The "Golden Age" of ATOT

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Last year for me apparently

the wheelchair decal on the front is pure win.

YoYo is currently having one of those rare golden ages that seldom members experience on AT, where every potential chop response is eagerly anticipated by all and always achieves 100% win.

 

[JoeKing]

does anyone remember the butter thread? Hilarious, and had to be one of the first epic threads.

More or less it was a few hundred posts arguing if you had to refrigerate butter

 

[Anubis]

Back in 1999-2001 this place was hilarious, it seemed like it was ALL comedy ALL the time. I remember flipping through threads with tears rolling down my face at some of the funny shit going on.

i agree with this, goldenness lastes till 2002/3 then it started getting less funny

 

[TraumaRN]

i agree with this, goldenness lastes till 2002/3 then it started getting less funny

I know I didn't join until 2005 but I lurked from 03-05 and truly it was a better time in the forums. And the parlor is epic.

I remember chat rooms like that growing up...I totally had forgotten about the parlor tho

 

[BoberFett]

9/11 may have been the death of the old "Fun" ATOT.

Soon after came P&N, and that didnt seem to save OT, theres still so much arguing and bashing going on.(look no further than the constant religious debates)

Back in 1999-2001 this place was hilarious, it seemed like it was ALL comedy ALL the time. I remember flipping through threads with tears rolling down my face at some of the funny shit going on.

There were religious debates long before the switch to Fusetalk, but they were generally interesting and relatively respectful compared to the straight trolling that happens now.

Edit: Just remembered his name, it was Netopia (Joe) who was the resident Christian. He was polite and enjoyed the debates, and the atheists did as well. There were far fewer "Christians are retarded durrrrrrrrp" threads back in those days.

 

[Train]

There were religious debates long before the switch to Fusetalk, but they were generally interesting and relatively respectful compared to the straight trolling that happens now.

true.

i agree with this, goldenness lastes till 2002/3 then it started getting less funny

I think part of the problem is people started trying to hard to be funny. Some members got a reputation for posting hilarious replies, and others all wanted to be like them. Before, if you made a serious thread (and by "serious" I mean something not insanely stupid or meant to be funny) people would post useful replies. The humor was used sparingly, and where it made sense. Now you can ask a legit question and get 10 annoying "I like pancakes" style replies.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Wow did he really let him suck him off ? Wooooooww

 

[coolVariable]

Still hard to believe.

AWESOME! I can't believe I missed that!

How about the "HumblePie banging the salad girl" thread?

Link?

Hardest I ever laughed at any thread was the "describe your most recent bowel movement with a movie title." By the time I got to "Sideways," my stomach was hurting. Then the thread got locked.

Link?

What about this one?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/05/18/murderer_confesses_on_anandtech_forum/

I remember that! That was epic!
Has he been back since then? (TBH I don't think he deserved to be banned for life for that - but whatever)


Otherwise, I would say the time from 2001 - 2004/5 was probably best.
There were also more people posting, if I remember correctly, though maybe it was simply less sub-forums ... they make some of the gem threads harder to find. Back then, if you had a tech question (no matter how complicated and remote), it took only a couple of minutes to get an answer.

 

[beyonddc]

"Off Topic" is definitely my favorite section on the board. I think there use to be many people who post in the Hot Deals section but there's a lot less now.

 

[alkemyst]

all my posts are golden.

*pees on thread*

 

[Saint Nick]

Link?

Legendary thread

 

[ussfletcher]

Wow I forgot all about that.

Best thread Ever.

 

[mrCide]

I, like many others, started with hot deals, putting companies out of business or grabbing pitch forks and torches when sites didn't honor their $0.99c 17" CRT. OT came after that for me, community was a bit different though. A lot of us have grown up (literally) since then, too.

Personally I can't stand all the unfunny "parody" threads these days.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Best thread Ever.

May be, but the jerboy scroll stuff was a riot.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I, like many others, started with hot deals, putting companies out of business or grabbing pitch forks and torches when sites didn't honor their $0.99c 17" CRT. OT came after that for me, community was a bit different though. A lot of us have grown up (literally) since then, too.

Have you ever gone back and read you old posts? I inevitably think "I wrote that? WTF was I thinking!?!"

I will do the same with this post in 5 yrs.

 

[Saint Nick]

I went through an re-read a lot of my older posts when I was just graduating high school and entering college. At this point in my life, I have graduated college and am trying to find myself.

All I can say is:

Wow. Massive facepalm/forehead slap.

 

[Acanthus]

two words, air conditioner.

 

[HumblePie]

1998. Oh wait, most of you guys weren't around this place then

 

[Ns1]

one of the greatest golden ages IMHO was ATOT's complete domination of Ikariam.

 

[sdifox]

no one mentioned BBO? I am disappoint.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2501&highlight=beef+online

 

[sdifox]

one of the greatest golden ages IMHO was ATOT's complete domination of Ikariam.

and in true ATOT fashion it went away in no time either.

 

[thebestMAX]

I think the downfall started when P&N was given its own forum. Till then all the craziness got mixed in here and hilarity ensued.

Hot deals nearly made me go bankrupt saving money too.

 

[Ns1]

and in true ATOT fashion it went away in no time either.

after taking over the server there really wasn't anywhere to go

 

[sdifox]

after taking over the server there really wasn't anywhere to go

oh I know, I was mooching off Yoyo big time.

 

[geno]

2000-2002