What was it like

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

in the beginning of CG tens of years ago? What were the forums like

[Terotrous]

It was a lot more active, and there was a lot more enthusiasm around webcomics in general. The community was very tight knit, and there were a lot of jams and threads and so on. Unfortunately, at some point people realized that drawing a webcomic wasn't going to make you a millionaire and various people started having more responsibilities in their lives that cut down on their ability to draw comics and be on forums 18 hours a day (McDuffies doesn't seem to have been so affected).


The forum itself and the way CG sites work has barely changed at all in that time, though, except that certain tools, like site statistics and the guide no longer work.

[Cope]

It was a non-stop dance party, and the rivers flowed with milk and honey.

...actually, we mostly just got into flamewars over postwhoring.

[Tim]

Things were so bad at one point, that they created a separate sub-forum for all the wackiness that abounded, dubbed "Off-Topic".

Of course, that became the much more fun place to hang out.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

It's weird, I barely remember what it was like before the GD/OT merger. It's like being too young to remember before your parents got divorced or something.

[Bustertheclown]

Anyone else remember when Websnark was a thing we paid attention to, and we were constantly bickering over Scott McCloud's theories? Ah, nostalgia...

[Toxic]

One time we started a thread where we all posted naked photos of ourselves. No joke. Also I will offer a sizable bounty to anyone who still has mine because I can't find it.

[McDuffies]

10 or 11 years ago when I arrived first, there was a lot of traffic, but I don't remember it being much of a community, I don't remember people just hanging out, I think most of them were there just to promote the hell out of themselves, since back then people sincerely had big aspirations, not in a tongue-in-cheek way that we later did. Anyways we were talking a lot about various aspects of comics, but I don't remember people talking about personal stuff or knowing each others personally.
Some folks who stopped coming just as I arrived soon became KS-ers, those were folks that already had comics for halfa decade back then, it was kinda expected that they would be honored by joining KS even though they never were particularly popular.
That group dispersed soon to make way to a group that was much more tightly knit and fun. I don't think that people from that group would be familiar to people now, although I might be wrong. We didn't have jams, but it was good fun.
After that came a generation that everybody knows if they're read any of our jams. Transition from previous to this generation seems kinda sharp. I think there was a lots of hostility. I think that at one moment, site was blocked and didn't accept new comics for a long time (this was immediately before Kisai stepped in as admin), so when it finally started accepting, an avalanche of new people rushed to the forum, and this discouraged most of oldbies from posting. Now that I think of it, it's amazing how few of that generation stuck around.
Anyways then came generation that started making jams and being personal friends and after that I don't think there were such switches of generations, more like people coming and leaving during the long stretch of time that forum thrived.
That was very fun because for the first time I felt like people on forum were people I knew really well, personally. We'd hang on forum and on chat, comment on chat what happened on forum, had long improvisational blasts of inspiration... One downside was that activity was such that it was really hard following everything interesting without spending hours and hours on forum.
Later still things started getting sour because there'd be new people who'd try to immitate old people in a somewhat crude way, which irritated older people, so it dissipated slowly.

(McDuffies doesn't seem to have been so affected)

You don't see me drawing for the forum often nowadays, do you?

One time we started a thread where we all posted naked photos of ourselves. No joke. Also I will offer a sizable bounty to anyone who still has mine because I can't find it.

It is embedded in my head, does that count?

[IVstudios]

Those Doombees better get in The Box before Mr. Bob gets laid or the Giga-Squad will have to kill Brubaker and War will have to kill everybody, and no matter how hard Mooman rawks it wont saver Deranged from the Bear.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Those Doombees better get in The Box before Mr. Bob gets laid or the Giga-Squad will have to kill Brubaker and War will have to kill everybody, and no matter how hard Mooman rawks it wont saver Deranged from the Bear.

And Claude will make a longform comic about it set to a popular Michael Jackson single.

[Ahaugen]

I miss that bear

[LibertyCabbage]

It was a lot more active, and there was a lot more enthusiasm around webcomics in general. The community was very tight knit, and there were a lot of jams and threads and so on. Unfortunately, at some point people realized that drawing a webcomic wasn't going to make you a millionaire and various people started having more responsibilities in their lives that cut down on their ability to draw comics and be on forums 18 hours a day (McDuffies doesn't seem to have been so affected).

That pretty much exemplifies it for me. I joined the forums when I was 18, and I feel like a lot of the people here were around my age. So, you had a lot of energy and a lot of free time, but not so much in the way of experience and maturity. Our comics sucked, but at the same time, there was more optimism and competitiveness, so promoting our comics seemed like a bigger deal than it is now. The jams were also legendary, and, of course, some of the main people involved with them aren't around the forums anymore.

Also:
-- funny search strings threads
-- funny chat transcripts
-- Keenspace changing to Comic Genesis
-- The Lazy Grind
-- "Guess Who Drew It" threads
-- WCCA buzz
-- Van the Douchebag getting banned twice

[Terotrous]

I miss that bear

I found him:
http://cgwiki.comicgenesis.com/index.ph ... pacers.jpg

[Toxic]

I remember we used to make a concerted effort to get together and hang out in person. The great San Francisco meetup of 2004 had a bunch of people. And hookup. There were quite a few couple back in the day that met here. Even I was guilty of engaging in some flirting, but unfortunately McDuffies turned down my advances.

One time we started a thread where we all posted naked photos of ourselves. No joke. Also I will offer a sizable bounty to anyone who still has mine because I can't find it.

It is embedded in my head, does that count?

Was it the one where I somehow managed to cover up my junk with a 4th gen clickwheel iPod? That was a salacious photo!

[McDuffies]

Yes, that one, are there other ones?

That pretty much exemplifies it for me. I joined the forums when I was 18, and I feel like a lot of the people here were around my age.

I always thought majority fell into 22-27 age category.

[K-Dawg]

Gather round children as I tell you about what I remember:

I discovered these forums in the summer of 2000 when it started off and I lurked sometime until around September when I got a forum account and asked the dumbest question of "Is Keenspace really free?". In my defense my comic partner refused to believe it was free and wanted to be sure.

Off the top of my head I think other then Kisai; myself, Mcduff, Warren and possibly geoduck I believe might be the only posters who were here at or near the start of Keenspace. I think between all of us we can pretty much answer any question about the old days of Keenspace.

I believe there have been 4 distinct "eras" or "generations" of the communities here. I do disagree with McDuff about it not being a community at the start. I do remember one of the first webcomic chatrooms getting started up in the early years through Damonk and his friends who he met through Keenspace. I believe the channel was #4toontellers.

Back when this place was at it's peak it was crazy how busy it would be. So many people all with one love of drawing comics. Meetups, get togethers, chatrooms, so many different resources.

[McDuffies]

I believe there have been 4 distinct "eras" or "generations" of the communities here. I do disagree with McDuff about it not being a community at the start. I do remember one of the first webcomic chatrooms getting started up in the early years through Damonk and his friends who he met through Keenspace. I believe the channel was #4toontellers.

It maz be that this generation was on their way to leaving as I arrived, I don't remember hanging around with any of them personally.

[K-Dawg]

I believe there have been 4 distinct "eras" or "generations" of the communities here. I do disagree with McDuff about it not being a community at the start. I do remember one of the first webcomic chatrooms getting started up in the early years through Damonk and his friends who he met through Keenspace. I believe the channel was #4toontellers.

It maz be that this generation was on their way to leaving as I arrived, I don't remember hanging around with any of them personally.

Very possible. They were some fun people though. All early college aged for the most part.

[Cope]

Ah, I remember the days when every second webcomic was about wacky college hijinks.

[McDuffies]

I remember when they were about the bunch of underdogs who go on a great quest and then stop updating so we never find out if they were the chosen ones.