A Chronicle of YCM

[Frunk]

A Chronicle of YCM
A documentation of the history of the Yu-Gi-Oh Card Maker forums through the eyes of Frunk.

To discuss this chronicle, click here.

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Chapters

Introduction (this post)
Chapter I
Chapter II

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Introduction

It occurs to me that when one writes such a thing and posts it in such a place, they will require a lengthy and somewhat daft parenthesis (albeit untraditional) to explain themselves and their reasons. Having said that, if you’re not a fan of long posts (this one, when combined with the first chapter, is 3,800 words), big-people talk, non-fiction books, Australian English (as in “colour” as opposed to “color”), or threads in the Fan-Fiction forum that don’t somehow revolve around “Yu-Gi-Oh,” “Pokémon” or some other fad of a similar nature: stop reading this right now, as for you to do otherwise will be a waste of time for the both of us. However, if you have ever desired becoming a moderator of YCM, declared your “love” and “devotion” to the site or stated that it is the “best site on the Internet,” I suggest that you read on, as you will learn many things you previously did not.

To those of you who were intellectual enough to read beyond the above paragraph, I thank you, and welcome you to my chronicle of the history of the Yu-Gi-Oh Card Maker forums, or, as they are commonly referred to, YCM. I have created this chronicle for a number of reasons. I hope to enlighten many of the members of this forum who were not fortunate enough to witness the key parts in YCM’s history as they happened. Many members I see discussing such historical events, persons and happenings of this site haven’t quite got the story correct (at the best of times), and that is, to me, frustrating. Until a few months ago, YCM was a major part of my life, and my time here taught me quite a lot. I felt I should honour YCM with such a documentation of fact so that her members know what really went on and so they can respect what this forum has been through - There have been many highs and many lows, as well as a great deal of interesting occurrences in between.

Having been there from the practical start (despite leaving precisely four months ago as of May 8, 2008; and no, I did not plan to post this on the four-month anniversary of my leaving, that is just a coincidence), I know nearly as much of the forum’s history as YCMaker himself, if not much more so. Some of the more enlightened of you will perhaps notice over time that this is not a chronicle as they are traditionally defined. I will cover the history of the site as chronologically as possible, but it will not just be events in YCM’s history that will be discussed (like the forum wars, which have, over time, become heavily shrouded in innuendo from this chronicle’s target audience); I will also be covering certain members who I think had a great influence on the forum, and perhaps even some aspects of the forum itself.

Let me say, first and foremost, that the information in this chronicle is written strictly through my eyes. This means two things. First, you won’t be hearing too much to do with the Custom Cards, Yu-Gi-Oh or Graphic Design sections of this forum unless I was directly involved. I spent very little time in those areas, venturing into them only when I wanted or needed to or when my services as a moderator were required. Second, the opinions portrayed in this chronicle may be slightly biased in one way or another, and for that, I must apologise in advance. I’ll also note my poor sentencing skills, my love for commas, and my lack of ability to keep things in the same tense and person. Until I stop learning about silly-old books like To Kill a Mockingbird in my English classes and start learning such useful information as stated, I believe that my grammatical hiccups are, for the time being, incurable. One must also note that due to my schooling I have a very busy life and can’t dedicate as much time as I’d like to writing, and that, obviously, includes this chronicle – my first non-fiction work created by my choice. For these reasons, it may be once in a blue moon that you read a new chapter of this chronicle, but I will try to make it as often as possible. I believe that is all I need to cover in this parenthesis, so the only thing left to do is begin!

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