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[jay-ell]

HOW TOUAMB WAS BORN

Once, long ago, back in the long dark night of internet webcomics, an alive stuffed otter was standing on the instruction book for a drum machine.

There was an artist, a comic writer, a scowling misanthrope of a man who nevertheless found his calling, however fleetingly, as a bringer of mirth into a seedy virtual world, rank with pornography and Cathy cartoons. The Artist, Chris Onstad, was the author of Achewood, and through the benevolence of the Great Topato he did create a message board through which our prayers and offerings could be conveyed. At this altar of genius we did worship, the Disciples of Ray, and we did prove ourselves worthy to hang with the dirtiest dudes in town.

But then, through some unforeseen slight or possibly the capricious wrath common to shared deities, we acolytes did fall out of Onstad's favor. We were banished from our garden of Eden, and the gates were closed, then locked, then deleted.

But lo! We did not wander in the wilderness. Our fearless leader, Master of the Pimp Hand, Jough the Benefactor, did go forth and establish a new nation, free of the whims of Onstad. Through Jough's technical prowess (and spare server space), the community we had built was saved. Here are writ the names of the Old Guard of TOAUMB, who registered their accounts in the first six months of TOUAMB's existence and stuck around long enough to earn a place of vague recognition in our rapidly fading memories. (Those still active are listed in bold.)

jough
jay-ell
slink
VinzClortho
Nabubrush
AugustWest
CortJstr
Asherdan
pmcd9
andalucia
doomglobe
AlohaDawg
keef
pubdoggy
arlucasinc
Schabe
PedroPicasso
misterhaan
Capn
satchel
Paisley
Carlos del Vaca
Flenker
MSC
Choop
sjlimmer
lane
ferocious j
wombat
limmo
FeeReep
RevDJ
PinkStainlessTail
beverly
side_show
Noah
mite
Steve Hogan
palm trees
ndpatel
Gimpson
Mantonio
miles
Ben-San
St. Zartan
Bozack

The date was July 31, 2003. Jough and I, Jay-Ell, were the first administrators of this new kingdom, and we ruled together in peace and harmony (for the most part) for several years. After several long sabbaticals on my part and the abdication of Jough (in favor of something called "meatspace"), we passed our responsibilities on to Wombat and AugustWest, and they have served honorably, excepting that unfortunate incident with cascading word filters.

I think it's only fitting that August explain the filters, so I'll leave that to him. Who wants to talk about the arrival of the second wave?

[AugustWest]

Filters?  What filters?

[Nabubrush]

You know this'll just end up being a 236 page thread and nobody will read it anyway. I think this should probably be done with all the OGs weighing in and just editing their own posts. How fucked would that become?

And maybe it should be locked and only unlocked when certain folks want to add? Shit I don't know

[wombat]

What Nabu is forgetting is that we made this place so the threads would be allowed to wander off topic.

[Nabubrush]

I miss that the most.

[jay-ell]

You know this'll just end up being a 236 page thread and nobody will read it anyway. I think this should probably be done with all the OGs weighing in and just editing their own posts. How fucked would that become?

And maybe it should be locked and only unlocked when certain folks want to add? Shit I don't know

Yeah, that's my suspicion too, but I think everybody taking a turn and self-editing when we have something to add is a good plan. We can give it a couple of months to evolve and then go back through and delete these housekeeping posts and split out anything that's too off-topic, and lock it. (Wittily.) But in the meantime, let's see where it goes?

The closure of AssBar and the resounding silence from the void the followed it makes me think that perhaps we've gotten a bit too insular, and I'm all about lowering the bar to entry (slightly) so that we can stop alienating awesome newbies like GKA and Ted Striker (where did he go?) and our newest pal, Jaded Tersk. I have no problem with the usual hazing and trials by fire, and with mercilessly ridiculing idiots until they go away, but I sometimes ask myself -- if I stumbled on this forum for the first time today, would I be afraid to post?

[Nabubrush]

Check your sig - you're part of the problem!

(I kid!)

[Jaded Tersk]

It is a little bit intimidating to post here for the first while.  Even still, after the first while.  But I don't think the bar is set too high.  I mean, have you ever moved to a new neighbourhood and you didn't know anyone, so you had to go to the local bar by yourself?  It's better if you get it over with. 

I think it's just not for everyone.  My girlfriend hates touamb to hell, and I kind of get why.  But despite the hazin' and the razin' I think most people's hearts are in the right place.  Every crew of OG's has their inside jokes and represents their clique.

Back when I was posting before, a few years ago, the one thing that drove me crazy was that it was the period where people were trying to adjust to less and less output from Onstad, and I'm so supportive of that guy (like, actually an 'enabler' kind of supportive) that it bummed me out when he got clobbered here.  I was being a life failure at the time too, and I empathised a lot, and took every slam against Onstad as a personal one.

The way I see it, it's y'alls board, so why should you have to change it for anyone?  And that's coming from someone who dissed you guys on Assbar.

[jay-ell]

It is hard to strike the right balance of "intimidating enough to scare off Pat, but not intimidating enough to discourage Roast Beef."

[miles]

HOW TOUAMB WAS BORN

Just gave you a 2nd can because this is exactly what I had in mind when I brought up the TOUAMBverse concept. Like, perfectly written. Awesome.

[wombat]

Thanks JT for the vote of confidence.

[AugustWest]

Thanks JT for the vote of confidence.

Yes, thanks very much.  We like you too.

[Jaded Tersk]

Aw, shucks!