Story Time With Spottedleaf
Jul 21, 2015 1:59:36 GMT -5
Post by ✞~Spottedleaf ~✞ on Jul 21, 2015 1:59:36 GMT -5
If you saw my poll about this, then you know what this is about. If not, then click here. I plan to try to update this at least weekly if not more often than that. Remember to comment your thoughts, as they help more than you know.
Anyways, here is the first story. This story is not about the forum itself, but it is about Multiplayer.
It was the end of January 2013 when Falcon Development put the server on for a number of days in a row. Before this time, I had not experienced meeting up with him on the server. However, little did I know that one of the nights I was playing, he was disguised as a cat under a different name, Shadowstar, I believe. We were all hanging out in the Twoleg house, and I think we might have been talking about meeting Falcon on the server or something because that led me to saying that I had never been online at the same time as him. 'Shadowstar' logged out and returned as Falconstar, and the next thing I know, "NOW YOU HAVE!" shows up on the chat box. I am actually not too sure of what happened after this, but I did take a screenshot of when we were in the Twoleg house. I currently don't have the screenshot, but I think I might see if I can find it. (I think I deleted it from my computer some time ago, unfortunately)
Second Story- July 28th, 2015
Note: I know that this is just a re-post of a story that I already posted, but some might not have seen or read it, so I decided to re-post it.
This story took place in the same year as the above story, but it happened about seven months later. It was early August, 2013, when I came home from a 2-hour day at school and logged onto the forum, and I saw that Falcon was in the shoutbox. I wasn't feeling that well because I had gotten braces just three days beforehand. I was very sore, and I felt lightheaded and weak because due to the soreness, it made it hard to eat almost anything at all, so I basically just didn't eat for 3 days. I told Falcon about my school day, which really didn't go to well just because of how I was feeling, and then he asked me if I would watch a WC:UT live stream if he put one up. Of course, how could I say no to that? I said that I would watch it, so he set it up, and he started playing WC:UT v15. This live stream wasn't really what I had in mind, but it was really entertaining to watch. Falconstar started hacking his game. He turned himself into various items such as a tree and a car. He also made it rain blood, claws, cats, and even Great Sycamores. He turned ShadowClan's guards into Twolegs. He messed around with a lot of different things. He made it to where he could walk on the walls. The whole thing actually got pretty funny. At the end, Nightbolt posted screenshots and pretended that the whole thing was a glitch.Some people fell for it, while others thought that there was a bunch of editing involved.Everybody who watched, even Falcon, just played along until Nightbolt finally revealed the secret. It really made my day. Honestly, Falcon got the first smile/laugh out of me since I had gotten the braces.
Here is the thread that contains all the screenshots that Nightbolt took: Click here
I have some additional screenshots to add this time, but I cannot take credit for taking these. ʟᴀᴛɪᴀs ❥ has sent these pictures to me and given me permission to post them here. So, here they are:
Explanations:
1) Turned trees into apples.
2) Created an Ember army.
3) Made himself a tree that could actually walk around.
4) Rained claws.
5) RAINED TREES o.o
6) Turned a tree into a cat that wouldn't move.
7) Turned Rotstar into a Twoleg at the Gathering.
Third story- August 4th, 2015
Many of you know that I am good friends with ✻Dawnleaf✻ and that we have had a PM going on for almost three consecutive years, so this story will be about how we met and came to be so close. We started PM'ing each other when I had an apprentice name game going on. I had chosen her as the winner, so I PM'ed her to let her know and so that she could choose the next apprentice name and all that. After she responded to that, we went off topic and began talking. We started out by greeting each other the next day or when we came online after being off for a while, and we would always ask each other how they were feeling and things like that. We kept this thing going for a while until it just became an every day thing. In the time that has passed by, we have become very fond of each other. We love each other like we would love a sister, and we have never given up on meeting each other in person one day. We trust each other with anything, and we even text each other now. As of right now, the conversation that started when the forum switched layout has just under 2500 pages. However, I have a total of 9,488 messages in my inbox at the moment (every single message anybody has ever sent me), and probably at least 80% of them are from her alone from when the messages were just singles. Now that we have been friends for so long, I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. So, basically, what started from winning a game, led to a friendship that will likely last forever, and I wouldn't change anything about it.
Fourth story- August 10th, 2015
Those of you who know me well not only know about the bond Dawnleaf and I share between each other, but you also know about the friendship Falcon and I have. Since last week's story was about how the friendship between Dawn and me started, I decided that it was Falconstar's turn this week.
I will start this out by saying that I have every message that I have ever received still in my inbox, and the oldest message is from June 30th, 2012, and it is from Falcon. However, that was not when we started talking so much, since he only messaged me about having more than one account. We also PM'd each other when there was an advertisement for WC:UT version 15 video contest going on, but that was also not exactly when our friendship really started to form.
It was about this time three years ago when I decided to make another advertisement video for the game for my YouTube channels third anniversary, which is on August 29th. However, being the procrastinator that I was at 14-years-old, I pushed off the production of the video until the very weekend before my channel's anniversary. Unfortunately for me, I was sick on the weekend that I had planned to make the video. It was really nothing more than a cold, since according to the messages from back then, I was basically just sneezing a bunch, and I had a low-grade fever that never got above 100.6, but I still never really felt entirely up to it. Since Falconstar knew that I was going to make the video, I messaged him and told him that I was sick and that I wasn't sure if I would still make the video over the weekend or not. Over the next few days, I kept updating him on how I was feeling and things like that, and he replied a few times. I was fine by the end of the weekend, and after I had fully recovered, I asked him if I could ask random questions. He gave me permission to do so, and through this conversation, I was able to get to know him better. This ended up lasting close to three months, since I kind of got carried away with it. I never meant to make it last so long, but after a while, I mostly did it because I enjoyed talking to him, and reading his responses always made my day. It didn't even matter if it was before or after school when I read them because no matter what, it still made my day. After that ended, we didn't talk as much as we did during that time, but we did every now and then. Falcon was really the first person on the forum who I really warmed up to, and I still go to him for kind of a lot. We still get along very well today, and I couldn't be more happy about that.
Dawnleaf and Falcon both have made differences in my life since I have joined the forum in more ways than you would know, and they are two of many reasons to why I have stayed active here as long as I have, and it probably has been a while since I've told them this, but I will stay here for a very long time because of our friendships and because of how well Falcon runs this forum. Falcon, if you are reading this, then keep it up, and continue to be the great person that you are.
Fifth Story- August 17th, 2015
Since the last few stories have been about the friendships I have with Falcon and Dawnleaf, I have decided to change the subject a bit. While I was involved in this particular topic, it involves me less directly.
This is about when some kind of flu-like illness that kept going around the forum for up to two and a half weeks straight. It started in the middle of January and ended in early February of 2013, if I remember correctly. At first, just a couple of people were making threads in the Off Topic boards and saying that they were sick, but then the threads seemed to multiply. I mean, there may have been a few days here and there where no threads were posted and things like that, but it seemed like very little time before a different person posted a thread saying that they had caught the illness. I don't remember very many people by name who got sick, but trust me when I say that there were a lot for what you usually see at a time on an online website like this. I remember it was so bad that on one of the threads, people were posting things like "OH NO! IT'S SPREADING THROUGH THE FORUMS!" Honestly, I think the only reason why I remember what kind of general sickness that was spreading, is because I caught it myself. It could have just been a really bad cold, but I am going to go ahead and call it the flu, since I had a pretty high fever for it to just be a cold, and it lasted a while (I didn't actually go to the doctor, so it's hard to really know for sure) I went to bed one night having a headache, feeling cold (as in feverishly cold), and I had had a sore throat for several days before that. However, I woke up the next morning with the same symptoms as before, but worse, and I had a fever of 102. I started sneezing, coughing, and everything else that goes along with having the flu. Two days passed, and I still had a fever that was about the same, and it even reached 102.5 or closer to 103. Long story short, I was sick from a Sunday-Friday time-period (6 days counting Sunday, Friday, and every day in between). The reason why I included this part about when I had it myself is so you would get an idea of what the sickness was, even though I might have gotten the harsher side of it. Honestly, I think the forum-sickness died after I finally got over it because I don't remember seeing anymore threads being posted after that date.
So, this is it for this week's story. Sorry for the fact that it may not be about something good that happened on the forum, but I thought that this might be interesting. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
EDIT: Here are some links that you can check out, so you can see that I'm not exaggerating about this whole thing.
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15708/sick
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15543/get-snoweh-3
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15583/sick
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15567/sick
Another good resource to check out would be the All Nighter thread, pages 605-630.
Sixth Story- August 23rd, 2015 -This story may not be considered 'old', since it is about something that happened within the past year, but I still chose to write about it for this week's story.
In late October last year, my cat Elvis went missing for five days or so. I hadn't really even noticed that he was gone until after at least two days had passed. I was up close to all night one night crying because I was really worried for Elvis, and I missed him terribly. After I got home from school the following afternoon, I posted a thread on the forum and pretty much just poured out all my feelings onto the post. I sent other people personal messages about it as well, and I can say that I am still grateful to this day for the kind words that were said in the replies. I couldn't have gone through that dark period of time if it wasn't for the support I received from those who took time out of their day to even just leave a kind note on the thread. I had people praying for me, people PM'ing me throughout the day, and just lending me their shoulder to cry on. I honestly don't remember a time when the forum has seen me so broken. While some of you may think it's silly to be so upset over a pet's absence, but when a family member (pets included) dies, they tend to take a piece of my heart with them, and that is what Elvis being gone felt like to me. I was so convinced that Elvis had gotten killed somehow, since while he is an indoor and outdoor cat, he has never strayed too far from the house like that, and certainly not for that long period of time. However, at the end of the week, Elvis returned. It was late Friday night when my mother heard him meowing in the garage, and everyone in the family rejoiced. We were all relieved. Even the people on the forum were happy for me.
Honestly, I can't read very many of the posts on the thread for very long because they are all incredibly sweet, but I go back to the thread often because it reminds me of the good heart of the forum, if you know what I mean. When times like this happens, you find out who is really on your side. Even just simple words mean a lot. This is the side of the forum that I have really come to love.
I am sharing this story because I want the newer people, who have seen a lot of forum-type drama and stuff happen lately, to know that the soft side of the forum. While the forum does have its ups and downs, deep down, we have the best community I can ask for. Honestly, there is hardly anything (if anything at all) that I would change. I am proud of Falcon for leading the forum in the way he has been since day one. I mean, can you imagine how different the forum would be on a daily basis if there was even one major rule change, such as the no cussing or no flaming? The forum would have an entirely different environment.
If you want to see the posts on the thread for yourself, then click HERE.
Seventh Story- August 30th, 2015
This story is about a roleplay that people participated in about two and a half-three years ago. The thread was called "We Just Broke Into Falcon's House", and in this roleplay, you had to enter in your character name, what you were stealing from Falcon's house, and how you were breaking in. The goal of it was to sneak in, steal, and escape without getting caught. If Falcon (either the creator of the RP or Falcon himself) saw you, then you were out of the roleplay. The whole thing was entertaining and amusing to participate in or to just read through. People were 'stealing' all kinds of stuff, such as Falcon's computer with all the WC:UT data on it, a pillow(), Falcon himself, etc. For some reason or another, the 15-year-old me at the time decided to make my character get stuck behind a couch. I guess maybe the reason for this is maybe Falcon was coming, so I hid behind the couch, and then when he was gone, someone pushed the couch back? I don't know. Anyways, about four days after the creation of the thread, Falcon himself posted on the thread, which I guess made everybody get caught. Falcon wrote, "A sudden noise at the front door sounds oddly like the turning of a key in the lock. Footsteps can be heard in the foyer...'...WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?!?!?!?!"' I am assuming that this is when everyone got caught because not many people posted after that, other than maybe people who missed where Falcon had said that. This story may not be as long as the others, but I still personally think that the topic of it is pretty interesting because it talks about a fun activity that the community participated in together.
To view this thread, click HERE!
Eighth Story- September 7th, 2015
Before the end of April in 2013, the forum had a different layout. The skin wasn't much different, other than it being the original one before Falcon accidentally messed it up (this may be a later story), but the way we are used to seeing the forum now is not the same it was as back then. As a small example, the people who had birthdays that day would be listed at the bottom of the page just above where the online users were listed, instead of having to click the 'view today's birthdays' link. A larger example would be that there was no shoutbox back then, and the buttons looked entirely different as compared to how they appear today. PM's would be listed as single messages, no matter if the same people kept replying to the same topic. There was no such thing as group conversations. Everything as far as personal messages went was single. Because of that, it was easy to have several pages of messages in your inbox if you didn't delete them. It is why I currently have 476 pages in my inbox, since I have messages that are more than three-years-old. The way profiles were set up was different too. There wasn't really a place to type a 'status', there was not a way to follow people, and the recent activity for the profile you were viewing was listed out instead of there being separate links for it. Even reputation was different. The concept of it was the same, but instead of reputation, it was called karma and the buttons were solid black instead of blue and red. Even the smaller things that you may think of have changed.
I still have a screenshot of what my profile looked like from back then, and I plan to hold onto it since it holds a piece of forum history to it, and I want to keep the memory of the old layout alive. However, there is a way for you to see for yourself what the homepage looked like. There is this website called the way back machine, and it allows you to travel back in time to a certain date of any website's history. It will show you what it looked like back then, and I think it will be better if you see what the forum looked like back then for yourself instead of picturing it in your mind.
So, here is the link:
web.archive.org/web/20130404005654/http://untoldtales.proboards.com/
Also, since there's not a screenshot on the website of my profile, here is the one off of my computer:
Ninth Story- September 13th, 2015
We are getting closer and closer to the four year anniversary of when I joined the forum, so this week’s story is about how I found the forum, why I have stayed for so long and things like that. I have been a member here since October 28th, 2011.
I was just 14-years-old when I discovered the forum. I found it one day when I was playing WC:UT version 13 and accidentally clicked the Official Forums button. The button led me to this website, and when that happened, little did I know that discovering it was going to impact me in various ways. When I came across the site, I remembered reading somewhere about secret pelts, so I decided to make an account just for the purpose of figuring those out, and then I was going to not return. However, the more and more time I spent here, the more I grew attached. I grew extremely fond of the community, which is a major reason to why I am still here today. The community here is absolutely amazing, and it is why I have become so fond of this website. Without the community here and the friends that I have made, I may not have stayed. The forum has impacted me in ways that I never imagined. It has really helped to bring me out of my shell in real life, and it has taught me to be more outgoing. Thanks to the time I have spent roleplaying here so far, I have become a far better writer, a good enough writer to where people tell me that I should be an author. However, more importantly, the support I get from the people here, when life gets in the way, is incredible. I have been through hard times since I joined, but thanks to the people here lifting me up, I have gotten through them all. I know that the situations would have been different without receiving the support or the prayers that I received. I feel like I would be a different person if it was not for this forum, and I know that it is a blessing to have been here for as long as I have been. Two years and three months ago, I became a moderator, and I must say that it has been quite a privilege to have been able to serve here because of the outstanding community. We may experience hard times when trolls arrive and all that, but then again, everything experiences ups and downs. However, in a way, the downs are kind of special because when those take place, it brings the good heart of the community together because we work together to make the forum a better place for in the future. In addition to the community as a whole being a large fraction of why I have stayed here, another huge reason to why I have stayed here is because of Falconstar. Without someone like Falconstar as our administrator, this forum would have an entirely different environment. I have said something very similar to this in probably quite a few of the stories I have written so far, but I cannot express it enough because of how big of an impact Falcon makes here. We are lucky to have him as our administrator because while he is not strict, he does a brilliant job in enforcing the rules and handling situations when he needs to. In addition to this, he has made excellent choices when it comes to moderators. All of the moderators here are fantastic, and I personally could not have made better ones. When I applied to become a moderator myself, I made a promise to Falcon that I would stick around for as long as I possibly could because of the reasons I have mentioned here.
So, this was the very long story to how and why I joined the forum, as well as an explanation to how it impacted me. I apologize for the length of it, but I don’t think it should be any shorter based off of how long I have been around.
Tenth Story-September 23rd,2015
Since I couldn't think of something to write for this week, Citrine has written this week's story. Sorry for the delay, by the way. I've had school work to do and stuff like that.
Anyways, here's the story:
Ok, so I'm tuning in as a kind of 'guest' this time around, I suppose. I actually got this idea because of new people feeling awkward and also because I've realized that barely anybody active was around when I was still super new.
Some of this stuff I probably wouldn't tell in real life, but ya know, what do we have the Internet for. Anyway. When I first joined, I was really, really awkward. Like, if you ever feel awkward about your intro, look back at mine:
Can you feel the awkwardness just coming out of that post yet? Honestly, I was so, so nervous at first. Also, let's just say that at first I didn't know that you could copy and paste the joining form on the rp threads. I didn't know how to reply to PMs and I thought that giving somebody karma would take karma away from you. Some older members may not even know this, but I didn't have an avatar until I was a StarClan member because I didn't know how to get one. And I was too nervous to admit it, because I didn't want to look stupid. And let's not forget the time I posted a lot because I forgot some stuff on my joining form and didn't know how to edit posts. I also joined when I was still 12, while admittedly the 13+ rule wasn't enforced on here at that time, let me say that I understand you wholeheartedly if you were underaged or still are.
New people often flock together in my opinion, and I did that at first, too. But soon enough you'll get to know older members, and you start forming bonds with people. I remember one of my rp buddies back then said that I'd make a good FSH, but others were skeptical and honestly, I would've made a horrible one back then. But look where I am now.
What am I trying to say here? Don't be afraid of being awkward. I'm very awkward in situations, that's the truth, I admit it. But I also had great times. I remember being on and role playing the whole day, as much as I could. I remember joyfully writing more to a story because people told me to keep going, I remember playing on the multiplayer server and having a battle on there with Falcon. I also played hunger games with some others on there and was one of the last two survivors. It's been fun, and while I sometimes cringe at some of my old posts, I wouldn't wish to give up my memories and all the people I've met on here at all.
Eleventh Story- September 30th,2015
Tomorrow is my 18th birthday, 4th birthday celebrated since I joined the forum, I decided to write about what I can remember from my 15th, 16th, and 17th birthdays.
I guess the best place to start would be from the beginning. In 2012, I turned 15. I didn't really expect all that much, since I was still considered one of the 'newer' members, even though the forum had only been around for just over a year. Despite my thoughts, quite the opposite happened. Not only were multiple threads made, but Falcon Development also wrote "Surprise! Happy Birthday Spottedleaf and Birchstar!" on the news feed thing at the top of the page. (The news feed section was larger back then)
Moving on to my 16th birthday, which was in 2013. I was pretty well known by then, and since I was already good friends with ✻Dawnleaf✻ by this time, this marks the time when Dawnleaf started making my birthday threads, also not to mention that I was also a moderator back then, so I guess that played a part in how I became well-known in a short amount of time. I received several pictures as presents, and I also received several Happy Birthday PM's.
Finally, my 17th birthday, which was last year. This one was probably the biggest out of them all, as far as birthdays on the forum go. Dawnleaf made the thread yet again, and even though there was only a single thread this time, this thread was filled with many many birthday wishes, as well as mini-gifts and meaningful messages. With all the posts on it, the thread reached four pages, which I would say is pretty good for a birthday thread.
My point in telling you about the birthdays I have celebrated on the forum in the past is to tell you that the forum is a huge reason to why I look forward to my birthdays every year. I absolutely love it when people take time out of their busy days to wish me a Happy Birthday. It just really makes my day to come on here and read through the threads, remember the words that were said in each message, and to remind myself of how much the forum really means to me.
Here are the links to my old birthday threads: (Keep in mind that there was more than one for my 15th birthday)
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/11583/suprise-happy-day-birchstar-spottedleaf
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/11590/holy-poop-spotted-falcon-happy
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/11531/happy-birthday-spottedleaf123
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/20927/happy-birthday-spottedleaf-birchstar
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/26564/happy-17th-birthday-birch-spotted
Twelfth Story- October 15th, 2015
This week's story is about a time when I got in trouble by not only Falconstar, but by three other moderators.
I was still a newer member at the time, and back then I did not fully understand how reputation - or karma back then- worked. I wasn't completely clueless about it, but I guess I just didn't really understand how reputation was meant to be earned. All I knew was that exalt made the karma increase, and smite took karma away. Because of this, my 14-year-old self decided that it would be a good idea to post a thread called "Karma for Karma." The purpose of this thread was that as long as somebody exalted somebody else, that person would return the favor without reason. However, my idea backfired on me, for the staff members were not happy. I got in trouble not only by Falconstar, but also by three other moderators. Not only did the thread get locked, but rule number nine was added. I am honestly surprised that I didn't get smited for making this thread, at least not from what I remember.
My reason for sharing this short story with you is to tell you that even I have gotten in trouble on the forums, and while that has happened, I have become a moderator. In fact, I was chosen as a moderator just over a year after making the thread. So don't get discouraged if you have broken a rule on the forum or caused something you're not proud of. We have probably all messed up at some point, but there are second chances. Just because you broke a rule doesn't mean you will be hated or anything like that. My fourth anniversary of when I joined the forum is in thirteen days, and I certainly did not imagine earning the privilege of making wonderful friends, posting over 100,000 times, earning more than 800 reputation points, and especially becoming a moderator. I am not saying that because I want to brag, if you are thinking that. I only included this part because I wanted you to know that even if you have messed up or mess up in the future, you still have an equal chance of being successful like this just like every other person here, as long as you learn from your mistakes, and show that you learned from them. If you get nothing else out of this story, then that is what I want you to get out of it.
Here is the link to this thread:
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/4930/karma
Thirteenth Story- October 25th,2015
What I am going to talk about in this story isn't something that happened so long ago, since it only happened earlier this year, but I still chose to write about this for the new story.
It was in mid-April this year when Falconstar accidentally messed up the background. I think what happened is that he accidentally hit a button that caused the entire default theme to be reset to what it would be as if this forum was just created. (If you want a better picture, go to the support website of ProBoards. It looked almost exactly like that) I remembered that, for some reason, I had the background image saved onto my computer somewhere a while before it happened, but I couldn't remember if I still had it or not. I messaged Falcon about it, and he told me to let him know if I came across it. I spent a while looking for it that night, but never stumbled across it. Assuming that I removed it, I downloaded a program to my computer that was supposed to scan for deleted files and allow me to restore them. I left that running overnight and during the school day the following day. I came home that afternoon to find that the scan had finished. I looked for a while, but whatever I found that could have been it gave me some kind of error when I tried to open the file. I gave up on that and deleted the program.
As a backup plan, I decided to see what would happen if I went to Google images and searched 'WC:UT background.' I didn't find an exact replica of the image, but I found something similar to it. The color was slightly darker just because of the brightness of the picture, there was a log instead of a tree stump. So, I put it on a photo editing program online and adjusted the brightness to make it look more similar to the original shade of green. By the time I did this, though, Falcon had already created the theme that you currently see, unless you have changed the skin to one of the other five. So in the end as far as the image goes, I pressed F12 and downloaded the darker background to my computer and uploaded that to the image editor to make the green brighter.
After that was done, I used screenshots that I had taken of the forum in older days and used a color finder to figure out the exact color codes for all features on the forum. However, as I was doing this portion of it, I created a forum of my own so I would have a way to test the colors. Once I had verified that everything looked fine, I went back to the PM I had sent Falcon and transferred everything from there to here, in the order that the colors appeared in the admin panel. By the time this was done, many people had commented about how they liked the new theme. Due to this, Falcon created a separate theme, using the information I provided, and kept the alternate default theme. This was when the "Legacy" skin was created.
It may seem like I went through a lot of trouble for this, but it isn't really as much as it seems, and I don't mind it either. I helped fix this because I wanted to, and because that's just how much I love this forum. I was more than willing to help.
I hope you enjoyed reading this week's story!
Comments are appreciated as always, but stick around for next week’s story!
Anyways, here is the first story. This story is not about the forum itself, but it is about Multiplayer.
It was the end of January 2013 when Falcon Development put the server on for a number of days in a row. Before this time, I had not experienced meeting up with him on the server. However, little did I know that one of the nights I was playing, he was disguised as a cat under a different name, Shadowstar, I believe. We were all hanging out in the Twoleg house, and I think we might have been talking about meeting Falcon on the server or something because that led me to saying that I had never been online at the same time as him. 'Shadowstar' logged out and returned as Falconstar, and the next thing I know, "NOW YOU HAVE!" shows up on the chat box. I am actually not too sure of what happened after this, but I did take a screenshot of when we were in the Twoleg house. I currently don't have the screenshot, but I think I might see if I can find it. (I think I deleted it from my computer some time ago, unfortunately)
Second Story- July 28th, 2015
Note: I know that this is just a re-post of a story that I already posted, but some might not have seen or read it, so I decided to re-post it.
This story took place in the same year as the above story, but it happened about seven months later. It was early August, 2013, when I came home from a 2-hour day at school and logged onto the forum, and I saw that Falcon was in the shoutbox. I wasn't feeling that well because I had gotten braces just three days beforehand. I was very sore, and I felt lightheaded and weak because due to the soreness, it made it hard to eat almost anything at all, so I basically just didn't eat for 3 days. I told Falcon about my school day, which really didn't go to well just because of how I was feeling, and then he asked me if I would watch a WC:UT live stream if he put one up. Of course, how could I say no to that? I said that I would watch it, so he set it up, and he started playing WC:UT v15. This live stream wasn't really what I had in mind, but it was really entertaining to watch. Falconstar started hacking his game. He turned himself into various items such as a tree and a car. He also made it rain blood, claws, cats, and even Great Sycamores. He turned ShadowClan's guards into Twolegs. He messed around with a lot of different things. He made it to where he could walk on the walls. The whole thing actually got pretty funny. At the end, Nightbolt posted screenshots and pretended that the whole thing was a glitch.Some people fell for it, while others thought that there was a bunch of editing involved.Everybody who watched, even Falcon, just played along until Nightbolt finally revealed the secret. It really made my day. Honestly, Falcon got the first smile/laugh out of me since I had gotten the braces.
Here is the thread that contains all the screenshots that Nightbolt took: Click here
I have some additional screenshots to add this time, but I cannot take credit for taking these. ʟᴀᴛɪᴀs ❥ has sent these pictures to me and given me permission to post them here. So, here they are:
Explanations:
1) Turned trees into apples.
2) Created an Ember army.
3) Made himself a tree that could actually walk around.
4) Rained claws.
5) RAINED TREES o.o
6) Turned a tree into a cat that wouldn't move.
7) Turned Rotstar into a Twoleg at the Gathering.
Third story- August 4th, 2015
Many of you know that I am good friends with ✻Dawnleaf✻ and that we have had a PM going on for almost three consecutive years, so this story will be about how we met and came to be so close. We started PM'ing each other when I had an apprentice name game going on. I had chosen her as the winner, so I PM'ed her to let her know and so that she could choose the next apprentice name and all that. After she responded to that, we went off topic and began talking. We started out by greeting each other the next day or when we came online after being off for a while, and we would always ask each other how they were feeling and things like that. We kept this thing going for a while until it just became an every day thing. In the time that has passed by, we have become very fond of each other. We love each other like we would love a sister, and we have never given up on meeting each other in person one day. We trust each other with anything, and we even text each other now. As of right now, the conversation that started when the forum switched layout has just under 2500 pages. However, I have a total of 9,488 messages in my inbox at the moment (every single message anybody has ever sent me), and probably at least 80% of them are from her alone from when the messages were just singles. Now that we have been friends for so long, I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. So, basically, what started from winning a game, led to a friendship that will likely last forever, and I wouldn't change anything about it.
Fourth story- August 10th, 2015
Those of you who know me well not only know about the bond Dawnleaf and I share between each other, but you also know about the friendship Falcon and I have. Since last week's story was about how the friendship between Dawn and me started, I decided that it was Falconstar's turn this week.
I will start this out by saying that I have every message that I have ever received still in my inbox, and the oldest message is from June 30th, 2012, and it is from Falcon. However, that was not when we started talking so much, since he only messaged me about having more than one account. We also PM'd each other when there was an advertisement for WC:UT version 15 video contest going on, but that was also not exactly when our friendship really started to form.
It was about this time three years ago when I decided to make another advertisement video for the game for my YouTube channels third anniversary, which is on August 29th. However, being the procrastinator that I was at 14-years-old, I pushed off the production of the video until the very weekend before my channel's anniversary. Unfortunately for me, I was sick on the weekend that I had planned to make the video. It was really nothing more than a cold, since according to the messages from back then, I was basically just sneezing a bunch, and I had a low-grade fever that never got above 100.6, but I still never really felt entirely up to it. Since Falconstar knew that I was going to make the video, I messaged him and told him that I was sick and that I wasn't sure if I would still make the video over the weekend or not. Over the next few days, I kept updating him on how I was feeling and things like that, and he replied a few times. I was fine by the end of the weekend, and after I had fully recovered, I asked him if I could ask random questions. He gave me permission to do so, and through this conversation, I was able to get to know him better. This ended up lasting close to three months, since I kind of got carried away with it. I never meant to make it last so long, but after a while, I mostly did it because I enjoyed talking to him, and reading his responses always made my day. It didn't even matter if it was before or after school when I read them because no matter what, it still made my day. After that ended, we didn't talk as much as we did during that time, but we did every now and then. Falcon was really the first person on the forum who I really warmed up to, and I still go to him for kind of a lot. We still get along very well today, and I couldn't be more happy about that.
Dawnleaf and Falcon both have made differences in my life since I have joined the forum in more ways than you would know, and they are two of many reasons to why I have stayed active here as long as I have, and it probably has been a while since I've told them this, but I will stay here for a very long time because of our friendships and because of how well Falcon runs this forum. Falcon, if you are reading this, then keep it up, and continue to be the great person that you are.
Fifth Story- August 17th, 2015
Since the last few stories have been about the friendships I have with Falcon and Dawnleaf, I have decided to change the subject a bit. While I was involved in this particular topic, it involves me less directly.
This is about when some kind of flu-like illness that kept going around the forum for up to two and a half weeks straight. It started in the middle of January and ended in early February of 2013, if I remember correctly. At first, just a couple of people were making threads in the Off Topic boards and saying that they were sick, but then the threads seemed to multiply. I mean, there may have been a few days here and there where no threads were posted and things like that, but it seemed like very little time before a different person posted a thread saying that they had caught the illness. I don't remember very many people by name who got sick, but trust me when I say that there were a lot for what you usually see at a time on an online website like this. I remember it was so bad that on one of the threads, people were posting things like "OH NO! IT'S SPREADING THROUGH THE FORUMS!" Honestly, I think the only reason why I remember what kind of general sickness that was spreading, is because I caught it myself. It could have just been a really bad cold, but I am going to go ahead and call it the flu, since I had a pretty high fever for it to just be a cold, and it lasted a while (I didn't actually go to the doctor, so it's hard to really know for sure) I went to bed one night having a headache, feeling cold (as in feverishly cold), and I had had a sore throat for several days before that. However, I woke up the next morning with the same symptoms as before, but worse, and I had a fever of 102. I started sneezing, coughing, and everything else that goes along with having the flu. Two days passed, and I still had a fever that was about the same, and it even reached 102.5 or closer to 103. Long story short, I was sick from a Sunday-Friday time-period (6 days counting Sunday, Friday, and every day in between). The reason why I included this part about when I had it myself is so you would get an idea of what the sickness was, even though I might have gotten the harsher side of it. Honestly, I think the forum-sickness died after I finally got over it because I don't remember seeing anymore threads being posted after that date.
So, this is it for this week's story. Sorry for the fact that it may not be about something good that happened on the forum, but I thought that this might be interesting. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
EDIT: Here are some links that you can check out, so you can see that I'm not exaggerating about this whole thing.
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15708/sick
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15543/get-snoweh-3
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15583/sick
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/15567/sick
Another good resource to check out would be the All Nighter thread, pages 605-630.
Sixth Story- August 23rd, 2015 -This story may not be considered 'old', since it is about something that happened within the past year, but I still chose to write about it for this week's story.
In late October last year, my cat Elvis went missing for five days or so. I hadn't really even noticed that he was gone until after at least two days had passed. I was up close to all night one night crying because I was really worried for Elvis, and I missed him terribly. After I got home from school the following afternoon, I posted a thread on the forum and pretty much just poured out all my feelings onto the post. I sent other people personal messages about it as well, and I can say that I am still grateful to this day for the kind words that were said in the replies. I couldn't have gone through that dark period of time if it wasn't for the support I received from those who took time out of their day to even just leave a kind note on the thread. I had people praying for me, people PM'ing me throughout the day, and just lending me their shoulder to cry on. I honestly don't remember a time when the forum has seen me so broken. While some of you may think it's silly to be so upset over a pet's absence, but when a family member (pets included) dies, they tend to take a piece of my heart with them, and that is what Elvis being gone felt like to me. I was so convinced that Elvis had gotten killed somehow, since while he is an indoor and outdoor cat, he has never strayed too far from the house like that, and certainly not for that long period of time. However, at the end of the week, Elvis returned. It was late Friday night when my mother heard him meowing in the garage, and everyone in the family rejoiced. We were all relieved. Even the people on the forum were happy for me.
Honestly, I can't read very many of the posts on the thread for very long because they are all incredibly sweet, but I go back to the thread often because it reminds me of the good heart of the forum, if you know what I mean. When times like this happens, you find out who is really on your side. Even just simple words mean a lot. This is the side of the forum that I have really come to love.
I am sharing this story because I want the newer people, who have seen a lot of forum-type drama and stuff happen lately, to know that the soft side of the forum. While the forum does have its ups and downs, deep down, we have the best community I can ask for. Honestly, there is hardly anything (if anything at all) that I would change. I am proud of Falcon for leading the forum in the way he has been since day one. I mean, can you imagine how different the forum would be on a daily basis if there was even one major rule change, such as the no cussing or no flaming? The forum would have an entirely different environment.
If you want to see the posts on the thread for yourself, then click HERE.
Seventh Story- August 30th, 2015
This story is about a roleplay that people participated in about two and a half-three years ago. The thread was called "We Just Broke Into Falcon's House", and in this roleplay, you had to enter in your character name, what you were stealing from Falcon's house, and how you were breaking in. The goal of it was to sneak in, steal, and escape without getting caught. If Falcon (either the creator of the RP or Falcon himself) saw you, then you were out of the roleplay. The whole thing was entertaining and amusing to participate in or to just read through. People were 'stealing' all kinds of stuff, such as Falcon's computer with all the WC:UT data on it, a pillow(), Falcon himself, etc. For some reason or another, the 15-year-old me at the time decided to make my character get stuck behind a couch. I guess maybe the reason for this is maybe Falcon was coming, so I hid behind the couch, and then when he was gone, someone pushed the couch back? I don't know. Anyways, about four days after the creation of the thread, Falcon himself posted on the thread, which I guess made everybody get caught. Falcon wrote, "A sudden noise at the front door sounds oddly like the turning of a key in the lock. Footsteps can be heard in the foyer...'...WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?!?!?!?!"' I am assuming that this is when everyone got caught because not many people posted after that, other than maybe people who missed where Falcon had said that. This story may not be as long as the others, but I still personally think that the topic of it is pretty interesting because it talks about a fun activity that the community participated in together.
To view this thread, click HERE!
Eighth Story- September 7th, 2015
Before the end of April in 2013, the forum had a different layout. The skin wasn't much different, other than it being the original one before Falcon accidentally messed it up (this may be a later story), but the way we are used to seeing the forum now is not the same it was as back then. As a small example, the people who had birthdays that day would be listed at the bottom of the page just above where the online users were listed, instead of having to click the 'view today's birthdays' link. A larger example would be that there was no shoutbox back then, and the buttons looked entirely different as compared to how they appear today. PM's would be listed as single messages, no matter if the same people kept replying to the same topic. There was no such thing as group conversations. Everything as far as personal messages went was single. Because of that, it was easy to have several pages of messages in your inbox if you didn't delete them. It is why I currently have 476 pages in my inbox, since I have messages that are more than three-years-old. The way profiles were set up was different too. There wasn't really a place to type a 'status', there was not a way to follow people, and the recent activity for the profile you were viewing was listed out instead of there being separate links for it. Even reputation was different. The concept of it was the same, but instead of reputation, it was called karma and the buttons were solid black instead of blue and red. Even the smaller things that you may think of have changed.
I still have a screenshot of what my profile looked like from back then, and I plan to hold onto it since it holds a piece of forum history to it, and I want to keep the memory of the old layout alive. However, there is a way for you to see for yourself what the homepage looked like. There is this website called the way back machine, and it allows you to travel back in time to a certain date of any website's history. It will show you what it looked like back then, and I think it will be better if you see what the forum looked like back then for yourself instead of picturing it in your mind.
So, here is the link:
web.archive.org/web/20130404005654/http://untoldtales.proboards.com/
Also, since there's not a screenshot on the website of my profile, here is the one off of my computer:
Ninth Story- September 13th, 2015
We are getting closer and closer to the four year anniversary of when I joined the forum, so this week’s story is about how I found the forum, why I have stayed for so long and things like that. I have been a member here since October 28th, 2011.
I was just 14-years-old when I discovered the forum. I found it one day when I was playing WC:UT version 13 and accidentally clicked the Official Forums button. The button led me to this website, and when that happened, little did I know that discovering it was going to impact me in various ways. When I came across the site, I remembered reading somewhere about secret pelts, so I decided to make an account just for the purpose of figuring those out, and then I was going to not return. However, the more and more time I spent here, the more I grew attached. I grew extremely fond of the community, which is a major reason to why I am still here today. The community here is absolutely amazing, and it is why I have become so fond of this website. Without the community here and the friends that I have made, I may not have stayed. The forum has impacted me in ways that I never imagined. It has really helped to bring me out of my shell in real life, and it has taught me to be more outgoing. Thanks to the time I have spent roleplaying here so far, I have become a far better writer, a good enough writer to where people tell me that I should be an author. However, more importantly, the support I get from the people here, when life gets in the way, is incredible. I have been through hard times since I joined, but thanks to the people here lifting me up, I have gotten through them all. I know that the situations would have been different without receiving the support or the prayers that I received. I feel like I would be a different person if it was not for this forum, and I know that it is a blessing to have been here for as long as I have been. Two years and three months ago, I became a moderator, and I must say that it has been quite a privilege to have been able to serve here because of the outstanding community. We may experience hard times when trolls arrive and all that, but then again, everything experiences ups and downs. However, in a way, the downs are kind of special because when those take place, it brings the good heart of the community together because we work together to make the forum a better place for in the future. In addition to the community as a whole being a large fraction of why I have stayed here, another huge reason to why I have stayed here is because of Falconstar. Without someone like Falconstar as our administrator, this forum would have an entirely different environment. I have said something very similar to this in probably quite a few of the stories I have written so far, but I cannot express it enough because of how big of an impact Falcon makes here. We are lucky to have him as our administrator because while he is not strict, he does a brilliant job in enforcing the rules and handling situations when he needs to. In addition to this, he has made excellent choices when it comes to moderators. All of the moderators here are fantastic, and I personally could not have made better ones. When I applied to become a moderator myself, I made a promise to Falcon that I would stick around for as long as I possibly could because of the reasons I have mentioned here.
So, this was the very long story to how and why I joined the forum, as well as an explanation to how it impacted me. I apologize for the length of it, but I don’t think it should be any shorter based off of how long I have been around.
Tenth Story-September 23rd,2015
Since I couldn't think of something to write for this week, Citrine has written this week's story. Sorry for the delay, by the way. I've had school work to do and stuff like that.
Anyways, here's the story:
Ok, so I'm tuning in as a kind of 'guest' this time around, I suppose. I actually got this idea because of new people feeling awkward and also because I've realized that barely anybody active was around when I was still super new.
Some of this stuff I probably wouldn't tell in real life, but ya know, what do we have the Internet for. Anyway. When I first joined, I was really, really awkward. Like, if you ever feel awkward about your intro, look back at mine:
Hi,i'm Waterpelt. And hmm.. I love untoldtales*smiles*
Can you feel the awkwardness just coming out of that post yet? Honestly, I was so, so nervous at first. Also, let's just say that at first I didn't know that you could copy and paste the joining form on the rp threads. I didn't know how to reply to PMs and I thought that giving somebody karma would take karma away from you. Some older members may not even know this, but I didn't have an avatar until I was a StarClan member because I didn't know how to get one. And I was too nervous to admit it, because I didn't want to look stupid. And let's not forget the time I posted a lot because I forgot some stuff on my joining form and didn't know how to edit posts. I also joined when I was still 12, while admittedly the 13+ rule wasn't enforced on here at that time, let me say that I understand you wholeheartedly if you were underaged or still are.
New people often flock together in my opinion, and I did that at first, too. But soon enough you'll get to know older members, and you start forming bonds with people. I remember one of my rp buddies back then said that I'd make a good FSH, but others were skeptical and honestly, I would've made a horrible one back then. But look where I am now.
What am I trying to say here? Don't be afraid of being awkward. I'm very awkward in situations, that's the truth, I admit it. But I also had great times. I remember being on and role playing the whole day, as much as I could. I remember joyfully writing more to a story because people told me to keep going, I remember playing on the multiplayer server and having a battle on there with Falcon. I also played hunger games with some others on there and was one of the last two survivors. It's been fun, and while I sometimes cringe at some of my old posts, I wouldn't wish to give up my memories and all the people I've met on here at all.
Eleventh Story- September 30th,2015
Tomorrow is my 18th birthday, 4th birthday celebrated since I joined the forum, I decided to write about what I can remember from my 15th, 16th, and 17th birthdays.
I guess the best place to start would be from the beginning. In 2012, I turned 15. I didn't really expect all that much, since I was still considered one of the 'newer' members, even though the forum had only been around for just over a year. Despite my thoughts, quite the opposite happened. Not only were multiple threads made, but Falcon Development also wrote "Surprise! Happy Birthday Spottedleaf and Birchstar!" on the news feed thing at the top of the page. (The news feed section was larger back then)
Moving on to my 16th birthday, which was in 2013. I was pretty well known by then, and since I was already good friends with ✻Dawnleaf✻ by this time, this marks the time when Dawnleaf started making my birthday threads, also not to mention that I was also a moderator back then, so I guess that played a part in how I became well-known in a short amount of time. I received several pictures as presents, and I also received several Happy Birthday PM's.
Finally, my 17th birthday, which was last year. This one was probably the biggest out of them all, as far as birthdays on the forum go. Dawnleaf made the thread yet again, and even though there was only a single thread this time, this thread was filled with many many birthday wishes, as well as mini-gifts and meaningful messages. With all the posts on it, the thread reached four pages, which I would say is pretty good for a birthday thread.
My point in telling you about the birthdays I have celebrated on the forum in the past is to tell you that the forum is a huge reason to why I look forward to my birthdays every year. I absolutely love it when people take time out of their busy days to wish me a Happy Birthday. It just really makes my day to come on here and read through the threads, remember the words that were said in each message, and to remind myself of how much the forum really means to me.
Here are the links to my old birthday threads: (Keep in mind that there was more than one for my 15th birthday)
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/11583/suprise-happy-day-birchstar-spottedleaf
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/11590/holy-poop-spotted-falcon-happy
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/11531/happy-birthday-spottedleaf123
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/20927/happy-birthday-spottedleaf-birchstar
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/26564/happy-17th-birthday-birch-spotted
Twelfth Story- October 15th, 2015
This week's story is about a time when I got in trouble by not only Falconstar, but by three other moderators.
I was still a newer member at the time, and back then I did not fully understand how reputation - or karma back then- worked. I wasn't completely clueless about it, but I guess I just didn't really understand how reputation was meant to be earned. All I knew was that exalt made the karma increase, and smite took karma away. Because of this, my 14-year-old self decided that it would be a good idea to post a thread called "Karma for Karma." The purpose of this thread was that as long as somebody exalted somebody else, that person would return the favor without reason. However, my idea backfired on me, for the staff members were not happy. I got in trouble not only by Falconstar, but also by three other moderators. Not only did the thread get locked, but rule number nine was added. I am honestly surprised that I didn't get smited for making this thread, at least not from what I remember.
My reason for sharing this short story with you is to tell you that even I have gotten in trouble on the forums, and while that has happened, I have become a moderator. In fact, I was chosen as a moderator just over a year after making the thread. So don't get discouraged if you have broken a rule on the forum or caused something you're not proud of. We have probably all messed up at some point, but there are second chances. Just because you broke a rule doesn't mean you will be hated or anything like that. My fourth anniversary of when I joined the forum is in thirteen days, and I certainly did not imagine earning the privilege of making wonderful friends, posting over 100,000 times, earning more than 800 reputation points, and especially becoming a moderator. I am not saying that because I want to brag, if you are thinking that. I only included this part because I wanted you to know that even if you have messed up or mess up in the future, you still have an equal chance of being successful like this just like every other person here, as long as you learn from your mistakes, and show that you learned from them. If you get nothing else out of this story, then that is what I want you to get out of it.
Here is the link to this thread:
untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/4930/karma
Thirteenth Story- October 25th,2015
What I am going to talk about in this story isn't something that happened so long ago, since it only happened earlier this year, but I still chose to write about this for the new story.
It was in mid-April this year when Falconstar accidentally messed up the background. I think what happened is that he accidentally hit a button that caused the entire default theme to be reset to what it would be as if this forum was just created. (If you want a better picture, go to the support website of ProBoards. It looked almost exactly like that) I remembered that, for some reason, I had the background image saved onto my computer somewhere a while before it happened, but I couldn't remember if I still had it or not. I messaged Falcon about it, and he told me to let him know if I came across it. I spent a while looking for it that night, but never stumbled across it. Assuming that I removed it, I downloaded a program to my computer that was supposed to scan for deleted files and allow me to restore them. I left that running overnight and during the school day the following day. I came home that afternoon to find that the scan had finished. I looked for a while, but whatever I found that could have been it gave me some kind of error when I tried to open the file. I gave up on that and deleted the program.
As a backup plan, I decided to see what would happen if I went to Google images and searched 'WC:UT background.' I didn't find an exact replica of the image, but I found something similar to it. The color was slightly darker just because of the brightness of the picture, there was a log instead of a tree stump. So, I put it on a photo editing program online and adjusted the brightness to make it look more similar to the original shade of green. By the time I did this, though, Falcon had already created the theme that you currently see, unless you have changed the skin to one of the other five. So in the end as far as the image goes, I pressed F12 and downloaded the darker background to my computer and uploaded that to the image editor to make the green brighter.
After that was done, I used screenshots that I had taken of the forum in older days and used a color finder to figure out the exact color codes for all features on the forum. However, as I was doing this portion of it, I created a forum of my own so I would have a way to test the colors. Once I had verified that everything looked fine, I went back to the PM I had sent Falcon and transferred everything from there to here, in the order that the colors appeared in the admin panel. By the time this was done, many people had commented about how they liked the new theme. Due to this, Falcon created a separate theme, using the information I provided, and kept the alternate default theme. This was when the "Legacy" skin was created.
It may seem like I went through a lot of trouble for this, but it isn't really as much as it seems, and I don't mind it either. I helped fix this because I wanted to, and because that's just how much I love this forum. I was more than willing to help.
I hope you enjoyed reading this week's story!
Comments are appreciated as always, but stick around for next week’s story!