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[SonicMegaDrive]

yay, that means I was one of the first 2000.

 

[Madman]

Maybe one of the photoshopped cats should replace the current NeoGaf logo.

NeoCAT?

BTW, I have no idea how the cats thing got started, but I can't believe some people don't like it.

 

[Lindsay]

It makes the GAF unique and more entertaining. It's a signature of this forum.

:lol

Ancient meme not even from GAF makes this place more entertaining? Stuff like that is the cancer killing GAF and not even folding can cure this kind of cancer ;_;

Quoted for page four and renewed truth.

 

[Virtua Ben]

I remember I first heard of GAF when Luke Smith was ranting on 1up Yours about how GAF worshiped Shadow of the Colossus and how it didn't deserve it, etc etc. At the time I didn't know what the fuck GAF stood for so I went on a search and found this place. I was amazed that there were intelligent conversations going on instead of the usual awful board talk I encountered at other video game sites. After seeing the intelligence of the GAF, I decided to sign up.

Before coming here I was at the 1up boards. Not very entertaining, and was full of people that didn't make sense. Before that it was the G4tv boards. Thank god NeoGAF saved me.

 

[Galactic Fork]

FYI I've been banned from teh OT.

This is the funniest thing in this thread so far. Not because he was banned, but because he used being banned from OT as an excuse for posting it in the gaming section.

 

[AstroLad]

Ancient meme not even from GAF makes this place more entertaining? Stuff like that is the cancer killing GAF and not even folding can cure this kind of cancer ;_;

Wow, this is a whole new level of "internets are serious business."

 

[KingV]

way back when, the gaf forum was biggish and active, but used forum software based on external servers. Thus, every year or so, someone wouldn't pay or the trial would run out, or whatever, and the GAF forum would move to some other place and everyone had to re-register and what not. That's probably what some of the down spikes are, people who got dumped on forum exchange and never re-registered.

 

[Lindsay]

Wow, this is a whole new level of "internets are serious business."

Hey I have a super cute kitty and joined the GAF 2 days before you! Ya better just give up now!

 

[AstroLad]

Hey I have a super cute kitty and joined the GAF 2 days before you! Ya better just give up now!

I was on GAF years before this board, and far more importantly my cat is the cyoootest, bar none.

 

[jamesinclair]

yeah it was gaming-age.com/forum before neogaf.com

I used forums.gaming-age.com until a month ago when they killed it. I thought GAF was dead for 3 days until I tried the new URL

 

[Hitokage]

You're telling me that increasing membership had nothing to do with the future viability of this site? Come on, now. I remember when this forum was DONE with and had to solicit donations from its members just to come back up.

I'm not sure on the exact reasons for the UBB to Snowboards move, but we moved from Snowboards to ezboards because IGN booted us out and ezboards was an immediately available solution that cost us little to nothing. The move from ezboards to gamesquad was motivated primarily by the desire to discontinue the ezboard gold scam we were pulling as well as the increased attention of ezboard staff brought about by certian forum rivalries, and I guess some nagging issues with ezboard software itself. Hosting with the Gamesquad website was arranged by Jim, but he was the only one with any access to the server and he became increasingly preoccupied during that time. It was pretty much a black box to us.

Now, during gamesquad we had a myriad of issues including spyware, audio ads, popups, and especially server load. The latter might have been addressed had we been able to do optimizations on the server, but it wasn't possible. What brought everything to a head was database corruption originating in the puzzledonkey thread, which we could not fix. The drive for donations was started when it was clear the forum was a sinking ship and we had to find new hosting, except this time we wouldn't be relying on outside parties for everything like we've done in the past. No black boxes. No strings. No landlords. We could have taken up a few kind offers from certain people, but it would have just put us in the same uncertain situation we had grown to hate. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the forum went down completely, entirely by technical issues.

If anything, users make the forums more difficult and expensive to upkeep. The same manual approval policy for registrations that was implemented in ezboards is still in effect today, and we still check email addresses for free providers. Although when neogaf launched, we reopened the forum to guests... because we could. Anyway, the real reason for the email requirement is to deter people from simply signing up for a new hotmail inbox to which they have zero accountability and registering if they lose the account they first had. Members have to have something invested in their account. It's hardly foolproof, but it's helped somewhat.

As for the early gaps in the graph, bear in mind that GAF has gone through several periods of mass reregistration, with the last one being for neogaf.

 

[shuri]

i remember the gamersquad days with that popup featuring a chick wearing a bikini, I remember MAF being ultra pissed about it popping up at work or during classs.

 

[widgetraf]

I used to read GAF occasionally about 2 years ago, before WoW consumed me. During my WoW days it was various guild forums, WoW forums and IRC. Thank god I got back into the more sane (yet more expensive) realm of console gaming and have returned to GAF ever since! I hope I will never return to MMOs, they just take too much time!

 

[open_mouth_]

if there's so many users, how came we keep reading the same old crappy posts from the same old trolls?... you'd think there'd at least be some new trolls by now...

 

[dark10x]

The growth is crazy high. I actually joined up in 1999 (just after Dreamcast launch) when Blast City (where I posted at one point) went down the crapper. So, yeah, 8 years on the GAF? Times sure have changed.

i remember the gamersquad days with that popup featuring a chick wearing a bikini, I remember MAF being ultra pissed about it popping up at work or during classs.

Or worse, that audio pop-up...

"HAY, over here!" ...then something about car insurance or whatever.

 

[marvelharvey]

Think I first found GAF in 2000ish and joined in 2001, making about 6 posts in my first year; being a DC fan, I think at the beginning, I was too scared to post in the Sony-fest. Also, I never realized how few members there were back then, for better or for worse, most of the 'memorable' posters from those halcyon days have been banned and now exist in the GAF-bizarroworld forum that nobody mentions.

Anyway, Jesus, I can't believe how much GAF has exploded in popularity, that's awesome.

Have a question though, when someone is banned, do they still count as a registered member?

 

[Fuzzy]

According to that graph I start lurking (only for NPD numbers) when there were ~3K members and I joined when there were ~4K members.

 

[Atilac]

i migrated from ign since it freakings sucks now.

It started to suck since Big Dave (Dave Zydork [SP]) left for 2k sports, and Little Dave (Dave Smith) got fired for his review of the Getaway.

 

[Hitokage]

"HAY, over here!" ...then something about car insurance or whatever.

HEY, OVER HERE
I SOLVED ALL MAH DEBT PROBLEMS
NOW I'M LIVIN... DEBT FREE
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW I DID IT

 

[n8NMONSTER]

haha wow, im a noob.

Join Date: 07-19-2006

 

[Virtua Ben]

haha wow, im a noob.

Join Date: 07-19-2006

Same here: 11-04-2006

Haven't even hit my first year anniversary with GAF yet.

 

[Sanjay]

been coming here since round 2000/01 but officially a member since 11-28-2005.

 

[onegoodlogan]

Ancient meme not even from GAF makes this place more entertaining? Stuff like that is the cancer killing GAF and not even folding can cure this kind of cancer ;_;

Really? It's not the increasing amount of posters who only have to say "lol sony" or "lol xbots" killing the board, it's... Caturday?

That's... that's...

...

 

[calder]

shit i just realized i'm about 2 years away from a full decade in this hideous timesink.
at the 10 year mark do we get showed with gifts or is it a Logan's Run style carousel deal?

and why DID the mods have these glowing gems inserted into our palms back when we moved to ezboards?

 

[AniHawk]

Wait! Did you know there is a direct correlation between the decline of Spirograph and the rise in GAF posters? Think about it.

 

[Cathcart]

Looks like membership really took off when I got here. Makes sense.

 

[Miburou]

I would be interested in a graph starting from the end of 1999 (which is when I joined). The smaller number of members allowed us to know each other better, and it made attacking people harder. But around the PS2 launch and the death of the DC, the quality of this forum really went down, with a lot of Sega fans going mental.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Wait! Did you know there is a direct correlation between the decline of Spirograph and the rise in GAF posters? Think about it.

Poor Spirograph, poor GAF.

I can't remember exactly when I joined but it was in the first few months of 2002. This place, or should I say the old place, was nice to read after the death of the DC and had fucked up but mostly stimulating game talk. GAF has certainly gotten more noisy in the last year or so, though. I miss reading the posts of many of the old folks, some of which are apparently 'other place' members.

 

[BishopLamont]

It's always interesting to me seeing how far off (a chorus of people declaring it the Virtual Boy 2) and how spot on some people were, all based on almost nothing. I mean have to give soundwave credit (or at least I assumed unicron was soundwave, though I don't keep up with people's name changes over the years) for really putting himself out there on some pretty specific points, and actually getting them right.

He was expecting an N64 quality system with GBA compatibility for around $150, and despite what Nintendo said at the time, there would be no branching off of the handheld line - the DS would be the GBA's successor. You read all that now, and it's like "no shit", but you read the thread, and people could barely grasp the screen alignment being vertical (one of the few details Nintendo actually revealed), let alone going on to speculate about that other stuff.

I'm quite certain soundwave was always determined that PSP would reign over DS, up to the point where he got banned.

 

[duk]

this is the sexiest site on the interwebz

 

[Mr YuYu]

I found this board because luke smith mentioned it on 1up.
I joined eurogamer forums before that, but i noticed that this forum was a lot more active and funnier. ( i love the cats

 

[devilscallmedad]

Wait! Did you know there is a direct correlation between the decline of Spirograph and the rise in GAF posters? Think about it.

hmm you pose an interesting theory

2N + 3O = Nitrogen Oxide
e=mc2
2H + O = Water
F= G x M1 x M2/ r x r
a= F/m

GASP,
its

NEOGAF

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

Someone said it earlier, but one thing I think you've seen over time is that as more gaming forums have gone under over time, more and more people take refuge here. That's at least what happened in my case. Seems like forever ago that I first stumbled upon GA's forums. Don't even remember when I switched from lurking to posting (originally under a different name).

Anyway, here's an oldie but a goodie...

January 2004

Nintendo Announces Dual-Screened Portable Game System; ``Mystery'' Product to Launch Page 1 2 3 4 5

It's always interesting to me seeing how far off (a chorus of people declaring it the Virtual Boy 2) and how spot on some people were, all based on almost nothing. I mean have to give soundwave credit (or at least I assumed unicron was soundwave, though I don't keep up with people's name changes over the years) for really putting himself out there on some pretty specific points, and actually getting them right.

He was expecting an N64 quality system with GBA compatibility for around $150, and despite what Nintendo said at the time, there would be no branching off of the handheld line - the DS would be the GBA's successor. You read all that now, and it's like "no shit", but you read the thread, and people could barely grasp the screen alignment being vertical (one of the few details Nintendo actually revealed), let alone going on to speculate about that other stuff.

Wow! I've been looking for that thread for so long, thanks mate!

I don't suppose you could link me to the thread where the PS2, PSP and DC get announced or the thread where SEGA's hardware demise is made official could you?

I joined GAF back in late 2005 I think, but I've been lurking for quite a while (Probably early-mid 2004) it's amazing just looking at how fast time flies!

 

[McBacon]

GAF's cool

its where the cool people hang out

 

[Thunder Monkey]

*cough*

I was three of those jumps.

My college email would let me sign up, but never receive the confirmation emails. For some reason or another my bros college email account did let me sign up, and receive the confirmation email. So now you deal with a neurotic monkey, with delusions of grandeur and a penchant for buggery.

 

[TheGreatDave]

I don't suppose you could link me to the thread where the PS2, PSP and DC get announced or the thread where SEGA's hardware demise is made official could you?

Oh wow. Include that and I'd pay to access the GAF archives.

 

[voltron]

Jesus christ Peter Moores been talking the same shit for years!

San Francisco, Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Moore, president of Sega Enterprises Ltd.'s U.S. unit, discusses Sony Corp.'s plans to ship fewer units of the PlayStation 2 to the U.S. than expected. Sony plans to ship 500,000 units to go on sale on Oct. 26 and a total of 1.3 million by year-end, from an earlier forecast of 1 million units by Oct. 26 and 2 million by year-end. Sony expects to meet its forecast of 3 million units by March 31.

``Launching a platform is not easy. It's a combination of production schedules, figuring out allocation to key retailers and developing marketing plans. If there are any hiccups in any of these areas, there's a domino effect.''

``One can only suspect that there must be production problems (with the PlayStation 2). One doesn't starve the market to that extent, especially when you want to take advantage of the hype and enthusiasm at launch.''

``This is a huge problem for them in regards to retailer relationships and the effect this will have on not only their business but the business of third parties (game software developers) that have invested a lot in making the games for PlayStation 2.''

``The key is going to be retailer reaction. The retailers are the ones hung out to dry.''

``We are obviously the company in the best position to take advantage of any missteps by Sony.''

``Every retailer known to man has been on the phone with me with concerns about how they can get more inventory to fill the gap created by Sony. The timing of everything is perfect from our position.''

-----

:lol

 

[ThePeter]

After the Gamespot forums and their assymilation into GameFAQs and system wars and... oh God what abomination!!

And now i feel so safe here, what an amazing future i live in...

 

[Teknopathetic]

I joined GAF early '00, due to a link from Dimension-S. Man that's a long ass time ago.

 

[Reilly]

I joined in May of 05. Best E3 ever. :lol

 

[sleeping_dragon]

is that killzone 2 thread !

 

[McLesterolBeast]

Do i get some sort of a prize for predating that graph as a gaming age user?

I created the account at the end of '98. Before dreamcast... just after the release of zelda oot.

 

[BrokenSymmetry]

I love neogaf's cats!

 

[voltron]

It was only a matter of time before we got graphs about GAF.

NeoGRAPH confirmed?

 

[Soule]

This thread made me feel young. Only been lurking for little over a year and i'm pretty sure I only realized GAFs existance less than 2 years ago, never knew much about the history.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

This thread made me feel young. Only been lurking for little over a year and i'm pretty sure I only realized GAFs existance less than 2 years ago, never knew much about the history.

Gaming Age Onlne.

One of my favorite sites of way back when. Even had an account back in 98 at those Gaming Age Forums. Think I was called Thunderfire back then? Hell that was ten years ago. I had just entered my awkward teen years... bad times, bad times.

 

[speedpop]

I'm a prophet.

speedpop
Member
(10-21-2005, 08:29 AM)


#114
I'd like to see a Dragon Quest VI Remix done this way.. but I'd still kill for a simple sprite port

 

[Shard]

I'll go with the approval of thousands upon thousands of new members.

 

[Spainkiller]

Reading that 9/11 topic is one weird experience. 6 years passing has made no difference to how it makes me feel.

 

[Lucky]

Looks like we need another Vietnam to thin their ranks a little.