Look guys, this is going to be a long one. If you want, feel free to skip to the last bit. I wrote this off and on for a couple days in my free time. I know I'm bumping a two year dead topic , but I feel like it's worth it. I know I *just* posted 5 posts and 3 years back, but I wanted to take the time to really just kind of flesh something out, here.
I remember all of you and more. I think about you guys and interordi as a whole a lot, actually. I was the most active between 03 and 06 I think, back before life and bad decisions happened. I joined into controversy and tried my hardest to stay there for a long time, then couldn't get out. In my first five minutes, I was accused of beaing a user named spider who'd just gotten banned and only ufo -who was only with us for about a year- defended me. That was my first impression of interordi, and he's the only reason I initially stayed. Some random guy gave me the benefit of the doubt and we bacame pretty good friends while he was around.
I've been here for 15 years. Half my life, almost. I have fond memories of so many people that I can't possibly keep track of them all. Once in I while I get nostalgic and start clicking through the member list and suddenly I find myself remembering someone I haven't thought about in a decade or more. I wish we had kind of a guestbook feature where we could leave comments on old profiles where they wouldn't have to log in to see them. Most of them don't even have active emails linked to interordi, anymore. I've seen 'generations' of users come and go. Waves of active members establish a community within interordi and then drift away one by one until only a stubborn few remain as the next wave rolls in. Then as time goes on, even some of them disappear.
Most of the original set disappeared when MySpace really took off. A ton more just kind of faded away over time. There's only a handful of us geezers left and I came in late, myself. I joined in 2003 but IO's been up since 2002 at least. What I consider to be the second wave started coming through in 06 and dwindled until the creeperslab server came into being in 2011. I had become mostly an occasional lurker at that time and didn't get to know many of the second wave, but they were fun to watch and interact with when I had time to get on. The third generation has been almost exclusively Creeper's Lab people starting with the release of Minecraft 1.0 which actually brought back some familiar faces. I was an op on the server for quite a while. Trained or helped train a lot of the current staff on the server. It was nice being a part of such a great community again.
It's been a blur. It's hard to remember all the names after a decade and a half, especially with username changes all over the place. I want to say something about everyone, but I only have time for a "few".
Teej, or TopHat as you might know him always had the most fun posts. We joined around the same time and he was/is always rambling about whatever his newest obsession was. I enjoyed the Team Fortress 2, Kingdom Hearts and Waifu conversations even though I had no clue what was being talked about. He's a good guy and I really regret that we kind of fell out of touch. He's still kicking around here someplace,though.
Unknown Entity has been pretty great, too. He's still lurking in chat rooms and playing Minecraft. He's a real stand-up guy and I'm really glad he didn't disappear like I expected he would once we transitioned to Creeper'sLab. I don't think I've ever heard of him turning down a request for technical help, and man if it happened since he joined, he's got it documented somewhere.
Sage is hands down one one of the best people I've ever met. He used to be an angry, jumpy little guy but always had a heart of gold, really. We joined at about the same time even though his account says he registered in 2007. He and I went round and round over the years. We helped each other, we hated each other and now all this time later, he's my closest friend. I consider him more of a brother than anything.
DrCossack, now Doctacosa and I didn't really get to know each other on an actualy personal level until around the time Creeper's Lab started. We interacted throughout my entire time here, but up until this point it seems like it was more of a babysitter / babysat relationship. I feel like we've developed a firm, mutual respect for each other despite everything, since then. He's nice to a fault, infinitely patient and the only reason any of this was possible. I don't think anyone else here would have given me a chance at redeeming myself through a staff position after my history. He really doesn't get enough credit for what he's done here or how big this place is to some people.
Rising Dragon was always fun to interact with. We didn't have a WHOLE lot in common but I still remember him randomly from time to time. We kind of fell out of touch during the second wave when I would disappear for a year at a time, but it was great just talking about games and seeing what ridiculous arguments he was getting into. Especially at the beginning with his defence of Axl from the Megaman X series being so controversial with so many members. He was mostly active in forums I never messed with; RPG threads, weekly discussion, things I didn't really keep track of. He's still around. Doing the Minecraft thing too, I think. Still active in the forums and everything. I sure hope it stays that way.
Zane Truesdale is another person I feel like I didn't interact with enough. We banged around in most of the same forums, and had some fun conversations even though I was abrasive for most of it. We just never really connected head-on for whatever reason. I seem to remember a mutual love of the YuGiOh! series, as if his username wasn't a huge tip. I can't remember ever having any kind of issue with him. He's still around, too.
WindRider739 Let's be real. I have to be on this list. This guy in particular used to be pretty abrasive and always out to prove something. Back when I first joined, it was like letting a toddler loose on the internet. I'd posted places before with a question and never come back, but this was the first place I actually stayed at for more than a few days. And boy I was just super edgy with my usernames and weird avatars, talking about swordfighting in a Taiwanese deathmatch and all kinds of weird stuff. For a long time I was just an angry identity crisis desperate to be taken seriously. There was - to put it EXTREMELY mildly - a lot of rockiness over the years but I like to think I grew into the place and represent it well for what that's worth now. There's a reason you won't find any posts from me pre-2013.
We've lost a LOT of people along the way. Almost everyone else I can remember from back then at the moment is a ghost now.
Kia_Purity and I never really got to know each other except in passing, but her attitude of constantly being over everything was fun. Mostly I remember being enthralled with her for a while because I was 17 and she was a she. Also, I never paid attention to her website's name in her signature until years later, and always assumed it was lemonade.net. I think she was the first long-time board personality I noticed had fully faded away. Now, even her personal website is in ruins. That and her post here have been abandoned since 2011.
Necro was one of the originals and a very long-time mod on the boards. I don't know that he and I ever actually spoke directly but I loved interacting and watching in the forums. His approach to everything and everyone regardless of context was needlessly verbose, condescending and flamboyant and I loved every minute of it. I always enjoyed the fact that we both had a love of classic rock, too. He disappeared a couple of years ago and I wouldn't be surprised if he still lurks around here, somewhere. I hope sure he does. I hope everyone does.
HollowTorment was equal parts delight and disaster to stand next to. Hollow had no filter and always told you straight, no matter who you were. It was all kinds of fun watching them stir the pot every chance they got. I seem to remember not ending on the greatest of terms on account of them eventually getting fed up with my bullshit. I think that's the only thing no one could fault them for. I still think of them every now and then when I meet someone who's got similar traits online and off.
Breakman was another ridiculously long-time mod and staple of the community. Her shy but stern demeanor was always good for conversation. She chose her words carefully before posting, and I have respected that for a long time. I tested her a bit in my earlier years. I saw her soft spokenness as staff as a reason that our numbers were dwindling, not realizing how much of a hold social media had taken, and that she was part of the life of the board which kept a lot of us around and certainly not part of the problem. I was openly aggressive a few times because of this. I always felt bad about that. I think I apologized at one point. I sure hope I did.
Phatman Dover was one of my favorites from the beginning. From her love of Freakazoid to her taste in video games, we had a lot in common. I actually sold her my copy of Legend of Dragoon for the PS1 through the board at one point. She hasn't been on the board officially since 2014 but legend has it that she still haunts the board from time to time as a guest. We still talk once in a while, but not as often as I'd like. We have a mutual understanding that life gets in the way and that we'll always circle back and catch up at some point and I really can't overstate how much I appreciate that.
Mega X.exe I think we can still consider a staple of the community. I used to poke at X a LOT the first couple of years, because he was vocal about his religious views and I was trying to be edgy. One thing I really appreciated about him was that even though he was super easy to get riled up, he always defaulted back to being civil and caring. We had a lot of good conversation and some that was not so good. I wish we'd interacted more after I got my life together. He's only been gone a year now, so who knows. Maybe he's lurking. Maybe he'll pop in for a visit sometime.
MorphMan and I interacted quite a bit on the forums for a while there. Mostly during the second wave, I think. We talked games a lot, and we were into a lot of the same things. We never really got to know each other too well personally but his presence was one I always looked forward to. Everyone knew him by name, and no one really had anything bad to say about him that I ever heard. He's only been gone about a year, too.
Black Dranzer.exe This was a person I didn't interact with as much as I should have. Wish I'd gotten to know him better. Very insightful person that would have been worth the time to get to know better. The few times we actually talked on the boards he seemed to put off a vibe of being equal parts confident, intelligent, goofy and lost.
The Helldragon was probably my favorite person to watch back when I lurked during the second wave. Fantastic sense of humor and a talent for telling a story. We interacted a bit on the forums and might have chatted only once or twice but his username and presence is one I won't forget.
Elburito is hands down one of my favorite interordi ghosts. He joined right before I did and left in 2007. His sense of humor was fantastic. Potty humor and quick wit together were pretty great, and while I was doing my 'look at me, I'm a brooding artist' bit, he'd just pop in with a poem he wrote about pooping too much and remind me not to take myself too seriously.
Heatman left us in 2009, but he's still kicking around out there on DeviantArt. We lost touch as time went on for whatever reason but I always enjoyed that we had a lot of the same tastes in video games and music as well as discussing Megaman Battle Network strategies back when those were relevant to anyone. I loved watching him get worked up over silly things while big stuff just didn't bother him.
HighMaxOmega was all over EVERYTHING until 2008. I seem to remember us arguing about almost anything we talked about, too. Always respected him, though because he didn't put up with my BS but still actively engaged me in conversation. He was an enormous part of the community and I still take notice that his old avatar isn't still kicking around the boards.
Sakura was pretty great for the most part. She had a talent for pissing off pretty much anyone, but when it came down to it, she was a very nice person. We didn't interact directly very much but we were certainly aware of eachother. I think my favorite thing was watching her get frustrated every time a newcomer found out she was a female and decide to try to put the dial-up moves on her. She was a huge presence on the board.
BlueSilver and SlipknotFlunkie were both pretty good friends of mine for a while. We played games together and bumped around in chat a lot. They made a lot of music and pop culture references that went completely over my head. The two of them had a falling out at one point and I always appreciated that for a while they tried pretty hard to be civil with each other so no one felt caught in the middle, myself included. Eventually, we all drifted in different directions and I lost contact with them as life kind of crashed over the three of us individually. I miss tearing up the OverMyHead network with them.
Daveris was an awesome guy to talk to. Very intelligent and laid back and generally just happy to exist. One day in 2015 he made a 'thanks interordi' topic. I thought it was just general appreciation because we got those 'thanks 4 be da BEZT!' topics back in the day fairly regularly. I didn't realize it was a goodbye topic. I don't know that anyone did because only a few of us replied to it. He never said anything else, and he logged out for the last time a week later. I don't think he realized that he was appreciated by a lot of us.
Kei is a name most of us who've been here for a long time remember, if not all of us. He's genuinely the stuff of legend around here. I think I was the only one here that liked him by the end. He's still one of my favorites, probably because we were both arrogant, egotistical chodes trying to hide our own insecurities behind a wall of trying to sound superior at the time. We liked to wax philosophical about things we didn't entirely understand, or that we understood only with our limited experience. He was a great guy once you got past that wall, though. I kept in touch with him off and on until about 2013. He's still out there somewhere. Last I checked though, he'd figured a lot of stuff out. Became a whole person and everything. I'm proud of who he turned out to be and how much he's grown.
Zaleon used to jump in with Kei and I on our little 'philosophy' debates. He was a bit younger than us and way less of an ass about things, so we dismissed him quite a bit even though we respected him at the same time. That was a guy with some actual insights on things for his age. While we were busy trying to impress each other and appear like intellectuals, he was busy actually being one. He paid attention to what you said and put care and detail into how he responded. It doesn't feel like it, but he's been gone for seven years, now. I can't express how sad it makes me to know that I'll probably never get the chance to address him properly as an equal.
Gutter Mouth is unfortunately someone I don't remember a lot about despite us having loads of interaction. He disappeared in 07 while I was away. I just remember his sense of humor being a riot and genuinely enjoying his company. It's been at least 12 years since last time I talked to him. Feels like just a couple months ago.
Mana.EXE is someone I never really spoke to other than the occasional compliment on her art. Not sure where her website went, but she's still active on DeviantArt somewhere, last I checked and still making some pretty great stuff in her signature style. We didn't interact but that doesn't mean I didn't notice when she faded out. That doesn't mean I don't miss her being around.
MegamanZero66 is hands down one of the nicest people I've ever met. We joined around the same time and had the board-noob and internet-noob camraderie thing going on, and hit it off as buddies pretty much immediately. We interacted on the forums constantly for a long time and chatted a lot in private messenger or IRC. She encouraged me to keep making my garbage MSpaint sprite gifs that I was notorious for early on. We'd hang out alone in the IRC at like 2AM and talk about silly things like 'one day when I'm rich, I'm gonna do this'. I reached out to her a couple times during the second wave and tried to keep in touch but it didn't work out. Not sure where she wandered off to, but hopefully she's still got a hopeful attitude about life.
The Creeper's Lab people were another rush alltogether. There are so many that the list of third wave people that had an impact on me is impossible to count, especially with the frequency they showed up! some of the big ones though were ADeadlyFish, MediaKlepto, Himochi, Sora, Shy777 and her kids, Exodio, Mikey, Masterlink (who's been around since 04 but we never really talked until the server went up), Anon, Sphen, doorgunner, Magic, Itachi, Katz and figs... good lord just so many of you. Most of you are still around in some capacity or another. Some disappeared. Some of us have had our differences, but you're all fantastic and I'm glad I met every single one of you. You're a family of sorts and I'll always think of you that way. I just wish I had the time, energy and memory to keep up with all of you.
There are so many more people from the last 15 years, but it's difficult to remember all of them at once. One thing I don't think that a lot of people realize - or maybe they just think they're the only ones like I did for a long time - is that just because a relationship was formed and existed solely on the internet or even a specific forum doesn't make it invalid. We've all impacted the lives of other users in some way or another, and I feel like it's important to say these things directly at least once so that the other person is aware. Even if it's just a 'Hey, I know it's been a while. Just wanted to say I appreciate having you around.' I'm willing to bet a lot of people stopped coming back because they didn't realize how much a part of something bigger they were.
I know I'm long-winded (hurr durr) guys. I know I'm coming off a little emotional but you have to understand, I was raised here. I was home schooled in the middle of nowhere, and all I had was a dialup connection for social interaction. Interordi's my home. Through all the ups and downs life threw at me, interordi was one of very few constants. I never worried that it wouldn't be here when I found my way back. I was 17 when I joined here and had spent the previous four years just messing around playing video games and stagnating at the same level I was at when I was 13. It brought me out of my shell and even if it took ages, it helped shape me into a decent human being. 17 when I joined... I'll be 32 in a month.
After Megaman stopped being a thing I cared about or that Capcom cared about, I kept coming back for the people. I tried making my own forums, I tried joining others, but none of them had that sense of community that interordi carried. I always came back home pretty quick, and I always will. We've all lost touch with a lot of people. If anyone comes back I want to say right now that I'll always be here and happy to see you again. Lurk in the shadows or pop in and say hello, but know that you were and are part of something great. Even if I disappear for a year or two as I was once prone to do, I'll always come back as long as this place is around. You shoot me a pm or an email and I'm guarunteed to get it sooner or later.
With the fast paced world of social media and how much everyone here has grown in their own ways over the years, it's easy to forget about Interordi for a while. Sometimes long enough that email accounts close and passwords are forgotten. Don't let that stop you. Those of us who spent significant time here will definitely think about it from time to time when they are away. Maybe even visit. To those of you lurking or who might return at some point... welcome home; we'll always have a place for you. To those of you that will never come back, we will remember you.
In any case... that's enough gushing from me for the moment. I'm liable to add to this post in the future so be ready for that.
P.S. Holy cow, is there not a character limit on this forum after all these years?
Edited by WindRider739 on February 17, 2018 at 22:12:13
Edited by WindRider739 on February 17, 2018 at 22:51:19