The Kongregate Logo with "Off-topic forum" written below it surrounded by Kongregate's beautiful red color.
The history of OT (2007-2011) written by ArcadianFire (original thread can be found here).
The years 2011-2020 were filled out from the efforts of the OT History Wikia Project (Original thread can be found here and discord link can be found here )
Note: This was written in the midst of 2011, which was continued to have the remainder filled out in Jun 2020.
OT 2007[]
2007 OT, otherwise known as OT's first year, was a time of developers.
60% of Kongregate's userbase had consisted of developers.
Unlike today, developers were considered extremely vital to the Off-Topic community due to the fact that there were many present at the time.
OT was also filled with users wanting to become moderators and developers.
At the time, arcaneCoder was the only active forum moderator and he was the only person here to keep the forums in line.
He was known to treat OT as if it were some sort of inferior version of SD in the sense that he would censor posts that he found silly; not worth the time of day.
JudeMaverick had started a thing called Greg Month, which was designed to generate ad revenue.
Because of this, KetchupYoshi had began stalking Greg (not in any way that CocoaPuff310 had done. KetchupYoshi's stalking could be found humorous).
Nqkoi1 is known for being the first user to 'run for modship'.
His attempts were pointless, and aC found them to be quite hilarious.
There was also a group referred to as the Baconators.
The Baconators had done what is considered the first OT-styled spam involving a thread with bacon related things and such.
They essentially promoted and expressed bacon loving in the form of words and pictures.
CrushProof is known for being the first user to get demodded.
His excessively severe and vicious styles of moderation had pissed the administrators off which eventually led to his demodding.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users[]
- jmtb02
- Pereking
- JudeMaverick
- TrueDarkness
- arcaneCoder
- KetchupYoshi
- greg
- JoeDirte
- ZachAttack
- sprint45_45
- mrhthepie
- unproductive
- AlisonClaire
- Crushproof (perma'd)
- Nqkoi1
- Retron
(As you may notice, most of the users are now moderators. As I'd said, many of '07 OT's users had aspired to become moderators.)
Popular/Notable/Important Threads[]
OT 2008[]
Off-Topic in '08 was a year of a tight community with lenient moderation.
The banhammer didn't come down as hard as it does now, nor did users get banned as easily as they do today.
'08 was still a fairly early year in terms of Kongregate's Off-Topic forums.
It was still a time of 'experimentation', so to speak, for the forum was still fairly new and was not nearly as popular as it is today.
One day, a troll had gotten banned.
The troll got all butthurt and whatnot and decided to blame everything on Jabor (a mod that had started posting in OT after he'd gotten done posting in SD).
This started the meme 'I BLAME JABOR'.
The community was rather small compared to today's Off-Topic community, though this could be considered a plus in the eyes of many due to the fact that users knew each other much better than they do today.
This happened because there were less people here to talk to, so people got to socializing with most regulars here, rather than only socializing with a few like we do today.
There was also a thing referred to as The Council Of OT.
This was essentially the elitist organization started in OT by Marh, googolyeye and Hokage.
It was an advisory group that had consisted of a few members and had branched out.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users[]
- AwesomeX2 (perma'd)
- SergeantPepper (perma'd)
- Metalshell (perma'd)
- UzumakiNaruto
- unproductive
- re4beast
- Aldir
- Tyrogue123 (perma'd)
- Pobelt
- RandomTurtle
- RMcD
- Glompee
- GraphicDesignC
- kingzak13
- 00_Juice_00
- narfnin
- Hokage4354
- iMachine
- TheDarkFlame
- ChemicalPandaa
- SevereFlame
- JudeMaverick
- pmr0078
- Jabor
- Crushproof (perma'd)
- Valkryie (perma'd)
- arcaneCoder
- AbusedZebra
- Swish27
- james123193
- tomtomtombob
- squidward568
- JTheGhost
- Juze
- Marh
- googolyeye
- listle6
- Zamininc (perma'd)
Popular/Notable/Important Threads[]
OT 2009[]
Off-Topic of '09 was very laid back and uncivilized.
Moderation was more lenient, though a few bans had been thrown around.
Spam wasn't as frowned upon and everyone managed to have fun.
Everyone knew each other due to the fact that the forum wasn't as crowded as it is today, so posting was a bit more enjoyable.
'09 is said to be the best year when it comes to OT, and many regulars from back then rant on about how much better it was then than it is now.
Quite a few users from this generation of OT have managed to stick around, many being fairly popular here.
Posting wasn't as common back in '09 either, for people didn't have 10,000+ posts and 2,000 was considered a lot.
People weren't as obsessed with grammar as they are now, which was a plus considering people didn't go around insulting you if you'd forgotten to capitalize something or something like that.
People were just more laid back in general.
'09 was also the year that embedding videos in the forums had gotten disabled.
This was all due to the fact that people were spamming videos throughout the forums and someone had tried to embed a virus.
Most spammed videos were vocaloid or Top Gun.
kingzak12 had decided to create a counter-organization to the OT Council call The Alliance.
Many members of OT Council found this offensive.
It was supposedly made to stop the monopoly that The Council had created.
The Alliance eventually fell before The Council did, though the Council eventually failed due to Marh's laziness.
People had also become obsessed with a things referred to as 'avatar quoting'.
It was popularized by BnBn and it's when a user quotes something and posts an avatar below said quote, implying that the avatar was saying whatever had gotten quoted.
This had started quite the shitstorm among the mods.
2009 was also a time of Vocaloid and Touhou spam.
The Vegetable Dance song by Hatsune Miku was often times spammed throughout the forum and could be found in quite a few threads.
Many people from this generation of OT who've stuck around bitch about how amazing OT was at this time.
They say they wish OT was like this nowadays and they miss '09.
Others say this generation was just as terrible as our current generation.
It doesn't seem like anyone's going to come to an agreeance anytime soon.
This was also the time of the Vanguarde episode.
Vanguarde was a moderator who one day decided to go insane and get himself demodded.
He's resorted to porn spam, blackmail and threats since this entire situation had occurred.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users[]
- fishstickz13
- ritzfitz91
- Yourmom12 (perma'd)
- AnotherRandomKid (perma'd)
- BnBn
- Gevock
- ChemicalPandaa
- Sosuline
- StopStopp
- RMcD
- UzumakiNaruto
- Someguyinworld
- cjk98 (perma'd)
- AwesomeWolf
- Cammy_G (perma'd)
- AwesomeX2 (perma'd)
- Zamininc (perma'd)
- Mittensworth
- Haruhion
- sportsmaster19
- XYTWO
- SevereFlame
- onlineidiot1995
- Marh
- AbusedZebra
- Pobelt
- kingzak13
- NotVeryGood
- KingFresh
- Narfin
- Minnakht
- kirdaiht
- meaperson333
- Cimerax
- SunnyAlusha
- PlainBlandMan
- Traud
- Smackaine
- BCLEGENDS
- FuzzyBacon
- penguinwasher (perma'd)
- Aneslayer
- Tyrogue123 (perma'd)
- JudeMaverick
- Helkaine
- Tacket
- Pokarnor
- arcaneCoder
- Carados
- mafefe (perma'd)
- Vanguarde (perma'd)
- JohnRulz
- 1132
- Key_Bearer
- CrimsonBlaze
- billyfred
- pivotman
- zzzaaaccckk
- Dman18
- ParalysisTerror
- squidward568
- flyingman
- listle6
- biggismalls
- Etagergnok213
- ParalysisTerror
- TheFameBoy64
Popular/Notable/Important Threads[]
OT 2010[]
OT was just coming out of the '09 generation.
New regulars started to join and old ones left (or got banned).
The place was still considered pretty cool.
Nothing all too significant occurred during the year of 2010, though.
Nothing too notable, nothing too exciting.
The people I've talked to couldn't really think of anything that great that came of the year.
Early '10 has always been considered better by the older users due to the fact that some old users that have left still remained.
'10 was more a time of beginning anew than it was exciting or original.
Many new users who are now considered 'regulars' came to be in '10, though many old users had also left/came on much less.
Post count was now a big thing, especially with the appearance of Vegard20 who was able to rack up an extremely large amount of posts in a very short period of time.
Post count now mattered more than it had before, and larger post counts had become more prominent.
This is also the year when CocoaPuff310 had begun stalking users here.
She's gotten a hold of their personal info and such and continues to stalk to this very day.
I suggest closing the window next time you masturbate, kids.
Many Grammar Nazis had also appeared come 2010.
People started to care about capitalization and punctuation and people had begun making posts correcting people's 'horrid' grammar.
Popular/Noticeable/Recognizable Users[]
- 35kdog
- AbusedZebra
- AlextheGreat13
- IAMNGIN
- Billyfred
- BobTehPoner (perma'd)
- Cammy_G (perma'd)
- CasP3r1
- Aneslayer
- cjk98 (perma'd)
- commie_commander
- Darkfrogger
- Darkir
- DarkOne2345
- Deadrights
- DMinor
- freepie
- Freezerburnt
- FullyCharged (perma'd)
- Guy_In_Armor
- Hallucent
- HappyAlcoholic
- Haruhion
- hero122
- Hannah__
- Hokage4354
- KingOfTheLULZ
- KingZeldar3
- LukeMann
- mafefe (perma'd)
- Makilio
- Marh
- Melbourneboy
- Metallifan2 (perma'd)
- okimaedaIzinki
- OMFGPwned
- pink_princess
- PlainBlandMan
- PsychoPanda
- ritzfitz91
- SAL37
- SBmasta441
- Smackaine
- sgtawesome16
- Speaksforthedead
- SpearDudezor
- superfastjelly
- thefameboy64
- TheAznSensation
- Tilval
- uhhrina
- Umbreon_ (perma'd)
- Vegard20
- Zamininc (perma'd)
- zombieluigi
- Tyrogue123 (perma'd)
- Tacket
- CocoaPuff310 (perma'd)
- Gevock
- Strawuni
- MrSalvador
- finkidz5
- uber222_aomplayr
- TonyM66
- Frogmanex
- squidward568
- Dr_Stein
- ZeroMoge
- xDaniBananix
- listle6
- biggismalls
- ParalysisTerror
Popular/Notable/Important Threads[]
- I Wanna Cast A Spell (this was back when spam wasn't frowned upon by everyone here and people were able to use it to have fun)
OT 2011[]
OT has gone through quite a change compared to the earlier years.
Many new users have come and gone and many old have stayed in it for the long run.
OT has started memes that are now on Know Your Meme and several mini-memes have been started within OT.
One of the most notable memes is Myslef/Yourslef, which can now be found on KYM.
Our beloved CommanderObvious had a run-in with our beloved spam filter.
It occurred in '10, but is more prominent in '11 and is now considered a long-running joke that CO is married to the spam filter.
2011 has not been going on for too long, but many good users have been leaving due to many different things (annoyance being a popular reason).
Some people say OT is a cesspool of immaturity and that it's hard to stay here because of this.
Sometimes, I don't understand what these people are talking about.
OT may be bad, but it has it's moments where it's one of the most enjoyable things I could be doing on the internet.
It all depends on who's online and who's willing to participate in discussion.
People in OT have been hating on other forums and encouraging 'attacks' on other forums as well.
Most of this hate is irrational, but it happens quite often.
There isn't much I can say about '11, seeing as it's only halfway done, but judging by how it's been lately, I'd be willing to say it's a rather neutral year when it comes to quality.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users[]
- 35kdog
- AbusedZebra
- AlextheGreat13
- Alexthenoob
- Aneslayer
- AwesomeX2 (perma'd (now AwesomeX222))
- Ayaniika
- Cammy_Justice
- CasP3r1
- CanadianOverlord
- Cimerax
- cjk98 (perma'd (now cjk99))
- commie_commander
- Darkfrogger
- Darkir
- Dartjat
- DarkOne2345
- Deadrights
- Freezerburnt
- FullyCharged (perma'd)
- Guy_In_Armor
- Hallucent
- HappyAlcoholic
- Haruhion
- hero122
- KingOfTheLULZ
- LukeMann
- mafefe (perma'd)
- Makilio
- Melbourneboy
- Metallifan2 (perma'd (now ArcadianFire))
- MFThomas (perma'd)
- okimaedaIzinki
- OMFGPwned
- pink_princess
- PsychoPanda
- ritzfitz91
- SAL37
- Speaksforthedead
- SpearDudezor
- StopStopp
- superfastjelly
- thefameboy69
- TheAznSensation
- Tilval
- Vegard20
- yourmomdad
- Zamininc (perma'd)
- zombieluigi
- Tacket
- Pokarnor
- gameboy3
- CocoaPuff310 (perma'd)
- FuzzyBacon
- CommanderObvious
- Noddles
- Strawuni
- MrSalvadora
- finkidz5
- listle6
- goobler402
- King_Matt
Popular/Notable/Important Threads[]
- Useful/Popular Thread Masterthread(stickied!)
- Largest Quote Pyramid Ever(removed)
Note: Everything past this point was implemented in 2020:
OT 2011 (Part 2)[]
This short period marks the 2nd half of the year known as the "Golden Age" of OT, with many big threads popping up that were still used all the up until the end of OT's run. These threads included the semi-blogging thread called "What's New, OT?" as well as the Official Rant Thread and the My Little Pony thread, the last of which is the thread with the most posts in it to this day, rounding off at around 62.3k posts.
Along with the Tinychat thread being made during the first half of the year, another thread called "Good Times in TC" was created in November in an attempt to highlight some of the best moments on the chat.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- Casper_D
- Haruhion
- Dartjat
- Vegard20
- ArcadianFire
- Noddles
- Zam
- Ayumi_Stocking
- oOTrentOo
Notable Threads:[]
[New, OT?]
OT 2012[]
This year of OT basically marked the end of the "Golden Age" of OT as described by most if not all OTers. Users had begun to leave around this point, which resulted in much less activity within the forum. A contributing factor to this decline was the rampant gatekeeping the ensued as oldfags reminiced on the other oldfags that weren't there. Holding newfags to the standards of previous oldfags such as MFThomas and the like would seal the fate of OT as no one could feasibly replace the people who had left. The old guard would eventually dissolve near the end of the year which allowed some newfags to shine.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- SSPBOURNE
- MoonLaughMaster
- riddleschool
- lei_wulong
- Ayumi_Stocking
- Makilio
- Casper_D
- pinkprincess
- MrSalvador
- TwistedCakez
Notable Threads:[]
[Post Photos of Yourself Mk. 2]
[[ https://web.archive.org/web/20200701204706/https://www.kongregate.com/forums/2/topics/310904%7CKongristmas Secret Greg 2012]]
OT 2013[]
If the year that preceded this one is to be considered the end of the golden age then 2013 would be the first year without the grace of the oldfags who made the prior years so distinct and otherwise memorable. As you may notice by the lack of memorable users there was a distinct attention vacuum that was eager to be filled by a bunch of newfags that saw an opportunity to become popular. This resulted in a bunch of edgy try-hard teens making all sorts of "lul so funneh" post the busted the proverbial seams of OT with garbage. The paragon that would rise from this garbage, by being the king of nonsense chaotic garbage, would be Rolby. Through his antic he rose to be someone who was envied, trolled with, hated, and respected all at once. Much of his "genius" can be shown in how his uncaring disposition and particular wit would allow him to whip around many of the would be clout chasers that tried to ride on his laurels. To this end some of his preferred users would also become mini celebrities through their prominent interactions with him. Mainly Cesarcurado for taking the Cult of Rolby concept started by an alt of Fronebular's and turning it into a long standing phenomenon. Maowee would also also see here peak of popularity here as she began to date literally any male OTer, particularly Rolby, who had some popularity to chase. From there she would peddle lewds so far an wide that every semi-active OTer had seen them at this time.
In additon to King Rolby there was a fairly popular Tiny Chat haunted by the "inner circle" of OT such as Hallucent and Trent who would hang out in the chat room more often than actually post in OT. It could be said that there was a cultural divide between the TC users and the OT users at this time due to how the TC was moderated directly by other OTers rather than mods chosen for "decent" and "Impartial" behaviour.
With the absence of the old guard of OT a new wave of disorganize lawlessness came through making 2013 a "wild west" that was still highly active and fun, but in a way the differs from all the years prior.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- EPR89
- TheInternetRules
- Rolby
- Maowee
- Cesarcurado
- Mikkmar
- VoodooCoffeeGuy
- TwistedCakez
- Hallucent
- Trent
Notable Threads:[]
[your penis with a movie title]
[FOUND NOT GUILTY ABANDON FLORIDA ASAP]
OT 2014[]
At this point most of the users from that Golden Age of OT had dwindled, leaving only a couple users still sticking around. During this time the forum was going through a cursed metamorphism, like a disgusting malformed creature emerging from a shiny silky coccoon made of hopes and promises. However, this disgusting mass of filth was beautiful in its own way even if it did feel like a huge waste of time for everyone to witness it. On the 12th of May, the first [overlord spam thread] was made by a user known mainly as Amane. These threads didn't take off very well and only served more as a minor annoyance to the users of OT, but Amane stuck around for some time afterwards.
The main event of this year was the feud between OT and another forum on a website called Dashnet. Users like Zamininc was involved in spamming some NSFW/NSFL images onto the Dashnet forum as well as Fronebular posting some questionable pictures of Gardevoir, a pokemon. Gabidou99 was the link between the two forums but ultimately that was his only tie to the whole event. Dashnet's registration system was shut down for a while after this to combat the spam. OT had finally won, but at what cost?
Speaking of Gabidou and Gardevoir, many threads spanning MANY posts would take place during this time about whether or not Gardevoir was a furry and if Gabidou was sexually attracted to this pokemon (note; find thread example) Another small event was the birth of the copy-paste thread which led to a lot of shameful +1s on the thread, sometimes quadruple or even quintuple chainposting would occur. Kongbitrary Day was also introduced this year and acted as a Summer edition to the Kongristmas Secret Greg event that happened during Christmas. These two threads became staples that the forum was known for and were usually handled pretty well
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- Gabidou99
- Zamininc
- Fronebular
- Hallucent
- VoodooCoffeeGuy
- IceBomb45
- MmeBunneh
- SuperFastJelly
- abraaz
- TwistedCakez
- Dias17se
- GrApHiCDeSiGnC
- Niceman555
- Cesarcurado
- Rolby
- Mikkmar
- oOTrentOo
- Caravine
- Cwovictor
- 1132
Notable Threads:[]
[Vs. OT]
[the time Developus started posting on OT]
[Day 2014]
[Thread]
OT 2015[]
Potentially the most active year of OT after the Golden Age, and also probably the worst. New users came in to replace the old, proceeding to take everything bad oldfags said about newfags, and proving them absolutely right. 2015 was a year of constant arguments, garbage threads, religious flamewars, moderators being broken, filters acting up, and thousands upon thousands of shitposts to cover it all. It was a shitshow, but the most glorious shitshow of all, and even though terrible to look at, it was often a blast to contribute to the dumpster fire.
There's, of course, never a year without actual quality within it, and 2015 was no different. Comparing ourselves to each other became a more and more popular pastime, giving birth to the Off-Topic Official Elimination Games, the Quarterly Off-Topic Edgy Awards, and the OTer vs OTer thread series within quick succession, all of which would end up lasting years. This was also when several clan threads were created, of which one would outlive all others by a wide margin, the Elite OT Clan.
But of course, 2015 was notorious for a reason. To start with the less awful things, 2015 was the time when zhs0O created the first in his line of "Strange man" threads, which, for better or worse (okay, mostly worse), became a part of OT for years to come.
And then there were the controversies. Religious flamewars became such a widespread occurrence that a masterthread was created specifically for the discussion of religion, essentially quarantining it. A moderator up and left the forum altogether. And of course, there was the infamous "Moderator Nomination Thread", which became so thoroughly devastated that it was entirely removed from /2/, something generally reserved for spam.
Oh, and while we're at spam, the year was crowned by the spam filter starting to nuke OTers, permanently banning them and removing all of their posts without human intervention. Because it was 2015, and 2015 was the worst.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- oOTrentOo
- Mikkmar
- Gabidou99
- aguspal
- Zamininc
- MmeBunneh
- Mafefe
- Rolby
- Maowee
- Ubermorgen
- Amane
- adv0catus
- GeorGeKiLLeRx
- FrostyGhosts
- Burntfires22
- Sabercow
- Kazeelex
- hamuka
- Yeasy
- abraaz
- Heatblast1
- Ruudiluca
- ToofFromDotd
- littlemike1
- Vegetarian
- Pipipipipi314
Notable Threads:[]
[Off-Topic Edgy Awards 2015 Q1]
[[OT Official Elimination Games Season One]]
[Official Cringe Thread Pt.3, The Half-Blood Cringe]
[of if not the first 'Strange Man' Threads]
[Thread]
[OT Clan]
[Day 2015]
OT 2016[]
After OT hit its second big peak in 2015 it began to slowly fall back down in terms of quality. The Gabidou arguments finally came to a head when the forum decided to make an official argument containment thread for him, which helped a little bit.
Most of 2016 was mainly arguing, from the fairness of sniper rifles in games to approaching women and back around to how you should or shouldn't host particular events, the whole year in general contained a lot of hostility toward one another. Around June a discord server had been made for the community, which both strengthened and segregated the community further. Because the discord wasn't managed by Kongregate but instead by OTers and because banning users is a feature on discord, a lot of the trolls and universally disliked users were quickly shown the door which resulted in multiple discord servers being created, along with a Chatzy room and an older Skype room. Generally this change was a double edged sword, but easily more favourable towards the beneficial side as it let the community flourish further with a much more lucrative social platform.
This year's Kongbitrary day was hosted by Holy2334 but was disguised as a secret user and although there were some bumps along towards the end, the event was handled fairly well. There was a bit of crashing and burning towards the end like most things on OT, but at least the event was finished properly. He also hosted Kongristmas 2016 which went a lot smoother.
Zhs' threads and posts continued to get more sinister and like that of a madman as the years grew by...
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- hamuka
- DoomlordKravoka
- Hunter_616
- BigBananaDealers
- DarkAssassin783
- Gabidou99
- anjum379
- adv0catus
- zhsOo
- Nikolas10161
- GoldPhoenix3
- Heroicdude
- Lord_Moe
- BloodScourge
- Meistheman
- Ubermorgen
- Ruudiluca
- Burntfires22
- Quilladin206
- Holy2334
- TurkeyPie
- 15man
- Amane
- pokerpo
- Mikkmar
- Fightbeetle
- aguspal
- K_i_c_k
- Maginmaniac7
- TurboTails
Notable Threads:[]
[Weekly User Appreciation Topic]
[Off-Site Chat Masterthread [Discord, Skype, Tinychat]]
[are Sniper Rifles on FPS so retarded?]
[do girls always go for the jerks and never the nice guys?]
Holy2334 gets 'mod' for a day for April Fools
[Day 2016]
OT 2017[]
Coming into 2017 we had some fresh faces that quickly gained attention among the community like MamoonIhsan, TheWildJame and OceanShores. Overall the year was still quite bitter but it had settled down a lot since last year, and I can recall many a time the community had some good banter.
At some point during the year when the spam was getting especially annoying, a user called hamuka decided to step up and make a script that would remove much of the spam that plagued the forums over the last while. This was updated and improved by hamuka and later helped by Mikkmar (OT's legendary code guru extraordinare). Overall the script was a big success and one of the very few projects on OT that didn't blow up in our faces.
This year's Kongbitrary Day was hosted by none other than Heather, and it had pretty decent reception, nothing outstanding but nothing soul-crushingly horrible happened either. Kongristmas was hosted by pokerpo, which also did nicely.
Overall the year was mostly nice, had a couple bitter parts here and there with specific users but nothing too horrible. Zhs became incoherent at this point.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- TurkeyPie
- Burntfires22
- pokerpo
- TheWildJamie
- hamuka
- adv0catus
- SpearDudezor
- Kuzco12
- Meistheman
- Quilladin206
- Ruudiluca
- OceanShores
- Holy2334
- littlemike1
- Rigariga
Notable Threads:[]
Arguably the best post of the decade
[Day 2017]
OT 2018[]
OT became a lot more quiet and a fair bit crazier. We'll close the books on the zhs story by saying he ended up rambling on and on, making novella length posts regarding the topic of transhumanism before disappearing off the face of the forums. Maybe he would return one day to reclaim his throne, but not for a while...
On July 15th, 2018, the most devilish game that had ever graced the forums was conceived. A user called FunnyAxeRealm created a scavenger hunt-esque game which put users in teams to solve obscure clues and mental challenges. The game would later go on to have a Summer and Winter edition, where another user called UM_a would co-host alongside FAR, before being taken over by hamuka and adv0catus. Although this game breaks my brain in ways I thought not possible, it's a welcome addition to the long list of the forums successes and will probably continue to outlive the forum itself in that regard.
Also in March a Community project was announced by Burntfires22 to make a tribute game for OT. Nothing was set in stone at this point and it was pretty much a shot in the dark, and we'll get back to this further down the line...
Both Kongbitrary Day and Kongristmas were hosted by pokerpo this year, which again, went by very smoothly. Overall this year was quiet but had a lot of potential.
Oh yeah, pokerpo got moderator status as well, that was probably the most jarring thing that happened this year lol. He's doing a good job though I.. Think..
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- hamuka
- FunnyAxeRealm
- adv0catus
- Ethyri
- Burntfires22
- TurkeyPie/Yelaw
- Kuzco12
- 15man
- littlemike1
- Loafman11
- Ethanhead258
- pokerpo
- Holy2334
- Rigariga
- MamoonIhsan
- OceanShores
- TheWildJamie
- Pipipipipi314
- GonkeyMonkey
- Yeasy
Notable Threads:[]
[Day 2018]
OT 2019[]
This year on OT was getting even quieter but we still had some new people showing up. Users like KobosstheMeme and roninx7 stuck around for a bit but not for long. Overall it seemed like, to a lot of us, OT was on it's last legs. Oh how wrong we were.
Not much happened this year apart from the 2 hunt threads we had, as well as a surprising host for Kongbitrary Day 2019, BloodScourge. He did a pretty good job with it as well, it went very smoothly.
As 2020 was slowly creeping towards us SuperFastJelly decided to make a commemorative post for the last 10 years of the forum, and also in spite of another thread which unfortunately was never completed. This thread included a bunch of little stories from OTers, old and new and it was a very chill nice way to remember the better times.
Over the year old OTers popped their heads in to say speak their part, but it was very... Dead for the most part
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- FunnyAxeRealm
- Holy2334
- aguspal
- adv0catus
- Kobossthememe
- Mikkmar
- 15man
- FFT_LostHope
- Burntfires22
- BloodScourge
- MamoonIhsan
- Ethanhead258
- TheDarkoko
- Loafman11
- Gabidou99
- littlemike1
- Roninx7
- hamuka
- Yelaw
- Meistheman
- Pipipipipi314
- pokerpo
- Liamguy5555
- WilliamTheBestII
Notable Threads:[]
[Day 2019]
OT 2020[]
This year was the final year of OT (well more like half a year) and it was foreshadowed with many different things. Only a few are related to OT though so those are the ones I'll focus on. There had been a new filter put in place around this time which would automatically filter out certain phrases and, depending on whether you had permission or not, included images and links. As you can probably tell this was a huge hit for an already quiet forum, but OT did what it does best because on OT, chaos breeds activity.
Around March a user called Mikkmar discovered a glaring flaw in the sites code that allowed anybody, regardless of moderator/administrative status on the site to see any filtered or outright removed posts. Mikkmar decided to email Kongregate with this information but after a few attempts he wasn't getting anywhere which is when he decided to make his discovery public on the forums. This was swiftly met with a permanent ban, an unjust ban I'm sure many would agree with.
However Kongregate got their asses handed to them on a platter when Mikkmar decided to develop and release a public script that anyone could easily install and use without any coding knowledge whatsoever. This script allowed anyone to see filtered or removed posts which not only solved the problem with the filter but also rendered any moderation at this point borderline futile. Many OTers at this point decided to go through older threads and relive some of the forums most cherished dumpster fires in celebration. Unfortunately there's no thread for this and Mikkmar still stuck around on a myriad of different alts because some sad sap on Kong still hated his guts.
On Valentines' Day, Off Topic: OT: The Game - the game, spiritual sequel to "Off Topic: OT: OT Game game" was released onto the site. It was a jokey dating sim developed mainly by Ethyri and Burntfires22, featuring music from TwistedCakez and playtesting by hamuka and UM_a Development was on-and-off for about 2 years and it was given a couple of API updates along with finishing up some final bits of content. More info [[1]].
Summer Hunt was also announced on June 15th, hosted by hamuka and adv0catus and considering the event went on amidst the chaos of the forum closure announcement, it went by pretty well.
Popular/Notable/Recognizable Users:[]
- KingZeldar3
- Mikkmar
- hamuka
- Ethyri
- Maginmaniac7
- Ruudiluca
- Burntfires22/Burntfires22
- adv0catus
- littlemike1
- pokerpo
- Holy2334
- Loafman11
- 15man
- TheWildJamie
- MamoonIhsan
- Ethanhead258
Notable Threads:[]
[Dating Sim Game Release Post]
The End of OT[]
Well, that's it. The end of the road. The beginning of 2020 was marred by numerous events which delivered stabs to Kongregate: from external ones like the coronavirus pandemic, to internal ones like a glaring flaw in the forum's spam filter allowing for a script which evades it entirely, or the introduction of Blocks breaking the site for several days. While having to stay inside their homes helped bring back a couple of forumgoers, and activity was again on the rise, it turned out that that was simply not enough to save Off-Topic, resulting in it being put down on 22nd July, not unlike a dying dog behind a shed.
Whether this is an improvement or not is up for debate, but one thing certainly isn't: the demise of this forum is, to most of us, the end of an era. Here's hoping the next one isn't shit.
Notable Threads:[]
[[2]]
[break the main page you dumb idiot I'm trying to shitpost (formerly ċocainė)]