The Setting: Early November 2000. The extremely powerful RPG Elite was finally beginning its long decline, as the RPG Elite Resistance, led by Cloud701 and his trusty 2nd in command, Mupod Negnirt, gained followers and strength. At this point, the focus was beginning to shift from the whole RPG board (before the split), to the new Veteran’s Board. It was on this board, that the now legendary Steve McNugget (CHICKEN MCNUGGET!!!11u) began the ACF, determined to take Cloud down at any price. New followers flocked to the ACF, which combined with the RPG Elite to attempt to deal a knockout blow to the RPG Elite Resistance.
At the same time, on the Veteran’s Board, the very first election was taking place, to get a president. Several now famous names ran for President, including Enzali, Brother Reed, and Mumbly P. Cloud decided to enter the election, but with a twist….he was running for dictator! With Mupod as his Vice Dictator, Cloud racked up enough voted to become the winner shortly before the election ended. However, the losers, Enzali and Mumbly, determined to prevent Cloud from gaining the Vet Board, decided to combine their votes, making them Co-Presidents. This controversial move enraged the Resistance, which now began to shift its focus toward the ACF and the Veteran Board, away from the old RPG Elite. This was the very first board shift, and it heavily contributed into the RPG Elite’s demise. Several anti-Resistance die-hards followed the shift, but the RPG Elite, now satisfied that the Resistance was off their board, decided pretty much not to head to the Veteran Board.
What was LTU like during this period? I’d compare it to a heavily watered down version of the Legends Board, with about 300 posts or so, all pretty much social. This leads to another question, how come Vets is not the “Faction Board” anymore, and how did LTU grow so mammothly?
In mid-November 2000, during the election on Vets, Dark33 had the idea of holding a similar election on the Long Time User Board. He made the topic, and the Presidential Race ended up being Dark33 and Tynan2000 vs. Bret Hart and Yoshi(some random number). The voting topic was then made, with the deadline being a date in early December. The day of the deadline, the vote count was tied 7 to 7, and the two candidates agreed that the next vote would be the tie breaker. On December 12, 2000, the vote came, in favor of Dark, and in spite of Bret Hart’s calls for “RECOUNT!!!!11u”, Dark claimed victory that day. That day is now known as the Birthday of LTU. Dark became President, and Bret Hart became Secretary of Defense.
At first, this new upstart LTU was relatively quiet. The Presidential Team began to work with gaining enthusiasm for the factions and the War on Vets as its first step. Dark became an ACF sympathizer, and withdrew from the Resistance. On Vets, a war was going strong throughout the middle of December, but soon this war would fade. LTU would need a way to get attention, and get some action.
Dark’s solution? On December 28, 2000, the LSA was born, under the tentative name of The Long Time User Army. Gjdsj was the one who came up with Level Six Army (at that time, Long Time User was level 6, not 30 or whatever it is now). Hoping for a strong response, he got one, as many LTUers flocked to the new army, including several ACF members.
Meanwhile, a scuffle was developing between the ACF and the LTU board. Apparently, Dark had made several comments that McNugget wasn’t pleased with. The situation deteriorated, and a surprised Dark was forced to prepare his newly formed LSA for war. Thankfully, behind the scenes talks took place, and war was averted. The LSA agreed to ally with the ACF, in exchange that no ACF members could run in the next LTU election (as several of them had been eyeing that position).
The new year came, and the LSA organized itself and grew. Enthusiasm was growing steadily, as everyone wanted to defend the LTU Board from outside threats (i.e. Resistance). No war was occurring at the moment, but everyone knew that the situation on Vets could explode into violence at any moment. Finally, the LSA was acknowledged as a standing presence, and several leaders from the ACF, and the leader of the LSA, Dark, met several times to discuss strategy. During this time period, Mumbly, determined to get the Resistance off of the Veteran Board, pushed for a plan that would start a War on LTU. Mumbly apparently wanted the Resistance off of the Veteran Board, to give himself more power. He also allegedly made himself co-leader of the ACF. His plan was met with heavy reluctance, especially by Dark. Ignoring those against his plan Mumbly himself challenged the Resistance to a war…on the LTU Board. The Resistance, hungry for war, gladly rose up to the challenge, and the full blown ACF/LSA War at this point, began.
Meanwhile, in late January, the second LTU election took place. In a 3 way race, Dark faced off against Jon Korbak (sp?), a virtual unkown, and Captain Samurai, a highly decorated member of the RPG Elite. It was later revealed that Korbak was an alternate account by none other than Brother Reed. Dark triumphed, rather easily, Korbak faded away, and Samurai joined the LSA and became Secretary of Defense. Later, he would be appointed Vice-President of LTU.
Now for some commentary on the events of this time: It is no doubt that Mumbly’s plan to get the Resistance off of Vets worked……but way too well. With the war taking place on LTU, LTU became the board of focus for the factions, and Vets began to fade into what it is today…a sideshow. After the VDC era, Vets would collapse into what it is now.
Secret Boards were the thing of the day, the Resistance had one, the ACF/LSA would have two. The secret secret board was for the leaders only, I think it was Reed, McNugget, ragnarok, and dark. There, plans for the war took place. On the battlefield, the Resistance put up a rather strong showing, but the combined ACF/LSA forces impressively held the Resistance off. By the time the War topic hit 500, the Resistance was frustrated by its inability to defeat the LSA. The Resistance at this point was flawed, it would not allow any new members in. This was changed later, in mid March, I believe, with the invention of Squad 701. But until then, the Resistance gained no new members (poor 8787 :P).
The War churned to a close by the end of February, and the LSA was at its peak. It had beaten off the mighty Resistance, and defended the board. Dark’s second term as President was as successful as his first, as the board post count reached astronomical numbers. Then, the great board decline began.
But before this, it must be mentioned that a new faction began right around the end of the war. An enthusiastic newbie, by the name of Vegetaman, decided to start a faction called the Legend of Zelda Army (LZA). He came to Dark with the proposal of making it a subfaction of the LSA. The LSA leadership agreed, and this happened to be the only time that Dark has ever been in the LZA (interesting fact :D). By mid March, the LZA had grown to a sizeable amount, aided by cross-factionism.
Meanwhile, the Vets Board had slumped badly. All the action had flooded to LTU, and the Resistance’s interest in the Vets Board declined. The Secretary of Defense, Brother Reed, decided to make a new faction to replace the ACF (disbanded by McNugget). This would become known as the Veteran Defense Corps (VDC). This faction would always have the numbers, but would be plagued by inactivity throughout its life.
On LTU, the peak posting count began to decline. The LSA itself was plagued by cross factionism. The Resistance, realizing how weak it was, began accepting new members, with the innovative Squad 701. The Resistance gained strength, as did the LZA and VDC on the Veteran’s Board. Late March, was the third election on the LTU Board. Despite anti-third term protests, Dark ran once again, even though the events on LTU had exhausted him. His opponents were Maxw101 of the VDC (and LSA), and Whitesburg, the first Resistance member to run in an LTU Election. As the voting took place, Burg appeared to be headed for victory, with Maxw in second place. Then possibly the most controversial event in LTU history took place.
What happened exactly? Dark33 announced in a long speech, that he was resigning, leaving the board, and dropping out of the race. He then encouraged those who voted for him to vote instead for Maxw101. With this newfound strength, Maxw101 overcame the deficit and defeated Burg in the election.
Now for the point of views. Burg will always say Dark did it to screw him over and prevent the Resistance from obtaining office. I will admit that is partially true, but only partially, as I had been planning an exit for several weeks, as running the LSA was getting too time consuming. Yeah, the timing was bad (for Burg). Okay, so we will never get a non-biased view of this event. :DDD
On March 25, 2001, Dark33 resigned and left, leaving his Vice President, Captain Samurai as the new Prez and leader of the LSA. Captain Samurai served about 2 weeks, during which he was absent the entire time, until Maxw101 took office on April 12, 2001. He resigned the next day, and Burg at that time, became President.
Leadership of the LSA quietly passed to Chouclink, who did an adequate job, but as we all know, he is not the “Leader of an Army type,” and he passed control to gjdsj. During this period, departures from the LSA skyrocketed, and gjdsj and Vegetaman became involved in heated arguments, leading to the LZA’s independence and the LSA’s eventual death. In Mid May 2001, Dark had returned to the board, as a member of the Resistance, and encouraged gjdsj to disband the LSA. The LSA was disbanded in Mid May 2001.