Miscellaneous Questions

A collection of miscellaneous questions that don't exactly fit on any other page.

When were the GameFAQs message boards opened to the public?

November 7, 1999 at 9:43 PM CST.

When was the karma system first implemented?

August 19, 2001. Everyone was given karma retroactively according to the date that they signed up.

Who was the first person ever to register?

Besides CJayC on 11/4/1999, it was Demon of Elru (user ID #11) on 11/7/1999. Accounts 2 through 10 were all tests.

Who was the first banned user?

A user named DrunkenSailorStyle.

What are the message purge rates?

Topics and messages are archived or purged daily between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM Pacific time. Topics on non-social message boards are indefinitely archived; topics on social boards are purged. The number of topics a board has determines the frequency of the cleanup process. Such intervals are as follows:

  • Between 1 and 5 topics - Not archived/deleted
  • Between 6 and 20 topics - 1 Year
  • Between 21 and 40 topics - 6 Months
  • Between 40 and 100 topics - 3 Months
  • Between 101 and 200 topics - 30 Days
  • Between 201 and 400 topics - 10 Days
  • Between 401 and 750 topics - 5 Days
  • Between 751 and 1000 topics - 2 Days
  • Over 1000 topics - Daily
What are private boards?

Private boards are boards which have restricted member lists. Users can be added to or removed from a private board's member list by that board's administrator(s). LUE, TOS Discussion, The Space Bar, Mine is Bigger Than Yours, and Beta Test are all administrated by the site administrators; the other private boards are each owned by different GameFAQs users. Private board owners can add/remove board admins by themselves, but must request board name changes by contacting the site administrators. Users must be level 20 or higher to be invited to a private board, and they must be level 30 or higher to be promoted to admin of a private board.

In 2016, GameFAQs rolled out changes to private boards, opting call them "Community Boards" and removed the exclusivity of such boards to a very small number of users. Users with a board level of 33 or higher are able to request their own personal community board, which also allows them to determine access requirements for that board. Due to an overwhelming number of these boards, only the boards privately managed by users before this feature are listed below. Specific information about these boards was described in the User-Level Requirements section.

Date of Creation Board Number(s) Reason for Creation
4/6/2004 810-819 April Fool's Day applications on Iconia and Idolatry
Late 2004 820 Reward for reported site vulnerability
12/12/2005 821 Reward for reported site vulnerability
7/7/2008 822 SBallin' contest #1
7/16/2008 832 SBallin' contest #2
7/31/2008 823 SBallin' contest #3
8/1/2008 824 SBallin' contest #4
8/12/2008 825 SBallin' contest #5
10/14/2009 833 SBallin' contest #6
10/20/2009 834 SBallin' contest #7
10/27/2009 848 SBallin' contest #8
11/20/2009 835 SBallin' contest #10
11/20/2009 836 SBallin' contest #9
9/16/2010 837-838 GameFAQs Competitions private board competition #1
10/6/2010 839 GameFAQs Competitions private board competition #2
10/25/2010 840-841 GameFAQs Competitions private board competition #3
1/22/2011 842-844 Game of the Decade 2010
1/31/2012 845-847 Fall 2011 Rivalry Rumble
5/16/2012 849-850 April Facebook/Twitter private board giveaway
10/18/2013 851-854 The Great GameFAQs Character Battle IX
How many annual karma boosts have there been?

There have been 10 total karma boosts:

  • The first boost (10%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2001.
  • The second boost (7%) was given to all active users on 11/5/2002.
  • The third boost (8%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2003.
  • The fourth boost (10%) was given on 12/21/2004 to all users who had upgraded their accounts to the new universal login system.
  • The fifth boost (6%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2005.
  • The sixth boost (7%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2006.
  • The seventh boost (8%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2007.
  • The eighth boost (0.9-8.9%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2008.
  • The ninth boost (10%) was given to all active users on 11/9/2009.
  • The tenth boost (16 karma) was given to all active users on 11/9/2015.
When did we get extra daily karma in 2006?

After missing 2 net karma during the April redesign, we received 1 extra karma on the following days:

  • May 2006
    • 17th-18th
    • 23rd-25th
    • 31st
  • June 2006
    • 1st-2nd
    • 8th-9th
    • 13th-16th
    • 23rd
  • July 2006
    • 6th-7th
    • 12th-13th
    • 18th
  • August 2006
    • 15th-16th
  • September 2006
    • 6th-7th
    • 12th
    • 26th
  • October 2006
    • 11th
    • 26th
  • November 2006
    • 7th
Have we gotten extra daily karma on any other occasions?

On 10/22/2012, GameFAQs eperienced about ten hours of downtime and users got no karma, so on 10/23/2012 everyone who visited the boards received 2 karma. On 12/12/2012, SBAllen's son was born. To celebrate the occasion, all accounts in good standing that were created before 12/12/2012 and have logged in between 12/12 and 12/18 received 12 bonus karma on 12/18/2012. On 11/5/2015, all active users received 20 karma in recognition of the 20th birthday of GameFAQs.

How do certain older users have punctuation in their name?

There are 11 known users that created their accounts a long time ago when punctuation was allowed in usernames. Also, there are 5 GameSpot users who had punctuation in their GameSpot names (other than hyphens/underscores) who have logged in on GameFAQs and now have GameFAQs accounts with punctuation. Here are those 16 users:

User Name User ID
Noel H. 105
Sac! 126
Who Cares? 617
how about no? 3445
Akané 5368
Cid. 8618
pikawho? 13112
Ash K. 13645
Diablo! 14298
Bopig! 14358
Wil! 16539
)-(avoc 1781487
RobM.2K2 2233160
Zephr C. 3048378
G$1 3109293
Mr.Eric 4080905
How do certain older users have names that start with numbers?

This was another thing that was allowed back when the message boards first opened. Here are some known users whose names begin with numbers:

User Name User ID
64manic 627
6bit 3156
1 1 1 9952
2 Rude 18296

Additionally, in 2003, each contributor name was linked to a message board account (which were automatically created based on the contributor names); some of these started with numbers. This limitation is no longer in place.

How does this old user have such a short name?

The user "Id" (user ID #6216) is the only known old GameFAQs user with less than three characters in his username. When the boards first opened, spaces were allowed at the end of usernames, and he registered as "Id ". These spaces were not visible on the boards and were later accidentally removed.

How did these old users get consecutive spaces in their names?

The users "Bored Gamer" (user ID #10780), "Ryoga Hibiki" (user ID #12695), and "Ultima Weapon" (user ID #15082) each have two consecutive spaces in their usernames, and "Bored Gamer" (user ID #15227) has four consecutive spaces in his username. When the boards first opened, consecutive spaces were allowed in usernames. The extra spaces are only visible in the HTML source.

Have any users had karma transferred to a new account?

Yes, at least four users have been allowed to transfer karma from an old account to a new account because of problems with their old usernames.

Old User ID Old User Name New User ID New User Name
??? BBBBUUUUUURRRRRRPPPP 479104 Kiori Hayabusa
??? Twink 660449 CWall
26147 DanFookes 27339228 CaptainCAWisma
40632 tommyvandyke 4975785 magistermene

Additionally, the Cold Storage system assigns a new user ID to any user who does not log in for a certain variable period of time. Users who are affected by this also have their usernames changed to their universal usernames if they differ. Here are some notable users who have had their accounts changed appreciably by Cold Storage.

Old User ID Old User Name New User ID New User Name
643 Mmeeva 6223035 Mmeeva
16066 Bastard Knight 6607959 Bastard_Knight
97611 evilpaul 6693531 evilpaul2012
189720 mao2 6631750 mao2
743814 Bartman 6693367 Bartman_
3047561 AdamTierney 6260172 AdamTierney
4697195 igetgames 6769564 igetgames
Have any users had their usernames changed?

Yes. At least eight users had their usernames changed before username reconciliation was instituted. It is believed that some of these changes were a result of problems during the universal account upgrade process, while other changes were specifically requested.

User ID Old User Name(s) Current User Name
21 Sailor Bacon SBAllen
63399 Mem010 M3m010
74981 Killa Kadafi metalcasket
149416 CripplerCrossface13 MantleNotMouse
377500 HyperInferno
Hyper_Inferno
Hyper Inferno
632710 hakikev Hak
834874 Sins Tox1n MarkSmith
947076 bluerain bluerainisglad
What is username reconciliation?

On 3/12/2012, GameFAQs instituted an optional policy of username reconciliation, under which users whose board usernames differ from their universal usernames can select new usernames. All space accounts, all accounts with usernames over 15 characters, all accounts with usernames containing punctuation other than hyphens and underscores, and many accounts made before CNET's acquisition of GameFAQs are affected by this. Also, usernames containing personal information or misspellings can be changed, as can accounts over ten years old. During April and July 2013, users who bought GameFAQs T-shirts could also apply for name changes. Here is a list of all known notable users who have been affected by one such change.

User ID Old User Name(s) Current User Name User Status
27 Celestial Avenger CelestiaAvenger Moderator: 3rd Batch
34 La Vaca La_Vaca Moderator: 1st Batch
427 AEtherSPOON aetherspoon Moderator:4th Batch
6646 Kasket Darkfyre Kasket_Darkfyre Moderator: 2nd Batch
8459 seifer psx seifer_psx Moderator: 6th Batch
10033 dude202 bover87 Moderator: 16th Batch
16066, 6607959 Bastard Knight Bastard_Knight
16180 Master LL MasterLL Moderator: 6th Batch
22318 Zhuge Liang Zhuge_Liang Moderator: 7th Batch
23754 Crono LV99 Crono_LV99 Moderator: 4th Batch
28444 Ry Senkari RySenkari Moderator: 14th Batch
34265 technocloak rivers Private Board Owner: #showarr
34467 WolverineFan Wolverinefactor Moderator: 12th Batch
37681 Moonlight Sprite MoonlightSprite Moderator: 3rd Batch
40197 The Great Admiral RS1984 Private Board Owner: 817
46425 Scottie theNerd Scottie_theNerd Moderator: 6th Batch
47459 Master G MasterGnet VIP: Media
77352 Med Jai Med_Jai Moderator: 8th Batch
141118 Banfi 2k banfee Moderator: 6th Batch
144575 TheMissingLink1186, TML86 TML Moderator: 6th Batch
158193 Lisa Shock Lisa_Shock VIP: Industry
162987 DetroitDJ DDJ Moderator: 13th Batch
197573 Xenoserphia Iluna Moderator: 7th Batch
198167 HardKore ChiK, HardKore_Chik jmoneycgt Moderator: 14th Batch
213129 Martin G Martin_G Moderator: 8th Batch
272994 RockMFR 5 RockMFR Private Board Owner: Bunny!
282236 Rat Guy, Nikon9 Nikon Moderator: 11th Batch
297126 torey luvullo toreyluvullo Private Board Owner: Soundcheck
332523 goatsmilk TheLabelBabyJr Private Board Owner: Noblesse Oblige
332690 NO CHANCE 316 BrandonNC316 Moderator: 14th Batch
380374 Tidus9554 CrowMagnon Moderator: 11th Batch
469719 Orochi Jin Orochi_Jin Moderator: Flip-flopper
486429 harryjamespotter LurkinLeviathan Moderator: 11th Batch
559311 Jay FNG Philbrook Jay_FNG VIP: Industry
580871 Hawk Eye Xerebus Moderator: 8th Batch
802708 Schmendricks Folly Taladashar Moderator: 9th Batch
836948 DagothUrReturns dur Moderator: 11th Batch
841722 Mewtwo X9, Corec Bluffnix Moderator: 14th Batch
849582 NightingaleNT NightingaleMD Moderator: 8th Batch
885490 MIND FREAK Darth_Mike Private Board Owner: !
1247318 chrisbrnes Time Private Board Owner: Hardcore
1248194 FAHtastic JackMan Moderator: 17th Batch
1265840 Pyromaniac Roy Pitaya Moderator: 18th Batch
1623749 MISL Fan II Wildthing Moderator: 18th Batch
1956055 DSdude19 Zanzenburger Moderator: 20th Batch
3122506 xXMithril5Xx Mith Moderator: 17th Batch
3175074 Cataclysms Cataclysm Moderator: 16th Batch
3267689 chobe choblerone Moderator: 11th Batch
3584448 LanHikari_12345 LanHikari10 Moderator: 16th Batch
3625114 TakatoMatsuki Takato Moderator: 15th Batch
4725389 gmorris7897 gmo7897 Moderator: 15th Batch
5255165 Envirasu Laevant Moderator: 16th Batch
6211026 Asfand1234 Asfand Moderator: 17th Batch
What are the user levels?

Here are all the user levels:

  • -5: Banned
    User has been banned from posting messages for one or more Terms of Use violations.
  • -4: Closed
    Account closed by user. Closed accounts cannot be reopened under any circumstances.
  • -3: Blocked
    Account locked from message boards.
  • -2: Locked
    Account locked by an administrator to prevent abuse.
  • -1: Suspended
    User's posting privileges have been suspended for one or more Terms of Use violations, pending review by an Administrator.
  • 1: Read-Only
    Account can only be used to read messages on the boards.
  • 2: Unverified
    User has not yet verified their account using a valid e-mail address.
  • 3: Purgatory
    Account suspended for a set period of time by an admin for numerous and/or severe ToU violations.
  • 4: Pending Review
    Account activated, but pending review by an administrator before use.
  • 5: Warned
    User on "parole" for one or more major Terms of Use violations. Can only post 3 messages per hour (10 per day), no topics, restored after 48-72 hours.
  • 6: Negative Karma
    User has karma of less than zero. User can post a total of one message per day, and any further ToU violations are grounds for banning.
  • 10: Provisional
    New account with less than 3 karma. Can create 1 topic, 10 messages per day (3 per hour).
  • 11: Provisional
    New account with less than 3 karma. Can create 2 topics, 20 messages per day (5 per hour).
  • 12: Provisional
    New account with less than 3 karma. Can create 3 topics, 30 messages per day (10 per hour).
  • 13: Provisional
    New account with less than 3 karma. Can create 4 topics, 40 messages per day (15 per hour).
  • 14: Provisional
    New account with less than 3 karma. Can create 5 topics, 50 messages per day. Can delete own messages, close topics.
  • 15: New User
    Awarded to users with at least 3 karma. Can create 10 topics, 75 messages per day. Can now view own posting history.
  • 20: Rookie User
    Awarded to users with at least 10 karma. Can create 10 topics, 100 messages per day. Can now mark messages for moderation.
  • 25: Novice User
    Awarded to users with at least 25 karma. No level posting restrictions.
  • 30: Regular User
    Awarded to users with at least 50 karma.
  • 31: Veteran
    Awarded to users with at least 100 karma.
  • 32: Legend
    Awarded to users with at least 250 karma.
  • 33: Elite
    Awarded to users with at least 500 karma.
  • 34: Icon
    Awarded to users with at least 1000 karma.
  • 35: Idol
    Awarded to users with at least 1500 karma.
  • 36: Ancient
    Awarded to users with at least 2000 karma.
  • 37: Sage
    Awarded to users with at least 3000 karma.
  • 38: ? Block
    Awarded to users with at least 5000 karma. Wow.
  • 39: ???
    Awarded to users with at least 10000 karma. Seriously?
  • 41: VIP - Media
    Verified Industry Poster - User confirmed as a professional member of the gaming media.
  • 42: VIP - Industry
    Verified Industry Poster - User confirmed as a member of the game industry, although not directly involved in game productions.
  • 43: VIP - Production
    Verified industry Poster - User confirmed as a member of the game industry, involved in game production.
  • 50: New Moderator
    Moderators new to the moderation staff.
  • 51: Moderator
    GameFAQs Message Board Moderators, handle marked messages and user issues.
  • 52: Veteran Moderator
    Moderators who have been on the staff for 4 or more years.
  • 53: Lead Moderator
    Moderators who also handle some administrative duties.
  • 60: Administrator
    Administrators can review and ban suspended users, as well as controlling all other aspects of the boards.
  • 70: Data Administrator
    Account used for Coding/Testing of Boards.
Who are the VIPs?

Many years ago (around 2002), CJayC allowed users to email him at a special address if they were a member of the video game industry, and if they provided proof, he would change their level to "40: VIP". Applications opened again in 2005, but with stricter requirements. Users who meet the qualifications are now upgraded to one of the higher VIP levels (41, 42, or 43). If a user is at one of the higher VIP levels, their real name, job title, and company name is placed below their board user level in their profile. Here is the list of all known current VIP users:

VIP - Media

User Name (Level) User ID
Fragnarok (41) 40562
MasterGnet (41) 47459
corbie33 (41) 1175454
osgcn (41) 2198215
Suikodish (41) 4050300
AerisHime (30) 4600545
BestEditor (41) 4735793
Mike_Damiani (41) 5465140
LitesJusticeZ (41) 7286913

VIP - Industry

User Name (Level) User ID
mdude4 (42) 100146
MiltyKiss (42) 109508
Ronin7997 (42) 199598
Razoraks (42) 289266
Jial Silverthorn (42) 319432
hydro94545 (42) 440762
Jay_FNG (42) 559311
EP_VCS (42) 6171025
JoelFB (42) 6572690
4JSteve (42) 6614531
vicireland (42) 6775378
Newegg_Support (42) 6804122
CeeCee-Natsume (42) 6983542
TroyCotter (42) 7033282

VIP - Production

User Name (Level) User ID
Logick (43) 184005
stv2049 (43) 331503
Mr Strange (43) 501837
tragic (43) 534961
Blackronin5150 (43) 583496
uUnreal (43) 592905
Grampa Spanky (43) 663192
Setokaiba123456 (43) 772079
toaplan 1173207 (43)
Glaiel Gamer (43) 1527052
olkingsoul (33) 2297757
Sabre_Fox (43) 2456758
L_Spiro (43) 3341084
SigmaLongshot (43) 3362406
Pennaduro (43) 3410615
Nickf42 (43) 3592294
kcsunshain (43) 3866761
dragonforces (43) 3967528
BIGsheep_ (43) 5190865
HVSTony (43) 5291228
Antisimplistic (43) 5481323
SpikeGames (43) 5818213
knolan11 (43) 6242748
AdamTierney (43) 6260172
fyzxwhyz (43) 6274268
foresti (43) 6468643
demiJustin (43) 6619153
Bartman_ (43) 6693367
evilpaul2012 (43) 6693531
NGsonicmega (43) 6737489
AealofDarkness (43) 6747990
igetgames (43) 6769564
fix_omega (43) 6875501
What subdomains does GameFAQs currently use?

There are 8+ IP addresses that serve 15 different subdomains:

  • 199.232.37.188 - beta-gamefaqs.gamespot.com
    serves as a beta test for the site.
  • 104.154.187.27 - gcp.gamefaqs.gamespot.com
    serves as a beta test for the site.
  • 64.30.228.84 - www.gamefaqs.com, m.gamefaqs.com, boards.gamefaqs.com, beta.gamefaqs.com, sitemap.gamefaqs.com, db.gamefaqs.com
    serves the main site including the polls, reviews, contribution/recognition pages, game saves, and FAQs (including FAQ Maps and Charts). m.gamefaqs.com formerly served the mobile version of the site. boards.gamefaqs.com formerly served the message boards. beta.gamefaqs.com serves the beta version of the site. sitemap.gamefaqs.com serves the GameFAQs sitemap. db.gamefaqs.com formerly the user-submitted FAQs, game saves, and images.
  • 64.30.227.139 - membership.gamefaqs.com, reg.gamefaqs.com
    This serves some of the account confirmation pages and password changing pages.
  • 64.30.224.113 - ocp.gamefaqs.com, adimg.gamefaqs.com, mads.gamefaqs.com
    ocp.gamefaqs.com is presumably an admin-only control panel subdomain. The other two serve some of the advertisement pages.
  • 64.30.224.172, 64.30.227.54, 64.30.227.58, 216.239.120.246 - dw.gamefaqs.com
    This serves some of the advertisement pages.
  • (dynamic) - img.gamefaqs.net, gamefaqs.akamaized.net
    This serves some of the user-submitted screenshots. This subdomain's IP address seems to change depending on the viewer's ISP.
  • 10.14.97.117 - hh.gamefaqs.com
  • 10.14.113.12 - uat.gamefaqs.com
  • 10.25.0.166 - stage.dev.gamefaqs.com
    The above three IP addresses are private, as per RFC1918. They are not routable on the internet; therefore, these subdomains are only available while connected to CBS Interactive's private network.
What was Marked Message Accuracy?

It was GameFAQs' system for letting the moderators know who marks messages correctly and who does not, allowing GameFAQs to prioritize message marks accordingly. At one time, users were able to see their MMA rating.

What was AutoMod?

As the name suggests, messages can be automatically moderated if a certain amount of users mark them. It was disabled due to abuse in August 2002. The number of marks needed was unconfirmed, but is rumored to have been somewhere between 10 and 20. A user who had been auto-modded would receive a deletion if they had no current moderations. If they had 1 or more moderations on record, they were suspended until CJayC could review their situation.

What is a Generated Message?

When a user has a TOU violation in their profile (username, signature, quote, e-mail address, or IM name), a moderator can generate a message for that user. The message will appear on the Generated Messages board in the form of a topic (titled "Generated Message") and the user can then be suspended for that message. An administrator will review the user in question and if there is indeed a violation in their profile, the profile will be cleared and most likely the user will be warned (unless the violation is serious enough or they have an extensive moderation history, in which case the user will be banned). Also, moderators can generate messages from message markings and moderation contests when a user abuses those features, which will also most likely result in a warning or ban.

Can I be moderated for a message after it has been overturned after a previous moderation?

Yes, you can. This is also the case for previously no-actioned posts, but a moderator must mark the no-actioned post for it to get into the moderation queue a second time.

How do sigwipes work?

If a user has a violation in their signature, the lead mods and admins have an automatic tool that can remove the user's signature from all their existing posts, but many sigwipes are still done manually.

How does my Usermap work?

Your account gets connected to another account on a usermap when you log into one after the other in a short period of time. Users are tracked using both IP addresses and cookies, but it is not precisely known how accounts get on the same usermap. The help files claim accounts are dropped from usermaps after 60 days, but it is believed that accounts possibly might stay on usermaps indefinitely.

How does a Usermap Axe work?

Let's pretend Yaggy is one user and CJayC is another. Yaggy has 10 accounts and shares one with CJayC. That account now shares the usermap of all of Yaggy's accounts, and all of CJayC's accounts. If CJayC violates the TOS on one of his own accounts, he might lose all of his accounts and the shared account. But if the shared account is the one that makes the violation, then both users might lose all of their accounts.

How can I see the archived topics on Message Board Announcements, Team GameFAQs, and GameFAQs Competitions?

Search for "%" on those boards.

How can I block the ads on GameFAQs?

It varies among different operating systems, but here is the link to a page with all of the information I've compiled: Ad Blocking and CSS Tweaks

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