The History of the Jedi Council Forums Administration

That admin gif must have given at least one person a seizure

also dang the early JCF admins were a revolving door of people. Someone really only held it for a month?

 

I hadn’t realized how heavy the turnover was either. You mean I could’ve bailed after a year?! Dammit!

 

"The Sanitized Government Propaganda History of the Jedi Council Forums"

Nah but for real that took a lot of effort to put together and had some more names I had completely forgotten existed. Good work, sir.

 

I looked it up via the way back machine. In the last 7 years there have been about 6 million posts made between 2000 and 2007 there were over 24 million posts made.

just to put it in perspective. The forum used to be 4 times as busy.

also it shows how many posts have been lost. As the forums display 24 million posts as of 2007 but only 23 million by January first 2016

 

The system auto-locked threads after a certain point in time (I think it was one year of inactivity). Early on, "auto-pruning" was also on, which got rid of those locked threads as well. The "auto-prune" was disabled before I got here, as far as I know, but a lot of the oldest threads were still lost to it. After that, it was mostly a forum-by-forum basis on what was pruned. Things were still auto-locked after one year, but stayed in the forum. Users could request mods to unlock them if they had additional discussion to add.

I would occasionally prune some at the back of the Classic Trilogy forum if they were auto-locked with less than 10 quality replies and had been auto-locked for two or more years. Meanwhile in the Episode III spoilers forum we had to do a lot of pruning of moderator locked / redundant threads because they clogged up the forum very quickly if we didn't. For example, the leak that Padme says the line "there is still good in him" got posted over and over and over again and we had to lock those and redirect to one big thread about it. If we didn't prune the locked ones after a couple days, half the forum was just locked threads with a couple replies and really hard to navigate and find active discussions.

 

For some reason I always thought this was the IGN board people were talking about lol

https://www.ignboards.com/

 

There was significantly more action. I would say 4x is a very low estimate considering how many threads and posts were purged during that time.

In the leadup to Episode III, the spoilers forum would have several pages of threads with new replies within the last hour or two.

The JCC probably never had more than a minute or two without a post even in the middle of the night. The whole first page was typically active within the last 30 to 60 minutes and many of those had numerous replies in that time.

Debates would spiral into 10+ page marathons in the span of an hour or two and usually end in someone getting banned. Especially if it involved "the EU is canon" vs "movie purist" or "prequel basher vs gusher."

 

To be fair I won’t be surprised if it does get shut down. It doesn’t seem very active anymore. There seemed to be barely any activity

 

Post #1,000,000 seems to have been made in December 2000. This is the earliest Archive-org capture of Comms. It seems they were having issues with threads missing from the archives. Unfortunately none of the threads themselves seem to have been captured.

Pre-AOTC no one even knew they could use the line, "If a thread doesn't appear in our archives, it doesn't exist."

https://web.archive.org/web/20001217153700/http://boards.theforce.net/board.asp?brd=10006

The next capture jumps to April 2001. Including threads such as these shining examples that no longer seem to exist in the first few pages of how Teh Drama was hot and heavy even in such early days of the boards:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010409162653/http://boards.theforce.net/board.asp?brd=10006&page=1

Spoiler: long list

• "tonyf has been demoted"
• "apology" - by tonyf
• "Why? Why are there *dead* admins?"
• "What to do if you are banned"
• "Would somone please STOP GomerTonic and Hawk in the TPM forum?"
• "Does anybody actually Moderate the Phantom Menace Board?"
• "Please be fair, and admit your own mistakes"
• "*Unfair, Unfunny, and UNCALLED FOR*"
• "Admins, come here!"
• "MAJOR TROLL PROBLEM"
• "The Great Divide Between Us"
• "How do I get banned?"
  
• "why must you torment us cleo? why?"
• "wow you did something wrong"
• "Ban this guy please, he's mocking my eating habits"
• "You admins are really crappy."
• "I would like to thank the admins who have banned me"
• "Who is JediMasterED and why is he an admin?"
• "Slander/Defamation of Character"
• "I think I deserve an answer"
• "what if we stopped accepting new members?"
• "Looks like a troll to me"
• "Mace Windy called me a foot-arm"
• "Why in the world was I ever banned."
• "Could somebody please ban Tim Langes message"
• "The Darth Kimball brouhaha in PSA.."
• "Who is Captain_**** and why has he/she decided to attack TF.N?"
• "Why was I banned?"
• "False accusation against me..."
• "Flaming in Ep. II S/A"
• "What is a BAD WORD!?"
• "Guy going nuts in E2/3, no admins online"
• "Under attack"
• "Where are all the moderators?"
• "My thoughts on Moderators"
• "Ahem, some person who needs a ban is posting certain, um, topics in the Community."
• "Slackergate"
• "Is there a way for user to discover Mod feelings about them if any ?"
• "Has Hama been banned?"
• "How does one become a mod?"
• "A stupid question..."
• "dumb question"

 

Is it bad to miss a little comms drama?


I mean I don't actually miss it as it means we have some stability and a user base that in the main gets on with each other but then, that little bit of tension, the grist, the burr, the sand in the oyster allegedly occasionally creates a pearl.

Our current pearl is Punk though so......

 

I have questions about your definition of "pearl."

 

"Admins" was the only term used on the UBB boards because there was only one kind of 'super user'. After moving to SnowBoards and having the different levels of "administrator", "manager" and "moderator" a loose structure developed. There was a single JC Administrator that acted as the de facto head of the team, with specific senior members of the team made Managers, ostensibly with an overview of specific areas of the forums (the category groupings) though there was chaffing at this. After internal drama (unilateral decision making, 'leaks', demotions) led to a push for more of a structure to the staff the LC was created by Scott and Josh (both of who were also given Administrator privileges), and more moderators made managers due to the need to have more people having access to the extra abilities (instead of a small subset mainly on during the peak US time), eventually leading to the automatic upgrading to manager after 3 months. With there still being issues over how the MS ran, this led to the specific structure of a Head Administrator (Vertical and DarthSapient were the only 2 that used the "Supreme Chancellor" title).

SnowBoards was always a part of IGN, it was developed specifically for them and their needs. The JC was one of the 3 sites outside of IGN (the other 2 being IGN affiliate websites) that used the software as essentially a 'beta' test area for features. This changed when IGN moved to a subscriber system with different features available to users based upon being a paid member or not. This was the same time as the rebranding to IGNBoards, and as most of the features were going in to the 'paid' user accounts it became harder for the JC to be a beta site, eventually just getting the changes that went in.

Everything was a different beast back then. The ability to stir up trouble was almost a pre-requisite for posting in Comms back in the pre-2010-ish days, especially in the years between movies. We also didn't have a structure to the team as you can see, and there were a lot of strong personalities in the team (that didn't always like each other, to the point of white-anting others at times). We also, for the most part, were aged between 17 and late 20's. I was made an admin just after my 20th birthday, and HA before my 21st. There was also a lot of inter-boards drama as everyone jockeyed to be *the* site ahead of the AotC release, and then heading towards Ep3. Some days it would take hours to get through all the PMs, MS threads, emails, IM messages, and Comms threads to be able to actually start reading the forums as a users. And this was all before the days of smart devices, so you had to be at your PC or laptop to do all of this. On much slower connections.

At the heights of the boards we would have over 5000 individual user accounts logged in each day, sometimes many more (I think it was trailer drop days and release weeks that we topped 10k). Most of the day there were between 500 and 1000 users online at any moment.

As to losing threads, that was due to a specific former Head Admin that turned the auto-prune feature on in certain forums not long after being made a Manager. The decision was made very early on to leave it off for all forums. But this person turned it on for specific high-traffic forums (PSA, Comms, MS) before it was noticed and could be turned back off, thus a lot of threads disappeared because they were past the age threshold, and below the total posts threshold. Coincidentally, certain larger threads with not-so-flattering posts and actions by said person also disappeared at this same time.

 

Yeah. For example, I made this jumbo index on dialup on a computer with 128mb RAM. But I had dual CRT monitors so I felt super cool.

 

I stand corrected the IGN boards are doing okay

https://www.ignboards.com/whats-new/posts/2340979/

still get plenty of activity just not in many of the main boards.

 

If you had a list of thread ID numbers for some of the more important / relevant of the older truncated threads would it make it easier to pull those specifically from the database file?

 

Communications Forum / Archive.org - Likely Pruned Posts

I’ve included links to Communications forum pages that exist somewhere through archive.org. The rest only have Topic ID. I’ve selected topics that were posted by someone of note, seemed interesting, and/or had a decent number of replies. Those who were around long before my time will be better suited to determine which ones are actually [potentially] interesting.

Some of them might be available in the active Comms forum, but I haven’t cross-checked them. Most are probably long gone. Even if the pruned ones are completely unrecoverable, maybe some of this will still help with forum history in some manner. Obviously there are large gaps without any threads as well.

Spoiler

It also gave me something to do at work on a holiday evening.

Capture Date: December 17, 2000 - Comms had 47 pages of threads at this point, but only one was saved by archive.org, unfortunately.

• "A Modest Proposal (feel free to shot this down) by Liz Skywalker - Topic ID 1477012
• "Communications' Frequently Asked Questions v3.0, and Other Useful Information" by JediMasterAlpha - Topic ID 1352456
• "Waht can we do with snowboards?" by Lord \/ader - Topic ID 1494056
• "*A Scream of Terror* WHERE'S THE ARCHIVES???" by Loka Hask - Topic ID 905166
• "I know this has been ground into dirt, but a "Religion Forum"..." by JediWarrior - Topic ID 1463004
• "Message number 1000000" by Bubba Fet - Topic ID 1465521
• "Would a password-protected Non-Spoiler Forum be possible?" by hew - Topic ID 1448253
• "What do you think of this idea?" by howlrunner22 - Topic ID 1431635

Capture Date: April 05, 2001 - Comms still had 47 pages of threads (I assume pruning happened) but only 1 capture from this date.

• “What is it with admins and correcting speeling?” (1st page only archived) by AlienAcid – Topic ID 2358395
• “Non Spoiler Forum Brouhaha...Big Question Marks” (1st page only archived) by Fatboy_Roberts – Topic ID 2328499
• “Does anybody actually Moderate the Phantom Menace Board?” (1st page only archived) by Senator_JarJar – Topic ID 2355862
• “Why? Why are there *dead* admins?” by Ob-Ewan McNobi (1st page only archived) – Topic ID 2352329
• “April Fools!” by LianaMara – Topic ID 2333929
• “The Great Divide Between Us” by Damillster – Topic ID 2339756
• “What’s on the horizon for the Jedi Counci [forums]?” by Cigam Retah – Topic ID 2336564
• “Is big brother (read: the admins) watching us?” by Storm5 – Topic ID 2338118
• “Forum Rules and Regulations” by Dark Lady Mara – Topic ID 2090670

Capture Date: April 09, 2001 – several repeats (not including) since it was only four days later. 48 pages of Comms; but with 9 available so it was quite a bit better for finding old ones. Pages [1] – [2] – [3] – [4] – [5] – [6] – [7] – [8] – [9]

• “apology” by tonyf – Topic ID 2398407
• “tonyf has been demoted” by Missninfan – Topic ID 2384348
• “What to do if you are banned” by IronParrot – Topic ID 975278
• “*Unfair, Unfunny, and UNCALLED FOR*” by thefalselyaccused – Topic ID 2381144
• “He’s back!” by Tail – Topic ID 2332257
• “STARS!!!!” by Liz Skywalker – Topic ID 2333782
• “Is there any possible way for an admin to find *all* my sockpuppets?” by JediCourier – Topic ID 1982839
• “Better Idea for Admin Policy” by JediWarrior - Topic ID 2322172
• “Possible New Admin Policy” by LostOnHoth – Topic ID 2203708
• “TF.N: number one?” by SuperWatto – Topic ID 2297305
• “what if we stopped accepting new members” by terrapin – Topic ID 2272777
• “TF.N apparel” by MoronDude – Topic ID 2241521
• “No More Stars” by darthcleo – Topic ID 1609203
• “1.5 million posts and counting” by darthcleo - Topic ID 2266062
• “The Darth Kimball brouhaha in PSA..” by Fatboy_Roberts – Topic ID 2178590
• “TFN Digital Episode IV” by Joshua Griffin - Topic ID 2194882
• “Spoilers in the JC” by Dark Lady Mara - Topic ID 2078690
• “a suggestion for controlling socks” by terrapin - Topic ID 2212504
• “Son of the Suns – For Administrator!!!” by Mr. P – Topic ID 2151603
• “A while ago, I heart that we were going to get bold/italics and such. When is that going to happen?” by Mr. P – Topic ID 858503
• “who admins each board” by lejmar_faldor_uk – Topic ID 2162488
• “Official TFN Digital III Thread” – by Joshua Griffin – Topic ID 2072298
• “Who’s Your Favorite Mod?” by Obi-Wan McCartney – Topic ID 2108354
• “What’s the new board?” by Dark Lord of the Jedi – Topic ID 2113722
• “What’s the general period of time one must wait…” by JediWarrior – Topic ID 2126244
• “Congrats, nic, on the new baby!” by Darth Ludicrous – Topic ID 867763
• “How does one become a mod?” by JediDavex - Topic ID 2111666

Capture Date: July 26, 2001 – there are only 29 total Comms pages on this capture, so a mass pruning must have taken place between April and July Activity seems to have really ramped up in this stretch. Pages [1] – [2] – [3] – [4] – [5] - [6] – [7] – [8] – [9] – [10]

• “Why tonfy should be reinstated as an Admin” by LostOnHoth – Topic ID 3349926
• “Current Administrators and Contact Information v2.0 and VIP Info” by Kadue – Topic ID 3118641
• “It’s an Evil Plot to Lower My Post Count!” by EagleJedi – Topic ID 3497011
• “How come new user names cannot have spaces in them, but the old ones with them can be kept?” by TrainingForUtopia – Topic ID 3203478
• “The Banned-User Guide: Instructions for Banned Users” by Vertical – Topic ID 2991572
• “Communications Frequently Asked Questions v4.0, and Other Useful Information” by Valiowk – Topic ID 3244499
• “Updated Non-Spoiler Forum Rules” by Mr. P – Topic ID 2741937
• “Complete Color Listing” by Hama-Ryu Kinnebi – Topic ID 3397711
• “This pic is getting boring” by Liz Skywalker – Topic ID 3081818
• “Re: This pic is getting boring” by Carter-TFN – Topic ID 3235343
• “Custom Icons Submission Thread” by Whimper – Topic ID 2686191
• “Official TFN Digital Thread” by Roderick – Topic ID 1826794
• “Admins and Mods: Appointments and Rationales” by Lord Bane - Topic ID 3054433
• “Your Friendly Neighborhood Admins…” by Mr. K. – Topic ID 636202
• “Back in the Saddle: (was “stepping down”)” by darthcleo – Topic ID 3274403
• “Flamed by an admin who doesn't have the courage to post his name” by All_Hail_Tom_Servo – Topic ID 3345852
• “THIS ENDS RIGHT NOW” by eaglejedi – Topic ID 3385060
• “I submit myself for disciplinary action” by Padme Bra – Topic ID 3372712
• “Request to all members around during UBB” by Kadue – Topic ID 3373740
• “Who is the/ Is there an overall 'leader' of the Administration?” by barnsthefatjedi – Topic ID 3356850
• “Locked thread about abortion, politics...” by Red-Seven – Topic ID 3284654
• “If a mod posted "Topic: Sunburned and Drunk "...” by No blasters! – Topic ID 3363098
• “Why arn't Abortion threads closed within seconds?” by Coolguy4522 – Topic ID 3158598
• “IP Bans” by Lott_Dod – Topic ID 3232607
• “Duuuuuuuude!!” by Carter-TFN – Topic ID 3223464
• “How about an Indiana Jones / Lucasfilm forum” by ryanof1 – Topic ID 3221871
• “Has someone ever impersonated an Admin, and what happend?” by ryanof1 – Topic ID 3208822
• “Archives Link” by Kadue – Topic ID 3169710
• “Do all the admins…..?” by Fire_Ice_Death – Topic ID 3102499
• “Bashers vs. Gushers” by Destiny_Skywalker – Topic ID 3155083
• “Why are all threads dealing with homosexuality being locked within seconds?” by darthfrede – Topic ID 3130177
• “Average Post Count” by The Gatherer – Topic ID 1946579
• “Summer Has Arrived” by Carter-TFN – Topic ID 3139995
• “Current Administrators and Contact Information” by Shar Kida – Topic ID 1099776
• “Is Darth Cleo the head of the admins here?” by Wormie2 – Topic ID 2975793
• “Make me a mod, darnit!” by Wormie2 – Topic ID 2951645
• “You know, it is illegal to make a false police report.” By Wormie2 – Topic ID 3040786
• “VERT!” by Wormie2 (1st page only in archives) – Topic ID 3051213
• “An Open Letter to Chyren” by Ghangster – Topic ID 2984398
• “I'm sorry, this time I really am fed-up...” by JediWarrior – Topic ID 3037656
• “Mods/Admins: should a thread about pubic hair be allowed?” by TrainingForUtopia – Topic ID 3040270
• “A forum for sensitive issues.” By Grand Admiral Reese – Topic ID 2947828
• “Which admin deserves the “PB” moniker?” by Wald Balfed Your Mother – Topic ID 2954430
• “A second chance” by Chilly – Topic ID 2948045
• “New Policy on Religious Threads” by Padme Bra – Topic ID 2945245

Capture Date: December 26, 2001 – only page 1 captured.

• “OFFICIAL THREAD: New Features to the JC” by Elan-Rai – Topic ID 5099485
• “My plea for equal posting rules for all, even mods.” – Topic ID 5108778
• “About the closing of the Defense forces....” by Kitt327 – Topic ID 5033762
• “Role Playing Forum” by NathanDahlin – Topic ID 5027383

Capture Date: January 24, 2002 – only page 1 captured.

• “Please note the new NSA rules.” By cbjedi – Topic ID 5499162
• “Communications' Frequently Asked Questions v5.0, and Other Useful Information” by Valiowk – Topic ID 5122559
• “Please read with an open mind .” by Capt-Mentalist – Topic ID 5481148
• “Request for the Admins” by Liz Skywalker – Topic ID 5457027

Capture Date: February 27, 2002 – only page 1 captured.

• “Is a free JC likely in the future?” by Humble extra – Topic ID 5865212
• “Weekly news from Mod Squad, week ending 24 February 2002” by Commander Antilles – Topic ID 5837056
• “The Spoiler Insiders Left TFN Because...” by Jedi_Tun-Buk_Tu – Topic ID 5855287
• “Getting Rid of Admins/Mods” by Just_A_Slacker – Topic ID 5828272
• “Improving Mod/Member Relations” by Darth_Ignant – Topic ID 5852140
• “JC Security: Password Guidelines” by PreacherBoy – Topic ID 5853808
• “What to do about the Lit forum trolls” by Bib Fortuna, Twi’lek – Topic ID 5784957
• “Addressing Censorship on the JC” by Jedi_Nailbiter – Topic ID 5829775
• “A Fine Arts Forum - Can Lucasfilm Projects Be Altered? (now with zesty evidence!)” by Spiderdevil – Topic ID 5503308
• “What would be considered an oldbie or a newbie?” by Red_Oktobur – Topic ID 5758826
• “Weekly news from Mod Squad, week ending 17 February 2002” by Commander Antilles – Topic ID 5767670
• “Banning” by Red_Oktobur – Topic ID 5610782

Capture Date: May 06, 2002 – only 1 page captured.

• “Bolsheviks on the JC? Or, the Have's and the Have-not's strike again.” By Wattowatta – Topic ID 6727439
• “The Advisory Council returns!” by Commander Antilles – Topic ID 5934621
• “Custom Icons Submission Thread Version 2.0” by Bria – Topic ID 6436614
• “The Future of Defense Forces” by Gay-LenKenobi – Topic ID 6707730
• “Over-zealous locking of SW-related threads in YJCC” – Topic ID 6692878
• “New forum structure has been implemented” by Vertical – Topic ID 664935
• “Are Mods Allowed To Edit Entire Posts Because They Are Slightly Off Topic?” by Uncle_Owen-Kenobi – Topic ID 6705747
• “Problems with Literature Forum Authority- Justified Banning or Abuse of Power?” by JediMasterAaron – Topic ID 6691926
• “Do we still have administrators?” by PadmeBra – Topic ID 534732
• “Weekly news from Mod Squad, week ending 28 April 2002” by Vertical – Topic ID 6627010
• “Petition to move the EUDF back to its rightful home” by yodaboy – Topic ID 6555388

Capture Date: June 01, 2002 – only 1 page captured. Added archived additional pages for some of these, but not ALL the pages of these threads are in archives. Most have more than what is listed.

• “Announcement: New Moderators 5/29/02” / [2] [3] [4] by Vertical – Topic ID 7109542
• “Blue Yoda” / [2] by CarbonKnight – Topic ID 7081996
• “Problems with fueding between EU and Non-EU Supporters on Film forum” [2] [3] by Darth_Stevious – Topic ID 7039835
• “Petition for the creation of a Fine Arts Forum” / [2] [3] [4] by RidingMyCaroselOnYou – Topic ID 7025553
• “A General Post from an Old Member” / [2] by Emuboy – Topic ID 7139945
• “May 02ers + Registration Date Debate” by Blue_Yoda_Forever – Topic ID 7135282
• “Request for slight change in board colors...” by Obi-Zahn Kenobi – Topic ID 7118072
• “Title Feature?” / [2] [3] [4] by Dark_Lord_Erik – Topic ID 7095297
• “Something I wish mods/admins would stop doing” by ReaperFett – Topic ID 7112446

Capture Date: October 18, 2002 – only 1 page captured. Same note applies for additional pages.

• “Advisory Council Update - Week Ending Oct. 17th, 2002” by UK Sullastian – Topic ID 9181189
• “An Idea for Discussion of…..Ideas” by Darth_Dagsy – Topic ID 9109720
• “Moving of Announcements Board” by Kadue – Topic ID 9169941
• “Mod Response to Private Messages” by xie – Topic ID 9173816
• “Idea for the moderators” / by AlienAcid – Topic ID 9172445
• “2nd Chance: Let's discuss these issues properly.” / [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] By Whimper – Topic ID 9077965
• “Mod Squad Update for the Week Ending October 13, 2002” / [2] [3] by DarthSapient – Topic ID 9146882
• “Advisory Council Update - Week Ending Oct. 9, 2002” by Katya_Jade – Topic ID 9108413
• “A Question to the Administration Regarding a Recent Issue” by JediMasterAaron – Topic ID 9087656
• “New Literature forum moderator: Genghis12!” by Gandolf the Grey – Topic ID 9064577
• “Policy: Accusing People of Stuff” by Padme Bra – Topic ID 9099346

Capture Date: November 05, 2002 – odd note on this, page 1 was not archived but multiple other pages were. Same note about additional thread pages. [2] [3] [4]

• “Mod Squad Update for the Week Ending October 27, 2002” by slaythee-30 – Topic ID 9302727
• “Advisory Council Update for the Week Ending October 24th, 2002” by Qui_Gon_Jim23 – Topic ID 9266109
• “Mod Squad Update || October 20th” by RidingMyCarousel – Topic ID 9221310
• “Should mods be able to ban people 'for their own good'?” by faraday – Topic ID 9310647
• “Post-release Spoiler Rules and Forum Changes” by NathanDahlin – Topic ID 6803646
• “Mod Squad Update for the Week Ending October 13, 2002” by DarthSapient – Topic ID 9146882
• “New Mod for The Amphitheater: RidingMyCaroselOnYou” by Son of the Suns
• “The Icon Process is Complete! Please Post Your Thoughts.” by Grilled-Sarlacc – Topic ID 8434571
• “Drum roll.....Introducing the Forum Search Feature” by DarthSapient – Topic ID 8979707

Capture Date: March 16, 2003 – only 1 page captured.

• “Communications Forum Thread Index” by DarthSapient – Topic ID 9560411
• “Improving Communications” by Kadue – Topic ID 10934458
• “Marking out swear words” by lumberjedi – Topic ID 10751108
• “The Advisory Council: Term 4 - who we are, what we do, and how you can help” by Darth_OlsenTwins – Topic ID 10157275
• “This is NOT a "PG rated" board.” By Porks in a Speedo – Topic ID 10786897
• “Mod Squad Update (for the week ending March 9th)” by Red-Seven – Topic ID 10859590
• “Election Game Results and Decision” by DarthSapient – Topic ID 10821280

Anyway, that was just a quick list thrown together to get up to early 2003. Some of them may exist post-move and so forth, and I don't know that it's worth looking much further until going through what's still available and backtracking from there to avoid wasting time linking too many duplicates.