Oh well, I was about to snap and comment on a "tl;dr" post earlier today; you can't read a video! So this makes up for it. Surprised CWC didn't make the list though.

come on over and talk about it http://bo-ne.ws/forum/read.php?34,512258,512258#msg-512258

I think this deserves an exception.

Bo News and poeTV are pretty much the only two places I regularly go on the internet, but the forums don't work right for me even though I've got up-to-date Chrome and Firefox (tried both). If it's a long reply it just falls right out of the window. I know I can click through but I guess I just prefer posting on here.

CWC was sorta late in the game. He didn't start getting internet famous until 2007/2008 (after Kthor's son was born), and most of his attention came from ED and 4chan, sites which by that point had already overtaken poe and SA as the "in" spots for hip young atrocity tourists. The stuff Kthor mentions is all from the Golden Age; Chris is Silver Age.

Whatever happened to Dragonguyver?

Best case scenario, he works at Walmart now.

Worst case scenario, he's a small collection of dirty bones in an evidence box labeled "John Doe".

Oh yeah, I guess CWC was later. 2006-08 or so I was pretty much internet-less except for the public library, so I wasn't really on, and when I came back CWC was all over the place. I wonder what happened to Parade Kid myself.

Also I'm surprised that Oolong isn't mentioned, since NYT and others picked up on that through, I'm guessing, POE. I can't remember seeing it anywhere else.

I'll pass on that invite, thanks.

kthor sucks. at least chet got a real job and moved on

I'm alive, don't worry. And I would never work at Wal-Mart. I worked there for a month or so in the summer of 1999 and I vowed to never work for them again and have many times since renewed my conviction to give them no money whenever remotely possible. "The High Cost of Low Prices", etc etc.

Sincerely, I never raped anyone, let alone a cousin. Not sure where that idea came from. I'm very committed to third wave Feminism and consent culture, I spend time usually two or three times a week keeping up with output from the likes of ContraPoints and Everyday Feminism, and I hope to contribute in at least some small, infinitesimal way to the end of rape culture.

My long-term girlfriend you knew me to be with, we broke up after nine years, which was just about four years ago now. I took a lot of time to myself with a lot of introspection and sought out critical theory to apply to myself to improve as a person. I'm now in a new relationship that began about ten months ago, and it is a much healthier relationship. I express my feelings in a much healthier way now, and I would say that we are a more well-suited pairing. My girlfriend sees me for who I really am, flaws and all, and my ability to recognize that she sees me helps me a great deal.

I don't hold any ill will toward anyone from the old site. I was pretty troubled and lacked a lot of the necessary language and support to come to terms with the toxic home environment I grew up in, and work productively toward healthier living. All things considered, it's pretty understandable the various users of PoE reacted in the manner that they did. Although, of course, it can't be said many of us were being our best selves through it all.

I now accept that my mother is a type 3/4 combination Narcissist, in the clinical sense ( Seductive/Vindictive re: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kPIzRdz6XI ). My stepmother is a Narcissistic Mother type, as well ( re: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5A76PCX9yg ), although this effects my siblings in a more standard way. And there's more to be said about my father and other people I grew up with, this isn't the forum to really get into it. That's what therapy is for.

My perspective these days, though, is that it's a shitty situation to be coming from, but I move my focus to what I can do proactively in my life, instead. It's not as if my background is singularly unique, after all. I still have a lot of my old writing from when I was a teenager and in my 20s, and every few years I find the time to skim through it. To keep perspective. I haven't forgotten what it was like for me, back then, but now I also spend more time thinking about what I was like for other people to live with, as well.

I think the lesson to take away from all this is that even someone as emotionally volatile, prone to outbursts, attention getting behavior, and stony dissociative shut-downs as I was can be rehabilitated. I hope that becomes more of a focus in the world, as opposed to threats, bullying, petitions to suicide, and etc. With some caring assistance from genuinely empathetic people, it was very possible. I did most of the work, the same that anyone has to, to make this kind of improvement in mental health. It just helps when some nice people give their sympathy, a few pointers, and a reason to make the effort. A reason to believe the effort is worth it.

Ultimately, I guess I'd say we're all learning.

P.S. One of my best friends only heard of me due to the PoE forums, and he helped me immensely, artistically and psychologically, in the years since 2008, so, really, thanks to all of you. Life sure is funny.

Just reading this during a periodic PoETV check in. I'm currently reading The Body Keeps The Score and in the throes of conquering my past. I think I have developmental trauma disorder due to dysfunctional attachment to my mother and I know I was sexually and physically abused as a kid. I feel like a curtain is being lifted and I'm seeing the world in a new light. This was a helpful thing for me to read in my vulnerable state. Thank you Dragonguyver.

don't ask (it's baleen)

baleen's vast amount of war crime gold couldn't possibly pay the storage we've amassed over the course of nearly two decades.

I actually haven't seen much work from him recently! I suppose he's still active, but there's such a glut of guro art on the market now that I'm guessing he's at least semi-retired. Looking at his blog, the only recent update is merely cashing in on the mainstream success of Death Panda.

It looks like one of his most recent releases was an Idolm@ster doujin called Idol Murder, which came out around June this year. He also made doujin for WataMote and KanColle, so it's nice to see that he's keeping up with the current titles.

You know, I miss flooding the old PoE forums with anime pictures.

KanColle, huh? Did he keep it to historically accurate deaths?

Who's your favorite guro artist, by the way? I've been meaning to ask, but an appropriate opportunity never arose.

Katsuhisa Kigitsu, the creator of Franken Fran. He doesn't do 'pure' guro like Uziga does, but he does gore really well.

it's not too late

Jerk Your Own Adventure is still up, too.

http://www.jerking.com/

This modern age is actually the ideal time for a couple of those ancient things.

The creator of Brad the Game and Brick Testament recently came out as transgender (and considering the fact that they, unlike at least some, feel full continuity with their previous identity, and considering this bananas self-fanfiction - http://www.bradthegame.com/43/you-drive-ill-shoot.html - I can only imaging the transition being a Time Lord regeneration). She is currently working on The Brick Book of Mormon.

Jerk Your Own Adventure has been made into a Jerkcity dating sim - http://dickmissiles.tumblr.com/post/121386713011/jerkdate-2k15-the -jerkening-is-finally-here-now (a new version with tons more content and endings is in development) - Jerkcity itself appears to have become some kind of queer icon, see http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/jerkcity (which makes sense - Jerkcity is self-admittedly ironic - https://www.jerkcity.com/jerkcity835.html - "postmodern homophobia"). Rather than making fun of gay people, it makes fun of the way people make fun of gay people. It is ironically ironically gay.

Brad the game is a national treasure.

I know two ways to win "Brad the Game": defeating Bud in battle and becoming a cyber consciousness. That is my best claim to awesomeness.

Have you ever gotten the ending that earns you Hard Mode?

Two ways, yes. That's what "winning the game" is -- getting to the red screens where you're never more than two clicks away from "You have died. Your final score is [ -6 ]."

Huh. I had to use Google to find and ending that led to Hard Mode and I only ever found the one.

Here, now you can do a Brad the Game speed run. The two paths to victory I know:



Go back to sleep.
Quick! Pants!
Shit a brick.
Run!
Take the secret passage to The Boathouse.
Open the door.
"Define 'boat'."
"Define 'go'."
"Yes... oh, yes."
Jump out of the boat now.
Grasp Bud's hand.
Recite the alphabet.
Q
Say "Loo-wop nosidah".



Look around for Pam.
the double-date gone horribly wrong -- resulting in your only son, Sammy.
Call up Beverley, ask for another chance.
7 8 4 - 2 7 0 8
Try again.
Try again.
Don't give up.
One more time.
"Silly me!" Dial 7 8 4 - 2 7 0 8
Call yourself back.
Reach into back of your underpants to see if you can find a similar medieval weapon.
Wrap the ice in the moldy lettuce and use the spoon to fling it at you.
You got it.
Fart indignantly.
Katie 9000
14 years old, what you consider "Classic Katie"
OK, take my time, and do this right. Fire up the Tofu-tronic Pleasure Center and offer Katie something to eat.
Think about it for awhile.
I'm ready to do Anna now.

... crap, I just gave away my best claim to awesomeness.

(the always were)

You gaze into the abyss etc

Good work. I'll see you there!

What I mean to say is thank you.

'99 was pretty much the year the sega website I was writing for and POE were enemies. Honestly I can't remember why, I was 16 and just wanted to write about things (not necessarily video games because I suck at them) and all of a sudden it was an all out forum-war.. I still feel bad for being part of the other team at one point, but I'm glad to be here now.

I think my very first attempt at a post was in the POE-Red chat, I'm pretty sure I came in and gave shit to Shmibbon (for some reason I don't remember).

Signed up this account around the time POE-news went away iirc and lurked until quite recently.

Still holding out hope that Wicked Small Games comes back.

I always wondered why OMM stayed up when the rest shut down.

of course you'd wonder that

I still point to the Death of Adventure Games article on Reddit when people talk about why adventure games suck

Sometimes I wonder what Waugh wonders

IMHO OMMs last hurrah was in 2011, shortly after the site got shut down for good. Ben Schumin and HalfShadow, who had become big important Wikipedia editors, decided to get the last laugh by deleting the PoE and OMM wikipedia pages and gloating about it. But they caused a Streisand Effect, as word got around it became a gaming news Story of the Day with several games journalists writing "I remember Old Man Murray, that site was an industry legend, R.I.P." articles, thereby proving its notability and saving the OMM page. Schumin and HalfShadow got caught out, resulting in Schumin deleting his wiki profile and archives and Leaving Forever to avoid getting banned, and HalfShadow claiming on record that he'd never heard of OMM or PoE.

It was heartwarming.

don't start that list

fine, Gonterman

I still dabble in a little All Star Gus Ball from time to time...

http://community.fortunecity.ws/millennium/po/1007/about.html

Oh god, ASGB is one of my earliest memories of PoE.

Gus Ball! I had totally forgotten about that one. It was great. I can't remember much else besides a guy who posted photos of himself smearing shit all over his body and eating it.

Yeah, I'm with Bort. "All Star Gus Ball" was one of the earliest indications I had that really, the internet was just chock-full of indescribably weird stuff. Christian-themed basketball teams featuring guys called "Gus?" Why the heck not? You couldn't come up with something like that unless you were seriously, genuinely cracked.

scented candles aren't really incest

Yeah, the meanness was always a bit off-putting. I loved the site, and didn't mind light trolling, but the best part of PoE was the wonder and the magic of seeing how eccentric internet people could get, not being a dick and making eccentric internet people cry.

I generally didn't involve myself in the fighting, but I do remember telling Dragonguyver once that I hoped he fucking died. I feel pretty bad about that now - the telling him, I mean, not the wishing; he raped his cousin, so fuck him. Also, the whole thing with WinterRose, and telling my good friend Boomer he was crazy the first time I met him.

The article asks why anyone would be interested in atrocity tourism. I'll take a stab at it: if you're into absurdist humor you're going to find the Internet an inexhaustible (if unintentional) source; if you can also manage your disgust and your empathy so that it doesn't send you running, that helps a lot too. A lot of sites were just fun like Oolong, and didn't require you to mock a broken person. Other sites, well.

But man, the forum dickishness ... there were some really shitty people who made PoE a home. The Prime Directive served to generally protect exhibits from blowback and I was glad that was in place, but when it didn't (like Catfishing whatshisname), PoE was something to be ashamed of.

Honestly, though, I think it was sort of amazing how most people kept to the prime directive most of the time. There area few exceptions (and what did we ever do to WinterRose?) but they were rare, at least by my count. Made the place miles better than SomethingAwful.

We didn't really do anything horrible to her directly, it's just that she didn't really seem all crazy, or at least not crazy enough to warrant the animosity directed at her. Fat and dorky, yes, but that could describe about 80% of the PoE readership.

Laughing at people like JDR, the spouse-abusing megalomaniac, Chrono, the teenage kid who thought he was an astral Super Saiyan, or Alix Henriol, the greasy-haired French model who married Sonic the Hedgehog and got banned from the Sonic fandom for being too creepy, I can get behind that kind of stuff. But WinterRose? I dunno. She was fat and she liked Disney; who cares?

Late reply, but I think we hated WinterRose for the same reason most people hate furries: it's one thing to be a cool and interesting person, and another to declare yourself a Very Special Half-Unicorn Otherworld Creation while doing not much more than sitting around in sweatpants and posting on internet boards. WinterRose wasn't a furry, but she had that "Love me 'cause I'm me" thing that they did. It's one thing to be fat and dorky (I am!) but that might be sort of all right if you're more or less realistic about who and what you are. WinterRose wouldn't know realistic if it jumped up and bit her. She claimed she was some sort of magical Celtic princess while being more-or-less ordinary Florida housing development trash. It's the distance between what she claimed to be and what she was that earned our ire, and, IMHO, it was deserved.

Of course, there was probably a good reason for her whole act: she had Turner's Syndrome, and probably went all princess-crazy after figuring out she wasn't really, in the biological sense, at least, actually female. It probably sent her over the edge. And I'm sure that Turner's Syndrome is a tough hand to be dealt. But she handled that shit in a really embarrassing, really public way.

From the late 90s thru the 2000s, there was a portalofevil.com, which showcased Geocities Web sites and the like. Portal of Evil also spawned various sites like PoE-News and Wicked Small Games, and eventually PoeTV.

PoeTV serves a purpose similar to Portal of Evil, in that people are more likely these days to post videos than build Web sites. The videos here tend to be much more SFW than Portal of Evil could get.

https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.portalofevil.com

I feel like the article makes it seem a bit more like rotten.com and the like than it actually was.

I'd forgotten all about Yiff the Otter, too, and the tale of "Nekobe" complaining to his roommates that he will die, DIE DAMMIT, if he doesn't get yiffed by roommate's boyfriend. the memories, they're all coming back... make it stop