General Chat / Eulogy

Today is both sad and happy. I know if it weren't for Danimation I wouldn't be here, right now. I'd never have met the cool people I have. I would have basically zero interest in RCT or roller coasters. I would probably be off looking at porn, or whatever. Danimation was a once-proud website, once the crown jewel in the upper echelon of RollerCoaster Tycoon websites. The forums were a spectacular place. D-Net singlehandedly changed RCT on the web, if not started it to begin with. However, the eventual demise of the site was obvious, but I'm sure no one expected it to crash and burn like it did. Be it that inexplicable "D-Day", or the total removal of all things RCT, the site just plunged into the cesspool of idiocy we had before us today. Many of the mods turned the place into a formal forum, if ever a thing exists. (Here's looking at you, AirBoss!) The upper management went for a me-first attitude in running the place. Sure, it's their server, and they have the right to do whatever they want with the site, but Dan especially forgot what the idea was. Without the people, his site was just a waste of money and space. But, all suggestions were put to no use at all, and disregarded. It was all about Dan, and his wants. With the great majority of the forums clamoring for sports and books forums, Dan creates an RC forum, all about his own hobby...a hobby which has seen no more than 10 posts in the history of Danimation. This final middle-finger to the forumgoers is probably what it took to make everyone realize that Dan no longer gives a fuck, and is taking charge of the forum for his own personal use. Which is sad, because a message board is about as people-oriented as it gets on the Internet. If not for today's sudden, but not stunning, announcement, I predict that the majority of the members would just leave Dan to have his own little cobweb infested nowhere corner of the Web, so he could do whatever he wants. Seems Dan even made his own decision to do that, though.
I remember signing up for Danimation in August of 2000 or so, under the name Tyler24. I was an unassuming newbie, but I loved the place. So much conversation and social activity, let alone the stellar Spotlights that made Danimation the one and only place to be for excellent RCT work. The old 3-across Floorless brings back memories. Over the years I had changed aliases to Original Prankstah/Da Prankstah, but the forum always stayed the same of fun talk and awesome RCT work. I like to think I kinda contributed my own little slice to the giant D-Net pie, along with every one else...and this pie eventually became the best RCT site you could find. Then I had lost interest in RCT, as everyone else found their interest waning as well. I left, and I'm sure many others did too. I rejoined last fall to get ready for RCT2 under the name QOTSA-2002, expecting maybe a Danimation renaissance. But it wasn't the same, and only got worse and worse. The place just wasn't any fun anymore. The restrictions got to be too much. All hope was lost for this site by the beginning of 2003, and the eventual downfall could be seen coming by all of us, I'm sure.

Thank you, Danimator, for the fantastic site you first created that was the RCT Taj Mahal in its day.
No thanks, Danimator, for destroying the once proud castle that you created.
Thanks most all, to Danimation.com, for the friends, the times, the memories, good and bad.

Danimation will be missed.

Now then, let's eat some cake.

Viva la New Element.

Today is both sad and happy. I know if it weren't for Danimation I wouldn't be here, right now. I'd never have met the cool people I have. I would have basically zero interest in RCT or roller coasters. I would probably be off looking at porn, or whatever. Danimation was a once-proud website, once the crown jewel in the upper echelon of RollerCoaster Tycoon websites. The forums were a spectacular place. D-Net singlehandedly changed RCT on the web, if not started it to begin with. However, the eventual demise of the site was obvious, but I'm sure no one expected it to crash and burn like it did. Be it that inexplicable "D-Day", or the total removal of all things RCT, the site just plunged into the cesspool of idiocy we had before us today. Many of the mods turned the place into a formal forum, if ever a thing exists. (Here's looking at you, AirBoss!) The upper management went for a me-first attitude in running the place. Sure, it's their server, and they have the right to do whatever they want with the site, but Dan especially forgot what the idea was. Without the people, his site was just a waste of money and space. But, all suggestions were put to no use at all, and disregarded. It was all about Dan, and his wants. With the great majority of the forums clamoring for sports and books forums, Dan creates an RC forum, all about his own hobby...a hobby which has seen no more than 10 posts in the history of Danimation. This final middle-finger to the forumgoers is probably what it took to make everyone realize that Dan no longer gives a fuck, and is taking charge of the forum for his own personal use. Which is sad, because a message board is about as people-oriented as it gets on the Internet. If not for today's sudden, but not stunning, announcement, I predict that the majority of the members would just leave Dan to have his own little cobweb infested nowhere corner of the Web, so he could do whatever he wants. Seems Dan even made his own decision to do that, though.
I remember signing up for Danimation in August of 2000 or so, under the name Tyler24. I was an unassuming newbie, but I loved the place. So much conversation and social activity, let alone the stellar Spotlights that made Danimation the one and only place to be for excellent RCT work. The old 3-across Floorless brings back memories. Over the years I had changed aliases to Original Prankstah/Da Prankstah, but the forum always stayed the same of fun talk and awesome RCT work. I like to think I kinda contributed my own little slice to the giant D-Net pie, along with every one else...and this pie eventually became the best RCT site you could find. Then I had lost interest in RCT, as everyone else found their interest waning as well. I left, and I'm sure many others did too. I rejoined last fall to get ready for RCT2 under the name QOTSA-2002, expecting maybe a Danimation renaissance. But it wasn't the same, and only got worse and worse. The place just wasn't any fun anymore. The restrictions got to be too much. All hope was lost for this site by the beginning of 2003, and the eventual downfall could be seen coming by all of us, I'm sure.

Thank you, Danimator, for the fantastic site you first created that was the RCT Taj Mahal in its day.
No thanks, Danimator, for destroying the once proud castle that you created.
Thanks most all, to Danimation.com, for the friends, the times, the memories, good and bad.

Danimation will be missed.

Now then, let's eat some cake.

Viva la New Element.

Nice post. You made alot of good points. And, despite what most people say, danimation.com will be missed, no matter how stupid Dan's decision may have been.

Danimation used to be great. I miss those days where I could wake up every day eager to see if there was a new spotlight. The site slowly fell into disrepair and then after a while many features that made Danimation great were lost, like the original spotlights. And once the new site came back up, it seemed like all the great parkmakers were here and all the conversations were either pointless pointing outs of how somebody was having a boner *cough*rebel*cough* in the spammery or too damn dead serious. So, if this were to happen a couple of years back, I would have said I could have truly missed Danimation, but since it has since lost its original purpose to be mostly rollercoasters and RCT, I can't say I will miss it. Yet, I do hope this site has a long time ahead.


~Dragon ~

That was nostalgic QOTSA, and I guess I'll go into my own personal self-history at the once great forum. I remember signing up in April 2000, and I do remember Tyler24, and the Prankstah for that matter. You had the Offspring avatar if I remember correctly. Anyways, I remember Snowbound being the king over there, and I remember just learning what the hell member titles were, and wanting to be a "grand puba", since they seemed to get the most respect over there. I, of course started with the common n00b posts, but somehow caught respect when I started my "List" columns, posting my favorite parks at the time, or favorite upcoming parks. Parkmakers around Danimation then wanted my respect for some unbeknown reason, and let me test their parks. I was rather good at this I think, and suddenly became the most demanded park tester at the site, along with Corkscrewed. That's really how I became famous in the first place at Danimation, that and being a cheery, opinion-less sap of course. Anyways, Dan went on to then pick three moderators for his site, something I had wanted to be ever since I signed up. I had people rally behind me to get me a mod spot, but as we all know...it didn't happen at first, and that's when the shit first hit the fan. I felt like I was wasting my fake cheerfulness for nothing, and proceeded to drop the routine. Me and Dan had some pretty classic clashes, which somehow eventually led to them making me a Chat Mod, possibly realizing a mistake they had made. Anyways, after Alex had learned I didn't know jack shit about mIRC, they decided to make me a forum mod instead. I did pretty well for quite a while, and was eventually promoted to run the "highly prestigious" Danimation Forum Spotlight, where I was to make the posts and basically run the Forum Spotlight. This went well until one I (not really knowing what I'm doing with the mod controls yet) accidentally deleted a Forum Spotlight Topic, when I meant to delete a Forum Spotlight Post. Alex went apeshit, and then the rift between me and my "bosses" grew. I started up my own website, with lots of support, and all the great parkmakers behind my back, New Element. Obviously, Dan was somehow furious at this, and proceeded to demod me from the Spotlight Forum. Alex then told me "She had plans of giving me the new 'spotlight.danimation.com" site, a chance I had somehow blown. Anyways, all the while this was happening, the forums were getting shittier and shittier, and so I made a post about it, a real heartfelt post (I was still a mod at this time), entitled "Danimation Evolution". Everyone who read it agreed with me, including all mods, everyone except Dan and Alex, who went on to not only de-mod me, but ban me completely for reasons unknown. I was officially a separatist, and the rest is history. Here's to you Dan, you tight-assed, selfish piece of shit. May you and your equally as cruel wife enjoy the rest of your pig-headed lives.

Anyways..
You are right on most counts. Danimation, at one time was the shit. If Dan could have left it alone, and let the people basically have fun with THEIR message board, then he could still have the awesome community he once had. Trouble is, Dan is a selfish prick, who really doesn't give a shit about anyone who doesn't contribute to him. Take this from me, as I've been on both sides of the fence, from being one of his highly touted "moderators", who at one time was about to take over the Spotlight, to being a banned "revolutionist" under the name of Marx. Still, Dan never realized that the people made the forum, not the owner. Around New Element, the only thing I really "run", is the actual RCT stuff. Picking spotlights and parkmakers. Everything else is the people, and Dan never grasped that idea, in the full 6 years he ran it.
People always ask me why the mods don't "do more" at the site, and that's because they've been watching how Dan runs things for far too long. The moderators should not RUN the site. They should basically stay out of the way, and make sure the place stays in order. For that description, our mods to the perfect job. They are not a bunch of uppety tight-asses like AirBoss, but they know when to step in.

All in all, I guess we all do owe Danimator some sort of thank you, but I personally, will never say it to him. I recognize all the great things he's done in the past, but I also recognize the way he treated me after a dispute. Anyways, I do respect almost everybody over at Danimation however, and all (with the exception of three people) are welcome to New Element. The three people that won't be allowed to access our forums...ever (or at least post) are Dan, Alex, and AirBoss, for probably obvious reasons.

Dude, don't sink to their level. Let them post if they want to...or, if they have it in them to defend their actions.

Dude, don't sink to their level.

Well, iris isn't really being an irrational asshole...

Holy shit iris, you just solved a huge mystery for me. The Spotlight topic you accidentally deleted was the Cedar Creek one and for the longest time I was wondering why that topic was missing but all of the other member spotlight topics were there (this is pre- "D-Day" of course). I kept posting messages asking what happened and everybody ignored me. Now I know. So that's where the whole de-modding business got started. Jeez I sure was out of the loop. I thought the banning was related to that whole revolution business when Nevis and Fatha' Grinch got themselves banned on purpose. I have to say I agree with everyone else's comments about Danimation. At one time it was a great site, prehaps the best for RCT (certainly the best I found at the time) but that was a long long time ago and it's been in a state of decline for over a year now. I'm glad you guys stepped up and opened NE cause without it the RCT community at Danimation wouldn't have had anywhere to go and would have probably just disippated.

well i signed up on 9-2-01. I had a pretty fun 9 days just dicking around and talking to people, then of course the shit hit the fan. I first got some respect for bashing dash for being a dick. Thats where i first came out as a patriot. Most people misinterperted the title. Over the months i let my athesistic liberal personality develope and come on the boards. i won the respect of Mach5 and a few other members after a while. i met jimmy and rockchick one year. Well i really never had much controversy except challenging dan on freedom of speech, which probally almost got me banned. I've had a few little scuffles with random dicks and others. I really have no idea who respects me, i know when i first came here i was accepted as a trouble maker but accepted none the less and told my ideas would be free and i could basically say what i wanted. Thats my eulogy so to speak.

I figure I should probably respond after seeing all these interesting posts, me being an old D-Net member myself. I too remember the golden days of Danimation, marked with its animated rollercoaster logo, and also the not-so-golden days of Danimation, marked by promises that weren't upheld on Dan and Alex's part and also by the decrease in overall quality of things coming from the site, such as the spotlights. I remember the days of SACoasterFreak, Liquid Crash, and Joe Holland. I remember their site RCTKru and how I would check there everyday to see any updates on their parks. I remember actually having fun in their forum for once, being able to say how I felt without fear of losing my spot as a member. I remember wanting to be a mod at D-Net myself, and checking everyday for a new spotlight or Dassle Design. Or even just an update in general. I remember wondering to myself why the updates were getting fewer and farther between, and the excuses brought up by Dan and Alex of jobs and children and life in general. Good excuses, but why not give up the site fully to someone else? I remember thinking "Why can't he just let this site go?" or "Why can't he realize that changes need to be made?" I remember when they got the new layout. I remember Dan and lots of people having arguments and even the infamous "banning spree" of SACoasterFreak and others. I remember not ever getting the Boulder Dash recreation no matter how long I waited or how many promises they broke during the construction of it. I remember them saying it had turned into a full blown recreation of Lake Compounce rather than just a recreation of Boulder Dash. But it all went down the shitter. I remember leaving Danimation and vowing never to go back, a promise I have broken. However I have not made a post at D-Net since the day I left for good. The day I came across a new site. New Element.

Funny... you know what happened to Boulder Dash? Dan had me theme it two years ago... or rather, I think it was more than two years ago. He said he was going to release it. I themed it (rather crappily, in retrospect), sent it back, but it never saw the light of day.

And for the record, it wasn't a full blown recreation of the park. It only included the coaster, the mountain, the lake, and Wildcat.

Maybe I should "release" it some day. I'm sure Dan's totally forgotten about it and wouldn't mind.

But then again, would anyone care? I doubt it.

I am banned from there.

Dan banned me.  I feel so special...  :'(

Anyways.  Dnet can go to hell for all I care.
It's deleted from my bookmarks and all cookies have been cleared.

probably, because I ratted you out for using two different names... :)
have a nice day.

awesome man, thanks for that

Maybe I should "release" it some day.  I'm sure Dan's totally forgotten about it and wouldn't mind. 

But then again, would anyone care?  I doubt it. 

Release it!

I'd been waiting for that park for ages... (well, ride)

i signed up new years eve 1999 i think, right before the y2k bug DIDN'T hit

I was Andrew then as well, a n00b with a napster avatar, I had just gotten a copy of Loopy Landscapes and I was very excited about it

I remember Sleepy Woods or Sleep Hollow or something being my favorite park, how ignorant of me

I also being the very first one to download a spotlight from new element, the night before iris finally opened it and he was testing something, and had the UIX download up for like, five minutes, luckily I was on and got it, I felt so exclusive,

Wow, SFK.
I bet you feel good for getting me banned.

I feel fucking great!
I could give a mean, fat, flying fuck for how you feel!
really, you got yourself banned by signing up two names.

yeah man, I know

I didn't sign up Hoffman George.
I retrieved the password, however.

i signed up new years eve 1999 i think, right before the y2k bug DIDN'T hit

I was Andrew then as well, a n00b with a napster avatar, I had just gotten a copy of Loopy Landscapes and I was very excited about it

I remember Sleepy Woods or Sleep Hollow or something being my favorite park, how ignorant of me

I also being the very first one to download a spotlight from new element, the night before iris finally opened it and he was testing something, and had the UIX download up for like, five minutes, luckily I was on and got it, I felt so exclusive

Isn't that wierd? I remember that day EXACTLY. I remember going over to a family friend's around 4, then hanging out around the house, and the little kids were crying, and the worried but excited faces on the adults...yet...it seems like such a long time, doesn't it? After all, I found about about Danimation in the middle of 2002, and that seems like aaages ago. I signed up months later and never posted. I have not visited since.

I do wish I was there in the beginning though. It seems like it would have been so fun. I did have some good times in 2001-02 at Tycoon Resource, making park projects (I probably did about 6-7 island sections, they sucked ) and such, but nothing was quite as exciting as Danimation seemed to be. Personally I hate the place as well, as it took me 2 weeks to get a conformation letter and since at that time I was a regular at the Station, Danimation seemed like the shitpile it was.

Speaking of the Station...what you said about the first spotlight download Andrew...oh, I remember some things right now. After weeks of waiting for the Station to come back when it was going through renovation that one time, I was up late one night, and I figured what the hell, I'll go over and refresh the page a few times...well what do you know, I was the first person to be at the station - Red had opened it 30 seconds before. I posted a welcome message at stuff, which was quickly filled and lost. Who would have guessed we would lose it again not a half a year later.

But it's coming back again.

Hm...I guess I have some stuff to add. Well, I registered at DNet on 12-17-01. I just signed up to enter the Christmas spotlight thing they had going. I never ended up entering, though. I visited the site (not forums) regularly from then on, but I started visiting the forums daily sometime during April of '02. Not much happened...until I started asking around about hacking RCT (inspired by Buster's parks). That's when I guess you could say I got some-what popular. I started doing random hacks in RCT and stuff of that like. I even started up my first website (RCT Hacks) from this. I clearly remember hacking two park for people. One was mp3mystro's Six Flags Maine and the other was iris' own Legends of Troy (Troy's Ancient Resort?), though the hack I did for iris never made it into the final park. If you're wondering, that hack was just an entrance to the, erm, Atlantis area made of small rocks stacked on top of each other. My memory of that is sort of hazy.

Well, that's pretty much all that happend on the old dnet. Somehow I became a mod for the new dnet (and still am). And, well, things are quite boring over there, when you turn around and look back at what it once was.

Well, that's all.