Post by Phil on Nov 1, 2008 13:39:57 GMT -5
Lewa
Lewa was a member that the blasts and I were familiar with in another discussion forum. I understand that Lewa and Classicblast’s common ground was always a strong liking to legos. Classic has often said that Lewa encouraged him to join Sodarace, I have also heard it called sodaplay. Lewa took his screen name on a basis of the bionicle character.
In November of 2003 Lewa posted a link called ‘Visit my forum’ as he had created what became known as Lewasite on November 9, 2003. Classicblast immediately joined and made it a point to encourage as many people as he could to also become members. I didn’t join the very 1st day but I did come on shortly after then. I think it was a week or 2 afterwords.
Before too long between Sodarace and a handful of other forums Lewasite grew in membership and in discussion traffic. Sizzlpop joined somewhere early on and Lewa made him the admin. From there membership and participation continued to grow and more interesting things became part of the forum. Pretty soon we had everything from discussion about news events, to help and pointers for soda construction, everyday talk and a nearly limitless slew of things.
By mid 2004 there were at least 8 different headings with any amount of threads inside the headings. Membership reached over 100. Lewa has placed some ground rules that all of his moderators followed. Like not to use profane language. Also try to be decent to each other even if you disagree. Mostly that has happened.
In early 2005 Lewa became less active and Cubed05 had kind of moved in as the back up administrator to Sizzlepop. Classicblast was among the admins too but in a less active role than those other 2.
My participation was probably almost everyday but sometimes only a post or 2 it wasn’t my primary forum at the time but I was on often. I was really enjoying the forums events from day to day. In the summer of 2005 Slayer X and Raider joined. Slayer at the time was young and kind of rambunctious about posting.
Instead of cutting him some slack and trying to let him ease into the forum’s guiding principles he was flamed hard by a couple people. Mostly it was tmdt and bro_c. A couple others were just as rude to him.
Slayer had become a forum friend of mine and I felt that he was over criticized too much for what had gone on. Perhaps I was a little bit of a n00b myself where discussion was concerned. Although I would have been 34 years old at the time I had not been involved in discussion forums more than a couple years and for sure a lesser percentage of my life than some guys that may have only been teenagers.
Bro_c targeted me for defending Slayer. He criticized everything Slayer posted after that and proceeded to tell me there’s a few things I post that he was tired of reading.
Slayer was banned for retaliating with profanity. While I always respected Sizzlepop I spoke out against Slayer’s being banned. Classicblast also spoke in favor of Slayer’s reinstatement. That seemed to place myself and Classic as well as Blastgirl on the outs with bro_c and his friends.
What we didn’t know is there was an under ‘network’ if you will acting as a forum subculture trying to drive members off the forum. These few guys and I still don’t remember who they all were and it doesn’t matter now. Well they had decided that if you post in a thread that is over 3 days old you are committing spam. If you post something random you are wasting space. If you reply with something one linerish like ‘good idea’ or ‘no thankyou’ you’re posting spam and that’s intolerable.
It was becoming so you almost can’t discuss. Some of us see a discussion forum as a place to post whatever you want and it doesn’t have to be a long drawn out how to solve the world’s problems post. It could just be saying hi.
For pete’s sake in everyday life is every conversation necessary? Heck no!
When you say ‘what’s up’ to someone or ‘how are you’ you don’t’ really expect an answer.
In November of 2005 tmtd posted a subject called ‘finguard’ in that he made a 1 or 2 paragraph criticism of various members. It started with something along the lines of ‘Phil you’re so caught up in religion that everyday words confuse you. You need common sense.’ He said terrible things to Slayer, Raider, Jimbozo, and he said something to Classic like ‘Classic you’re very similar to Phil you need common sense.’
Being a man of 34 years of age, at that time a father of 2 [we didn’t have our little princess yet] and a grade A rated worker on my job, and a home owner I guess I didn’t think that a 15 year old from Nebraska who had never met me outside a discussion forum had any right to declare himself a measuring tool to determine how smart I am.
Classic said something similar to that too. Tmtd replied with something like ‘I can eat my supper and manage not to choke to death so I must get things right too.’ After about 2 days of the forum up in arms and back and forth I decided to leave the forum. For about 3 weeks Classic convinced me that a couple of people should not be the reason to leave a forum when most of the members are very nice. I agreed with that and returned.
The next few months were tense though. People like me, the Blasts and anybody else who befriended them or me were often mocked or flamed. Classic announced that he would be going to spring training on whatever date he said it was in 2006. bro_c posted ‘lewl’ Classic said that he didn’t know what that means. Bro_c posted ‘it means I’ll miss you take care.’ Classic posted something like ‘thanks I’ll be around as often as possible.’ Bro_c and others mocked him more. They must have though that he believed that was what ‘lewl’ meant. To most of us it was clearly obvious that bro_c wasn’t going to tell him so he responded with sarcasm that was on the same plane.
Sizzlepop announced that he would be leaving as an active member. Classic had said that if Sizzlepop ever does depart from the forum he would like to be the main administrator. Sizzle made his departing announcement and that Classic would now be the main person to go to for assistance. This was in February of 2006.
The only problem is that announcement came while our esteemed new leader was in baseball camp. Unbeknownst to everybody bro_c had taken Cubed05’s account and he somehow jacked Lewa’s account too. He erased each and every post in the entire forum leaving it nothing but a blank website. In the newsfodder he had it read that he was Classic erasing all the threads because it was time to start fresh with a new administrator.
The plan somewhat worked. Some people left, others believed that Classic had done this. I knew that was not true, and so did GetZ and _glitch_.
Peon tried to tell the truth and powers were used to ban him for the moment. Blastgirl and Classic were both banned by the admin account to carry out the plan. _glitch_ got a hold of Lewa and Sizzlepop who returned to get to the bottom of what had happened. Sizzlepop was a great administrator. If there was an Achilles heal in his administrating, it would be his friendship with tmtd was such that tmtd could do no wrong. Or he hated to criticize tmtd to the point where he could allow justification for things he would say to people. Other members did not get that same leeway.
Recovering lost posts would not be possible but a number of members stuck to and began reopening discussion. Sizzlepop stuck around for the start of reconstruction. With reconstruction underway and Sizzlepop in control of all the administrative actions for the moment, progress went rather well. Sizzle decided that things had made good progress and it was now time to give the admin torch to Classicblast and Sizzlepop would move into inactivity.
He did insist that he would do that but Classicblast must grant immunity to tmtd and bro_c. That immunity was that Classic would not ban either of those guys for former grudges. He agreed. They flamed people here and there for about a year and eventually their excess of it did get them banned permanently.
I really believe that Classic tried as long as he could and longer than most people would have to coexist with those guys. Membership grew through 2007 and had continued to grow through 2008
The forum’s membership has grown gradually to about 25 active members and 10 or more very active members. I am pleased to see that discussion has continued through the years. Some of our members were just entering middle school when Lewasite began and now they’re on the cusp of graduation. Membership on the forum ranges in age from under 13 to over 50.
Classicblast’s philosophy has been post something everyday if you can. Even if it is a single post and a minor reply to a thread. It keeps the flow of discussion going and it keeps interest in activity. That was something he pushed for 5 years ago and that’s what he has pushed for as our administrator for the last better part of 3 years.
I would like to congratulate Lewasite for a 5th anniversary and to thank its members for strong participation. This forum rocks may it live forever.
Lewa was a member that the blasts and I were familiar with in another discussion forum. I understand that Lewa and Classicblast’s common ground was always a strong liking to legos. Classic has often said that Lewa encouraged him to join Sodarace, I have also heard it called sodaplay. Lewa took his screen name on a basis of the bionicle character.
In November of 2003 Lewa posted a link called ‘Visit my forum’ as he had created what became known as Lewasite on November 9, 2003. Classicblast immediately joined and made it a point to encourage as many people as he could to also become members. I didn’t join the very 1st day but I did come on shortly after then. I think it was a week or 2 afterwords.
Before too long between Sodarace and a handful of other forums Lewasite grew in membership and in discussion traffic. Sizzlpop joined somewhere early on and Lewa made him the admin. From there membership and participation continued to grow and more interesting things became part of the forum. Pretty soon we had everything from discussion about news events, to help and pointers for soda construction, everyday talk and a nearly limitless slew of things.
By mid 2004 there were at least 8 different headings with any amount of threads inside the headings. Membership reached over 100. Lewa has placed some ground rules that all of his moderators followed. Like not to use profane language. Also try to be decent to each other even if you disagree. Mostly that has happened.
In early 2005 Lewa became less active and Cubed05 had kind of moved in as the back up administrator to Sizzlepop. Classicblast was among the admins too but in a less active role than those other 2.
My participation was probably almost everyday but sometimes only a post or 2 it wasn’t my primary forum at the time but I was on often. I was really enjoying the forums events from day to day. In the summer of 2005 Slayer X and Raider joined. Slayer at the time was young and kind of rambunctious about posting.
Instead of cutting him some slack and trying to let him ease into the forum’s guiding principles he was flamed hard by a couple people. Mostly it was tmdt and bro_c. A couple others were just as rude to him.
Slayer had become a forum friend of mine and I felt that he was over criticized too much for what had gone on. Perhaps I was a little bit of a n00b myself where discussion was concerned. Although I would have been 34 years old at the time I had not been involved in discussion forums more than a couple years and for sure a lesser percentage of my life than some guys that may have only been teenagers.
Bro_c targeted me for defending Slayer. He criticized everything Slayer posted after that and proceeded to tell me there’s a few things I post that he was tired of reading.
Slayer was banned for retaliating with profanity. While I always respected Sizzlepop I spoke out against Slayer’s being banned. Classicblast also spoke in favor of Slayer’s reinstatement. That seemed to place myself and Classic as well as Blastgirl on the outs with bro_c and his friends.
What we didn’t know is there was an under ‘network’ if you will acting as a forum subculture trying to drive members off the forum. These few guys and I still don’t remember who they all were and it doesn’t matter now. Well they had decided that if you post in a thread that is over 3 days old you are committing spam. If you post something random you are wasting space. If you reply with something one linerish like ‘good idea’ or ‘no thankyou’ you’re posting spam and that’s intolerable.
It was becoming so you almost can’t discuss. Some of us see a discussion forum as a place to post whatever you want and it doesn’t have to be a long drawn out how to solve the world’s problems post. It could just be saying hi.
For pete’s sake in everyday life is every conversation necessary? Heck no!
When you say ‘what’s up’ to someone or ‘how are you’ you don’t’ really expect an answer.
In November of 2005 tmtd posted a subject called ‘finguard’ in that he made a 1 or 2 paragraph criticism of various members. It started with something along the lines of ‘Phil you’re so caught up in religion that everyday words confuse you. You need common sense.’ He said terrible things to Slayer, Raider, Jimbozo, and he said something to Classic like ‘Classic you’re very similar to Phil you need common sense.’
Being a man of 34 years of age, at that time a father of 2 [we didn’t have our little princess yet] and a grade A rated worker on my job, and a home owner I guess I didn’t think that a 15 year old from Nebraska who had never met me outside a discussion forum had any right to declare himself a measuring tool to determine how smart I am.
Classic said something similar to that too. Tmtd replied with something like ‘I can eat my supper and manage not to choke to death so I must get things right too.’ After about 2 days of the forum up in arms and back and forth I decided to leave the forum. For about 3 weeks Classic convinced me that a couple of people should not be the reason to leave a forum when most of the members are very nice. I agreed with that and returned.
The next few months were tense though. People like me, the Blasts and anybody else who befriended them or me were often mocked or flamed. Classic announced that he would be going to spring training on whatever date he said it was in 2006. bro_c posted ‘lewl’ Classic said that he didn’t know what that means. Bro_c posted ‘it means I’ll miss you take care.’ Classic posted something like ‘thanks I’ll be around as often as possible.’ Bro_c and others mocked him more. They must have though that he believed that was what ‘lewl’ meant. To most of us it was clearly obvious that bro_c wasn’t going to tell him so he responded with sarcasm that was on the same plane.
Sizzlepop announced that he would be leaving as an active member. Classic had said that if Sizzlepop ever does depart from the forum he would like to be the main administrator. Sizzle made his departing announcement and that Classic would now be the main person to go to for assistance. This was in February of 2006.
The only problem is that announcement came while our esteemed new leader was in baseball camp. Unbeknownst to everybody bro_c had taken Cubed05’s account and he somehow jacked Lewa’s account too. He erased each and every post in the entire forum leaving it nothing but a blank website. In the newsfodder he had it read that he was Classic erasing all the threads because it was time to start fresh with a new administrator.
The plan somewhat worked. Some people left, others believed that Classic had done this. I knew that was not true, and so did GetZ and _glitch_.
Peon tried to tell the truth and powers were used to ban him for the moment. Blastgirl and Classic were both banned by the admin account to carry out the plan. _glitch_ got a hold of Lewa and Sizzlepop who returned to get to the bottom of what had happened. Sizzlepop was a great administrator. If there was an Achilles heal in his administrating, it would be his friendship with tmtd was such that tmtd could do no wrong. Or he hated to criticize tmtd to the point where he could allow justification for things he would say to people. Other members did not get that same leeway.
Recovering lost posts would not be possible but a number of members stuck to and began reopening discussion. Sizzlepop stuck around for the start of reconstruction. With reconstruction underway and Sizzlepop in control of all the administrative actions for the moment, progress went rather well. Sizzle decided that things had made good progress and it was now time to give the admin torch to Classicblast and Sizzlepop would move into inactivity.
He did insist that he would do that but Classicblast must grant immunity to tmtd and bro_c. That immunity was that Classic would not ban either of those guys for former grudges. He agreed. They flamed people here and there for about a year and eventually their excess of it did get them banned permanently.
I really believe that Classic tried as long as he could and longer than most people would have to coexist with those guys. Membership grew through 2007 and had continued to grow through 2008
The forum’s membership has grown gradually to about 25 active members and 10 or more very active members. I am pleased to see that discussion has continued through the years. Some of our members were just entering middle school when Lewasite began and now they’re on the cusp of graduation. Membership on the forum ranges in age from under 13 to over 50.
Classicblast’s philosophy has been post something everyday if you can. Even if it is a single post and a minor reply to a thread. It keeps the flow of discussion going and it keeps interest in activity. That was something he pushed for 5 years ago and that’s what he has pushed for as our administrator for the last better part of 3 years.
I would like to congratulate Lewasite for a 5th anniversary and to thank its members for strong participation. This forum rocks may it live forever.
