@Orka - if you really like it you can even make a contribution to the on-going costs of hosting the site ...... no pressure though :-)

It was totally different a few years back. There were complaints of cheaters taking over, concerns that live games weren't what they used to be, the forum was littered with threads on religion and politics, and Draug was leaving the site.

I remember when it was called phpdip.

Back in 2007, it was called phpdip, all games were non-anon, ppsc, and press; there were no draws, cancels, or pauses; games started at the scheduled time whether or not there were 7 players; kestas was the only mod/admin; if you CD'd, a system account (Civil Disorder Germany, Civil Disorder Italy, etc) took over . . .

When I first came here, I actually played diplomacy on occasion.

I remember before the official support for gunboat games, when you had to play gunboat on the honor system. In one, Germany and I (England) teamed up on Russia who started complaining about cheating in global chat and France told him to calm down and how educated guesses can look like cheating. Then we turned on France and France started complaining about us cheating. And no, we weren't cheating.

Glad you've been enjoying the site, Orka!

One of my favorite memories is how joining a game wasn't confirmed and there was no way to back out of a game. People would do sneaky things to get people to join, such as posting a game link asking for advice to trap people in the game. Most of my early games on this site were joined by accident.

Wow. Hearing stories about the old site makes it seem like it was a completely different site almost. I feel like heave changed for the better. Back in the good old days things didn't always work. I wish I found out about this game called diplomacy a lot earlier.
Thanks guys for sharing. It's always fascinating to hear from the old timers.

Also, plan on donating some cash soon. Just a way of giving back to a site that has filled me with the thrill of victory, the utter shattering of dreams when you realize that your plans did not work, and the despair of losing. Losing, however, doesn't feel bad, due to the backstabbing feeling worse

@Orka - do not feel obliged to pay any money at all because the subject of paying anything for use of this site really upsets the freeloaders who use it all the time and pay absolutely nothing, these poor people hate being reminded that in the years they have used and enjoyed the site they have never once been able to cobble together $30 to help with the costs (but secretly of course they are happy that there enjoyment can be paid for by someone else).
Remember it is a FREE site and you don't need to pay a penny and I think you will gain the respect of the Webdip Freeloaders Coop who club together to defend their rights to not pay, if you would like to know more about the Coop speak to long term members such as Octavious, Krellin, SantaClausowitz, Bohonk, bo_sox48, Putin33, obiwanobiwan, peterwiggin, redhouse1938, etc, all fervent and dedicated non-payers. They get together sometimes to swap tales of hardship, the problems start of course when the waiter brings the bill, out come the calculators. I think we may hear from some of them below....... :-)

Donate or donate not, there is no try to donate... :-) But seriously, don't feel obligated, but if you can and want to, Kestas will put the money to good use.

@nigee: I have never said anything about donating or not donating in the forum, so it's a bit unfair to place me in that Coop.

@ Orka

Of course, if you do choose to donate to kestas' beer fund you can do so without getting one of those annoying little disks next to your name. Nigee loves his, and sees it as a badge of honour to beat people around the head with, as in this thread. I'd avoid doing the same, though, in case other members were to mistake you for a twat.

To be fair it's not a beer fund. Donations cover the server fees. The badges were introduced as part of a donations drive that funded an upgrade to a much better (but more expensive Server). It made a big difference to the site. Donate or not. It's all good.

I can see you have donated spyman .... do other members mistake you for a twat as Octo has suggested ??

It allowed the site to expand, certainly, and made it work with fewer niggles. If it wasn't for having to suffer the occasional obnoxious arsehole spamming the forum with tedious and unwanted requests for money it would be a clear improvement.

so Octo you are avoiding making a contribution because you are afraid people on the forum might think you're a twat ..... I feel they may have already worked that one out !!
What's that smell ... oh yeah, you're complete and utter bullshit !!
Be honest to yourself mate, you're bigger than this ......

Diplomacy is a game for twats. Either you've got what it takes to sell your mother to the highest bidder, or you won't win many games of Diplomacy.

@Jamie please don't bring bidding into this, the mention of a cash transaction can turn a hardened market capitalist tight,... I mean right-winger into a caring-sharing socialist commie man of the people prole railing against the rich and powerful donators who ride roughshod over the unsuspecting poor. Don't pay, won't pay that's his motto :-)

Like I say, Nigs, it is really easy to donate without asking kestas to give you a shiny badge to show off how generous and selfless you are. Now, although I don't like the badge there is no harm in wearing it. There is only harm from the selfish little tits who constantly try and bully others into donating for no reason other than to draw attention to the fact that they've donated and they feel a constant need to be congratulated. It's pathetic.

@Orka

Back in the day the forum used to be full of arrogant sods bickering over essentially pointless details. We've matured a lot since then ;).

Happy anniversary Orka :)

Perhaps badges should expire once a year and the person who wishes to keep theirs needs to donate again.

I wonder when the first female came to this site.

Draugnar: why?

The oldest woman I know of on the site is Pandora. She joined a week before I did, making her almost 6 years old.

@Steephie - So Nigee would have to keep putting up or shut up. Or maybe we could bribe Kestas into taking away badges. I.e. I donate an additional amount equal to Nigee's donation and Kestas removes Nigee's badge.

You guys realize if you remove Niger's badge, he'll immediately spin it to how uncool badges are. If you can't recognize Nigee for the comedic genius that he is, just ignore him.

*Nigee...

Don't you love autocorrect, abge? And you and I know he is trying to be humorous, but he really does do a disservice to the site with the harassment of people who haven't donated. I'd be willing to give up my badge if all badges went away to stop his harassing others.

You and I (and apparently Nigee) can afford to donate $50 or $100 every now and then. Some people can't really afford even $10 or $20 and, as much as we know it is in jest, it ceases to make the site fun for others when they come on here and get a guilt trip from an asshat.

I wouldn't even put Nigee in the top 100 of people who do a disservice to the site. Everything he says is nonsense. The fact that people get so uppity about this particular nonsense actually proves his point.

Well, I know I used to be in the top 100% of being damaging to the site, but I hope that isn't the case of late. I really do feel Nigee's "humor" is harmful and I know he was told about it in the past before you became our wonderful ombudsman (and I mean that most sincerely). But I leave it to you as the great and wise "abgedsman" ((C) Draugnar, 2014) to make that determination. :-)

And please note that my uppity, proves nothing as I have contributed enough to be a gold donor as well. I do so because I love the site, even if I occasionally harm it with my personality being abrasive and carrying things to far.

Those at court shouldn't blame the Fool when offended. That's all I'm trying to say.

The question isn't about the accused being offended, but whether the court should be televised or not. People watching the TV might be turned off by the court proceedings if one of the prosecutors is such an obvious buffoon.

What? I was talking about a King's court. If you watch a Jester's performance don't get angry at him if you don't like his show. Just leave.

Ah! Wrong court. But this Jester isn't playing the King's court. He is playing the public square and doing lewd and lascivious acts while children are present.

Well, I have said on many occasions this site is not an appropriate place for children.

And we are not in the town square. We are in court. King Kestas' court.

LOL! The children are a metaphor for new players just discovering us. :-)

Guys the only thing that I think gives me status on this site is how well I conduct myself in the games that I play, as adults we know these badges mean absolutely nothing that is important, just like the clothes we wear and the cars we drive, in this crazy consumerist world in which we live it would be nice to think the educated minds on this forum can see past things like how many points you have, how many games you have played, what GR you are, the stupid things we say on the forum and yes even beyond whether we have a badge or not ..... to make something of this is a nonsense but I knew someone would take the bait of my obvious troll.
So we ban trolling now if it concerns actually funding the site ...... are we sure ???

Please do not worry, Nigee. You are not nearly so impactful that we need to make new rules on your behalf. <3

" just like the clothes we wear and the cars we drive"

Shut your mouth! My Mercedes means *everything* to me. ;-)

And we are just discussing how much this particular type of trolling does or does not (there is no try) hurt the site.

And I second abge. It's a discussion, nothing more. I would no more actually wish you stifled than krellin or Putin.