The following is in a sense a greatest hits list of many of the situations and events that helped make REO into what it is today. Let's take a journey (and hit the links for a little trip back in time):

1. In the beginning... (4/6/2002) - Once upon a time Reverse Engine was a little traveled place run by a certain "elly telly" and the many current posters of the REO boards had never even posted in the "promised land". Their native stomping grounds were the blissful land of the GIA (Gaming Intelligence Agency). However like all good things the GIA came to an unexpected end. This left a lot of perplexed and worried posters as the countdown to a board lock came ever closer. Where would people go? Enter Ellesar's board, and a common consensus among many of the soon to be REO regulars.

2. Puzzle Bobble Mania! (4/18/2002) - What started as a simple post about an interesting sounding game soon took REO by storm. Not all the REO posters got into the madness that was Puzzle Bobble Online but those that did pretty much brought the board to halt as noone seemed to have time to post anymore. One important side effect of the PBO gaming was a built in chat feature which let posters talk to each other in real time, many for the first time. Many of these chats descended into amazing depths of silliness, and also spawned the first mutterings of making a website associated with the forums to draw in new posters.

3. Reverse Engine Online: the Site (5/11/2002) - Forum regulars Zerekile, Smorange, and Adol hatched the plan of making an REO site in between games of, the much missed, PBO. After pitching out the idea the REO forum goers got down to business helping to conjure up a kickass site. Three months later a site was born and slowly content was added. (Sadly one of REO's founders was "lost" in the shuffle and has yet to return.) While the site has currently fallen to some neglect it does still serve as a good accessory for the livelier forums.

4. The (Not So) Great Gameforms Flamewar (7/22/2002) - What started as some discontent with the direction the "spiritual successor" of the GIA was going soon devolved into a long and bitter venting over many issues that were never (or will ever) really resolved from the original disbanding of the GIA. For a few brief moments this thread, and a similar one on the GF forums, were bringing people out of the woodwork to the humble REO homeland. Unfortunately though like any good gawkers at a train wreck once the blood and guts are cleaned up noone wants to hang around and chat.

5. REO Grand Tournament (9/28/2002) - The original idea for the REO Grand Tournament was a glorious cartoon battle between many of the regular posters ala Soul Calibur and the many fighting cliches of the genre. The project however was too huge in scope and never really got beyond the phase of some rather glorious concept art (guess which character is which poster). With the first tournament idea seemingly down for the count REO's humble host took it upon himself to start a serial fan fiction of the events starring all the regular posters.

6. Reverse Engine IRC Channel (6/8/2003) - The seed probably started with PBO but at some point the members of REO have moved from just posting on the boards to full on chats. Soon many people had AIM and messaged back and forth for whatever reason. The latest step in the chat evoloution has been the creation of the #reo channel on IRC. Found on the irc.esper.net server #reo proved another avenue for future discussion (and laughs as evidenced by the recent REO rendition of Metal Gear Solid).

All in all Reverse Engine Online has had a fairly unique flavor compared to many of the spammer/lamer infested hell holes that many forums are or have become. What started as a group of confused fugitives has become a fairly strong and quality place to hang out online. Some old friends have gone and new ones have appeared since the start of REO. Such is life on the internet. Who knows who or what the future will hold but so far things have developed pretty well. Here's to another year (and more) of Reverse Engine Online.

Reverse Engine Online's forums have been a source of pride and enjoyment for well over a year now. I decided to take a moment to reflect back and discuss some of the more notable things I can remember. Ah nostalgia.