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THE BASIN

July, 2000
It started from a comment in the diabloii.net Amazon Strategy forum back in late July of 2000. The comment was "someone should start an Amazon-only guild so we can all play together." That comment was made by Vehementi (everyone should know who he is).

August 11, 2000
No one ever started it, so by early August, I decided to. I created a forum on ezboard.com on August 11th and opened the web site (jamesbroome.thehospital.com/amazonbasin) the very next day.

I invited all the regulars from the diabloii.net Amazon forum to join me. 20 people took me up on it. The original members were Coffeegrrl, Tornadokick, Skyelar, Sheena, Qelial, Psyon, Odiin, Mudfoot, Jennivere, Irish, Gothmog, Golden_Bow, GhostMouse, Faramir, Dontio, Crosidine, Carcharoth, BrianDNA, bolshoi too, and Ariel. (fact of note - Coffeegrrl actually sent me an email asking to join on August 3rd - nine days before I opened the Basin!)

The first guild-wide email sent on August 20th included the following:

The first week of existence for the Amazon Basin has shown it to be an early success. We have 20 official members, with quite a few other folks posting on the forum site without joining. Total posts in our first week - 103! Thanks for all the positive feedback and great topics - especially in the Javazon Room.

Javazon big-shots BrianDNA and bolshoi too were the moderators of the very popular Javazon Room - our Javazon forum.

August 21 - September 25, 2000
I put up a page on the site which would allow interested people to just type in their email address to join. Doing so would get them into the guild as well as generate an acceptance letter. Between August 21st and September 25th (the last day of open enrollment), we admitted 96 more members. They were Achillea, AK404, Alinna, anaxamandra, Aurenna, Baroness Zeliah, Berner, Blondazon, BowJackson, Bowslut, cas123, Cauldren Born, Cellaneous, CHHAS, Chuck, Cilicia, Cordeiro, Cosmic sloP, Danielsk, Dev, DigitalSoul, DSYee, elf, fx8n, Gadrial, Ghirakhan, HaloNyne, Hecatonchires, Hochoona, Jayyness, Jyyi, Kael Quickblade, KasumiChunLi, Keana, Killer_Demo, Koebra, KpJDaddy, laiernie, Lareldar, LineNoise, Little Pig, Madrala, Mageta666, Malphigian, Mary Jane, Megaera, Metamay, Mooglez, Mout, Need, Nezhit, Night~Hawke, Nppsolota, Oliven, Oprah, PlanetRudy, Raychel, Roninwar, Rose in the Wind, Rulrose, Running Dog Lackey, Sac, Saddguy, Sairfox, Semvhu, Shizuka, Slayer B, StarFoxN64, Starslayer_D, Steef, Super, Syr Osric, Tagazon, Talys, Tankazon, Tha-Ama, The Tiberian Son, TheOccult, Tiercel, TV, UberAmazon , Valkiera, Valkrye, Vehementi, Vixan, wAr2wIz, Whistle, Wintermute, Wiz, Wolfsong, WordMuncher, wpmvii, Xentax, Yakut, Yellowdemon, and Yobbo.

Excerpt from the guild-wide email sent on September 26th:

Monday, September 25th was the last day of open enrollment. Problems with maintaining the list of nearly 115 members was getting to be quite a chore. Also, problems arose with some newer members and the use of the Mules (see below). Ironically, today it was reported nearly 90% of the items on the Mules were removed without notice.

I can't do anything about the missing items, nor can I keep anyone in the guild from removing items only to sell or trade for a personal profit. The password will only keep non-members out, not ill intentioned Amazon Basin members. I welcome any ideas to keep this more in line with our purpose.

The new enrollment policy is as follows: new members will be admitted without question if they are recommended by an existing member in good standing. Simple, huh? This will cut down on the up to 20 requests daily for admittance to the guild as well as weed out some of the bad seeds who might try to make their way into the guild.

MembersTalys and Saddguy, along with some diabloii.net Amazon forum regulars, started posting screenshots of their games on another site. This site later becameD2Realms.com.

September 25, 2000
Open enrollment in the Amazon Basin ends. Instead, we start a policy wherein people could join if a current member requested their entry into the guild. Again, quite a few got in that way.

January 9th, 2001
The Amazon Basin holds its first Amazon Basin Membership Game which when played by a non-member with a current member hosting, would be used for us to 'evaluate' others and let them evaluate us. Everyone was invited to play, and again, it got way too hectic way too fast. The guild-wide email sent following the first Tuesday night game contained the following:

Last Tuesday's Membership Games were a huge success. In reading the posts from the general public as well as members, it was apparent everyone enjoyed themselves. Aside from some early kinks in getting everyone split up into workable groups, it looks as though it went off without a hitch. Well, we're doing it again tonight. Anyone interested in hosting a game should be in the channel by 9 p.m. (9 Eastern for those of you hosting USEast folks, and for those of you on the West, show up on 9 p.m. your time). And since there was some confusion over this, please let me clear it up - prospective members only need to play in there realms time zone. If they are on East, they show up and play at 9 EST. If they are on West, they show up and play at 9 p.m.
PST. I sure hope that helps.

January 11, 2001
I apply for and am given web space on a new server. Net-Games.com allows me to move my site from the 5MB of space I had been using on a freebie account.

January 15, 2001
Two fairly big items in the history of The Amazon Basin take place on this date. First, I purchase theamazonbasin.com from Network Solutions, and Geoff Frazier of Blizzard requests my permission to link to The Amazon Basin from Blizzard's Arreat Summit site. These two items mark turning points in our history.

January 19, 2001
Amazon Basin Membership Games (you know, the ones called 'a huge success' in the email above) are discontinued after 2 nights of games. They attracted so many people, we were not equipped to handle them.

January 27, 2001
The Amazon Basin completes the move from its old server onto net-games servers.

February 6, 2001
We begin using our own domain name (theamazonbasin.com).

February 8, 2001
We begin using The Rack. This system allows members to post who they thing might make a good addition to the guild. Once posted, everyone chimes in on them. If we get an overall 'sure, let them in' response, they're in (specifics of the 'Rack' have been left out for security purposes!). SearchLightSoul is the first member accepted using this new method. Laiernie is the sponsor.

February 20, 2001
Trynity is cursed with the title of co-administrator to help TPJ with running the show. She pleads to be let off with a warning, but is handed the keys to be Basin all the same. (your replacements for the 4th lost set are in the mail Tryn)

April 12, 2001
Due to some serious rumbling amongst both new members and 'old-timers', The Rack - in its original form - is closed. Discussions begin on how to take care of the problems within the Basin itself. A slightly modified Rack seems to be the way to solve quite a few of the issues, but it doesn't open until over a month later.

April 14, 2001
The Amazon Basin moves from the net-games servers (due to their discontinuance of free hosting) to our new home on FatCow. We are given 5GB of bandwidth to use each month. Two weeks later we surpass our allotment of bandwidth. The overage charges will end up costing me an extra $100 extra per month. I start looking for a new host - and fast.

April 18, 2001
Original forums (ezBoard) are closed.

May 2, 2001
We move to our current host, ReadyHosting. They provide us with unlimited bandwidth.

May 9, 2001
Current forums are opened on our site.

August 11, 2003
The Amazon Basin celebrates its third birthday.

The Amazon Basin web site (including the forums) currently averages 300,000+ hits daily, with about 4,000 visitors each day. These stats are accurate as of August, 2003.

Thanks for reading - Thomas Penfield Jackson

The Amazon Basin Community