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Dhaes > your face
Dhaes owns your face.
==Message boards==
GameFAQs is noteworthy for its active message board community. Because of the high volume of posts it receives each day, old messages on the boards are purged daily, keeping the total number of posts to a reasonable level. Unfortunately, many of the boards, especially ones meant for discussion of important social issues, are often overrun with [[Internet troll|troll]]s and people who like to "bait" the trolls.
*'''Another Place (AP)''' is a GameFAQs Social Board created when LUE's user level requirement went up to 30. AP is definitely not a part of LUE anymore, and has somewhat of a tightly-knit community. There are many social topics around and is known by its inhabitants as "Your GameFAQs home for polygamy and wit." Some of AP's residents have made their first names known to the board and ask to be addressed by them. AP also has its own, semi-official website containing a set of guidelines, quotes, and a member list, or APe list.
*'''Current Events (CE)''' is the oldest social board on GameFAQs. It is usually the second most popular social board on GameFAQs. It is frequented by many of the moderators, and even CJayC from time to time.
*'''Life, the Universe, and Everything (LUE)''' is the most popular GameFAQs social board with usually well over 50,000 posts at any time, quite a remarkable number given the frequent purging of old posts. The name was derived from the [[Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] series by [[Douglas Adams]]. It was originally created to provide a place to discuss such things as religion and existence. Discussion today is often sex-related and has been for years. The board has recently spawned several spinoffs such as LUElinks.
**LUE is also home to many fads, including the infamous LUEshi (an [[ASCII art|ASCII image]] of [[Mario]] riding [[Yoshi]] created by the user Patamon. Posting it was grounds for suspension, but it is now legal in designated ASCII topics.), and the phrase "y helo thar", which was said on a live broadcast of [[Late Night with Conan O'Brien]]. The phrase 'Y helo thar' originated in a flash video called "The Attention Whore", which mocks the reactions of male posters to the appearance of women on message boards.
** Though the board used to be open to all members with 30 Karma, it was raised to 75 Karma following the [http://www.firefusion.org/lue"Scum Wars"] around [[November]] [[2002]]. A 150 Karma requirement was implemented after the RevoLUEtion on [[May 7]] [[2003]], and soon after the board was removed from all board listings. To get to it, one has to manually type in the URL and/or add it to one's favorite board list.
** On [[November 15]] [[2003]], following a massive [[LiveJournal]] invasion by LUE, CJayC [http://www.firefusion.org/lue/56k/Chapter9.htm "sterilized"] LUE by forbidding any user with a user ID greater than 888113 from ever reaching LUE. The last person to ever get into LUE, Lunarhawk99, was hailed as "The One" and regarded as a celebrity, although this perceived status was lost soon after he gained access. However, while it did last, many LUEsers followed him around, posting in his threads, often with words of praise, most particularly: "OMG, he is teh one!11!" Soon after, from [[January 4]] to [[January 15]], CJayC ran a sign-up for LUE; people that haven't signed up aren't allowed to visit the board. This was done to prevent any new members from visiting and to permanently remove banned users. In exchange, LUE was granted slightly more leeway when it comes to controversial topics.
** The LUE Trinity (sometimes referred to as the "Unholy Trinity") is the term for the three most commonly posted [[shock site]]s on GameFAQs - [[Goatse]], [[Tubgirl]], and the [[Harlequin Fetus]]. "Goatse" and "Tubgirl" are autoflagged words, and it is now a major offense to provide links to the sites.
*'''Random Insanity (RI)''' was originally created to shunt the less-serious users off of CE. It quickly became host to text-based roleplaying and "social topics" where people could come in and talk about nothing in particular. One of the most popular of these is Pikadeth's Playhouse, which spawned many imitators. Originally RI was slightly hostile towards CE (the origin of "board invasion" being a [[ToS violation]]), with the RICE wars being remembered by the "old RIers". RI also has a history of being competitive with LUE; in the early days, users would perform "raids" on LUE in the PM hours. Before the [http://www.firefusion.org/lue/56k/Chapter4.htm RI Refugee Crisis] it usually had twice the number of posts on CE and LUE combined. However, after the incident most of them migrated to LUE.
**RI had many dramas and traditions of its own, including roleplaying, which started on the board and later moved to the board Role-Playing/Fan-Fiction. Gaw's Laws, a set of rules for roleplaying popularly used at the site, originated at RI. Today, roleplaying is somewhat of a niche, with social topics and one-liners dominating instead. RI has often had problems accepting new users, with resistance coming from "veterans" -- users who, while not necessarily there for very long, tried to establish standards on the "randomly insane" board. One event that still resonates with even the newest users is the [http://www.firefusion.org/lue/56k/Chapter4.htm Gamequeen incident].
*The '''beta boards''' were created when the message boards of GameFAQs and GameSpot were merged and GameFAQs was switched to [[PHP]] from [[Active Server Pages|ASP]]. They include three boards: GameFaqs Forums Beta Discussion, GameFaqs Forums Beta Bug Reports, and GS-GFQs Sharing Test Board. Although they are no longer needed, they have not been removed and some people still post on them.
*'''The Couch, The Hallway, The Porch, and The Forum''' are "forum" message boards for general chitchat, with The Couch being the largest among them.
*'''Long-Timers, Veterans, Legends, The Elite, Iconia, Idolatry, and Temple of the Ancients''' are user-level specific boards. Long-Timers is for user-level 30, Veterans is for level 31, Legends is for level 32, The Elite is for level 33, Iconia is for level 34, Idolatry is for level 35, and Temple of the Ancients is for level 36 users. Sadly, traffic among the level 33+ boards is lacking, partially due to lack of members meeting the requirements, partially because the boards do not allow any discussion that cannot be found elsewhere.
*'''Game Design and Programming''' is a board where people can discuss programming concepts and code. The veterans at this board usually look down on "Game Makers", especially the illegal English version of [[RPG Maker]], focusing instead on making the games using [[OpenGL]] and [[SDL]]. There are even a couple of professional video game programmers who hang out at this board.
*'''Message Board Announcements''' is where administrators post general notices and warnings for the entire community. Originally an open board (only admins can start topics but anyone may reply), it was filled with [[first posts]] and other junk. In early [[2005]], it was changed so that only administrators may post there.
*'''Message Board Help''' is the unofficial complaint forum of the boards. If a user feels something is wrong with the moderation system or staff, or possibly a board error, it is usually reported here. It is also used to ask questions about board features. This board was named Questions and Suggestions until the Karma system was introduced. After that, all suggestions and petitions have gone to Site Suggestions. MBH is still often used as complaints forum despite recently added ground rules to discourage this. New users that ask questions readily available in the ToS are sometimes ridiculed by the users that frequent the board.
*'''Poll of the Day (PotD)''' is another social board, similar to LUE, although the topics there are not usually as vulgar or bizarre. Topicality was eliminated from the board in the summer of 2002 and the poll is seldom discussed now. Topic content is generally completely random, and polls are fairly scarce. Contrary to what the previous definition said, women and love are not too common things to be discussed.
*'''Review Contributors''' is the board for all the review writers to talk about common interests. This board has been split to better categorize the discussions on it. It is now composed out of three boards: General, Help and Critiques, and Social.
*'''Regional boards''' are boards where gamers can chat to people in their own region as well as the world. The two most active boards based on the number of posts and topics is the [[United Kingdom|UK]] and Australia and New Zealand board
*'''Special Boards''' are hard to find because one has to type their board numbers (found in parentheses) manually in the address bar. The boards are: Spatula (622), Board 250 (250), Brilliant (-1), Spork (542), Eggbeater (486), Semprini (709), Jenny (8675309), Pie (314159265), Rnd() (123456789), Nine (9), Lame (20040401), Toaster Oven (The first rule of TO is don't talk about TO.), and Angela (8535937). In all of these boards one can usually find topics that are used for karma raising by many users, even though such topics are no longer necessary. Toaster Oven in particular had been rumored to exist for years, and was finally created by CJayC along with Rnd(), Nine, and Lame as the [[April Fool's]] Joke for [[2004]]. Angela was created along with Jenny several years ago, but very few knew about it until late in [[2004]].
*'''Special Social Boards''' (also called Series Boards) are very much like the Special Boards, in that they are de-linked from the social board list. On these boards, discussions related to an individual video game series can be discussed at great length. As these are social boards, topicality is often not enforced. Special Social Boards are Capcom vs SNK (504), Digimon (510), Mario (556), MegaMan (527), Metroid (578), Pokemon (534), Resident Evil (551), Sonic (569), Three Kingdoms (570), WWE (546), Yu-Gi-Oh (557) and Zelda (548). It should be noted that there is one more Special Social Board, Harvest Moon (2000089), that is not on the Special Social Board list due to a board numbering error. Also noteworthy, the Zelda Social Board (also called ZSB), an enemy of LUE, is part of the Special Social Boards.
*'''Site Suggestions''' is the official petitioning board, though very few ever pass. Usually passed petitions are a new special interest or social board, though very occasionally a new feature might be added. A new option "sticky topic" is avalible, which allows topics with great importance to be allows at the begining of the boards topic list. Current petitions that might pass or have potential are the History, Technology/Science and Comedy Central board.
*'''Special Interest Boards''' are boards that, while not related to specific games (and in most cases, not related to gaming at all), are proof that petitions on Site Suggestions do occasionally pass. Special Interest boards include Anime, Music, Graphics, Television, Web Design, Pro Wrestling, RPGs (including paper and [[Square Enix]]), Sports, Movies, Web Cartoons and Design, Card Games, Martial Arts, Books, Classic Gaming, Paranormal & Conspiracy, Next Generation Gaming discussion, Adult Swim, and Poetry. Even popular things like [[The Simpsons]], [[Star Trek]], [[Harry Potter]], [[Pokémon]], [[Star Wars]], [[Dragon Ball]], and [[James Bond]] have their own boards.
*'''Summer Contest''' is the board where people talk about the Summer Character Contest, a huge event at GameFAQs, where the Poll of the Day is replaced by a video game character tournament. Previous winners were [[Link (Legend of Zelda)|Link]] from [[The Legend of Zelda]], [[Cloud Strife]] from [[Final Fantasy VII]], and Link again in [[2004]]. This board has evolved since [[2002]] for the most part independently from the other boards mentioned. One well-known event on these boards has happened 2 years in a row, directly after Crono's loss to Mario in both tournaments, each by around 100 votes. Mass account suicides, flaming/trolling, and even accusations of CJayC cheating ensued for days after both times. This board is also known for the constant flame wars between certain groups of users, and the word "[[fanboy]]" is horribly overused. During the Spring of [[2004]], the board name changed to represent the Spring Best Game Ever contest (which was eventually won by [[Final Fantasy VII]]), but it is normally under its Summer Contest moniker. Board 8, as it is called, has become a social board. Only during the Summer Contest does it really revert (somewhat) back to its attended purpose.
*'''War on Terrorism''' was created soon after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks|September 11th Attacks]] to discuss the [[War on Terrorism]] and related conflicts like the [[Middle East]]. However, it has quickly evolved into a massive debate forum with subjects spanning the wide perimeter of the American social and economic scene. Due to its intended subject matter, however, it has become a lightning rod for trolls, a problem exacerbated by its status as a social board. Currently, topics consist of a mixture of domestic USA issues and social topics.
*'''810-820 Boards''' were created a few days after [[April Fool's Day]]. Originally, CJayC posted on the Icon board (1000 karma requirement) on April Fools Day about making private boards for the first few icons that signed up. Many thought it an April Fool's joke until these boards were actually created. The few people that received these boards also are allowed to name them. So far, the ones that have been named are: 810 (Mostly Harmless), 813 (Unnatural Selection), 814 (The Upper Room), 816 (#showarr), 818 (KGB), 819 (CE Reloaded), and 820 (Hacked). In order to access these boards, the founders must send an invite.
*'''Secret Boards''' are game boards where off-topic posting is allowed. This is generally because the systems the games belong to have become so antiquated and obsolete that very little genuine discussion would otherwise take place on them. Many GameFAQsers have adopted some of these boards for their own use. The systems whose game boards are secret boards are found in the [http://www.ksot.com/BoardsFAQ.html#secret KSOT FAQ]. The accepted capital of the secret boards is Zamzara, which also houses the weekly Top 50 Secret Boards list. The largest secret boards at this time include Bushido, Moon Cradle, and Captain Goodnight.
===Jargon===
This is a short list of [[Internet slang]] used largely on GameFAQs.
*'''Autoflagged word''' - Words that have been abused but still have legitimate means. In that case, the word when posted is sent to the mod queue for revision. Autoflagged words are not allowed in topic titles.
*'''B&''' / '''B7''' - Another term used in the same way as Banninated. B& is pronounced "Banned". B7 is used as a joke because 7 is the key which the character "&" appears on when shift is held.
*'''Banninate''' - Term frequently posted when a user posts a message which contains a major ToS violation that normally leads to being banned from the website. The phrase is a play on of the word "Burninate" which originated on [[Homestarrunner.com]] with the character "[[Trogdor the Burninator]]"
*'''CEer''' - A term to describe a person who goes to CE regularly, sometimes called "CEmen".
*'''Evil Republicans''' - A popular club on the War on Terrorism board, consisting almost completely (but not entirely) of extremely politically conservative users.
*'''ITT''' ('''Ignore This Topic''') - A term originating on the War on Terrorism board, as a response to topics perceived by users as [[Internet troll|trolling]]. Ironically, as any post in a topic moves it to the top of the board, posting "ITT" increases the likelihood of people reading it rather than ignoring it.
*'''Karma''' - A number representing a user's status on the message boards. Each day that a user logs in and has at least one active post earns him/her one point of Karma, and [[Terms of Service|TOS]] violations can result in loss of Karma. Higher Karma unlocks additional board features and higher posting limits. Once a user reaches 75 Karma, he/she becomes a "Regular User" with no posting restrictions, but some boards are restricted to higher-level users.
*'''KOS''' ('''Kill on Sight''') - Although rare, this is the worst punishment one can receive on GameFAQS. It is given to those with past violations on multiple accounts. Any new accounts of those who have been KOSed are suspended on sight by moderators, without question. KOS orders peaked in the [[2002]]-[[2003]] period and currently, one user has a KOS order on him/her. Some famous [[KOS_Users]] are TRC, rancid milk, BigRedMachine, shoooter, LAF, PregnantPickle, EXE, iamhiddensomewhere, Zappy, Magus Machine, Game555 and Gavirulax.
*'''LUEicide''' - Term used for account suicide (intentionally violating as many rules as possible in order to be banned) by a LUEser. It was popularized on [[March 4]] [[2003]], when the infamous "Black LUEsday" occurred. LUEicide is an autoflagged word.
*'''LUEsers''' - Describes people who go to and frequent LUE. It is pronounced the same way "loser" is, quite likely an intentional pun.
*'''LUEshi''' - An [[ASCII art|ASCII image]] of [[Mario]] riding [[Yoshi]]. LUEshi quickly became one of the largest fads on GameFAQs, and posting it outside of designated ASCII topics was considered a serious TOS violation. It epitomized disobedience and defiance and punishments went from lenient to harsh. As of now, it is considered as regular ASCII and thus moderated only when disruptive (i.e. not in ASCII topics).
*'''Meta Mod''' - An obsolete feature which allowed users with 40+ Karma to rate the "fairness" of moderations.
*'''MIASU''' ('''Mark it and shut up''') - Polite Message Board Help (MBH) users asked users to wait 24 hours after marking a message to complain. Less polite members bluntly told them to MIASU (Mark it and Shut Up). It grew in popularity, but is now moderated for trolling (inciting flames).
*'''Notification''' - A minor moderation that results in the loss of three karma.
*'''Purgatory''' - A term used for the temporary suspension of users whose [[Terms of Service|TOS]] violations are not quite severe enough to warrant banning.
*'''Purge''' - The regular deleting of topics that have not been posted in for a time determined by the number of posts on a board. Also used to mean "purgatory" in some cases.
*'''RIer''' - Name given to users who frequent Random Insanity. Can be pronounced either "Are-Eye-er" or "Ryer"
*'''Usermap''' - A listing of the accounts which have been used to log into the site via a certain computer IP address, which supposedly records logins from up to 30 days before the current date. (Translation - it takes 30 days from the date of a login being recorded to the login being purged from the usermap.) Specific information about usermaps (such as the specific IP addresses and the accounts on a usermap) are restricted, and considered mod-only information. The information above is one of the only things that moderators are allowed to divulge to non-moderators, along with the warning that logging into the site from a public computer (ex. computer at school, computer at an internet cafe, etc.) means that you run the risk of losing your account if another user logs in on that computer and violates the TOS, resulting in a usermap axe.
*'''Usermap Axe (or "Axed")''' - A severe administrative response to a problematic user wherein an account is banned, as are any account(s) of any user(s) whose IP has logged into the former account.
*'''WoTer'''- A frequent visitor to the War on Terrorism board. Pronunciation rhymes with "water."
===Spinoff websites===
Due to the high popularity of GameFAQs' forums, many users have created their own forums based on the layout and general functioning of those of GameFAQs. They are commonly referred to as ''spinoffs''. Most contained additional features not present in GameFAQs' forums, some original and others culled from popular forum software. While many had a contribution system mimicking GameFAQs', they were generally seldom used.
The first generation of spinoffs started in [[2001]], when Chuck "Neo" Sakoda (a.k.a. NeoGenesis) created the first spinoff, ''GameFAQs Hell''. His first attempts at cloning GameFAQs were with [[Active Server Pages|ASP]] and [[Microsoft Access]], the same model used by GameFAQs at the time. He eventually rewrote his spinoff in [[PHP]] (paired with [[MySQL]]), releasing it under the GNU [[GNU General Public License|GPL]]. Jeff Veasey eventually helped promote Sakoda's efforts by placing a link to GameFAQs Hell in GameFAQs' help files. From the [[source code]] of GameFAQs Hell spawned several second-generation spinoffs such as [http://www.theoutboards.com The Outboards] and [http://tl.warpedbelief.com Twisted Legacy] that still exist to this day.
After Sakoda closed down GameFAQs Hell, the spinoff world began to evolve in what is called the second-generation of spinoffs. Dark Cobra was the first to expand upon the source code of GameFAQs Hell and create a website using it, GameFAQs Refuge. After that too failed, The Outboards was formed on [[August 1st]], [[2002]]. Bugs carried over from the original code it was based on required the site to be taken down twice within its first month. However, after being reopened in late August, it has remained the longest lasting spinoff. Other spinoffs that opened at the time included whiteFyre and Twisted Legacy.
The next milestone in the history of GameFAQs spinoffs came when developers Jay and "Waffles" worked together on making a new spinoff free of the numerous bugs that plagued GameFAQs Hell. Although the outcome of their efforts initially appeared to be substantial; the rushed source, later released by "Counteray", was found to be filled with bloat, bugs, and other symptoms of rushed development. Jay continued working on his source code and joined with Zach "Outbreakorn" Getz to develop for his site. The resulting code eventually got an official release under the GPL, but fell victim to the common side effects of rushed development, with many quick hacks implemented to fix previous problems.
Due to the ease of setting up and running MediArchive and other sources, the spinoff world evolved into the third-generation: Many clone sites. Many people with little or no PHP knowledge were starting up their own MediArchive-based spinoffs on free webhosts such as [[Lycos Europe|lycos.co.uk]]. Spinoff coders such as Jay, Ant P, and others exploited security holes in MediArchive code to bring down the sites. Those that survived did so by fixing security holes, or writing their own original code instead of using already well-established code. This era is marked by spinoff such as gg's (girlgamer44), Junkieznat (Junkieznat), Farside Blues (Endless Nightmares), LUE2 (Tsi) and its spinoffs, and CABLE (Magican Type 0).
The fourth generation is from January 2004 to now. Some spinoffs started up, but the popularity of spinoffs has substantially declined. They have a niche audience, but few new people have come. Most notable spinoffs started in this era include Archetype 0 (Onion), Lost Facts (Roaddhogg), and FrozenOven (Shuzo). In addition, the popular branch of LUE, known as LUELinks, has gained momentum as a database of interesting links that can be rated by its members in addition to its forums.
==See also==
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