Looking at how things are now it might be difficult for newer members to imagine that this forum as a community, used to host a
lot of drama a few years ago. The reasons for the various instances of such varied greatly in actual, objective importance, as well as in each conflict's rage:rationality ratio. Most of these intra-communal conflicts were based on one question: "How should these forums be run?" Answers were, of course, all over the place. A fair amount of old-timers wanted a prime emphasis on formal tone and etiquette, with the forums not changing in their role as a utility meant for asking and answering questions about the games, discussing them, and everything else that happens in the main subforums. Casual chatting wasn't seen as a desirable commodity, instead there was a favor for the old-school forum community feeling of recognizing frequent posters and including whatever private comments there were in productive posts. The moderates were there, and their stance ought to be obvious. There were also people who at some point or another had become so attached to the forum community that their main activity was to talk; much as we do now in the General subforums. To cut this lengthy explanation of the obvious short: the past five years were chock-full of these differing ideas colliding whenever things changed in some way, be it a major rule change like the addition of the optional word censor, or the emerging of forum fads.
The history I'm here to talk about, was one of the latter, if not
the forum fad to rule them all (and in the darkness guide them; until they caused so many
internet fights they were forbidden.) It was...
The Coloured Posts Movement.
What may sound like a headline from a backwater town's local newspaper about their spray-painted road-signs mysteriously changing position every now and again due to "as of yet undetermined reasons", which are probably just the occasional grandpa who insists he can drive even though he's got the eyesight of a mole by now, was actually an open group for users of the UESP forums to join. The CPM as it was often abbreviated to, was created on March the 22nd, 2011, by a user then known as 'mars'. This username has since vanished from official UESP records, but more on that later. The idea to create this group had grown to bloom due to certain cliques of very cool, attractive forum members having previously formed social ties, and displaying their loyalties with such names as 'The Brotherhood' and 'The Pokèsquad'. mars has stated in an interview with yours truly, that at the time she felt socially intimidated by these organizations, and frequently saw herself unable to match their cunning wit and crafty in-jokes. Wanting to establish herself, and make her name known, she took the capitalist approach: sensationalize something, and engineer a demand where there had previously been none.
If she herself lacked individuality, surely so did other people. Thus, she suggested that her habit of coating all of her text in a lush shade of purple, be taken up by other forumites, as a way of leaving a lasting impression whenever they posted, without having to think of a witty signature, or somehow obtain the rights to join one of the elite clans of idol-members. Obviously people loved it and chose a wide range of absurd colors, taking delight in finally feeling special.
As mentioned before, the traditionalist corner of the room, was not pleased. At all. To their eyes, all those colors were confounding, confusing, childish, and other comparable adjectives starting with a C. Before long, there was hot debate as to whether it should even be tolerated at all, with both sides taking the matter very personally. The older generation felt their sacred retreat invaded and disfigured, the newcomers unwelcome and mocked. Eventually, the conflict, like all such conflicts, just got old and everybody stopped. mars, who was now known formally as 'Mars', took the bitter pill and stated that she no longer felt joy in giving her words a color coating, stepping down and disbanding the movement. Somehow, all that was still a big deal to a lot of people.
A few loyalists remain even today, still dutifully keeping their words colorful, and the spirit of individualism, fighting the system, throwing molotovs and drinking cheap beer afterwards alive. Mars, who would later come to be known as MARS, went on to greener pastures, creating yet another forum entity that sparked both great joy, and grave controversy. The legendary roleplay, Tamrielic Adventures. But that is for the next installment of UESP Histories, and for now, I leave you with this. A glimpse into the past:
http://forums.uesp.net/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=21260
