thread. Being realistic however, I really enjoyed the shenanigans in that blog, and it even spawned a new meme. Although this thread was great, it did have a very strong negative in the aftermath. It opened the floodgates for dumb spam, and the journey of UB as we know it now had begun.
At this time I was very much a UB man, the Falco boards and OTL were still frequently visited, but UB was my haunt. I’m not gonna lie, it was spammy as hell, and I didn’t actually enjoy that very much, because to me there has to be some humour behind it. Spam for the sake of spam is just stupid, and unfortunately, there was a lot of that. It was because of this trend, that post count was turned off. Hopefully one starlit night it’ll be turned back on, but I think there’s some work to do before that proposition would be feasible.
I was becoming more and more noticed during ‘09, now with a blue name, and getting a rep for being that… weird guy from England. I could be incredibly silly and outrageous at times, but yet I was actually capable of intelligent posting. Guess I’m some sort of evil clown, but that doesn’t make me dumb! By this point too, my friend list had grown substantially. I was talking to Glyph (first mod friend <3), Chaco (not a mod at that point), Mithx/Mith_, had Spadefox/Onishiba hitting on me all the time XD, so yeah, ‘twas fun.
Now this was at a period immediately prior to the OTL explosion, which I’ll talk about in a minute. Now bear with me as I talk about the brewing storn in UB. The spamming and trolling was reaching epidemic levels, and the place was rarely looked into by mods. Now it seemed that the once quiet and self governing area of the boards was going to need a moderator. Still, nothing was being done at this point, except for a lot of mini modding and more insults. It was pretty funny to observe, actually.
Now onto OTL. I think it was some time around March, and I can’t be 100% sure because Azua hard deleted the original thread
, however it was somewhere around that time. OTL was a very social board, and we all used to talk in the tournament threads, but of course this had a somewhat detrimental effect on the actual running of the tournament itself. In light of this, Azua cooked up the idea of a social thread, and we were the pilot guinea pigs. This thread really made OTL, which turned us into more of a family than a community that liked playing Brawl online. Several members, (including myself), came out in this thread. It was pretty hilarious, since it turned out that about 70% of OTL was gay/bi, Actually it was probably more, but I like conservative estimates. It was at this point that the Teran everyone knows was really on full display. Imposing, wry, misanthropic, I was on a roll. I was becoming cool *gasp*, and I was the champion for number of posts in the social thread. Then of course, the thread was closed due to some stupidity, then due to continued stupidity, was hard deleted and a new thread was made. The loss of the first thread was sad, but hey, the second served us just as well. OTL Social has had a knack of getting closed and replaced, but this one has lasted for quite a while, although unfortunately, I’m no longer the top poster in that thread. Must be because of how OTL has changed, but I’ll come onto that.
Come April 1st, and of course, another great day on SWF. It was April Fools. Maxfire became an admin, the whole site constantly changed shades of colour, at a rate of about once every 30 minutes. Admins changed custom titles and names, I was changed into Pliskin II, I announced my hatred for UB, every moderator was transformed into some sort of Mic_(insert number here). Hilarious, it’s hard to think a forum can generate so much fun, but then again, it’s better than more objectionable forms of fun.
My 18th birthday was fast approaching. So, of course on my birthday, I had a riproaring day out with my close friends, and had a very nice long rest until the next day… and then I woke up.
I woke up to almost 30 notifications, my VM wall had been completely and utterly swarmed by OTL well wishers. This was perhaps one of my best memories from SWF, that I didn’t just get a couple well wish posts, but a giant OTL party on my wall. It’s weird, you think it’s just an online community, you don’t see these people in real life, you’re miles apart scattered all over. Yet I really felt somewhat special, especially the matches against KawaiiBunny/Nya~! :3 which made me feel even more special. :D
Yeah, it’s nice having people that care about you, even though you may not know them in real life. SWF is the only forum I’ve seen where people are more than just forum buddies, becoming genuine friends.
Life in SWF continued to be filled with hilarity, drama, and good discussion. I was all over the place, I had earned the hatred of Tom (who went on to become one of my close friends on SWF, what did I say about growing on people?), and was starting to become known as the UB guy, and OTL’s resident nutcase clown. By this time, my skill with Falco made me cringe at the first replays I’d ever recorded, but this was a great sign that I’d improved dramatically. I’m pretty good now, you know! OTL’s mascot gay couple Barge and TSM (no longer together), were still around, and of course, it was all pretty much just a giant love orgy at that point. OTL was the cool place to be, we had random mods posting there, random spammers coming in, it showed it was the place to be.
Some day in May, one blog was made. One blog that has secured itself in the heart of SWF infamy. It was none other than the Koth blog. http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=232968
In its young life, UB was already becoming quite the generator of SWF lore. A lot of people were suspicious at the time, some people believed it. I just decided to give false sentiments and not believe him. Of course, it’s hard to immediately shoot something like this down, mainly because the flood of “OMG KOTH IM SO SORRY”, and of course, the fact that you’d look like a complete ***hole if you challenged it.
So…
The story stayed and Koth “returned”, adding more holes to his stories, and making up more bull**** lies. Then of course, you might remember this one certain blog in June…
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?p=7603303
This blog is perhaps what brought me the most SWF “fame”, if you will. I appreciated the thanks of people for exposing, but there was this sort of Teran is cool bandwagon that I didn’t like. I didn’t like the fact that people liked me for this one thing. People who’d made a habit of flaming me were being cool. I was “that guy”, for a while. I have to admit waking up to over 20 notifications was amusing. In a way though, I’d like to think that people would rather continue hating me as they should have, rather than liking me because I was cool. I guess Azua props are like instant cool currency on SWF. She totally kicks my *** in the Shack though. Nah not really, because I’m not dumb, but anyway…
I was indeed, that guy for a while. Soon after this, a new phenomenon was born. It was called “partychat”, and it was pretty awesome. At this point in time, my friends list had changed somewhat. Most members of old OTL had vanished, and the social thread had become the haunt of new dudes. Of course, I have nothing against new guys, but of course it’s analogous to when family leaves your home and you’ve got a load of roommates. It’s not a problem, but it just doesn’t have that close, comfortable atmosphere that family provides. I still own OTL though, don’t listen to the lies of Glyph and Chaco. Also, AlphaZealot’s name there is just a relic, he’s just using his Overswarm alt these days.
The partychat are: Zero Beat, KevinM, Chaco, Tom, SkylerOcon, Marc, Air, KawaiiBunny, Omni, and Dekuu!
Trust me, these dudes made my nocturnal summer completely awesome, not to mention I had another true bro in the form of Straked on AIM too.
OTL was dying, and UB was going through a tumultuous phase of crying and whining, “rules are too lax”, “rules are too strict”, and whatever other nonsense that people who can’t be satisfied spewed, and then came the shell shock.
Jam Stunna’s resignation. THE man to mod UB was stepping down, and now the place was falling into disrepair. People were getting away with **** they shouldn’t have been able to, the place was devolving. My favourite room was going down the dumpster, and there was only so much Smods could do to pet the place. After all, they mainly rely on reports, considering there was no official mod at the time. Of course, credit to Virg for keep some of the nonsense in line there.
Then of course in August, I received a message from Crimson King.
“And he’s messaging me why…?” I thought. I’d had a couple run ins with the Master of Destructions before, some of them cool, some of them… not so cool (don’t worry, that’s life yo!), but I couldn’t see why he’d actually be messaging me unless it was for a thrashing or something. Then it turned out I was chosen to mod UB. Now, I knew being a mod wouldn’t be all fun and games, but hell, if there was one room to mod, it was UB for me. I didn’t really hesitate to say yes, (well I did actually, but it’s not what you think), and so I woke up the next day… with 935086039568 notifications and a red name. Of course, my disappointment was great when I found that there were no videos of Azua eating babies in the Staffer Shack, or Crimson King blowing up the city of Gotham, while Virg swept in to save the day.
BUT OMG I COULD SEE THE STAFFER SHACK. No, it is not the Staff Nightclub, it’s all toilin’ an’ sweatin’ to make this site a better place for you! WE WORK FOR YOU GUYS YOU KNOW
.Also I found I was co-modding with CK, who’s pretty much the perfect guy to be teamed with. It’s good having a mod you can agree with, lol.
Anyway, I’ve found modding to be worth all the extra responsibility. First of all, I keep my favourite room nice and tidy. Keeping UB tidy actually feels great, I’m pretty much a dinosaur of that room, although Jam probably predates me slightly. This room is pretty much the room that I became Teran in on SWF, all without post count, because it’s the good posting that matters, not the arbitrary number you get for it!
So what’s it been like as a moderator? Well, I had to infract a LOT for a good while. Well, it was mostly warnings at first, but people didn’t quite get the message about how the place was going to be run so, I decided to be a bit more direct in my approach. It’s been tough, and I’ve taken a lot of abuse for it, but now the place has calmed down, and it’s slowly becoming far easier to moderate. I don’t have to check every two seconds, although I do anyway because I’m always looking through the room. Bringing UB out of the original madhouse it was under no moderation made me feel accomplished, and it makes me feel good that several people who would never have visited the room before because of its old nature, have now started posting there.
Now I’m out and about in The Legion of Doom, UB, Disco Room, OTL (from time to rime), Falco, and I even check the Staffer Shack! Aren’t I responsible? It’s been a hell of a ride, one that I didn’t expect in the least. From hating forums to being a moderator on one, from wanting no friends to making very close ones. Such is the nature of the Smash World Forum which is bad for your children and where all false information is reported to the staffs.
Now that I’m basically a year old in SWF terms, and the moderator of UB and Falco, I really thought it would be nice to look back and just have a brief (lol) chronicle of my times on this place. HOW DID IT ALL HAPPEN?
Dunno dude, I can’t reveal Staffer Shack information.
I’ve tried to avoid mentioning names as much as I could in case I missed some out in the wall of text. So, I decided to go for the wall of shoutouts instead. Here goes. (In no particular order of importance, except the last. <3)
Samusbrawler/DTP: Well dude, my first SWF friend. You loved me before I was cool! You still pretty much own my VM wall. We don’t seem to talk much now, but screw you man you’re on often enough.
Get on AIM or something, it’s been too long.Glyph: My first mod friend! Yeah, because we all know we ignore all people with yellow names. XD
Joking aside, you were the man, and still are the man. Always made me laugh, and have always been super chill. You were pretty elusive for a while, but it’s great to have you back again. You are the original master of OTL. Remember the edit wars we had? Great times.
Chaco: Chaco taco! Baby boy Chaco! Chaco that homo mod who infracted me. A great friend is you, and someone that’s really easy to talk to. I always enjoy our long talks, and we’ve had a lot of really long talks. I remember we once ignored partychat for a whole night because we were talking about things. You’re really smart and mature for your age, but you’re mainly just funny and great to talk to. If you were gay, I’d kidnap you.
Barge: Lol, where the hell you at man? Vanished into the wind, but still, hopefully you’ll see this. You’re a big dog in OTL, even though you quit Brawl. You were always pretty laid back, although I must remind you that all gay people are going to hell.
Sir Orion: You showed me wifi was alright! You also used to beat me a lot. Not anymore!
You got me off my high horse though.
Shadowfirex100: F35 tourney series was awesome. You were a great director when OTL was in its prime.
Denzi: Everybody’s favourite Falco boarder. <3 Never a spammer, but funny too. Always a nice guy that’s been helping out on the boards. Saluted!
Mith: You don’t come here that often anymore. Man we had the funniest conversations back in the day. Sarcastic jokes about SWF staff (sorry guys), talking randomly about games, what we did last night etc. Always a comedian, you were the man in Falco boards and had your magic touch in UB. Miss you man. ;__;
KawaiiBunny: Karina, the resident adorable girl. Always sweet, even if it’s hard talking to you because you’re shy as hell. It’s aight though, you’re still awesome, and you made me feel really good on my birthday. What I just said doesn’t sound wrong, you know why, too.
TSM: Ben, Ben, Ben. A really soft hearted kid. I always get amused when I talk to you, because you care about people and stuff. We don’t talk much now, but that’s probably because you’re never on AIM.
Jam Stunna: The man. Intelligent, realistic, hard working. Basically, the sort of person I respect. Not to mention, it’s always enjoyable talking to you. You also shaped the best parts of UB, and even now, I still kinda think the threads going to get locked when you post, then I realise I’m in charge now. Still, you have the aura man, I don’t think I can infract you. (Actually, of course I can, I’m actually looking for revenge
) FMOI: You ran amazing tournaments, as well as being a pretty unique character. This of course, makes you infinitely more interesting than most people, so this is why I’m giving you a shoutout, because I think you’re cool.
Dekuu: Man for the longest time, I thought you were gay. Must’ve been because you mained Peach, had long hair, like pink etc. Still, your sarcastic humour is always great fun, I really enjoy your company. Not in that way though, iunno, maybe I would, but I don’t live in Costa Del Sol or wherever the **** you live. ;D
Kinzer: You’re a cool cat.
Heartz: You are very tomboyish, which of course, makes you very cool. Always a fun presence in OTL, and a really welcoming and kind member. Apparently you’re really mean irl, but I couldn’t imagine it. Oh well, I think I’m going to prank you soon.
KevinM: KevinMadcool. KevinMadsexy. Whatever, you’re definitely one of my closest friends on SWF. You’ve never given me ****, and we’ve always gotten along. You’re trustworthy, hilarious, and just a true brah. You are the King of partychat and LoD’s Unofficial Champ. Also as Kanye would say, you’re the greatest Smod of all time. It’s funny, I think we made friends when you infracted me or something. Funny huh, that’s usually how most people make enemies, lol.
<33333333333
Tom: Well obviously you have to follow Kevin, since you’re either the same person, his brother, or his gay lover (lol rhyme c wut I did thar?) It always makes me laugh how we started off.
THERE ARE ALREADY SO MANY REASONS I CAN‘T STAND YOU, WHY NOT MAKE IT A BAKER‘S DOZEN?
Remember that? Ah good times. Things change don‘t they, I grew on you or something, because now you‘re another person I consider a really close friend. I can talk to you about a lot of things, and since you‘re a cat I find it so much easier than telling a human. I love you, Momo, and your all round awesomeness. “Giovanni is a bad man!”
Zero Beat: José Salvador Torres El Conquistador de Leon. Myyyyy bro. Good times good times. We’ve talked about pretty much everything. We know a lot about each other man! I can trust you with anything. Funny, I think we made friends when I called you a ***got or something. Again, funny how people meet, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles! Can’t go into THAT much detail, because most of it is personal stuff, we can’t be spillin’ the beans on here man.
SkylerOcon: You think Majora’s Mask is the best Zelda. One reason to like you a lot. Still, that’s obviously not the entire reason (I swear). Just like everyone else in partychat apart from that Airgemini thing, we can talk about things. Another great friend, someone I can talk to easily. The only problem with you is the fact that you’re really tall. XD
Airgemini: It’s fun being mean to you. I suppose that’s not nice, but everyone knows Teran isn’t nice Still, everyone secretly loves Air, so sleep well, and just keep taking the abuse like some sort of kiss from someone with lots of spiky studs coming out of their lips.
Marc: You’re… Dutch. :x
Despite this fatal flaw, you are in fact, another really cool cat. Completely chill, and completely free of bs. A winrar is you, hopefully I get to meet you at a Euro tourney one day. Definitely want to chill with you some time, and it’s more feasible with you than the others. :D
INFERNOOmni: Another fun presence in partychat, and always to watch in mafia. You’re also a black man, which increases your coolness rating.
Lythium: WELL DUDE. You were that really nice girl that was always fun to talk to. Then you slipped off my radar for a bit, then came back on. Then I started Godzilla’ing UB, and then like, woah dude, you were Broomed! You totally deserve it for being so cool. =D
Xiivi: **** you!
Sasukebowser: Umm… still don’t know wtf you are. However, I DO know you can be a cool dude.
Mini Mic: For being a hilarious Australian guy with lots of mean things to say. Still, as mean as you wish you were, you’re a very nice person at heart. If you want to be truly evil, you need lessons!
Spadefox/Onishiba: Lol, Russian or Austrian. Whichever you identify yourself as, I’m just going to say lol.
Sinz: You’re… kinda weird, but not as weird as me.
Frown: Always coming up with entertaining blogs and Disco Room threads. Keep it up.
Victra: You’re straight? Lol, and I’m not, the irony kills me inside.
Crimson King: Intelligent, humorous, and of course, a great colleague!
I think we argued a couple times when I was a regular member. Good times, I find it all pretty funny. Too bad you now have to deal with me modding the same room as you.
KayLo!: Well dude, we can talk about all kinds of stuff and it’s all cool! A girl that isn’t full of bull****, you’re awesome! <3
Xsyven: I don’t know, should I hate you? I’ll just put you here anyway because you’ve been really nice on most occasions. Still, screw you and your stupid anime hair.
Azua/Queen Killingspreejoy: You’re not actually a killjoy, change your name back or some ****. Easy to talk to and gets **** done. Not to mention, you’re completely bs free! Also, you’ve never yelled at me, so I don’t have a reason to be scared of you.
Mike G: Like your name suggests, you are a G. Only talked a bit recently, but that doesn’t mean you’re awesomeness doesn’t deserve recognition.
Mic_128: You make me laugh, a lot, so of course, you get on the list. It’s actually pretty hard to genuinely make me laugh so props.
SOLID: You talk more than a girl. Still, you’re pretty cool for a 13 year old boy.
SuSa: You’re a pretty unique guy, so obviously entertaining to talk to. Loose hair > ponytail.
Spire III: Likes MM! Also, you’re pretty relaxed and fun to talk to. A semi frequent member of partychat!
Sudai: I miss your pink font scheme. D:
Godsmith: You gave me some incredibly entertaining times with our AIM conversations. So man, how’s the baby doing?
Steel: Screw you. Nah not really, I ike you for some bizarre reason.
Hylain: Likes MM, drinks Dr Pepper, and comes from TX. As an added bonus, you’re also a nice guy.
Livvers: Another genuine character and someone that’s easy to talk to. You should like, be a guy or something, although for your own safety, maybe not.
Vlade: Australian Falco main. <3
Vyse: Really awesome guy, Australian, does Falcon poses, and Diddy Ftilts. Afine, fine human being.
Youko: My Blog of the Week rival!
Although not anymore because I’m not eligible anymore. D=
Best for last…
Straked/
/Alex: My best friend on SWF, and possibly the greatest human being I’ve ever known. Probablt even better than myself, which is a lot coming from a narcissistic **** like me. We talk a lot, a lot more I talk to anyone else on this site. My chat logs from you are bigger than my partychat log, which is a pretty outstanding achievement. If there’s anybody on SWF I absolutely MUST hang with irl at one point it’s you. We have the same favourite pokémon, both enjoy Pokémon with the same perspective, think alike in many regards, and we’re both gay so we can talk about stuff even more without it feeling weird. So, basically, you’re my bestie on this site, and would probably be the same irl if you didn’t live in Timbuktu. It’s okay though, getting to know you has still been awesome. Oh yeah I forgot, you’re my fiancé now, so like, no johns about not visiting London sometime. <3If I forgot you, it’s because I’m utterly exhausted after writing this and it’s now like 2:30am. Still, it’s been great to write, and if I have missed you and you think I would’ve put you on, just give a little shout if it really breaks your heart so much.
As for now, thanks SWF, for a great year. Now stop spamming my UB before I ban you all!
