History of Abandonia?
 

Hello everyone.
As is probably quite obvious, I'm quite new to this site--or at least, this aspect of it. Mainly, I would come, snatch a few interesting titles, and scurry away, with few thoughts about the site where I found them. Only recently have I registered and started to look at it fully.
And what a place it is. I hadn't realized the vast, unseen community dedicated to making this site the resource that it is. And so for the last few days, I've been most intrigued as I delved through the old threads and posts, learning of the labors and good times this mass effort has facilitated through the years. And that, I think, is a story worth documenting. The site does have a vague history page, giving important dates and numbers through the last 10 years. And for the average user, thats all that matters.
But it seems this numerical, milestone-based approach to the site fails to give credit to the element most responsible for its success: The dozens of dedicated individuals and their countless hours of dedicated labor, without which the site would be...well, nothing.
We can study history as a series of dates and numbers, and that does carry import, but there is always so much more, so many human stories responsible for those numbers.
That's something this site seems to lack. There are vague footprints, traces of past members hidden deep in the forums, and countless stories in the memories of the present users. That's the thought that most fascinates me. In this group and in these countless threads, there lies the full Abandonia story, one that seems every bit worthy remembering.
In short, I'm thinking that Abandonia has a story worth telling--many stories, in fact--and I was wondering if anyone else agrees. If so, perhaps slowly these disparate pieces of history could be woven together, and the hidden history of the site made visible for all who come after.

Hi,

I'm one of the earliest members of the new site, though I'm a bit disappointed to see I was left out of the 'original crew' list. I was, among other things, the first updater of Abandonia Reloaded and worked with Tom (Henrik) on a number of projects. I believe Tom joining was a turningpoint for Abandonia.
Before that it was mostly Kosta and 'The Niles' (then The Picard) who ran the site at a leisurely pace, but Tom joined up and really started pumping out reviews. The site really grew up when Sebatianos joined and started updating as well.

I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the milestones of this place. I remember the creation of Abandonia Reloaded which, at the time, caused a bit of tension as the members of the old site saw Abandonia Reloaded as a bit of an imposter, stealing certain games and reviews and putting it in a shiny new site. I also remember that AR used to do much more than just review games, such as interview the creators of the game, but that appears to be in the past now. I also remember the creation of the new layout, but I believe I left the site after that. I left partly out of frustration with the somewhat flagging efficiency of some of the senior members and the dwindling contact with Kosta (who no longer appeared online even on my msn list, and which made coordination difficult). I know Seb left to pursue personal goals, as did I as I went to university. I suppose the other members of the old team left for the same reason.

What else do you want to know?

You may find this thread interesting which features a number of older members reminiscing about the old days. I'm mentioned a couple of times on the first page (one reference to a big argument I don't even remember having) and on another page I am remembered especially for my 'attitude'... I can't quite remember what 'attitude' i had but I may have been short tempered by the end of my career at abandonia.

Yes at the time when Sebatianos joined the site it certainly was in the changes. Though at the time it was still kind of a holding together "family" from a time before that, but piece for piece it was falling apart the more members were joining.
There came a time when ESA dealt a big strike on Abandonia, somewhere around 2004 I think, which in turn resulted many games that were previously freely downloadable to become removed from the download option and made the site appear being much shrunken. At that day it seemed pretty grim for Abandonia as I remember, but it grew up even much better after that anyway.

Stroggy is in fact one of the very oldest members of the site who still remained here, but many left in the times already long ago. There've been Puffin (who changed her nick many times to a different one) who was held for a boy at first, and Kiddiarni who both joined long time ago, the latter one spamming many threads with a dancing banana smiley while the rules for spamming weren't that strict yet. Due to some arguments with the founder of the site, Kosta, Kiddiarni was banned for the first time and few times more later after which he didn't return anymore. Kind of lost a piece of the forum after that...
Tom Henrik later made a dancing brown apple or something like that smiley during the times when he experimented with pixel painting, but it wasn't used as much, hardly fitting somewhere due to a bit big size.
There was also Wendymaree who was a great reviewer and uploader for many games for quite some time before certain events on the site made her slowly retreat from the forum. She visited occasionally still after that but now she's all but long gone.

so biased :p

Also, Wendymaree has been active quite frequently over the last few weeks.

Check Stroggy's link for more memories and details.

If Strogggy is one of the oldest members still around, then I guess that I am also part of that group. I joined not too long after him if I look at the date.

I am however not known for my incredible ability to retain information, so if you guys want to know something then you'll have to be a little more precise on what you want to know. :p

huh?

So far, this is better than I'd hoped. I'm glad there are still people around with at least a passing memory of whats been going on the last 5 or so years. I guess I'll just float a few vague questions, and see if anyone can recall them...
So Abandonia Reloaded, it seems, was a tense time for this site. Why was that?
And I've picked up that Kosta is no longer active with the site. Tom Henrik's name seems to come up a lot as a sort of second founder--who was he?
And I've read a few different stories on the dissidents-were they a voluntary group, or were they some banned users who Kosta allowed in on their own forums?

Kosta set up Reloaded with the intention that freeware would go on Reloaded, while AB still focuses on abandoned games. It was supposed to be 2 different sites, concentrating on 2 different areas. But some people don't like the idea that freeware should go to Reloaded now. That's what caused the tension. :)

Tom Henrik was Kosta's 2nd in command for a while. He was an excellent admin, both here, and on Reloaded. Very active and hard working. Sadly, he is no longer active. :max: