remember: tvseriesfans forum

TVSF. For some, this acronym strikes fond memories of a thriving TVB community. For others, these four letters are meaningless. TVSF is the acronym for TVSeriesFans - one of the biggest and most successful of all TVB online forums because it was more than just a forum.

Forums are nothing new and before TVSF came onto the scene, there were other forums (which will be discussed in another article). What set TVSF apart when it emerged was the fact that its main service was for Vietnamese TVB fans. For the first time, there was a place made especially for Viet fans. Because series have to be dubbed for Viets, they would get lost and feel out of place in other forums since the series of discussion hadn't been released yet for them. With TVSF, Viets could discuss current Viet released series with others and not feel behind. It was also a place where Viets could get news on series and find out what the newest released series in Viet were.

TVSF was launched by DCN - who remains the true and only administrator in the hearts of the forum's veterans. While I'm not sure of the exact date the forum was launched, I believe it was in late 2001. Like all new websites, TVSF started out very small. Nevertheless, it was still able to attract its own group of followers at the beginning (mostly Viets). In early 2002, TVSF went on hiatus for around three months. With its comeback, TVSF grew to new heights, attracting more visitors and members each month.

The golden years
From mid-2002 to mid-2004, TVSF was thriving. It attracted thousands of visitors and members and was a bustling community. Almost every thread was active, members had fun, and TVSF just had a lot of great things to offer with many options and features that other forums didn't have. While TVSF was still mainly targeted towards Viets, it became more universal and could service the entire TVB community.

2003 was TVSF's prime. It was a year of change with many exciting new things. With detailed series information, Viet releases updated weekly on the main page, and with series downloads on BT, TVSF became huge. TVSF was arguably the first forum to introduce BT downloading of TVB series to a mass English-speaking audience. Viets now visited it more than ever to get the latest updates on series and TVSF attracted more non-Viet members as well with the series information and downloads it had to offer. It was the place to be for TVB 411 and discussions.

Shut downs and scares
DCN lost interest in running the forum during winter 2003. He announced plans to close the forum in early 2004. It was because of this that AsianFanatics was born. Everyone from TVSF rushed over to AF because AF was going to serve as the "new" TVSF. Luckily, DCN decided not to shut down the forum and handed the job of administering the forum over to someone else. Thus, TVSF's life was carried through to 2004 and members happily returned to TVSF. Even though DCN "retired" from the forum, he still stuck around.

The happiness didn't last long. In summer 2004, DCN announced that TVB had sent him a letter and was forcing him to shut down the site. Apparently, TVB was not happy with the forum posting pictures and information from and about their series and they were angered with the downloading section (which had grown tremendously since it was introduced to TVSF in summer '03). TVB threatened to take legal actions if the forum continued to run. Sadly, TVSF had to shut down. The final days of TVSF were spent with members in shock, sadness, and bitterness at TVB. There was a whole "hate" thread for TVB in which members sent e-mails to them to vent their frustration (of course, the e-mails would never be read, but it was still a way for everyone to vent).

It was with this that the TVSF community had to bid farewell to their beloved forum - which had brought everyone together. It was more than just a place to discuss TVB. It had become a home to many where friendships were spun. Everyone visited it every day and some even became addicted to it. TVSF had started small in 2001, but by its shutdown in summer 2004 - it was one of the biggest TVB-related sites around.

Poor substitutes and a final goodbye
It was natural that replacement forums popped up after TVSF's death. Each one tried to model after TVSF, but being on free servers and not having as much options as TVSF turned people off. Thus, some ventured into AF. In the fall of 2004, however, a group of TVSF members got together to bring back the forum. TVSeries Sensation was the "spin off" to TVSF and premiered in October 2004. It had a rough start and while it was on a paid server, people felt that it didn't give the TVSF "feel."

A member was able to contact DCN and he gave TVSS the scripts of TVSF. Thus, TVSF was restored for one final time. With the look, members, and threads back - TVSF (now in the name of TVSS) was back in business. Sadly, poor management, chaos, and in-fights among the "tops" made the "new" TVSF not so enjoyable. Even though the exterior was TVSF - the interior was not. TVSF was warm and fun, but TVSS was messy and strict. However, it was still a place to go to, so people still went there.

Nearing the summer of 2005, TVSS kept going off-line randomly. People thought it was server glitches at first, but when the administrators (who foot the bill) couldn't be reached, people started to suspect that the forum might shut down again. Indeed - that was the case. Without any warning, the administrators had abandoned the forum. Without anyone paying the bills, the server was terminated and TVSF was gone. While people were upset by the abrupt departure, it wasn't as great as the outpour that happened the previous summer when the true TVSF shut down.

Encoded Thoughts
Recently, a group of old TVSF members have built a new forum called TvSeriesForum. While they've done a great job and the forum looks nice and partially reminds of TVSF, sadly, the special, warm feeling is not there. To me and others, the true TVSF faded away two summers ago. What's left are just memories of golden days of happiness. Unless DCN returns (which is unlikely), TVSF will be no more. You just had to be around and experience personally what TVSF was to understand why so many people love the forum.

TVSF will be remembered for the good times and all that it gave to the TVB community.

Bonus: TVB Musings' Episodic Memory
My first encounter with TVSF was in early 2002. I believe I was searching for Virtues of Harmony. In any case, what attracted me to the forum was that it had a lot of information and opinions and the people were friendly. It shut down shortly after I arrived, however. I was thrilled when it came back and even more ecstatic when I saw the forum continue to grow and become more popular. I loved being a Super Moderator there and DCN was a genius for creating so many wonderful codes and scripts for the forum - the Viet Released updates, first posts, easy deletes, and so on. The forum just had everything and I went on whenever I could.

Many people remember me as an S-Mod over at TVSF, but the story of how I became one is funny. I actually had no intention of being one and didn't even apply for the position! In fact, I was an S-Mod for several weeks before I even used any of "power" that I was entitled to. What happened was that I was friends with Hazel (I call her "Hazeli"), who was friends with DCN, so she asked me if I wanted to be an S-Mod. I didn't really understand what that was, but I said, "Sure, why not?" So, DCN promoted me to S-Mod without ever contacting me or anything. I guess he saw that was a good active member, so he knew I wouldn't abuse my power. But yes, it's true - I climbed my way to power through corruption. Haha. I did no work to get to my position, but I think many will agree that I did a great job as an S-Mod. As cocky as this may sound, I do believe that without me, TVSF just isn't TVSF.

The big thing that I contributed to TVSF was the format of the first posts in the series forums. After DCN installed the script so that the first posts of all threads would appear in subsequent pages, I re-did all of the series threads' first posts. My format had the series's poster, titles, synopsis, useful links, frequently asked questions, and ratings all in the first post. Therefore, all crucial information were included right there at the top of every page in threads for people to read. It made the series threads so organized, easy to read, and attractive. It's partially because of this that many people were attracted to TVSF for series information since everything was so neat and accessible in the first post. I was pleased when new threads followed my format and I was very happy to see that TvSeriesForum kept my format when they made their forum.

What I love most about TVSF is that it's like a home. It's warm, friendly, and fun. The majority of the TVSF community was like a big family. Everyone knew a lot of people and many friendships were made. I felt comfortable there and could say whatever I wanted. I felt free to talk about series and other things. I was never bored online when TVSF was up. It was always so active and there was always something to post or reply to. The replacement forums just didn't do it for me.

Of course, what attracted me most to TVSF was that it had the most Virtues of Harmony fans and/or watchers out of all TVB's online forums. In fact, I believe that TVSF rose with VOH. TVSF's prime (2002-2004) was also Virtues's best years. Virtues was arguably one of the hottest series at TVSF - having the most viewed and replied series thread(s). I remember the endless hours of Virtues discussions, games, and of course - spamming... it was all so great. When "TVSF" (well, TVSS) died again in the summer of 2005, Virtues had also completed its run for Viet viewers. It's almost as if TVSF and VOH had some weird fate! It's largely due to Virtues that TVSF was so enjoyable for me. I just loved our VOH community @ TVSF and I enjoyed posting my thoughts on the tapes every week, providing all of the information, reading others' thoughts, and laughing and joking in the threads.

I was crushed both times when TVSF announced that it was going to close. I didn't know what I'd do online without it! It was a place where I belonged... a place to go, everyday, any time. I was really angry at TVB for making the forum close because we did nothing wrong but promote their series. Okay, the downloading I could understand, but pictures and information?! How were we supposed to discuss their series without it? That was just ridiculous. While I didn't write "hate e-mails" to TVB, I still stayed up late into the night to post and vent with other TVSF members as we waited until the forum was gone...

After TVSF's shutdown in summer '04, I started TVSF Corner at my Virtues site to assist Viets in the weekly series releases. My small corner was quite successful and I really have to thank the people who contributed the non-TVB releases for me. Shortly after the opening of my TVSF "page," Jess (my "grandma") and I decided to open our own forum - called HKSF Café. Our forum wasn't very popular and had little members, but it was a nice place for us to go and post our opinions. Thank you to those of you who joined and supported us! Naturally, my TVSF Corner and our small forum closed when TVSS opened.

I was skeptical about TVSS all along because I had had a bit of a "misunderstanding" with the future administrator back when she was a member at TVSF. However, I won't dwell into what happened because it doesn't really matter. When TVSS was unveiled, I was horrified with how unattractive it looked and how little options it had, but, because of Virtues, I had to make it a home to continue to discuss and promote it. I was overly thrilled when I was told that DCN had given them the scripts of TVSF and that the forum was going to look and have all of TVSF's members, threads, and so on, back.

It was such a nice feeling to see "TVSF" back. It was like seeing an old friend, or rather, an old home. TVSS thus became a better place to visit, but it paled compared to the true TVSF. The management sucked and the atmosphere changed. There were more "troublemakers," "idiots," and "spammers." I realized that I began to visit TVSS more so for VOH and for the sake of remembering TVSF than for the actual forum itself. With TVSF, I was always excited to visit to see what was new, but with TVSS, I didn't care too much about it besides for the VOH thread. I was a little "upset" that the administrators just abandoned TVSS without any word, but I wasn't sad.

Through TVSS's many shortcomings, I was able to close the TVSF chapter in my life. I didn't miss it so badly anymore and while it would be nice to still have TVSF to visit, I think it's better that it ended. I don't need to be so addicted to such an online community because I'm not a high school student anymore. Nevertheless, when it's boring online with nothing to do and I have nowhere to go, I miss TVSF.

Thank you TVSF for giving me a home for so many great years!