GetDotted Domains

Viewing Thread:
"Thank You Tony and Other Thoughts"

The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.

Fri 20/04/18 at 11:20
Regular
"Under the Wall"
Posts: 191
Hi all, this is my bi-annual nostalgia visit to the forums while renewing my domain. Nice (and surprising!) to see some familiar names posting recently. :^)

Several months ago, I was working on something work-related but extra-curricular, a guide for my sector about operating in China. I was reviewing the draft report and feeling quite impressed (if I can so say myself) with the standard of my writing.

And I thought, you know what, a lot of this is down to having made an effort to produce good work, consistently over a few years, on the Special Reserve forums. And let's be honest, a lot of that (at least the effort to write to a high standard) was driven by the Game A Day competition.

I have a feeling Tony Rainbird knew what he was doing when he incentivised everybody put some thought into writing quality posts. I know the game a day thing created a community and loyal customer base (perhaps one of the first social media marketing tools!), but I suspect there was a lot of alturism and some financial losses in there too.

So having seen Tony's still posting here, I want to say thank you for doing it. I think a lot of people who are now in the (relatively) young adult bracket are benefitting from being able to write well because of what you did for them.


It so happens that I'm working on a book at the moment, in my spare time. Only a small proportion of books get published, but I'm writing non-fiction for a gap in the literature on my subject matter that (I think) is crying out to be filled. I'm maybe 80% done at around 62,000 words of a first draft, before the long process of reviewing, improving and editing. But I think there's a great chance of making it to publication. Again my ability to write to sufficiently high standard to do this is probably down to Tony and the Special Reserve GAD.

If anyone deserved a name evocative of a beautiful and rare avian of the rainforest, it is surely he. <3 :^D



As an aside, I'm looking at starting chapters with quotes, and one (not directly related to the book's subject matter but I can make it fit!) is something Goatboy wrote that somehow stuck in my head. It was along the lines of 'Sex in a relationship gets boring after the first few months. You end up bending on in once in a while just to be polite.'
(Yes, the tone of my book isn't very serious.)

Does anyone know if the old forums are searchable? I'd like to try to find the original quote. I have no idea when it was though!

And does anyone know Goatboy, or at least his real name? (I'm sure we can manage to communicate without doxing him publically.) I'd like to ask or at least credit him for the quote.
Sun 22/07/18 at 23:33
Regular
Posts: 18,185
I used to edit MCV, which was a weekly video game magazine (still runs today, but now monthly). I was there for 9 years before joining GamesIndustry.biz, where I am now. 7 staff excluding me. I don’t write as frequently as I used to, which does make me a bit sad. It’s the sister site to Eurogamer
Sun 15/07/18 at 22:46
Regular
Posts: 8,220
Hah, good timing. I came back a couple of months on to see if there's anything new, and 5 minutes ago...!

What's the web site? I'd be interested to see your work.
Sun 15/07/18 at 22:37
Regular
Posts: 18,185
It’s the same here. I only started writing about video games to win Gameaday and now I’m a publisher of a major video game website.
Wed 09/05/18 at 19:34
Regular
Posts: 8,220
Haha! In 2020 I might be half way finished with my book :^D

It did help, thank you!, in that I tried the search functions, but I couldn't find the quote I was looking for. My theory is that the quote was probably in the Life... forum (where I spent most of my time), which doesn't seem to have been archived.

So now I'm thinking I'll quote him as best I remember it, unless I can think of a better quote related to the word 'Bend'.
Sun 22/04/18 at 17:47
Moderator
"Are you sure?"
Posts: 5,000

Dr Duck wrote:
Hi all, this is my bi-annual nostalgia visit to the forums while renewing my domain...


Let us know in 2020 if this helped! :¬P
Hmmm...
Fri 20/04/18 at 15:37
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985

Dr Duck wrote:
Hi all, this is my bi-annual nostalgia visit to the forums while renewing my domain. Nice (and surprising!) to see some familiar names posting recently. :^)

Several months ago, I was working on something work-related but extra-curricular, a guide for my sector about operating in China. I was reviewing the draft report and feeling quite impressed (if I can so say myself) with the standard of my writing.

And I thought, you know what, a lot of this is down to having made an effort to produce good work, consistently over a few years, on the Special Reserve forums. And let's be honest, a lot of that (at least the effort to write to a high standard) was driven by the Game A Day competition.

I have a feeling Tony Rainbird knew what he was doing when he incentivised everybody put some thought into writing quality posts. I know the game a day thing created a community and loyal customer base (perhaps one of the first social media marketing tools!), but I suspect there was a lot of alturism and some financial losses in there too.

So having seen Tony's still posting here, I want to say thank you for doing it. I think a lot of people who are now in the (relatively) young adult bracket are benefitting from being able to write well because of what you did for them.


It so happens that I'm working on a book at the moment, in my spare time. Only a small proportion of books get published, but I'm writing non-fiction for a gap in the literature on my subject matter that (I think) is crying out to be filled. I'm maybe 80% done at around 62,000 words of a first draft, before the long process of reviewing, improving and editing. But I think there's a great chance of making it to publication. Again my ability to write to sufficiently high standard to do this is probably down to Tony and the Special Reserve GAD.

If anyone deserved a name evocative of a beautiful and rare avian of the rainforest, it is surely he. <3 :^D



As an aside, I'm looking at starting chapters with quotes, and one (not directly related to the book's subject matter but I can make it fit!) is something Goatboy wrote that somehow stuck in my head. It was along the lines of 'Sex in a relationship gets boring after the first few months. You end up bending on in once in a while just to be polite.'
(Yes, the tone of my book isn't very serious.)

Does anyone know if the old forums are searchable? I'd like to try to find the original quote. I have no idea when it was though!

And does anyone know Goatboy, or at least his real name? (I'm sure we can manage to communicate without doxing him publically.) I'd like to ask or at least credit him for the quote.


Special Reserve was at a time when I was doing late shifts, so it was pretty handy when things slowed down to put my efforts into more creative pursuits than crunching numbers. Difficult not to feel nostalgic about those days.
Fri 20/04/18 at 15:29
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985

Hmmm... wrote:
Hi Dr Duck - welcome back!
It's scary how time flies.

Yes you can search the old forums.
Either via Freeola's official search https://freeola.com/search/ or the search page I set up many moons ago before Freeola had their own: http://www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk/search - use the 'Search Freeola Chat' option.

Searching for your name or some of the snippets you post above I see returns different results - so try both if you don't find what you are looking for.

Hmmm...


I went in there once, almost never made it out. The nostalgia surrounds you, chokes you...
Fri 20/04/18 at 12:44
Moderator
"Are you sure?"
Posts: 5,000

Dr Duck wrote:
... Does anyone know if the old forums are searchable? I'd like to try to find the original quote. I have no idea when it was though! ...



Hi Dr Duck - welcome back!
It's scary how time flies.

Yes you can search the old forums.
Either via Freeola's official search https://freeola.com/search/ or the search page I set up many moons ago before Freeola had their own: http://www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk/search - use the 'Search Freeola Chat' option.

Searching for your name or some of the snippets you post above I see returns different results - so try both if you don't find what you are looking for.

Hmmm...
Fri 20/04/18 at 11:20
Regular
"Under the Wall"
Posts: 191
Hi all, this is my bi-annual nostalgia visit to the forums while renewing my domain. Nice (and surprising!) to see some familiar names posting recently. :^)

Several months ago, I was working on something work-related but extra-curricular, a guide for my sector about operating in China. I was reviewing the draft report and feeling quite impressed (if I can so say myself) with the standard of my writing.

And I thought, you know what, a lot of this is down to having made an effort to produce good work, consistently over a few years, on the Special Reserve forums. And let's be honest, a lot of that (at least the effort to write to a high standard) was driven by the Game A Day competition.

I have a feeling Tony Rainbird knew what he was doing when he incentivised everybody put some thought into writing quality posts. I know the game a day thing created a community and loyal customer base (perhaps one of the first social media marketing tools!), but I suspect there was a lot of alturism and some financial losses in there too.

So having seen Tony's still posting here, I want to say thank you for doing it. I think a lot of people who are now in the (relatively) young adult bracket are benefitting from being able to write well because of what you did for them.


It so happens that I'm working on a book at the moment, in my spare time. Only a small proportion of books get published, but I'm writing non-fiction for a gap in the literature on my subject matter that (I think) is crying out to be filled. I'm maybe 80% done at around 62,000 words of a first draft, before the long process of reviewing, improving and editing. But I think there's a great chance of making it to publication. Again my ability to write to sufficiently high standard to do this is probably down to Tony and the Special Reserve GAD.

If anyone deserved a name evocative of a beautiful and rare avian of the rainforest, it is surely he. <3 :^D



As an aside, I'm looking at starting chapters with quotes, and one (not directly related to the book's subject matter but I can make it fit!) is something Goatboy wrote that somehow stuck in my head. It was along the lines of 'Sex in a relationship gets boring after the first few months. You end up bending on in once in a while just to be polite.'
(Yes, the tone of my book isn't very serious.)

Does anyone know if the old forums are searchable? I'd like to try to find the original quote. I have no idea when it was though!

And does anyone know Goatboy, or at least his real name? (I'm sure we can manage to communicate without doxing him publically.) I'd like to ask or at least credit him for the quote.

Freeola & GetDotted are rated 5 Stars

Check out some of our customer reviews below:

Easy and free service!
I think it's fab that you provide an easy-to-follow service, and even better that it's free...!
Cerrie
Best Provider
The best provider I know of, never a problem, recommend highly
Paul

View More Reviews

Need some help? Give us a call on 01376 55 60 60

Go to Support Centre
Feedback Close Feedback

It appears you are using an old browser, as such, some parts of the Freeola and Getdotted site will not work as intended. Using the latest version of your browser, or another browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera will provide a better, safer browsing experience for you.