the Diablo History is not dead yet!

[Roland]

Roland: I don’t know, to be honest. A couple people were trying to use you as a landmark, IIRC. And Peter Hughes is Word’s spellcheck at work.

“It is far better to be remembered for something good, something worthwhile, something monumental, than to be remembered for something bad.” I disagree. It is far better to be remembered for something rather than not be remembered at all. And “bad” and “monumental” goes together like Ducky and orange juice. ;)

Taken a bit out of context. I didn't mean that "bad" contributions, such as Finnan Haddie's constant flamewars and bickering over legitness (it truly is too bad you have no mention of him; all crap aside, he WAS a monumental part of the DSF history), but rather "bad" as in not noteworthy. Someone writing a small batch of shoddy poetry with no foresight or caring is what I meant by "bad". Someone just being a general nuisance with no real goal is what I meant by "bad". Do you understand? I still say it is better to be remembered for something good, than for something bad, at least as a general practice, but that wasn't the context I was speaking in ni that quote. I know it didn't come off that way; 'twas the best I could word it at the time.

I'll have to dig around the old memory banks to see if I can find anything else of note. I DO remember when Pope Master first came onto the scene. That was just around the same time that Evil~Teletubby came on, as well, though I am unsure as to who predates who. I would imagine E~T predates PM, by no more than a month, but I could have that completely backwards. In any case, Pope was seen as a bit of a child (he WAS young, and it showed), with very poor communication skills and just a general air of immaturity. He was called on this numerous times, and eventually shaped up to be a pretty decent guy.

What's noteworthy, though, is that at the time when they both came on the scene (E~T and PM), they started a MASSIVE flamewar between one another. Memory serves that it was just a silly game between them, a sort of challenge, I guess, but it was not won over well by the community as a whole, because it was just a great big bucket of trash that wouldn't go away, and kept getting larger. I remember this so well because I stepped in and told them to cool it off. I don't know what I said, exactly (I didn't think much about it at the time; I just wrote it; I guess I said SOMETHING worthwhile, though), but it struck both PM, and especiall Evil~Teletubby, and they stopped their flame war. It never resurfaced, and E~T stuck around to be one of the best additions to the crowd (IMHO, anyway; a great guy, very friendly and helpful, good in coop, and just an all-around valuable addition). It sticks out in my mind because he thanked me for turning him around in that regard. He didn't know it was causing such a ruckus at the time, but looking back on it, he said he saw the errors of his ways, so to speak. Like I said, I don't know what the hell I said that was so inspiring, but whatever it was, it turned them two around, at least a little. ;)

You have my other response further up, in terms of noteworthy things to add. A few more tidbits that I remember:
- When the Strategy Forum channel first came about, it was quickly filled with problems when Omega and myself got into a bit of a "Gavel War". Omega was king of trolls and flamers back in the day, although he was a good enough gamer, and poster, often enough for most of us to overlook this. Yet he WAS prone to pushing people's buttons, and just generally starting trouble. He brought this off the forum and into the channel, and it ended up creating quite the headache. Not sure if it's noteworthy to you or not, but it something I remember.
- Omega's claim to fame, at least one of them, was the Diablo Legit White Pages, the first ever (IIRC) collection of DSFers, their monikers, character names, and contact information. It predates Kasreyn's DRIAD by years, but is essentially the same thing. It USED to still be around, despite how Omega (as he claimed) stopped paying for his hosting. I think eventually it fell through the cracks of time and the web. Still, very noteworthy, IMO.
- ac(INFERNO)'s reign came long before her stay at the Lounge. She was originally a flamer / troll at the DSF, and that was where she first (multiple times, as I recall) introduced her Diablo PK Guide. Once again, much like Omega, she decided to bring trouble off the forum, as well, and so began another Gavel War between me and her. Keep in mind, this was back when I was pretty much the sole "Operator" of the Strategy Forum channel.
- The 7-day (I know it didn't last this long, but it was dubbed this) DSF Meet was also of note, IMO. It was around the time that I was introducing (for the second time) the idea of a permanent channel. We held a DSF Meet, sometime in the fall, as I recall, but rather than let it dying out after just the one day, I kept the channel and the Meet going. We got a fair number of people to keep coming back, but it petered out by the fourth day, as I recall. E~T, I think, was the one who gave it the title of "The Week Long DSF Meet" or the "7-Day DSF Meet". In actuality, I think he called it the "Neverending DSF Meet", but since it only lasted a week (and even then more like three or four days), it was renamed a bit. Even if only by me. ;)
- You won't want to forget the closing of the Lounge, and accompanying that, the opening of the DSC (however UN-noteworthy that was :P). That was a landmark point in our history, even if it was still relatively recent. You may also want to throw in the move of the Lounge from Network54 forums, to its own hosted forums, and the accompanying "reopening" of the Lounge on a new host (Mavfin may have been the host at this time, though I think this actually predates him by a time), though it was more like just a redesign. :)
- There was a large debate between Sirian, and a hail of Lurkers, about twinking. This took place on the "new" forums, i.e. the ones just after the N54 forums, as I recall. A LOT of people were still around then, and it caused a HUGE ruckus. I can't remember if this was before, or after, ac(INFERNO)'s infamous PK article debacle, but I think it came about afterwards. Not sure, though. Someone else around here can confirm the date, even only relatively, I'm sure. I doubt many have forgotten that.
- There was also Sirian's dicussion between himself and Max Shaefer, regarding PKing in Diablo II. That opened up a huge can of worms on the forum, and led to a whole slew of people writing off Blizzard. To this day, there are still people who hold a grudge against Blizzard, and even Max, I am sure, for what he said in that conversion, particularly "We know what our gamers want." There were a few other gems in there, and I have the article saved on my HD, if you care to peruse it. Very hot topic, very heatedly discussed / debated / argued. Again, I'm not sure if it's worth noting, but it stands out in my mind.

One more thing:
In regards to "my" Telekinesis discovery, that's not entirely accurate. I was fooling around with TK, and had falsely made the "discovery" that you could kill a monster with TK. This came about due to lag and whatnot, and I was strongly told that it simply wasn't possible. Further testing by me concluded this, but sparked Moriah to investigate further into it, and he actually discovered that Telekinesis could be used to gain exp. I paved the way, but I never took it far enough to prove this. Moriah beat me to it, despite my intentions to test further into it. :) Such is the way of things. Proper credit should go to Moriah for the discovery, although you can leave my name in for "starting him on the road" if you like. If you do, though, you'll probably want to include my notes above. Credit where credit is due, and all that. It wouldn't sit right with me if I was getting credit for something I didn't do, in part or in full.

Alright, and a P.S., to boot - Your lacking a slew of Mod and Variant community information. Whether that's by choice, or simply because you haven't found it / gotten around to it, I just thought I'd note it. IF you wish to include that information, you're gonna have your hands full. The early days of Variants, and particulaly Modding, are long gone, and little information about them is archived. Your best source will be interviewing key people from the community. Check out the Sylvan Cliffs, Realms Beyond, V&K's Mod site, and try and dig up the old Asylum message boards. Ask around, and dig, dig, dig. You'll be able to pull up a good deal, I imagine, but it's gonna be a mass of hard work, and frustration too, no doubt. Up to you whether you want to include it, but if you're really serious about this project (of which I have no doubt; others may say what they will, but they don't know you, nor your dedication to this; I am not one of those people), you'll want / need to include this information, as best you can. The Variant and Modding communities were almost completely mutually exclusive, and the DSF, joining the two to a degree (but NEVER completely), fits in critically with those two communities. Keep up the GREAT work, and if you ever need a further hand, just drop me a line. I'm always willing to aid. You know me: I live for this community. ;)

DECEMBER 2001
--Dako-ta creates Dako-ta’s Diablo Miscellania.

I know that's when Dako-ta says his Diablo Miscellania "officially" started, but in actuality, it started LONG before that:
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/messag...ageid=942193964
November of 1999, to be exact. The same time that I started my site (as you'll note in Dako-ta's Acknowledgements section, he states that I was the reason he started his Glossary (that's what it was called originally, the DSF Glossary). Modest as I am, I can't deny this. :P)

Not sure if you'll (or even if he will) want to include this, but I just thought I'd toss out the information.