The 667er Presents # 2 - History of 667
Jun 13, 2018 14:31:15 GMT -5
Hermes, Kensicle, and 3 more like this
Post by Isadora Is a Door on Jun 13, 2018 14:31:15 GMT -5
# 2 - History of 667
By Linda Rhaldeen
By Linda Rhaldeen
The Following is a collection of The History of 667 articles published in the 667er
History of the 667er, Originally posted in #2
Welcome to my new column, where I dig deep into the cavernous depths of 667's history and pull out interesting info. Every month will cover a different topic or event. Today's topic of interest: The 667er itself!
We'll start at the beginning: September 14th, 2005. Akbar Le Grey, an enterprising young journalist, had the idea to start a weekly magazine. At the time, 667 was much busier than it is now and as outlined in the original plan, Akbar wanted to have several correspondents, each covering a different section of the board. It would be a sort of cliff notes version of what was going on at 667. The debut issue was posted on September 18th, and contained a news story, board correspondents, weekly columns, an editorial, and creative submissions (art and poems).
The 667er was a big part of my history. I myself joined The 667er for its 7th issue, originally in charge of Interview of the Week column. I had a brief stint writing the weekly rant from issues 22 through 25, and eventually became the sub editor of the magazine, which usually meant staying up late on Saturday nights (Sunday morning in Pakistan, where Akbar lived at the time), and helping to get The 667er ready for publication over MSN Messenger. I would often write a news article at the beginning of the paper, which Akbar called the "lede", and he would write an editorial at the end.
As time went on, the focus moved away from board correspondents and more toward the weekly columns and one-off submissions. There was a huge variety in the submissions; an article I wrote for the New Year 2007 identifies 30 unique people who contributed to The 667er during the year of 2006, as well as the type of things they wrote (or drew, in a couple of cases). There were several features which were tried out and eventually discontinued, the 667er Group being notable among them.
2006 was the golden age of The 667er; it ran nearly every week that year, and sometimes gave reports midweek. In March of 2007, it took a 3-month hiatus, returning shortly before the site's 6th anniversary for 2 more weeks, and then was gone again until November. In April 2008, it finally ran out of steam, and was not seen for over 4 years.
In 2012, with talk of the forum's 10th Anniversary, The 667er was briefly revived, with Bee (Brunch at the time) acting as editor. However, it was not until January 2013 that The 667er finally returned. Charlie took over as editor and changed the format from weekly to monthly, and it ran for 8 issues (10 if you count the 2 Queen Editions), before Charlie's computer death and subsequent disappearance from the forum.
Just recently, Isadora Is a Door took over as editor, and now we're on our second issue of The Revived Revived 667er. Here's to many more issues, no matter what form they take!
Bonus content:
- The 667er Archives: an archive project Akbar, Sixteen and I created many years ago and which I have been working on getting up to date over the last week.
- Linda's favorite issue: Edition L, released on The 667er's one-year anniversary in which everyone wrote parodies of themselves.
- Trivia:
1. The 667er, while the longest-running, is not the only periodical 667 has had. The 668er by Charlotte and Pandora and The 667 Reporter by Kobolos are other notable periodicals. Mister M, current editor, even started a newspaper called The Daily Punctilio in 2013.
2. The Dark Avenue Gazette was suggested as a possible name for the magazine by Ennui.
3. The original run had 99 issues during a 27-month period (98 regular, and one mid-week edition specially for the 4th anniversary).
4. Akbar has since attended and graduated from Yale with a degree in journalism and is now a foreign affairs reporter for The Huffington Post.
The Early Days, Originally posted in # 3
Hermedy Armando Thomas, also known as Hermedy, created Lemony Snicket's Informer forums on June 22nd, 2002. It was originally aligned with a website, Lemony Snicket's Informer. This website is now defunct, but as of early 2005 it still existed (though even then it was outdated), and was actually how I originally found my way to 667.
At the time, the big Snicket forum was Unfortunate Events Online, also known as UE.net. Hermedy was the head moderator there and created this site for fun while continuing to post and moderate at UE.net. The forum remained small...for a while. Around February 7th, 2003, UE.net mysteriously disappeared. For months, there was a message saying that the website was revamping and would be up shortly, and former UE.net members remained hopeful. Eventually it became clear that the site was never coming back.
The closing of UE.net, while sad at the time, is really what allowed 667 to get its start. It left a void for people wanting to join a Snicket forum, and 667's exponential growth reflects that. It took 6 1/2 months, from June 22nd to January 9th, for the forum to reach its first 100 members. In another 3 1/2 months, on April 21st, it reached 200 members. It took another 2 1/2 months to reach 300, and from then on, a new member mark was reached at least once a month.
From the very beginning, the forum structure was similar to the way it is today; a peek at the board from October of 2002 shows that the only two sections we have today that were missing then are Ravaged Resources and Ruefully Restricted, although, many of the other sections went by different names.
As the forum began to grow, more and more now-familiar fixtures began to appear. For example, on April 10th 2003, the first of many moderators were appointed. The site was renamed from Lemony Snicket's Informer forums to 667 Dark Avenue on April 27th, 2003. The current color scheme, which uses black, grey, yellow, and blue, was changed in early January 2005 (perhaps thanks to Giudecca?). And finally, the 667 logo was created as a group project in early 2007.
Bonus content:
- The Wayback Archive. Thanks to Kensicle for originally pointing out this site, it allows you to look at what websites looked like at different points in time. It is currently set to the first webcapture made, on October 9th 2002.
- Trivia
The Darkies, Originally posted in # 5 (Darkies Special)
The Darkies are 667's longest-running awards show. They have been held annually since 2008, traditionally in the spring months (or fall for southern hemisphere). These upcoming awards will be the 8th ones. @moon hosted the Darkies in 2008 and in 2009. In 2010 he stepped down and Emma “Emmz” Squalor took over, also hosting in 2011 and 2012. Kit's tits kick ticks has been our organizer and host since 2013.
The first ever Darkies were held on April 13th, 2008. They were announced on March 27th, 2008; Willis tells us then that Hermedy had come up with the name. It was an exciting time at 667; the 667,000th post had just been made the previous day, and 667 had been upgraded to version 4.5 in the past few days as well.
At the time, The 667er was on its last leg (the final editon would be posted just 7 days after the award show), but it appears this first Darkies was well advertised by the paper, from a call for nominations to a vintage ad that was run in the April 6th and April 13th editions. Apparently I even wrote a news bulletin liveblogging the Darkies. This would be the last time a Darkies would be talked about in The 667er until today (I checked the issues during Charlie's run and found no mention of Darkies).
Let's look at some of the ways the Darkies have changed over the years:
-Looking at the original 2008 awards, you will see several that sound unfamiliar today, among them Best Moderator, Best Moment, and Best Gag Account.
-In 2009 those 3 were retired and replaced with Most Notorious, Most Improved, and Most Consistent.
-In 2012, Most Improved and Most Consistent were replaced with Best Profile Decoration and Most Active.
-In 2013, Most Active was changed to Best Organizer. Most Unfortunate also changed named to Most Lemony.
-In 2014, Best Story and Best Writer were merged into one award called Best Storytelling, and a special award that changes each year was created. This year's award was Most Missing.
-This year our special award is Most 13-Year-Old. A couple of the awards have undergone name changes, Best Storytelling changing to Best Writing and Most Lemony to Best Volunteer.
Bonus content:
- Darkies Winners and Categories: My love of charts and lists and statistics led me to make this page.
- Trivia
Anniversaries, Originally posted in # 6 (Anniversary Special)
667 was created on June 22nd, 2002. The exact way of celebration has varied due to circumstances like forum activity levels and the importance (or lack thereof) of each anniversary, but over its thirteen-year history that date has been acknowledged almost every year.
The very first anniversary was acknowledged as a celebratory thread; pretty low key, but at that point in our history we had never done anything much requiring organizing like we would in the years to come. I doubt any of the members realized 667 would still be around today, or that we would still be celebrating anniversaries.
The second anniversary was celebrated with a carnival-themed role play thread. Dupin, one of the first big organizers of 667, seems to have taken the initiative in planning it.
The third anniversary seems to have been forgotten about - until July 15th, that is, when Hermedy arrived back from vacation to berate the forum for their neglect.
It was the fourth anniversary when things really started to get interesting. An elaborate “In” Auction was held, with all members being given $100,000 in fake money to spend, and dozens of auction items being bid on for set periods of time over the space of several days (check out the archives from about page 30 to 35 to see the auction items). Some of the auction items contained hidden special prizes, others were red herrings, and yet others were just fun (I remember bidding on a picture of a jack-o-lantern with Stephen Colbert’s face). There was also a food menu.
For the fifth anniversary, we did several things in the days leading up to June 22nd. Numerous contests began on June 18, with prizes such as 1,000 posts, administrator for a day, and signed copies of The Grim Grotto being given away to the winners. A carnival was held on June 21st, and on June 22nd another auction was held, this time for only one day.
The sixth anniversary saw several contests held.
The seventh anniversary appears to have been acknowledged, though not particularly celebrated, as the day of a change of staff.
The eighth anniversary promised a party, which turned out to be woefully underwhelming.
The ninth anniversary seems to have been completely ignored; I found no mention of it, not even in passing.
The tenth anniversary was another big one. Seven contests, a temporary revival of The 667er, a ten-year timeline, a “where are they now?” gallery, and a ball were held.
For the eleventh anniversary, we missed the actual date, but celebrated with a very belated Harry Potter Day in honor of 667 turning 11.
No mention of the twelfth anniversary (I actually remember wanting to make a thread about it and then being busy/out of town, and by the time I had a chance to do something it was June 24th and I figured it was too late).
And now we are approaching our thirteenth anniversary, special for the Snicket-y significance of the number 13. I hope everyone in years to come will look fondly over the next few days.
667 Big Brother, Originally posted in # 7 (Big Brother Edition)
667 Big Brother is modeled after the reality tv show Big Brother, which in turn is very loosely based off the George Orwell book 1984. The basic premise is that a number of contestants live in the Big Brother house, where they are cut off from contact with the outside world and filmed 24/7 with hidden cameras, compete at weekly tasks and are subjected to twists, and one by one are evicted until one last housemate remains, and wins a large sum of money.
667 Big Brother, being online, is of course a bit more limited in scope; it is impossible, for example, to limit the housemates from contacting the outside world, and the winner gets nothing but bragging rights (and possibly a customized signature). Nevertheless, it's become a fun summer tradition.
The original 667 Big Brother was created by George (also known as Dupin), and began on 25 Jun 2004. Most of the people in that first game are no longer with us - in fact the winner, username gary, has since deleted his account - but there are a few familiar faces, like Betsy who was a contestant, and Kyle who was a Big Brother. The winner was declared on 4 Sep 2004.
Another 667 Big Brother started only a few weeks later, but only lasted for 2 weeks and then appeared to have been abandoned (this is the only forum evidence that it ever existed). When Big Brother was restarted on 10 Jun 2005, it was also known as Big Brother 2. I was a contestant for this Big Brother, and was a brand-new member at the time so it was my introduction to a lot of the members. Derik (i.) ended up winning, on 21 Aug 2005.
The third one was the only successful Northern Hemisphere winter game, running from 19 Jan to 7 Apr 2006. deanna. won this time around. The fourth game is the other one I remember well, because I helped out as a Big Brother this time. It ran from 25 Jun to 27 Aug 2006, and Jemima won.
The fifth and final (for a while at least) 667 Big Brother began on 27 Jun 2007 and...no one won. After 5 weeks it fizzled out due to Dupin dropping off the face of the earth (or at least of 667), and no more new Big Brothers were created.
That is, until 2013. In 2013, bryan asked about 667 Big Brother and that prompted me, with the help of Isadora Is a Door, to reboot the game. It ran from 13 Sep to 17 Nov and penne won, though it appears Hermedy started a tradition of his own by messing up the voting.
The next year 667 Big Brother was back, and back in its ideal summer timeslot, running from 20 June to 22 Aug. Kit's tits kick ticks and BSam were brought on as Big Brothers, Rellim won in a landslide, and Mulan was back to his old tricks.
Who will win this year? Will Hermedy sabotage the final vote again? Only time will tell. I will say that we're getting very close to have an all-female household this year (only Esmé's meme is meh remains), which has never happened before. Thanks to all, past and present, who have made 667 Big Brother possible and here's to many more years!
Bonus content:
- For your browsing pleasure, all boards past and present (the first and third unfortunately do not work):
- Ten years ago today:(Spoiler alert: I was the one to go)This week, Linda and Pandora recieved the most nominations and will face the public vote this week.
Hermedy, Originally posted in # 8
Not the Romeo and Juliet kind, the admin. Hermedy Armando Thomas was born November 3rd, 1988. This was a Thursday; unlike Isadora Is a Door he seems to have gotten the hang of Thursdays very early on. He was presumably born in Bethesda Maryland, his hometown, but that has not been confirmed. His ancestry is from the Philippines, and he went to high school in Brazil because of his dad's job. He has a sister that is ten years younger than him. He is Roman Catholic.
Little is known about his early life, so our story will begin on June 22nd, 2002. At the time, he was a member and a moderator at the mythical UE.net, the Atlantis of the Lemony Snicket world. That day, he decided to build his own little forum (more on that here). He went through various periods of activity and absence on the forum depending on his school workload. His school was super important or something because George W. Bush once visited it and they shook hands.
He graduated from high school in 2006, at the age of 17, and took a year off to work at Barnes and Noble. This is notable because it was at this job that a guy famously asked Hermedy on a date and he said yes, not realizing it was a date (Hermedy is, unfortunately, heretosexual). Plus I guess it was his first full-time job and stuff but whatever, the date thing is much more important.
Hermedy was accepted to many universities, and had decided on Stanford at one point, but then changed his mind and ended up going to Cambridge. He studied Economics from 2007 to 2011 and apparently it rocked his world. He now works at World Bank.
Hermedy is known on 667 for such antics as angredy (and all his emoji cousins), nm u, *admin power surge*, flawless victory, and check yourself before you wreck yourself.
He has had several significant others on 667. Most notably, Fancy who he surprised by driving across 3 states to see her play, and Sophie, who he e-married and made creepy comments about her being his favorite member when she was underage (are you 18 now Sophie?).
Bonus facts:
- Mulan is a certified black belt in Tae Kwon Do
- He plays (played?) bass guitar
- He also played basketball in high school and college
- He is a very good dancer (video proof)
- He also likes Beyonce (video proof which is unfortunately friendslocked. If he suddenly starts getting a ton of facebook friend requests this is why)
- Nepotism is alive and well at 667. Hermedy's cousins were originally g-mods, and then when he was dating Fancy she became co-admin.
- For years, Hermedy was a Slytherin, but then Pottermore sorted him into Hufflepuff
- in 2008, he had the chance to talk to Daniel Handler on the phone and ended up being hung up on.
Notable Members, Originally posted in # 9
So now we know about Hermedy (check out last edition if you missed it), it's time to learn about some of the other movers and shakers on 667. Disclaimer: if I were to talk about all the members who are important we'd be here all day, so I just picked 10. Some are still posting, others are not. Also I have tended to skew old member; there are plenty of amazing newer members who do amazing things but hindsight is 20:20 and it's easier to tell who had a lasting impact if they've been around a long time.
So, to start:
BSam - BSam is the oldest member who still regularly posts; he joined in January 2003 and has been a presence on 667 ever since. He currently holds the title for the most posts (spread over multiple accounts) and is known for his humor, wit, and intelligence. Many of the running jokes on 667 (Sweet Caroline, who?, etc.) were started by him. He was also one of the founders of 667 TV Club, which evolved into the Google+ Hangout that many of us still enjoy. The social aspect of 667 is much richer for his contributions.
@swans - Swans joined the forum in May of 2003 and quickly rose through the ranks to become a Global Moderator. She was 20 when she joined, which at the time was much older than the average 667er (Hermedy was only 14 at the time), and brought with her experience and wisdom, at least as much as it's possible for a 20-year-old to have. She did not stay on 667 long - in early 2005, Dante and Swans had a falling out and she had left the board by the time I joined on April 22nd, with only the occasional visits to 667 since then - but much of the early organizational structure of the board was put in place by her.
champ103 - Dupin joined the forum in July of 2003 and immediately began making a name for himself. Only 10 years old when he joined, he nevertheless became a talented writer, both of fanfiction and of the burgeoning genre of 667 stories (here is an example). He was also a big organizer, creating 667 Big Brother and 667 Factor and winning the title of G-Mod in the 667 Apprentice (a multi-week contest patterned after the Apprentice tv show where the contestants put their organizing skills to the test). He stopped posting in 2007 due to being busy in real life, and has not returned, but many of his creations still live on.
Charles Vane - Pandora joined the forum in August 2003. Especially in the early years, there was a tendency on the forum towards intellectualism and elitism, and Pandora has always fought that - which isn't to say she isn't smart, she's incredibly intelligent, but she's not stuck up about it. She has been creating groups of friends from the beginning - the Plastics, the Team Squad, Something Beautiful and New, etc. - as well as openly crushing on women since before it was socially acceptable to do so. Pandora is unofficially in charge of hangouts. She is also the reason we all watched Teen Wolf - and then stopped. Everything she does she does passionately, and I am glad to know her (#Lindora4ever)
Dante - Dante joined the forum in August of 2004 under the pseudonym FFWF (short for Fight Fire With Fire). In April 2005, he wrote a Dante's Inferno-esque story calledThe Abyss, and that seems to have brought about a change in name which he uses to this day. I think we can all agree that Dante belongs here; we tease Dante a lot, but the fact of the matter is the Lemony Snicket part of the forum probably wouldn't exist without him. He has been a moderator for Burdensome Books for over a decade and had a hand in reorganizing the section before ATWQ came out. He also has a contact in publishing which allows him to share insider info about the Snicket books before they come out.
All Due Respect - All Due Respect, or ADR as we knew her, originally joined the forum in December 2004, but it was not until October 2006 that she really began posting. Hermedy was thinking of retiring as admin, and had made a contest to choose his successor - a contest that ADR happened to win, despite having no qualifications to run a 5000+ member forum. I kind of feel bad now, she was just a clueless kid, but at the time she was running the forum very poorly and everyone was very upset with that (and probably at least a few of us, including yours truly, were envious of the job ourselves). We eventually convinced Hermedy to return and ran ADR out of town, and the whole experience united us as a forum in a way we had never been united previously.
Emma “Emmz” Squalor - Emma joined the forum in July 2007, during the dark in-between years after The End had been released but before the new series was announced. Her kindness was infectious, and she was instrumental in changing the tone of the forum from the elitist place it had been before to a much kinder, softer place. Fanfiction was where the majority of the action was taking place then, and she was both a big writer (here is an example of her writing) and commenter on others' fics, eventually becoming the moderator for Forsaken Fanwork. She also hosted the Darkies for a couple of years. Although she left us years ago for mental health reasons, she is still remembered fondly and universally adored.
Hermes - Hermes joined the forum in November 2008. When he joined he was active in the Burdensome Books section and at one point a rivalry developed between him and Dante over who was the best Snicketeer; they have since come to a truce. He still posts in the Burdensome Books sections where his thoughtful posts are appreciated, but he is also the Head of Birthdays, and with very few exceptions makes a thread for each active member on their birthday. He also participates in the Penthouse chats every month, and while he was never a contestant on 667 Big Brother he was always the most faithful voter each week for evictions. He is currently the oldest in age member active on 667 (there have been older members, but they no longer post).
Isadora Is a Door - Mister M joined the forum in May 2012. While he started out on the forum being nearly universally hated, he's kinda grown on us. He is known for his typing mistakes (quite ironic since he is the editor of The 667er) and we like to make jokes about him not understanding pop culture references, but he has a good heart. He has written some good stories in his time and been a great organizer (or organiser, since he is British), both in restarting this paper and in the current incarnation of 667 Big Brother. He is also one half of 667's most adorable real-life couple.
Kit's tits kick ticks - Anka joined the forum in July 2012. She started off making a lot of people angry in Disturbing Discussion (667 tends to skew liberal), but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it kept us from becoming an echo chamber. Other than that, Anka is very sweet. She created the 667 Advent Calendar, organizes the Darkies every year, and last summer helped with the organizing of 667 Big Brother. In 2013, she and Mister M began interacting more and more and are now a real-life couple, with her making plans to eventually move from her native Germany to the UK so they can be together.
Gag Accounts, Originally posted in # 10 (Halloween Edition)
What is a gag account, you might ask? This term, probably derived from the term gag gift, appears to be unique to 667 (an internet search brings up nothing). It is a new account, made by an existing member of 667, for humorous purposes. The creator adopts a certain persona and make all their posts in the character of this persona.
It can sometimes be difficult to tell if a member is an actual new member or a gag account. I have included a chronological list of accounts that were confirmed gag acounts, but this list is by no means exhaustive.
Kobolos, Oct 2003 - Originally created as the member Mattathias's goblin alter-ego, it eventually became his only account.
Greenberry, Oct 2003 - Greenberry was before my time and the account has since been deleted, as well as many of the posts, but it appears this account sent harassing PMs to Swans and used a lot of misspellings and exclamation marks. An investigation revealed the account to be Mr. Who.
satintheantichist - Claimed to be Satan but continually misspelled it as Satin so no one took him seriously. We never did find out who it was.
The Best of the Best, Jan 2006 - This account was created by yours truly, as a satirical take on the elitism that was rampant on 667 at the time. It was unique in that there was not just one person behind it - J., PJ, and Ennui all eventually joined in. It only lasted a couple days before complaints stopped the posting and we came clean to the forum.
Accordion Man, Feb 2006 - Showed up for various balls and other special occasions and played the accordion, he gained a following of female groupies who got excited whenever he showed up (of which I was shamelessly a part).
Pam the Spam, Mar 2006 - Spammed the forum with posts about Spam (the canned meat). Most of her posts were deleted and she was eventually revealed to be Jemima.
Coco Chef, Jan 2007 - Started out as the persona of a kindly older woman, she began contributing to The 667er and said that she was planning an article titled "The Virtues of Sex". Shortly thereafter her tone changed; the person posting as her said that Coco Chef had died and that this was her niece Kelley. The account was eventually revealed to have been an existing member, Mr. Poe, all along.
newfoundlandtim, Oct 2007 - One of the longest consistently-posting gag accounts, this account was a staple in the years 2007 and 2008, regularly contributing to The 667er. This account was known for being cheerful, innocent, and naive almost to a fault, for his work as a mermaidologist, and for his misspellings and incorrect usage of colloquial phrases. He was even named member of the month in November of 2007. He was never publicly revealed as a gag account, but it became widely known in private that he was created by Willis, and was loosely based on the real member Ernist.
gossipgirl, Feb 2008 - Posted 667 gossip in the style of the television character Gossip Girl. No one seemed to like her then, though re-reading the thread I thought it was quite funny.
Countess Violet, Jan 2012 - She herself was not a gag account, but she created multiple other accounts, among them Sorsha and Draven, whose sole purpose was to praise her and vote for her for 2011's Member of the Year. Once this was discovered, she lost her title and Member of the Year was given to Hermes.
Draven, Nov 2012 - This account was reregistered and made a bunch of posts extolling the virtues of an infamous former member, Countess Violet. Sophie admitted a few weeks later that it was her.
K-Thor, Dec 2012 - The most prolific of a group of accounts with usernames of various Marvel Universe Avengers, except with K at the beginning. They posted K-Pop graphics and not much else. Widely believed to be either Lucas or someone imitating Lucas.
Reba, Oct 2015 - The newest gag account, began by posting bear-related puns and a story called Bear Lore, but has admitted that he is Bandit and given up the Bear persona.
Bonus content:
- J. and BSam were not included in this list because, by their own reckoning, they have created at least a dozen gag accounts each.
- In June 2006, gag accounts were so common and unimaginative that Antenora created this graphic:
2015 review, Originally posted in # 11 (Christmas Edition)
Today we're going to try something a little different; rather than following one topic back to early days of 667 I'm going to do a 2015 Year in Review.
The year began with Bee attempting to make contact with Dante, who coldly ignored her. When that failed, she turned to arson. Kyle won the 2014 Member of the Year and there was much rejoicing.
In February, Cupid made his (her? their?) annual appearance and there were like 2 pages worth of Cupid threads.
In March the internet exploded over an article of clothing that was blue or yellow or something, idk. Also all the 667ers killed each other repeatedly. And a bunch of people that know nothing about basketball and maybe a couple that actually do know about it did a March Madness Bracket.
In April we had the "If all 667ers ____" trend (example). We discussed possible romantic attachments and LSWannaBe/Freebird was born? I'm pretty sure I've been shipping them for longer than that, but now I know it's canon.
In May we held the Darkies and Sophie ruined them with her "vote for the less-obvious candidate" (still bitter #Lindora2015 didn't win). Songbird started an all-girl motorcycle gang. Also s accidentally talked about 667 in a job interview and it was adorable.
In June we had our 13th Anniversary, and Hermes was kind enough to compile everything into one post.
In July Big Brother began, this time run by Mister M and Lemona, and Shia LeBeauf became an inspirational icon. Peppermince had his very first all-nighter at 667 before anyone even really knew who he was. Awww.
In August Sophie and Liz met irl, and then like a day later Sophie won Big Brother, making everyone green with jealousy.
In September Google changed its logo and I still can't stand to see the new one. Bee finally got a response from her beloved Dante. The last ATWQ book was offically released on September 22nd, but a bunch of British 667ers got it early.
In October Charlie came back! And he got 96th percentile, I believe, so as sad as we were for him to be gone, he was off being a major smartie. We ended up having a pretty in-depth discussion of holidays. Also Adele ruined Lionel Ritchie's legacy.
In November Peppermince came up with ideas for a bunch of sitcoms. Also Sophie came up with a series of increasingly philosophical threads, including while you're alive, when you die, and how to get away with farting in public.
In December it was announced that Netflix, which had announced an ASOUE series the previous November, was holding open auditions for Violet and Klaus. Also Pandora psychoanalyzed us without telling us. We debated the similarities of certain 667ers to certain containers.
Romance, Originally posted in #13
When you bring up romance at 667, probably the first couple that springs to mind today is Mister M and Anka; they have met multiple times, successfully made the transition from e-couple to real-life couple, and are all-around adorable. But they are just the last in a long tradition of romance at 667.
One of the first and most well-known was Dante and Antenora, Dantenora for short. Their names even match, which is 100% on purpose; they were originally known as FFWF and Tocuna respectively, and after he wrote a Dante-esque story, the two of them changed their names to Dante and Antenora (one of the levels of hell). In fact, since both of them are intensely personal it's entirely possible that theirs has become an IRL relationship without telling us. One thing is clear, for years they were known as the power couple of 667.
Fast-forward to 2007, and the big power couple is Fancy and Hermedy. The two had known each other since 2002 through the old ASOUE website UE.net, she had followed him to 667 when he created it, and years later the two began skyping and developing a relationship with each other, one that culminated in Hermedy driving 10 hours to see Fancy in her play. In 2008 she became co-admin, and...yeah, they ended up not working out, so there is that.
Later, Fancy invited her new significant other, Mike Mountain, to 667. Which now that I think about it, is kind of weird. Oh hey baby, this is the website run by the guy who I used to date; do you want to join? These two are mostly just an IRL couple, but I'm including them here since they did both have accounts and several of us talked to Mike Mountain on google hangout.. Also he introduced us to Gordon Dioxide.
Another mostly IRL couple that I'm including is M and Derik. These two originally met and became friends on 667, then mostly left but still stayed friends with each other. Years later M came back to let us know that the two had moved in together.
Another thing that's worth mentioning is that it used to be extremely common to get e-married on 667. While some of these e-marriages actually had romantic feeling behind them, others were just for fun, or an excuse to have a party, but they do deserve a mention. On this thread people listed all their e-marriages, with A. and PJ each married nine times, and Alice married 12 times. Familial adoptions were also pretty common, as evidenced by this thread. Some of the most famous and polyamorous that spring to mind are the Thingagon, the Merry Band of Lesbians, and the marriage between A. and the 4 personas of Derik.
There have been other, e-relationships that never reached real-life relationship status but were more serious than the spontaneous e-marriages. These, listed in roughly chronological order and by no mean exhaustive, include BSam/Trish, Freshie/Dupin, Skeleton Key/Grey Snicket, Alice/Akbar, Hermedy/Sophie, Terry Craig/Pen, Charlie/Bee, me/Nicole, and Charlie/Teleram.
Dirty Little Secrets, By Zortegus and posted in # 14 (Mixed Edition)
Today we're going to talk about something fun: other's people little dirty secrets! Okay not entirely like that, but I've been diving into a lot of old threads and found some fun, teenage/younger versions of everyone and especially some people who are still around, and there's some fun stuff I'd like to share with you.
Like for instance, there was this time when Dante (known as FFWF back then) left the forum and swans (whoever she is) resigned as G-mod and everyone feared it was the end of the world. As you well know, Dante didn't leave for good and it wasn't the end of the world, nor of 667, but it's a funny thread feat. our loved BSam who seemed to have another account back then? And also seems like he made a comment out of place because there was a lot of drama about it. I recommend you to read this, it's weird and fun to see all the serious people we know today when they were teenagers. Is like a forum full of bandits and pepperminces.
And there's this time when our dear, sweet, innocent Linda used her G-mod powers to hack All Due Respect, one of the admins back then!!! Can you believe it?! Me neither!!! And see how Pandora didn't do anything to protect her! Horrible. How could you, Linda?!
Also, one day, long time ago, Hermes was a newbie who alleged to don't be qualified to take part in discussions because he didn't read TUA. Unbelievable. Thanks God he didn't hold to that and started right away to be the Snicket-expert we all know well.
I found out that Willis was involved in some shady incident. Seems like he hacked swans account and changed the background, banner and some boards. He also banned a lot of back-then-well-known users (mainly mods and admins) were banned, including 667 creator, Hermedy. According to an old edition of The 667er, our dear, sweet Pandora was involved as well. This resulted in Willis being banned permanently (though it seems like it wasn't too permanent?) and Pandora being demoted (not for long?). Shame on you Willis, Nicole! (I guess?)
BONUS TRACK
During my investigation of troublemakers, I came across this post. I read it quickly and confused Karma with Carma, an actual user I saw lately, and started wondering what she did to be taken away. Then I started digging deep on it and found out Karma is not a person but a punctuation system that forums used to have (mine had it too). I also found out that recently Charlie admitted he misses it, so in my honest opinion we should bring it back just to make our dear Charlie boy happy again.
All Due Respect, Originally posted in # 15
Reading Zortegus' article last month made me realize that although there are some older members who remember it, many of the newer members have never heard of the most tumultuous time in 667's history: the reign of All Due Respect.
It all started in late September and early October 2006. This was shortly before the much-anticipated conclusion of the ASOUE series, The End, was to be released and we were all very excited. Hermedy, our admin who has gone through periods of both hands-on and hands-off admining, had returned from hiatus and had cryptically created a new board named 60023101 , with password protection and a quote from literature displayed in the signature. Every day or two the quote would change. Now hindsight is 20/20 and especially today, with the latest incarnation of VFDoor currently active, it is obvious what was going on, but at the time no one knew why this mysterious board had appeared or what its purpose was. Someone did eventually figure out that the numbers referred to a date, the date of the release of The End. The day drew nearer and nearer and people waited impatiently to see what would happen on this date, watching the quotes change and trying to figure out how they all related to each other (turns out, they didn't; like today's VFDoor they were clues to a password that changed every time). Finally, two days before, the quote was just a string of letters. Several of the more musically inclined people, including me, recognized it as the tune to row, row, row your boat, and simultaneously the tune of the song The Little Snicket Lad posted in the Unauthorized Autobiography. Someone finally realized that this was a password to the board, and sure enough, the password worked! That someone was a member who had joined years before, left again, and then returned right before the book release date, someone who only had a few posts to her name. Her name was Bella, and her username was All Due Respect.
When she gained access to the 60023101 board, there was a message telling her she had won. The prize: becoming the new admin. Hermedy was getting old (he was almost 18 at the time ) and felt the time had come to retire. And what better way to pick his successor than through a mysterious game that no one knew the rules to? He agreed to answer a few more questions, and then took his farewells, leaving the 13-year-old ADR in charge of his forum.
The older members of the forum were not impressed. A few people, BSam among them, were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but others began to complain loudly. ADR responded, well, like any 13-year-old given too much power would; by giving strikes vindictively, overusing the eye-rolling emoticon (which sadly no longer exists on proboards), and using I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I logic. She began firing moderators nilly-willy, some of which admittedly had lapsed into inactivity, and making changes to the layout of the board (The Harry Potter, LOTR, and Disturbing Discussion boards being demoted to sub-boards was one change she made that was never undone, they were originally on the main page of the forum).
The 667er has never made a claim of impartiality, but we have at least tried to be balanced, at least most of the time. During this time though, it became openly critical of the forum's leadership, and our editor Akbar even made a "resistance" forum and invited most of the staff to it, where plots were hatched to try to get ADR to leave, or at least stop being so capricious. Not much came of that except for a lot of graphics with revolutionary-sounding quotes that ended up getting posted by new accounts like Patrick Henry.
At the time the Global Moderators, or G-mods, were swans and several of Hermedy's cousins, none of which had logged on in months, and so they were purged of their ranks and two new G-mods appointed. I was one of them, Jemima the other. We were both involved in the "resistance" effort, something I don't think ADR realized or she probably would not have appointed us. The two of us, together with our friend PJ, hatched a plan. ADR's account had administrative powers, but because Hermedy had failed to make her the primary admin the G-mod accounts were able to change her account password. We discovered this in mid-November, and created a new proboards forum to test it out and confirm it worked. The only problem was she would receive an email with a new password once this happened, so the plan was to do it late at night, log into her account, gain access to the main admin account (which she claimed she had access to the password for), remove her as admin, and quickly log out again. It was not technically a hack, though that's what it came to be known as. We decided that I would be the one to do it, and would take sole blame for it if we were caught. And so, one Saturday night, I did it. As it turns out, she did not actually have the admin password that she claimed to have, so I was logged in to her account and unable to complete the plan. I ended up sending Hermedy a PM pretending to be her and asking for the password, thinking it was a long shot but not sure what else to do. ADR panicked when she discovered what had happened the next morning, and had Hermedy access the security log, and that was that, I was caught.
I was banned, but public sentiment was on my side and there were petitions to bring me back. I still had access to the moderator board, though did not post there for fear of losing access, and watched with amusement as they nearly voted me member of the month despite my being banned. I think I only ended up getting banned for about a week, though I lost my G-mod position and haven't had any power since.
Finally, on December 30, 2006, Gigi made a bold move. She compiled a list of things ADR had done that had technically broken the rules, giving her strikes and a warning, basically staging a coup. ADR was upset and threatened to ban Gigi, and that seemed to be what finally brought Hermedy to his senses. returned, taking his rightful place as admin. Gigi had only given ADR two strikes, but Hermedy gave her a third and banned her. ADR never returned, that we know of, though who knows if she later registered under a different alias?
Extra-Forum Communication, originally posted in #17
From the beginning there have always been those who had known each other outside of 667 (Hermedy's cousins, for example, or J and M who were real-life friends before joining the forum, as well as several sibling pairs), but the vast majority of us have never met, and know each other only from what we have posted about ourselves on the forum. There are limitations associated with communicating via forum, though; conversations are usually not held in real time and so run slowly, and except in specific free-for-all boards like MM going off-topic to talk about your personal life is generally frowned upon. We have always been curious about each others' lives, though, and while the methods have changed we have always found alternate ways to communicate with each other.
AIM and to a lesser extent, YIM were the oldest forms of widely-used communcation between forum members. There is evidence that people were using them in 2003 but 2004 was the year that AIM conversations really took off, and anyone that was anyone on the forum was downloading the instant messenger program, sharing their AIM screen name and joining the late-night chats. It was not uncommon at the time to wake up and see a new thread made with the previous night's AIM conversation posted, and many of the early friendships were made cultivated here.
Somewhere around 2005, the switch was made to MSN Messenger (now known as Windows Live Messenger). It had the advantage of listing whoever was currently online at the time, and enormous group chats of all the 667ers online at the time would be made spontaneously, as well as smaller chats between two or three people.
Livejournal was also extremely popular at about this time. 667 had its own livejournal group, and while it was never terribly active it served as a place where people could find the personal journals of their 667 friends.
In 2007, Facebook was beginning to gain popularity and many 667ers added each other. Again, a group for 667 Dark Avenue members was added but it never truly took off (our current page is run by Zortegus and is unrelated to that early group). It would be years before the chat function of the website advanced to the point where it could become popular as a group chat location (there is a group chat that many of the 667ers belong to which remains posted in to this day, referencing a certain dad joke told on Teen Wolf. If you'd like to be added let me know).
From 2007 to 2013, there was an icon on the top of 667's Home Page titled "Penthouse", which led to a chatroom. After Hermedy's return to power (see previous issues for the ADR debacle) this became a popular place for both casual chatting and monthly planning meetings. When proboards was upgraded to version 5, this penthouse was one of the casualties.
One of the upsides to version 5, however, was the creation of group private messages within the forum itself (private messages were previously limited to one sender and one receiver). While it has never been our primary form of communication, some people have been able to use it as a powerful organization tool (Mister M., for example; quite a lot of our behind-the-scenes 667er planning is done via PM).
In 2012, we had our first group skype chat. This started as a voice-only chat and was meant to facilitate the 667 TV Club - several members would watch an episode of television while on skype, and comment on it in real time to each other - but quickly evolved into a more general discussion time. Since Skype only allowed face-to-face chat in groups of 3 or more for premium users, BSam signed up for a free 30-day-trial at one point. Sometime after the free trial expired, we made the switch to Google Hangout.
Google Hangout grew quickly in popularity; at its heyday there wer nearly daily hangouts, with people referencing inside jokes at 667 that they had created in the hangout and making those who were unable to attend hangouts for whatever reason feel left out. Terry Craig even wrote an allegorical story about it. It also became a way to play games together such as the online Cards Against Humanity or the game simply called Board Game. Slowly, though, the novelty of face chatting wore off, and it has been several months since our last hangout.
At this point in time, the most regular form of group chat is the monthly Penthouse Days chat. As mentioned previously, the old Penthouse is long gone, but in 2014 Mister M created a new chatroom for us to use, and by holding chats once a month (generally the Sunday closest to the 13th), it strikes a balance by being frequent enough to catch up on everyone's (or at least Hermes', Pepper's and Bandit's) news, yet infrequent enough that it is not a big time commitment.
The 2004 Movie, Originally posted in # 19 (Movie Speical)
Filming has wrapped for the Netflix adaptation's first season, and as the release date draws nearer, the anticipation grows more and more unbearable. It is hard to believe it has been nearly 12 years since we last had a filmed adaptation released, but it's true; the movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events was released on December 17th, 2004. Our beloved forum, having been founded nearly 2 1/2 years prior, was there to witness the whole thing, from the first rumors to the theatrical and home releases and the endless sequel rumors that popped up for several more years.
A brief timeline of the film (or a summary, at least; check Wikipedia for more details). The rights to the film were bought by Nickelodeon in May 2000, when only the first four books had been released. Barry Sonnenfield was hired in June 2002 as director, and Jim Carrey was cast in September 2002. The project ran into a few snarls, with the original director eventually leaving, as well as Scott Rudin (one of the original funders), and Daniel Handler was famously fired as scriptwriter after writing 8 drafts. Brad Silberling took over as director, the final script was written by Robert Gordon, and filming, originally slated to begin in April 2003, took place from November 10th, 2003 to May 29th, 2004 (for comparison, the Netflix series filmed for a little over 4 months, and will end up being eight 1-hour episodes). The movie was filmed entirely on sound stages and back lots, in Hollywood and Downey, California. As already mentioned, the film was released on December 17th, 2004, and on DVD and VHS (wow, they were still making VHS then!) on April 26th, 2005.
The film had a budget of $140 million and ended up grossing $213 million; while not a breathtaking success, it still more than made up its money and therefore talks of a sequel or even a multiple-film franchise abounded through the year 2005. As time went on and the child actors (Emily Browning and Liam Aiken) aged, a sequel became less and less likely, but even as late as June 2009 there was talk of a sequel, done in stop-motion animation to work around the aging of the children. It all eventually came to naught, at least until November 2014 when Netflix announced their plans.
Our forum seems to have had knowledge of the movie for years before it was released; I was not a member at the time but from what I am able to see using Wayback Archive, there was a section titled Audio/Visual reserved for the audio tapes and movie as early as October 9th, 2002. The board was renamed Malignant Media in April of 2003, but surprisingly continued to be a discussion of all things media until October 2004, only two months before the movie's release, when the title was changed to Malignant Movie. The name was changed again, this time to Miserable Movie, in August 2006, and has only recently (December 2015)changed to Atrocious Adaptations to more accurately reflect the discussions inside, which are nearly all about Netflix.
Since Atrocious Adaptations shares a board with the movie discussion, it is fairly easy to turn to page 38 of the board and see a lot of the old threads to this day, though any prior to 2004 seem to be missing. The main difference you will notice is the lack of organization; anyone and everyone seems to have made threads nilly-willy whenever they became aware of some piece of information, and there is a great deal of duplication and off-topic chatter making it difficult to get accurate information. This was well before Dante's ascent to power (though he is actually not even the moderator for this discussion, Invisible is), or the thoughtfulness of ryantrimble457 and his mega post. Going through 20 pages of posts in the year before the release, most seem to either be: I found a picture!, I watched the trailer!, this is why I will like/dislike the new movie!, why is Klaus not wearing glasses?, and speculations on sequels. Though even back then, it appears we ran into the problem of knowing more than the journalists.
Fast forward to today, and there seem to be very few people who unreservedly loved the movie. Some liked aspects of it, others like to watch it with the director's (and Daniel Handler's) commentary which is said to be quite good, and others have compared it to a train wreck or mocked Jim Carrey's dinosaur dance. Love it or hate it, though, the movie is what exposed the works of Lemony Snicket to the world. Yes, the book series is popular, but the movie made it much more so, not to mention brought in literally thousands of new members of 667 (myself included; I was a fan of the books well before the movie came out, but it's what prompted me to search for ASOUE forums online).
Bonus Content: Who was the moderator of Malignant Merchandise?
- Oct 2002-Apr 2003: Hermedy
- Apr-Jun 2003: RonWeasley
- Jul 2003-Jan 2004: VKSB
- Jan-May 2004: Rikku
- Jul-Dec 2004: Tyler Quagmire
- Nov 2004-May 2015: Gigi
- Jul 2012-present: LSWannaBe
667 Fic, Originally posted in # 21
he genre of 667 Fic is a genre of stories written about 667ers it may be an original story, or a retelling of an existing story with the names changed to those of 667ers.
There is a long history of 667 Fic dating back to 2003, when the very first story, E-Friends, was written by MambaduMal, though it was May of 2004 when the genre really began to take off. On July 14, 2004, the amount of 667 Fic was still small enough that a single poll was able to include all the major stories. This would not last for long. By late 2004 the new member Alice Wilde had joined and was churning out a new 667 story at least once a month, the most famous of which, dubbed the Thingagon Fic, was based on a chatroom conversation in which various 667ers, politicians, deities, fictional characters, and inanimate objects had an daycare center.
2005 was the year that the epic 667 fic began to really take off. While previous fics were largely one-shot and either shipping fics, parodies, or based on online chats, this new type of fic was multi-chapter, serious, and much broader in scope. Some of the most famous of the time period, such as Divided by Dante , became part of the lore of 667 for years to come, and the ones based on other stories (The LOST spinoff, Missing, being one my favorites) became too numerous to count. That summer the very first collaboration fic, Hogwarts: A 667 Story, was planned and written, a tradition that would continue on through the years. J., always the clever jokester and satirist, began to turn her attention to the genre, churching out short stories such as Dante and The Three Little Pigs.
In 2006 we had our first 667ers Weird Ship Week (WSW for short). WSW was originally created as a time for people to write about weird ships in the ASOUE universe, but in late March of 2006 the demand had grown for stories specifically about 667er pairings (and more than just PChar), and the response was overwhelming - I counted 17 written in one week. The epics continued, with Alice writing her masterpiece, J. for Jesus's Vendetta, and J. writing her Office parody.
In early 2007 we had recently become free of our admin ADR, and our next collaborative fic reflected that. However, the rate of 667 fics was beginning to slow down, understandable as the forum itself was slowing down. 2008 saw the rise of Willis fics such as Bante's Birthday Bash and several successive fics using "splashing" as a euphemism (here, here and here). 667 Dark Apocalypse, perhaps the most epic 667 story of all time, ran from late 2008 to early 2009. @sixteen, who had been a member since 2005 but who had gotten his start writing 667 fic when he helped on the Dark Apocalypse collaboration, began to come into his own with fics like A Dark Avenue Carol, and United We Stand, notable for being the last 667 fic anyone would write for over 2 years.
2012 saw a resurgence in 667 fic as the 667 Renaissance was taking place. It began with penne 's story Emma in 667land in April, but as the 10-year Anniversary (June 22nd, 2012) approached more and more stories began being written, stories with a disturbing trend of bryan dying. Bryan retaliated with his own fic, Kill Willis. And shortly after the anniversary, in August, another WSW, which Cafe SalMONAlla mistakenly believed was the first. Rounding out an amazing year was the 667 Opera by B. and sung by BSam .
In February 2013 another WSW was held, just as popular as the
For the next year, there were not a ton of 667 stories; in fact most of them were written by none other than our editor Isadora Is a Door , starting with The Big Cristmas Party and continuing on with sequels L.I.T.M.U.S. and The Wolf and The Pen. soufflé sophie took over from Cafe SalMONAlla and held a WSW in November 2014.
The next big 667 sotry was mine . Wicked, a full-length musical about the 100% true love between me and Charles Vane and totally not based off some witches in the land of Oz. One more WSW was held as part of the 13th Anniversary celebrations, and the next one was also one of my stories, 667 Ghostbusters (btw go see Ghostbusters 2016 right now, it came out on DVD and Blueray a few days ago and is amazing!). The only story so far this year is apparently a stolen Pretty Little Liars fanfic with the names changed, which makes Linda a sad panda. Go out and write more 667 Fic! Continue a proud tradition!
Advent Calendar, Originally posted in # 23 (Advent Edition)
The original advent dates back to 19th century Germany. 667's advent began in 2012, started by Kit's tits kick ticks, our resident German (though currently living in England). Traditionally, advent runs from December 1st through 24th, with a small little something to mark the days before Christmas (December 25th). At 667, each day someone shares something creative with the rest of the forum.
We are now on our fifth year of 667 Advent, and it's come to be known as the high creative point of the year at 667. We have had artwork, quizzes, videos, one-shot stories, text-based games, new chapters of existing stories, poems, singing, weird images, elf yourselves, puppet ballets, jokes, and many, many more.
Want to explore further? take a look at all the creativity we've had over the last 5 years:
2016 Review, Originally posted in # 23 (Advent Edition)
Continuing on in the tradition of last year, this issue will be a 2016 year in review.
We'll begin with January. B. won Member of the Year. A thread about the sun and the moon led to Comet revealing his ginger-ness far earlier than any of us realized. Reba became a Trump supporter before it was cool. Neil Patrick Harris was cast as Count Olaf, Malina and Louis were cast as Violet and Klaus in the Netflix series.
February saw the start of uni for Charlie, which led to Melbournian meetups. Cupid also returned for a bit, and the term Pandora level became a thing.
In March soufflé let us know about her crush on a dead guy and both Pepper and Mona started their own clothing lines. We also discussed cereal and cars, and Reba and @peppermince switched profiles temporarily.
In April Kit's tits kick ticks got some competition in the form of Poe's Coats Host Toast. Esmé's meme is meh called us all animals, M David Steel discussed his "apprentice", and Reba decided to hate on dancing. Filming began for the Netflix series.
Tryina Denouement got to go the Chicken Church in May. We also learned about wine that was named after us.
In June we received answers to a series of questions we had asked Daniel Handler. Comet got to have TWO birthday threads. Big Brother started up again, and I met Charles Vane (who STILL hasn't uploaded our pictures grumble grumble). And @peppermince attempted to start a rival paper. We're still waiting on issue #2, kid .
In July we talked about cotton candy aka candy floss, aka fairy floss. We also told some embarrassing stories. Reba jumped on the bandwagon 4 months late and started his own clothing line.
In August Tryina Denouement asked for pen name advice (she has since published her book!). trip won Big Brother, yay! Filming wrapped for the Netflix series.
September saw discussion on the taxonomy of primates. The Paralympics seemed to receive more attention than the regular Olympics.
In preparation for the Netflix series, Esmé's meme is meh started a reread in October, called the Perilous Preparation, right as we got our first teaser trailer. MisterAnka, years in the making, culminated in Kit's tits kick ticks moving to England to live with Isadora Is a Door. Tryina Denouement won the competition for the forum's new banner. houseymousey, a mysterious person self-described as "I'm not Hermedy but I work for him", appeared and began digging for information for their murder list oops I mean poll for the new admin. Also I wrote a new 667 musical and BSam recorded the songs.
By early November Cafe SalMONAlla had been installed as new admin and Isadora Is a Door wasted no time in sucking up. At about this time a certain ginger was coming to power, which made @beatricetriptich want to drink bleach. A much more mild-mannered ginger agreed to post a picture of his hair, much to the delight of Esmé's meme is meh. Many of us received 667 starter packs, soufflé revealed herself to be the least pure 667er (or at least of the ones that took this test), and @wollis made us into Pokemon. And finally, Teleram decided he knew soufflé's race better than her.
And now we've made it to December! Reba started it off by posting 28 times in a row. BSam got a new kitten named Kara or Promite or something and Invisible decided to sexualize her? Our new new admin, trip, was presented with a list of requests. And finally, we continued some of the end-of-year traditions, such as the Advent Calendar and mailing cards
The Revived 667er, Origionally posted in # 25 (Final Edition)
This period began on February 1st 2015, and ends today. This is actually the longest continuous run of The 667er - the original run with editor Akbar was from September 2005 to March 2007, with a rebirth from November 2007 to April 2008, while Charlie's run was from January to October of 2013. There were a total of 26 editions, many of them with special themes.
As mentioned previously, the first edition was released February 1st 2015, after several cryptic messages indicating such. This first edition contained recurring columns such as Lemona's rant, Charlie's What's K-popping?, Sophie's poems, Pandora's Power Rankings, and Mister M's editorial, as well as a guest writer spot and an advice column by Pen, which was a carryover from Charlie's paper and which lasted only one issue. Other familiar features, such as Cooking with Mister M and Anka, Group Interviews by Anka, Celebrity Gossip by Pandora, and History of 667 by myself, would come later that year.
This first edition ignited the longstanding argument between Mister M and Sophie about what the article at the beginning of the paper is actually supposed to be called, with Mister M naming it editorial and Sophie insisting it was a masthead. At one point Bandit remade the banner to Sophie's liking, but Mister M insisted, even going so far as to codify the catchphrase "deal with it, Sophie" in his own banner as of edition 12.
Edition 5 was the first themed edition; it centered all around the Darkies, 667's annual awards, and actually took the place of the awards show that year (P.S. to whoever can actually do something about it, the actual thread is located in the 2015 Darkies board rather the 667er board, could it possibly be moved?) And then the 6th edition was anniversary themed, due to it being released one day before 667's 13th anniversary, and featured essays about each year of the forum's existence. Edition 7, released during the middle of Mister M's stint as Big Brother, was written and edited by the Big Brother contestants as one of their tasks. Sophie, guest editor, took this opportunity to change the little article at the beginning of the paper from an editorial to a masthead. And edition 8, while not themed, had another guest editor in Zortegus.
The next themed edition was to be number 10, all about Halloween, which edition 11 was Christmas-themed. The real edition 11, actually, was our print edition, mailed out physically to our readers, though it was not actually given a number so Mister M can be forgiven for not counting it.
Edition 12 saw several new features such as The Month by Bee, 667 ABC by Anka, 667's Best Threads and Big Interviews by myself, and Netflix News, a column which began with Comet and which was eventually taken over by Trip. The next notable edition was edition 14, or our teeth find ten oi, in which the title was mixed up, many of the articles were in the wrong order, and the staff all writing each other's articles. I believe this was meant to be an April Fool's joke, though since the edition was released on March 28th this may have been lost on some people.
The next special edition was a movie special released in August 2016, with themed articles talking about the 2004 ASOUE movie and comparing it to the upcoming Netflix adaptation. And then there was edition 23, released in December, which holds the distinction of being the most slowly released as it took the place of several Advent calendar spots and so was released throughout the entire month.
This 25th (or actually 26th if you've been paying attention) edition promises to be a retrospective one as Mister M has found it necessary to step down as editor. I do know further issues are coming, but whether or not they will contain the same columns as before, or be a completely new magazine, remains to be seen. I am not even sure if this is my last History of 667 or not. If it is, farewell to you, it's been a good run, and if not disregard those last few words.