My History at Vizzed

Where do I begin? I joined Vizzed on January 3rd 2005. I joined as the 123rd member. The board was very different back then. Everyone was pretty easy-going and we had a lot of crazy and spammy threads. It was a lot of fun in ways.

I joined Vizzed because of Randy53215. I had been a staff member on his message board before it was hacked near the end of 2004. We spent a couple months in limbo until he told me about another board that had just gone through a restart. He had invited all the previous members from our old board to go over to this new one. I figured that plus whoever was at the new board would make an even better board. And that it did. I was fairly active during the first 6 months or so of the new Vizzed. I became a local mod and then a global mod in quick succession (within a few weeks of joining the board). That was mostly because I was staff with Randy before.

Not much happened during that first year. Posting was fun but not super active. There were fights and bans (like Chris) and a lot of political division. I don’t remember if it was during 2005 or 2006 when Xeogred left and formed Xeogaming. I got an invite to join them there and did spend some time at Xeogaming and even for a while preferred it to Vizzed. I hopped back and forth between the 2 board for months at a time. A fair number of the original members went with Xeogred. It was a tough time for Vizzed because activity dropped in half and eventually died off as 2005 ended.

That first year is also when I started my “ask anything” thread. It got a fair bit of activity but nothing major. It was fun to be the first person to start one of those on a message board. It’s usually the first one that does the best. I believe it is by far the oldest thread still open on Vizzed.

So anyway, about 6 months into my time at Vizzed my activity dropped off. I started posting a few times every few days. It was nothing against Vizzed but I simply didn’t have the drive to post at that time. I would go and check my “ask anything” thread once in a while and maybe post in a few other places as I felt the desire. But for the most part I wasn’t too interested in Vizzed.

Then my activity disappeared. Through the majority of 2006 and 2007 I made maybe 50 posts. I was busy with school and being married and playing World of Warcraft. I didn’t care to take the time to spend on Vizzed. Activity was minimal and there were so few new members that it wasn’t a fun place to be. My activity started to pick up through 2008 but not by much. I was busy working at this point and getting ready for my first baby to be born. It wasn’t until after she was born that my desire to come back full time and post like I used to was rekindled. I believe this was also around the same time that the GYR was launched. The GYR for those who don’t know was “Get Your Rom.com”. It was a rom/emulator site that David and Jigsaw had put together. This site alone started to draw in some new traffic and the board was alive again. This is when I started my posting surge.

At the beginning of 2009 I had about 1200 posts. By the end of it I believe I had broken 5,000. 2009 also saw the start of the VCS competition. I handily won 2 out of the 3 competitions that year (and got 2nd in the other one). The VCS was a big reason why I posted as much as I did in 2009 (and 2010). In June 2009 I think I established the all-time 24 hour posting record as well as being the first person to hit 1,000 posts in a 30 day period. I did 209 posts in 1 day in June and cracked the top 1000 in the same month. It was an epic time.

However, 2009 was a dark time for Vizzed. 2009 saw the introduction of the RGR (retro game room) and with it the introduction of a lot of Pokemon games. Now, for those of us who had been around since 2005 when the board was restarted we were used to a fairly mature board and an average age of user of around 16+. During 2009 it seemed like the average age of members joining was 12. This frustrated a lot of us older veterans. As the spring moved into summer there was growing dissent among a certain faction of members. This group was led by me, Randy, Ziggy and Icewave. At the time I believe Randy and I were admins, Ziggy was a local mod and Icewave was a global. We were a fairly influential group. And we were determined to turn the clock back on Vizzed by any means. We tried and tried to tell David that Vizzed was changing into something bad but he wouldn’t listen to us. So in retaliation we created a new message board (via Randy) and took/stole quite a few members over there. There was a several month period where both sides were at “war”. Insults were slung back and forth and other things we won’t bring up again. It was a dark time.

Now, if you remember I mentioned the leaving of Xeogred back in 2005. This was a major cause for concern for David when we started to become unruly. David was afraid that another activity drop was coming and that he would have to rebuild his board yet again. Lucky for him the group that left was small compared to the board population and many visited both boards and didn’t pick a side. This ended up being in David’s favor in the long run because it kept his board active enough to survive and made the new board not active enough to thrive.

However, things changed later that summer. David got into a car accident that could have killed him and also could have left him paralyzed. Thankfully he has fully recovered (to my knowledge), but this changed my attitude about a lot of what had happened. I decided that whatever issue I had with where David was taking Vizzed wasn’t my business. It was his board and he knew what he wanted to do with it. I had a choice to make. Either I could come back and help and be the posting machine that I was before I left, or I could continue to either hurt his board from a distance or ignore it completely. I chose to come back and help make Vizzed better. It took me a while to build up trust again with David but we worked out the issues surrounding my leaving and eventually I became staff again. I spent the rest of 2009 repairing what I had done and pushing for 5,000 posts. While I wasn’t able to fix everything I had done I feel like I have made up for it in the long run.

2010 to me was a banner year. The board took off. We had more people join and more posts made than any other time and I’m proud to say I lead the way. I think I posted about 8000+ times in 2010. I broke 10,000 posts and am only the 2nd member to do that. Most of 2010 is known to the board membership so I won’t say much more about it but it was awesome. If you want my opinion on anything that went on in 2010 then ask me about it. I’ll talk about it. I only see good things in the future for 2011. Especially once David finishes his freelance work and starts developing on Vizzed again.

2010 was also the year of the babies for staff members. Both David and I had additions to our families. My second daughter was born in August and his first was born in September. While this doesn’t have much to do with Vizzed itself it was a big milestone for us.

2011 has seen on major achievement for me. My “ask anything” thread is now the largest thread on Vizzed. I am proud of this achievement since it took me 6 years to get it there after many many closures of the thread. It’s one of the many things I’ve accomplished on Vizzed.

I think the strange thing for me is I have seen the board membership change over 3 or 4 times over. The core group of members was different in 2005 than in 2008, 2009 or 2010. And it’s changing again in 2011. Same with staff over that same time period. I think I’m the only person (besides David) who was staff at the beginning who is still staff now. Or again I guess. I’ve seen so many people come and go over the years that it’s hard to pick people to recognize.

So where do we go from here? Well, I’ll send a general thanks to everyone who has been part of Vizzed that made it a fun place to be. And I’ll even thank the people who caused some of the drama (along with me) that made Vizzed an interesting place to be.

As for the details of these last 6 years, feel free to ask me about it all. Isn’t that what I like? Being asked about stuff. I am serious though. If you want to know about any of the details of what went on over the last 6 years then ask me about it. I will answer you as honestly and directly as I can based on my memories of what happened. I might skew some of the details in my own favor but who doesn’t right?

Davideo7 : cause without you none of this would have happened
JigSaw : cause you were there for 90% of this
Rasenganfan2 : you're probably one of the closest friends I've made from Vizzed
legacyme3 : cause you'll want to read this
the_casualty : cause you started it

I would tag other people but so few are left that would remember a lot of this stuff. =/

Thank you for writing this. It feels like a time capsule really. I almost wish we could make one thread with one post and incorporate ALL of the perspectives to sort of make a mega perspective of how Vizzed is to the users. Then we could have people comment on all of the perspectives in one place, and when it runs its course, treasure it. Because history should be treasured.

Regarding your history though, you told me some of this before, when I first joined staff. I wanted to know some of Vizzed History so I would know what was going on, you informed me, and that's when things started to make more sense for me. It was at the end of my "golden age" here, but it still contributed to my knowledge.

I feel special being summoned =)

I'd say that in all, Vizzed has a lot to look foward to in 2011.

So now I will ask some specifics.

1. Let's say each year had a name (like I do for months, this month is Februrary, the Month of Truth, for me.) What would you name each year that you have been here?

2. "If you want my opinion on anything that went on in 2010 then ask me about it." We've seen perspectives from everyone in 2010, and I'd like to hear a bit more, regarding your 2010 experience. Not as lengthy, but I'd like to know what stood out to you the most.

3. Do you think that with everyone posting perspectives right now, that board unity could be possible? Because people seem to unite over these types of things I've seen.

and my final question

4. Vizzed is a microcosm of life. Agree or disagree?

Once again, thank you for posting this geeo, many members will want to know more of your history on this site, because you are interesting.

1. 2005 - the beginning
2006-2008 - the lost years
2009 - the return
2010 - the triumph
2011 - the unknown



2. 2010 to me has been all about growth at Vizzed. Yeah we've lost some of the big names around here in that time but overall Vizzed is getting bigger and bigger. The average number of people on the board/games and posting has gone up considerably.

3. I think more unity is possible. It's still the internet and people will fight and argue but hopefully this will put an end to the really silly over-the-top stuff we've been seeing.

4. Disagree. I don't think this place represents real life. I think people are more and less real here than other places. They are more real because a lot of people are willing to say what they are actually thinking without hesitation but at the same time I think it's not because there are plenty of people who pretend to be something they're not.

"I think it's not because there are plenty of people who pretend to be something they're not." - When I think of this I think of liars, and I think of the you-know-whats-with-the-short-skirts-and-see-through-shirts-and-their-bleached-blonde-hair-and-you-know-what-I-mean...

And yes, I seriously did write that.

Also, I never got a summon for some reason... I just stumbled upon it =P

well, I did summon you. But whatever, that doesn't matter at this point.

Haha, I got mentioned.

Very nice geeo, I'm glad to hear all of this. I had heard tidbits of it (like with you and a few others going away to AntiReality or something like that), but I hadn't actually heard it from a person directly involved in it. I have one question though: you said that the userbase is constantly changing, and you said it's changing again. What do you think it's changing into? Good or bad?

legacyme3 : Actually I started the month thing.

the_casualty :

I've been making a month every time the month ends =P

September- The Month of New Beginnings.
October- The Month of Spam
November- The Month of Prominence
December- The Month of Posting
January- The Month of Sadness
February- The Month of Truth (so far)

I like Oct-Dec. hahah

Every change is for the best I've found.... in spite of my attitude towards it at the time. I hated the RGR at first but now I look at it and think it's the one single thing that made Vizzed what it is now. Without it we would still have a tiny board with a small user base that didn't post a ton. that would be boring.

and yeah, you got mentioned.... but I could have mentioned over 100 people if I wanted to tag everyone that played a major role in vizzed over the years but so many of them are gone that it would have been pointless.

90% sounds about right, only thing I don't think I knew was the beginning of your Vizzed journey.

"I joined Vizzed on January 3rd 2005. I joined as the 123rd member."
I joined in 2006 as the 553rd member, that is over a year later... so you can sorta tell by the figures how unpopular vizzed was back in the day. We only had like 1000 members before starting GYR then that launched us to 10,000 members, now the RGR did the same except 10x as much.

Even though a portion of the old members leaving had to do with Vizzed's change another portion left before that probably cause they were 18+ and that is usually around the time when you get busy in life and have other things to attend to.

Vizzed was once known as a pokemon forum for 8 year olds That sorta wore off after the war, so you can see with time comes change. Vizzed is now in a Jerry Springer era and that mainly has to do with the chatroom All it takes is 1 feature to change something on here seems like for both better and worse. First it was the RGR, now its the Chatroom, wonder what it will be next

lol....i thought u were a huge member. I didn't know you weren't on the website at like all during 2006 and 2007... what eves. I liked yours because it took less time to read.

oh, I did forget one big aspect of my time on Vizzed: Bans.

while it may not be possible to ever know for sure I think that I have banned more people than anyone else that has ever been staff on this message board. That has gotten me the reputation as the big bad global mod. It's been a tough thing to be known as that but at the same time I don't mind having to be the law enforcement on Vizzed. There are rules to be followed and I've taken it upon myself to enforce them. This has caused it's fair share of problems for me because having to enforce the rules causes friction among the members. It's nice to talk to certain members and have them tell me that in spite of how I've had to punish them that they respect me for enforcing the rules as fairly as I could.

Oh, and 1 other things ..... I think I'm the only person to have been both an admin and ip-banned and then come back to global. I'm proud of this and then I'm not

JigSaw : I wonder if the battle arena will bring change again?
geeo: Funny thing is, DH was always the big bad global to me, I'm not even sure why, probably because he sent me my first and only ban warning when I posted too much in the Crazy House XD. But I do respect you for the discipline I received as local when I stirred up trouble with JS and DH.

This is great
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread, because it obviously was well written with much time and effort
It seems so long ago that you reached 5000, I was a newbie at the time, but I remember you hitting 4500 then 5000.
I came at the end of 2009, I think I even got top ten for the VCS, but back then it was completely easy because there was only about 20-30 people posting in a day

Vizzed has changed so much since 2009, back then it looked like Acmlm and was completely different.

yeah, it felt like forever ago when I hit 5,000. The board was so different too. Part of me misses that time and part of me doesn't.

'Tis an intresting read.
I am deeply perplexed by what has happened through a period of 5 years. The philosophy of humans and changes that happen in human life is fascinating as demonstatrated on this thread.
I applaud you for making such a detailed post about many questions I've wanted to ask.

I'm replying to this because I want to bring it back. I also think I want to lay out 2011-2013 as well. Maybe I'll edit the original post and add to it in order to do that

you found it. you never did mention your ban hemmer days, though. And another thing... all your ' 's are all wierd... it made it really hard to read. Also... I think when I finally hit 5,000 posts, I might do something like this. I have not decided yet.

thing1 : I did find it. I plan to update the last 2 years when I have some free time. Maybe this weekend while watching a hockey or NCAA game. It would be nice to have a more complete record than I have now.

i like how half the people that posted in here are inactive now. Irony at its best.

thenumberone : I've watched the userbase change over so many times now. Every 1-2 years the top posters are completely different. There are a few people here and there that stick around but for the most part it's new every year.