About the Yearbook

A note from Lauren

August 19 ,2003

Hey,

Welcome to the Protagonist Community. The community came about because of the Protagonist boards. But the community is not just about forum topics. We're a network of friends with a unique online culture. It's had its share of ups and downs but I'd like to think that there were more positive experiences. Let me bring you back to the reason why I started the boards.

The word "protagonist" came from my online journal. In the ancient times of year 2000, blogging and commenting scripts were unheard of. Readers would email me their feedback on some of my entries and offer good advice. They were very insightful and I wanted to share it to the public. So I started out with a threaded board script in March 23, 2000. But due to hackers, I searched for a better script.

On August 23, 2000 I used the YABB script and invited (erm, forced) my close online friends to sign up. ( more on the history). Word got around and the members invited their friends to join and so on and so forth. So much has changed since the modest beginnings...Like getting older (*smiles*) and having learnt so much from each other. But really... what sets us apart from other forums?

1. We have a mix of easy going, light and deep topics. We were one of the first to have a debate forums (My state of the Empire address).

2. There is an active chatroom of 20 or so regular members with chat snippets and a protagger chat bot.

3. Some of the coolest board events or projects like this 2 year old yearbook, the Secret Valentines, CD exchange, The Days of the Protagonist Journal and, Journal Exchange , just to mention a few is something to look forward to.

4. Members have actually formed online/offline friendships and a few have moved one step higher, *gasps* romance . Ahem. Some members/couples have parted ways or moved on. Some come and go. We never delete members just because you're too shy to post (Pei was initially a lurker) , busy or just needed space away from us.

5. Members are not merely statistics with so and so number of post counts. It's great to have a lot of posts but we also recognize meaningful posts through our merit system. Some might say we're elitist . But that's because we have standards. We are open-minded, frank and tolerant of each other.

6. And most of all, we have friendly and caring admins like Lele and Pei, super mods like Reverie and TN working with a great team of moderators .

To all the members, thanks for building this community. I know this is such a cliche, but without you, there is no community. This yearbook is a never ending project and as a reminder that you're part of this wonderful community.

blinkie

Lauren

And now a word from the other admins.

A note from Lele

/me runs amuck huggling everyone! The Protagonist Community rocks! Well, okay... I may be a tad biased ;) ... but this is by far one of the best online communities that I have been involved in. The Stars Yearbook is another great place for us to get to know each other better! Read up on other star members and don't forget to tag the boards!

-Lele

A note from Pei

Hehe, before stumbling upon The Protagonist Community, I floated around other message boards. Nothing in those boards actually interested me enough to make me stick around. Protagonist Forums did. Are you wondering why?

Me too! :P

Being in the community for so long, I've completely forgotten how it was like being a newbie, and what was the one thing that won't let me leave (other than the fact that Lele might throttle me...). As a newbie/lurker, I guess it was the atmosphere. It was like a close-knitted family. Know what it's like for a person peering through the window and seeing a happy family on Christmas eve? I felt like that.

And then Lauren threw open the door and invited me in to join the family.

I guess the thing about the Protagonist Community is that we don't shun newbies. We may have been accused of being elitist, but in my opinion we aren't at all. We welcome them and we let them settle without any pressure of "you must post or else". Some views it as negligence or lack of interest. But if we were, we wouldn't have made it into the third year of the community's birthday.

And we did.

Things has changed so much from the first year till now. The whole history of comings and goings, the hellos and goodbyes, the smiles and laughter, the fights and friendship... we've all grown up through that. The regulars of the chat have changed, the regulars at the boards have changed. The ones who are still around and the ones who are no longer here. The ones who came and went, and came back again. From the times we took over #italia and started lesbian-sex0ring in there to the time we have to deal with trolls and fake identities, we have stuck together. And through all that, the Protagonist Community had always been around.

So this is for cooperation. For tolerence. For love and for friendship.

For us, the members of the Protagonist Community.