The Atomic Forums – 2001…A retrospective

"This is where it all began. Once upon a time there was this monkey boy… And this phreak… And this atomic forum… And the rest is history.” – BobTheMonkey, Hero.

"This is where it all began. Once upon a time there was this monkey boy… And this phreak… And this atomic forum… And the rest is history.” – BobTheMonkey, Hero.

17 January 2001 saw both the release of Atomic Magazine issue 1 and the beginning of the Atomic Forums. Even though Atomic recently celebrated its first birthday, it is far from a baby: in the 12 months since it opened its doors an entire community has developed and flourished, and continues to grow daily.

It would be easy to assume that the community would be comprised of a bunch of like-minded people with similar interests, opinions and desires. Instead, the community has brought together people with vast differences in age, culture, attitude and knowledge. The Forums have become a mixing pot of ideas and beliefs, which have both united and divided the community, sometimes in spectacular fashion. They've seen their share of controversy, and intrigue.

Many would remember the day Evil Admin took away the ability to embed HTML code into the posts. No more crappy midi tunes, pictures of scantily clad women, or lines of code which took control of your browser, or crashed your computer. If you dig deep enough, you can still find remnants of the HTML follies that took place.

We saw the rise of many great Heroes, and the fall from grace of one or two. We bore witness to some ferocious battles of wit, and the exposure of the odd fraud. The occasional lunatic would run amok causing havoc through the threads, but were quickly round up, taken out the back and dealt with. And to everyone's delight, the much-loved Zeddicus found God mode. He now keeps a tight reign on things from on high.

September 11 was a pivotal moment for the world, and probably one the most intensely talked about subject in the Forums. Other hot topics included the Prime Minister's handling of asylum seekers, and a deeply biblical and philosophical discussion about Jesus. These subjects were debated and analysed, by most people, in an intelligent and thoughtful manner, and showed the depth of passion many have for their own beliefs and values.

Comedians are rife in the Forums, always willing to share a joke or three. They are full of people who are happy to share their knowledge and skills with others, in a community minded spirit, helping to solve any nature of technical problem. There are the shit stirrers who love to trigger an (often entertaining) flame war now and then. There are philosophers who like to discuss deep and meaningful subjects and ideologies, promoting thought and discussion and demonstrating an incredible depth of intellect. The Forums have their own community police who provide guidance and set an example, reminding others of the rules and pointing out when someone has strayed.

On another level, the Forums have become something more than a community. For others, they represent a family, with parents who guide, siblings who annoy and pets who need playing with. A family who accepts you, warts and all.

The last 12 months have seen the Forums space on the Atomic site become a place were anyone can hangeth loose, enjoyeth themselves and help maketh it a fun and most excellent place.

[b]Heroes for 2001:[/b]

Accessdenied, Aquilae, Aurak, Bob the Monkey, Bolero, Chaos.Lady, Dante_Frog, Deefa_, .deviant., DJMORGAN, dna, doshin, evolutioned, faldo, fart_n_piss, Frozen Pea, funk-e, g_day, gramyre, grif, hulkster, HSV Guy, Info Junkie, kremlyn, Khrushchev, Lord Zarno, Madeleine, MAD_MAN_MODZ, Mael*, moz, Nich, nm, Nitrate, pbkg, phat dixx, Phr33x, po_zest, pom, potatocake, Praetorian, ProFX, prophey, protozone, rybags, the dude, TheOneWhoIsMany, Tin Reaper, Tux, Vlad, Virtuoso, v0id, Wilkshake, Wok, wormy, Zainny.

Mael is a SuperHero!


Forum Stats:

• Number of topics: 29656
  
• Number of posts: 314347
  
• Number of Heroes: 47
  
• Number of Super Heroes: 1
  
• Most number of replies to a post: 1169
  

Cheers,

Phr33x a.k.a. Simon Peppercorn