Episode 200a: Retrospective | Part 1

[Lemon]

My introduction to crazy internet shit was Encyclopedia Dramatica in 2005 and, yes, you can shoot me (in fact, please do).

There's very, very little record of Portal of Evil on the Internet anymore, so I wanted to list something in the show notes to explain perhaps a little better what the site was. Unfortunately, the closest I could come to that was the ED entry on PoE which is basically goatse and then the word fag a thousand times.

I haven't played TF2 in many years, is the core game the same? Or has the merch overtaken the central concept of cartoons shooting each other a lot?

[Agent (gobble, gobble) Coop]

So is this where we post our unimportant and e/n origin stories?

I used to listen to this YouTube series called "This Troper" where people read Troper Tales in silly voices. Found the Something Awful threads about TvTropes, and through them, The F-Plus

[Gyro]

Unfortunately, the closest I could come to that was the ED entry on PoE which is basically goatse and then the word fag a thousand times.

You didn't need to specify the PoE entry, that's an apt description of every ED article ever.

I haven't played TF2 in many years, is the core game the same? Or has the merch overtaken the central concept of cartoons shooting each other a lot?

The core game is the same but there is no longer a cohesive visual style at all, and there's so much wacky shit people can shoot at you with that it's very hard to keep track of what the fuck is going on (even moreso than it was already).

I'll get the TF2 server back up and running, probably with all of my old mods.

We'll schedule a time to play.

AW YISS

Please include the CTF map "Convoy," because that is my fetish.

[Emperor Jack Chick]

I seem to recall we read the j-lzrd meltdown post on tf2 at some point.

[Old_Zircon]

This is the oldest PoE mirror I know of (if there's any record more complete than the scattered fragments on Archive.org I've never found it), and the second exhibit on the front page is

A Woman's Guide on How to Pee Standing Toaster
11/24/99 03:14:14 PM EST
Category:Education,General
Rating:8.34 Votes:9
5 Comments
Practice, practice, practice. With time, you too can know the sheer joy of a urine signature on a cold december morning. Almost as bizarre as the fact that there even is a restrooms.org.

Over 16 years later we're still laughing at how-to-pee guides.


EDIT: incidentally, it looks like the last submission on there, Too Many Breasts (obviously NSFW unless you work at The Last Resort), was pretty thoroughly archived.

[Kaleidoscope]

Oh my fucking god all of this TF2 nostalgia is going to crush me.

Can we get a TF2 server? Maybe with all of the terrible cash shop items disabled, just stock weapons and the 2009-ish-era achievement unlock items left in?

If someone else does all the work, I'll join

Me too!

[LINDA]

"I'm not going to explain what a furry is just kidding let me explain" is basically my role in the office now thanks to you guys and it brings me joy that I'm not the only one.

I explained what a SPH is to the owners of the company and somehow not only am I still employed but they have since given me a raise.

Great episode

[Emperor Jack Chick]

OH YEAH speaking of that I got to explain to my therapist what a waifu was yesterday.

So that went well.

[EYE OF ZA]

So how did people here find the F Plus?

I used to browse TV Tropes a lot and also read the Something Awful front page.  I slowly realized how insufferable TV Tropes was, and around that same time I discovered the 'post your favorite thing to mock on the internet' thread on Post Your Favorite while the SA paywall was down.  I joined so I could post, and someone in that thread linked The F Plus.  I think it was either the MUD descriptions or the Malatora episode, because I remember listening to those first while spending Christmas break at my parents;' house.

It wasn't my first exposure to weird internet though, as I was pretty big into 4chan even earlier on, and I liked when they would dig up weird websites, and even earlier than that I remember hanging out on link aggregator sites that included stuff like that (like I think I-am-bored.com?)  I did some Encyclopedia Dramatica browsing, but that was insufferable in a different way from TV Tropes and I never got much into it.

Interesting that the Prime Directive came up as something specific to PoE back then, because from what I know of SA now, they're pretty big on their own version of it, alternatively called 'safari rule' or 'don't touch the poop', which are pretty self-explanatory.  I know that the site's gone through some pretty huge shifts since it's been around so long, though.


In the episode, you guys kind of touched on the 'why is this interesting' and I think it's because there's a dumb creativity to terrible internet that's fascinating.  That's why it doesn't matter so much if things are an act or not, because either way, they're tapping into that raw, dumb, idea-generation part of the brain that goes GARFIELD RIDING MOTORCYCLE or PUT A WATCH ON MY DICK or STATIONERY VOYAGERS. 

[Fatty Bo Batty]

I had to explain to my friend (from Vietnam) what a furry was after a furry wearing a "free hugs" tshirt walked into the bowling alley where we were playing. She was very confused.

ETA: Holy shit, I just got reminded of the time where I was in a TF2 game, and I read the speech from "Atlas Shrugged" in a shitty Ben Stein impersonation.

[Dawnswalker]

I was in a shitty mood yesterday, and this episode made me feel better, so thanks!

I'm having a hard time remembering which episode was my first, how I found The F Plus, or anything like that, but I absolutely remember the time I nearly drove over a guardrail and into a (shallow) ditch while I was listening to Episode #100.

DORRANCE 5X STAINLESS STEEL HOOOOOOOOOOKS

[memorylikeasieve]

My first episode was, actually, the Transformers fic one, because a friend of mine wanted my roommate and me to listen to F+ and my roommate is a Transformers fan (as am I, but not as much).  I kinda liked it, but I didn't get hooked until they played the Clingfilm episode.

Now I listen to random episodes whenever I'm bored or feeling F-plussy.  This happens a lot. 

[Yavuz]

I found the F-Plus through I Don't Even Own A Television, courtesy of Lemon's guest host spot on their "Candy Girl" episode. I'm also one of those people who listens to the podcast while trying to go to sleep. It's probably a good thing that I hardly ever remember my dreams.

[Cheapskate]

I lurked on PoE when I was in college. My site was featured on it (I was the Institute for Naming Children Humanely guy).

I came over here from the SA thread on TV Tropes.

[Acierocolotl]

I seem to recall we read the j-lzrd meltdown post on tf2 at some point.

I had Lemon read his lines in that wondrous event, computer-synthesized jlzrd, spliced it together and called it done.  I still have it and his post-meltdown sequel, of course.  http://ao.kalimonster.net/audio/jlzrd/

Referenced in the retrospective, but not linked:  World's Fastest Greatest.  The URL is martialart.org, and you can find it on archive.org or the waybackmachine or whatever you like.  Not saved were the enormous, autoplaying videos of him demonstrating his "prowess", which included falling down after a spinning kick, and bashing into walls when demonstrating active sparring.  Buuuuut google searches for things like "ACAMAC AristoAgon" shows this guy was still pushing his stuff a decade later.  Dedicated!  There's a reason he's my fave.

As an aside, well before Fplus, I sometimes amused myself by going to open mic poetry nights and reading weird shit.