NS History: You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers!

[Blackbird]

The tl;dr of it is that Accellsior, the real mover behind the AA, left/retired, as he was wont to do. New People, who took over command of the AA, also eventually folded the AA, with many of their members (New People, Raptor) going into the NPO.

Such is the sad fate of everyone on NS. I missed all the fun. I'm a history buff and a major of history so reading NS history makes my head tingle, and makes me oddly nostalgic.

Well, Accellsior, returned many times since, as Thomasia, of the Meritocracy. New People was/is Mammothistan.

[Indian Empire]

I have a list of questions:

1. What month and year was nationstates founded?
2. Did NS have forums pre 2004 ish?

[Joe Bobs]

I have a list of questions:

1. What month and year was nationstates founded?
2. Did NS have forums pre 2004 ish?

Founded in 2002, I believe October/November.

I think the forums started in 2003, there were old forums pre-Jolt, they are largely spoken of negatively due to their slowness.

[Indian Empire]

When did the raider defender game start up?

[Joe Bobs]

When did the raider defender game start up?

Within weeks of the start of NS. I think I remember The Bruce saying that the Americas may have been the first invasion, but it's hard to say. Maybe a small region that is forgotten to history was taken over by another small region, we might never know!

[Ananke II]

I think the forums started in 2003, there were old forums pre-Jolt, they are largely spoken of negatively due to their slowness.

I liked the old pre-Jolt forum. Sure it was often impossible to post, but mostly when all the americans were online. I don't remember having any trouble posting griefing reports when needed, so I definitely preferred it to the Jolt forums.

[Reploid Productions]

2. Did NS have forums pre 2004 ish?

Well, the forums were already up and running when I joined in March 2003. For certain definitions of "running," at least. Due to the technology the site was running on at the time, the forums were largely lagging beyond any accessibility except the middle of the night for the continental US. Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple and even deca-posting were not uncommon events due to the constant lag.

[District XIV]

2. Did NS have forums pre 2004 ish?

Well, the forums were already up and running when I joined in March 2003. For certain definitions of "running," at least. Due to the technology the site was running on at the time, the forums were largely lagging beyond any accessibility except the middle of the night for the continental US. Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple and even deca-posting were not uncommon events due to the constant lag.

I've also heard from players from that era that there were no real rules and a lot of... bad things occurred.

[Timmeh II]

I have historical query!

When did Tim Stark lose his gameplay virginity?

Thank you.

[Reploid Productions]

Well, the forums were already up and running when I joined in March 2003. For certain definitions of "running," at least. Due to the technology the site was running on at the time, the forums were largely lagging beyond any accessibility except the middle of the night for the continental US. Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple and even deca-posting were not uncommon events due to the constant lag.

I've also heard from players from that era that there were no real rules and a lot of... bad things occurred.

Yeeeeah. The NS forums in March/early April 2003 bore a close resemblance to a particularly infamous and unmoderated section of 4chan. Mainly because, well, there were no moderators to enforce the written rules.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

I've also heard from players from that era that there were no real rules and a lot of... bad things occurred.

Yeeeeah. The NS forums in March/early April 2003 bore a close resemblance to a particularly infamous and unmoderated section of 4chan. Mainly because, well, there were no moderators to enforce the written rules.

I guess it's a case of
"When you put x number of People together On a forum without enforced Rules of decency, they'll tend to turn to Nasty behavior and incedent things"

[Reploid Productions]

Yeeeeah. The NS forums in March/early April 2003 bore a close resemblance to a particularly infamous and unmoderated section of 4chan. Mainly because, well, there were no moderators to enforce the written rules.

I guess it's a case of
"When you put x number of People together On a forum without enforced Rules of decency, they'll tend to turn to Nasty behavior and incedent things"

Less of that (though it was a particularly intense shock image spam attack that prompted the creation of the mod team not long after I joined the site,) and more general lawlessness and lots of flaming, trolling, and threads placed anywhere but where they should have gone. NSG was largely an abandoned wasteland devoid of threads because everybody was posting EVERYTHING in the Nationstates section way up at the top of the forum. NSG-type debates, roleplays, the embryonic sports RP crowd, UN stuff, and just general chaos.

[Joe Bobs]

I think the internet was more like that then, before Encyclopaedia Dramatica went to PG13 and before Lulzsec and Anonymous got on the news, it was a more anarchic time.

Ah nostalgia...

[Arstotzkas]

What happened on april 1st 2013 which had 590 nations on at one time?

[DWAsnia]

What happened on april 1st 2013 which had 590 nations on at one time?

That would have been the April Fools' joke. That year it was the Zombie Apocalypse (which was repeated in Halloween that year.)

[Vaculatestar64]

Apologies if this has already been asked and answered but:

Out of sheer curiosity who lead the largest invasion in GP history, what region was the target, when was this carried out, and were the defenders able to thwart it/end it?

[Aperi]

I'd nominate Palestine perhaps? Straight out Union of Sovereigns (PRP, USSR, Gatesville, and few others who've slipped my spotty memory) vs. ADN (and their alphabet soup paramilitary friends) pile war. Turn-out was huge, 100s of nations IIRC

[Khronion]

I keep hearing about the NPO's rise. How big was the failed invasion force that tried to overthrow Francos Spain?

[Aperi]

I keep hearing about the NPO's rise. How big was the failed invasion force that tried to overthrow Francos Spain?

There were many (understating a bit but you get it). Every single delegate after Francos endured continued aggression from ADN and their alphabet soup paramilitary organizations with both overt invasions (giving rise to our terming them "devaders") and constant attempted infiltrations. The political strong-arming with any region attempting to have any sort of foreign relations with the Pacific was also a hallmark of how the ADN conducted the "liberation" of TP (which if you ask me was CG and Ballo having nothing better to do). I'm sure Free4All/Ballotonia (he sure tried little heart out, bless him and the grey-area tactics he used a few times, or CrazyGirl have a tally stored somewhere.

tl;dr It was a never-ending assault though, persistent lot they were. I was lucky enough to help draft/and be present at the eventual signing of the surrender document of the ADN/DSA to the Pacific. Ending the war.

Disclaimer: To be fair, I was very active in the Pacific and a staunch "anti-ADNer" so while mostly true the above answer comes from someone who was seriously dedicated to the Pacific.

Edit: spelling, grammar, punctuation & added more remembered stuff & disclaimer. more stuff. Leave me alone about the number of edits. I should probably pay more attention to the red squiggly lines.

[Ananke II]

Honestly, the only real invasions/liberations of The Pacific were the ones in late 2003. Those moved a lot of people. I'm not sure how many exactly, but enough that Corinthe would've gained the delegacy one of the times, if Neutered Sputniks hadn't gotten involved. After that it was mostly infiltrations and endorsement swapping (most of them somewhat halfhearted) from what I remember. And the purpose of those particular tactics were broader than regime change. You'll have to remember that for a good deal of regions back then, The Pacific was seen as the biggest security threat to their own communities, so it was important to 1) try and keep tabs on what they were doing, 2) isolate them politically and 3) keep them busy inside their own region, so they didn't go looking for other regions to take over. To be fair, those policies worked best in late 2003/early 2004, when most of the important Gameplay regions was on the same page in that regard.

Oh, and I'm of course seeing this from the anti-Francos side.

[Blackbird]

Honestly, the only real invasions/liberations of The Pacific were the ones in late 2003. Those moved a lot of people. I'm not sure how many exactly, but enough that Corinthe would've gained the delegacy one of the times, if Neutered Sputniks hadn't gotten involved. After that it was mostly infiltrations and endorsement swapping (most of them somewhat halfhearted) from what I remember. And the purpose of those particular tactics were broader than regime change. You'll have to remember that for a good deal of regions back then, The Pacific was seen as the biggest security threat to their own communities, so it was important to 1) try and keep tabs on what they were doing, 2) isolate them politically and 3) keep them busy inside their own region, so they didn't go looking for other regions to take over. To be fair, those policies worked best in late 2003/early 2004, when most of the important Gameplay regions was on the same page in that regard.

Oh, and I'm of course seeing this from the anti-Francos side.

We also astroturfed some "native" opposition.

[Vaculatestar64]

Aperi, why do you keep calling the ADN's allies "alphabet soup paramilitary friends"?

[Aperi]

Aperi, why do you keep calling the ADN's allies "alphabet soup paramilitary friends"?

Same people in a host of orgs that were used to distance the ADN from certain operations. Much like another entity that is prominent in GP presently.

[Lavan Tiri]

When did defenders start to see raiding as immoral?

[Aperi]

Honestly, the only real invasions/liberations of The Pacific were the ones in late 2003. Those moved a lot of people. I'm not sure how many exactly, but enough that Corinthe would've gained the delegacy one of the times, if Neutered Sputniks hadn't gotten involved. After that it was mostly infiltrations and endorsement swapping (most of them somewhat halfhearted) from what I remember. And the purpose of those particular tactics were broader than regime change. You'll have to remember that for a good deal of regions back then, The Pacific was seen as the biggest security threat to their own communities, so it was important to 1) try and keep tabs on what they were doing, 2) isolate them politically and 3) keep them busy inside their own region, so they didn't go looking for other regions to take over. To be fair, those policies worked best in late 2003/early 2004, when most of the important Gameplay regions was on the same page in that regard.

Oh, and I'm of course seeing this from the anti-Francos side.

Bold mine.

Game glitch, IIRC that Neutered Sputniks rectified. Am I right on that? Memory is fuzzy and I was in Greece and hadn't moved to TP yet when that happened.