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The GameFAQs Message Boards are a set of Message Boards hosted by GameFAQs , a popular Video Game Website . Though the original purpose of the board system was to facilitate game discussion, a number of other board categories have been added since the boards first came online on November 7 , 1999 . The boards were originally custom-made by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey, the site's founder. His code serves as the basis for the engine that currently runs the forums of GameFAQs, GameSpot , MP3.com , and TV.com . USER LEVELS Every board member is assigned a board User Level that controls which boards and special features are available. Many of the levels are gained by earning "karma". Karma is a score similar to the post counting methods used by other boards, except only one karma point can be earned per day (with the exception of the annual karma boosts which are based on a percentage of existing karma). In order to gain the daily karma point, a user must visit the boards while logged in. The User Levels and their karma requirements have been altered quite a few times. An out-of-date list is located here {Link without Title} . ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF GameFAQs is continually managed and monitored through the efforts of site administrators and Moderators . While most of the workload is still done by CJayC, there are other administrators who perform various tasks around the site, and a team of moderators monitors the message boards. Administrators Administrators control all aspects of the boards. Initially, only CJayC was an administrator and therefore had full control over the site. After the acquisition by CNET Networks and the merger with GameSpot , CJayC maintained his administrative duties, but more administrators have been added to the staff with varying responsibilities. There are currently two active administrators on GameFAQs: CJayC and Sailor Bacon (a former moderator). Both of them review contributions and handle board issues, such as banning users, on a daily basis. CJayC continues to do coding work for the site and handles other behind-the-scenes issues. There are four Developers from CNET with GameFAQs administrator accounts (sbritton, jsd, gs_vincel, and Teivan), but they mostly do coding/debugging for other CNET Games & Entertainment sites. BethanyM and JodyR are GameSpot community managers that have had little to no role on the GameFAQs boards. Shadotak, who is CJayC's wife, has an administrator account, but is also inactive. GameFAQs administrators (except Shadotak) are paid employees of CNET Networks, Inc. Moderators Moderators on GameFAQs are volunteers selected by CJayC who have been appointed to keep order in community discussion and activities. Moderators are only expected to handle cases brought forward by users (users can "mark" messages for moderators to review). Their typical duties include deleting TOS violations, suspending users, closing topics, and sticking topics. While not obligated to, some moderators choose to perform more active roles on GameFAQs. Some moderators frequent popular boards to participate in board discussions, with their presence dissuading some tendencies for users to violate the site rules. Others act as the site's Public Relations representatives to form a link between the userbase and the staff. Moderators on GameFAQs have relatively little authority on the site, unlike many other online communities. Furthermore, they are not employees of CNET or its affiliates. New moderators are hand-picked by CJayC, with recommendations given out by current moderators. From 2000 through 2005 , over 130 moderators were selected in seven different application proccesses. Only users who are extremely active on the site with a very good moderation history and have remained for a long time (typically at least 2 or 3 years) even have a chance of being selected. The acceptance rate was well below 1% during the last moderator applications. BOARDS Game and System Every game in the GameFAQs database has a message board for game discussion. With the exception of a few older systems, Topicality on these boards is strictly enforced. Popular games may have additional boards for social (non-topical), game strategy-related, or other miscellaneous discussion for that game. In addition to games, each system on GameFAQs has a General board for discussing the Hardware , upcoming games, and other topics not specific to one particular game. Most of these are inactive except for the relatively recent consoles. Site These are boards created to allow users to discuss matters relating to GameFAQs and its message boards.
Social Social boards are boards made purely for the purpose of socializing. These boards do not have topicality rules. These boards are usually the largest boards on GameFAQs at any given time. The largest of these boards are Current Events, Random Insanity, and Poll of the Day. A list of all Social boards can be found here: {Link without Title} Special Interest Special Interest boards are boards similar to game boards, but about any one of various topics that GameFAQs users have petitioned the administration to create. These are not social boards; all topics have to match the respective board's description or risk moderation. There are boards for popular book/movie series like Harry Potter , Lord Of The Rings , and Star Wars ; hobbies such as poetry, drawing, and books; and popular sports such as racing, basketball, football, and baseball. A list of all Special Interest boards can be found here: {Link without Title} Special Special boards (also commonly known as '''secret boards''') are a series of 17 message boards that are hard to find because users must manually type the board number in the address bar; they are not linked on the site. #Brilliant (-1) {Link without Title} #Nine (9) {Link without Title} #Board 250 (250) {Link without Title} #Eggbeater (486) {Link without Title} #Spork (542) {Link without Title} #Spatula (622) {Link without Title} #Semprini (709) {Link without Title} # (60666) {Link without Title} #The Goggles, They Do Nothing (185183) {Link without Title} # Snakes On A Plane (417148) {Link without Title} # Angela (8535937) {Link without Title} # Jenny (8675309) {Link without Title} #Lame (20040401) {Link without Title} #Rnd() (123456789) {Link without Title} #Pie (314159265) {Link without Title} #Toaster Oven (909090909) {Link without Title} #WOT (408) – ''see note below'' {Link without Title}
LUE LUE, which stands for "Life, the Universe, and Everything", is one of the most controversial boards in GameFAQs history. Its name is a reference to Douglas Adams ' '' The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy '' series, and its original board number ( 42 ) continued the reference. Users on LUE refer to themselves as "LUEsers" and often attach "LUE" to other popular fads and events on the board, including the ASCII Art known as " LUEshi ". Due to the number of board invasions and the high number of moderations the board users have committed, CJayC has taken several drastic steps to curb LUEsers, including making LUE into a '''Private board'''. #After LUE users initiated a Forum Invasion of the Zelda Social Board, another board on GameFAQs, CJayC took drastic action. He raised the board level requirement from 30 (75 karma) to 31 (150 karma) (known on LUE as "RevoLUEtion"). He also created the board Another Place (board 411) as a haven for those shut out by the change. #On October 12 , 2003 , LUE was removed from the Board Manager ("SecLUEsion"). This event made LUE the first public board to become "secret"; that is, no direct public links were available. This was not very successful since users merely asked for the board link if they wanted to visit it. #On November 15 , 2003 , following a major invasion of a dead girl's LiveJournal , CJayC closed LUE to new members ("SteriLUEzation"). This event closed access to everybody above user ID 888113, which was the highest ID at the time. {Link without Title} #Although no major infractions had occurred, CJayC announced plans to privatize LUE ("ExcLUEsion") on January 14 , 2004 . [http://chris.insder.com/index.php?pg=208 . Users who wished to remain at LUE were required to signup during the two-week signup period. LUE is the only board in GameFAQs history to receive such curtailed access. Currently, the only way for new users to gain access to LUE is to become a moderator (who inherently have access to all GameFAQs boards). On several occasions, CJayC has stated that he will never open new signups for LUE access. On April 29 , 2005 , in the Great GameFAQs Q&A , CJayC said, "22,584 accounts originally signed up for LUE. Of those, 17,193 remain, the rest being lost to bans and purges." Other Boards
SPINOFF WEBSITES Due to the high popularity of GameFAQs' forums, many users have created their own forums based on the layout and general functioning of those of GameFAQs. They are commonly referred to as ''spinoffs''. Most contained additional features not present in GameFAQs' forums, some original and others culled from popular forum software. While many had a contribution system mimicking GameFAQs', they were generally seldom used. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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