NOTE: This is an archived version of KSOT, preserved for historic purposes. The content on this page is not maintained. The updated version of the page can be found at the root domain for KSOT.

The GameFAQs Secondary Boards FAQ

Last updated: 26 October 2020. Recent changes:

• Amazon_Shampoo, Doctor Foxx, jimmyjones69, tizorres, and WafflehouseJK are level 37
• Atomicsniper and MGO_Tidus are level 35
• Suzardo is level 33
• Level requirements for the Politics board updated
• Batch 20 moderators are level 52

Click here to view the changelog.

Contents

1. Intro
2. Newbie Questions
3. Banned Words List
4. The Moderators
5. Damn Posting Limits
6. Secret Boards
7. Board User-Level Requirements
8. KoS
9. Miscellaneous Questions
10. GameFAQs Related Links
11. Contact & Credit

1. Intro

Just to clarify, the point of this FAQ is to provide any and all general information about the GameFAQs Message Boards that is not provided in one of the site's already existing documents (TOU, help section, etc.). Most of my knowledge comes from days and nights of lurking at Message Board Help. You can really learn a lot there if you try to keep up with everything. A lot of people have contributed to this FAQ over time; most of them don't even know it though, as I hadn't planned on writing this until the night it happened (8/23/2002).

If you've stumbled upon this FAQ without much knowledge of the inner-workings of GameFAQs, you may want to refer yourself to the site's help section and Terms of Use, which basically include all of the important information that this FAQ does not have:
GameFAQs Terms of Use
GameFAQs Board Etiquette
GameFAQs Help Files

You can contact the GameFAQs administrators via the feedback forms:
GameFAQs Feedback Forms

2. Newbie Questions

• Q: What does "FAQ" stand for?
  A: Frequently Asked Questions. Here are some other acronyms commonly used on GameFAQs:

  1337	Elite
  AFAIK	As Far As I Know
  AFK	Away From Keyboard
  B&/B7	Banned
  B/C	Because
  BBL	Be Back Later
  BRB	Be Right Back
  BTW	By The Way
  BUMP	Bring Up My Post/Message Position
  FTFY	Fixed That For You
  FTW	For The Win
  FWIW	For What It's Worth
  G2G, GTG	Got/Good To Go
  GG(WP)	Good Game (Well Played)
  IIRC	If I Remember/Recall Correctly
  IM(H)O	In My (Humble/Honest) Opinion
  IRL	In Real Life
  ISP	Internet Service Provider
  ITT	In This Topic/Thread
  J/K	Just Kidding
  KOS	Kill On Sight
  NKL	No Karma Loss
  NT	No Text
  NWD	Notify Without Delete
  OMG	Oh My God/Gosh
  OP	Original Poster
  QFT	Quoted For Truth
  RO(T)FL	Rolling On (The) Floor Laughing
  SP?	Not sure about spelling
  SPI	Sexual Preference Insult
  TC	Topic Creator
  TLDR, TL,DR	Too Long, Didn't Read
  TLDW, TL,DW	Too Long, Didn't Watch
  TOS	Terms Of Service
  TOU	Terms Of Use
  TTYL	Talk To You Later
  TY(VM)	Thank You (Very Much)
  W/	With
  W/E	Whatever
  W/O	Without
  WB	Welcome Back
  WTH	What The Hell
  WTF	What The F***
  XD	A laughing emoticon

• Q: How do you gain karma?
  A: Any given day that you log into one of your accounts and visit the boards, you will receive one karma point. An account must be at level 6 or higher to gain its daily karma. The daily karma update occurs shortly after 10 PM eastern time. You can also gain karma by reporting security exploits or by winning competitions. Before 2009 there were annual karma boosts, and there have been several small karma boosts on other dates. Also, users who bought GameFAQs T-shirts during May or June 2013 could gain up to 1000 karma.
• Q: What are the current limitations on usernames?
  A: Usernames can have up to 15 characters (alphanumeric plus underscores and hyphens).
• Q: Where is the ____ board?
  A: If it's a game board, search for it by using the search box on the top of any page, or click the "All Systems" link and navigate by console. If it's any other type of board, check the category links on the bottom of the main boards page.
• Q: Who owns GameFAQs?
  A: GameFAQs is owned by CBS Interactive, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation. The former owner, CNET Networks, was acquired by CBS in 2008. CNET bought the site from CJayC in 2003.
• Q: Why are the moderators allowed to violate my freedom of speech?
  A: The First Amendment's protection of "free speech" only applies to the government.
• Q: What the hell? How did that topic get more than 500 posts?
  A: Even though a topic automatically closes at 500 posts, it still takes a few moments to actually close. So if a few people are posting at the same time after 499 posts, sometimes more than one will slip by. Also, moderators have the ability to post in closed topics, so this could be the cause. There was formerly a bug which caused topics to not close when a GameSpot user got the 500th post, so such topics could continue indefinitely until posted in by a GameFAQs user. The largest GameFAQs-only topic ever was on Life, the Universe, and Everything. Due to a glitch, it was able to reach 4145 posts before closing. The largest topic to take advantage of a bug had 1,315,101 posts. The 500 post limit was put in place on November 29, 2000.
• Q: If I delete my post, can a moderator still see it?
  A: Yes, moderators can see deleted posts by going into your Deleted Message History, but a record of your deleted post will only stay there for 14 days.
• Q: Can I ever lose my ability to mark messages?
  A: Yes. If you write something into the "other" box that violates the TOU, you could be banned, which would effectively cause you to lose your ability to mark messages.
• Q: How do I underline something?
  A: Hold Alt, press 0175, then release Alt. You will get "¯", which isn't exactly a real underline, but it's as close as you can get. You may also use the "<cite>" tags around text that you want underlined.
• Q: How do I display the "<b>" or "<i>" tags in a post?
  A: <b<b></b>> and <i<i></i>>.
• Q: Can I use wildcards when searching for topics?
  A: Yes. Use "_" as a single character wildcard, or use "%" for a wildcard of any length. Use "\_", "\%", and "\\" to search for "_", "%", and "\", respectively.
• Q: How can I close my account?
  A: You can close your account by using this form.
• Q: How can I delete my account?
  A: You can delete your account after it has been closed for 30 days by using this form.
• Q: Why do some users not have karma and other information listed in their user profile?
  A: Either the user's account is below level 0 or in Cold Storage, or they are from GameFAQs' sister site, GameSpot, with whom the game boards were formerly shared.
• Q: What are the basic requirements to become a moderator?
  A: Active on the site for at least a year, 350 karma, no banned, shared, or problematic accounts on your usermap, a relatively clean moderation history, and accurate information in your personal profile (name, address, etc).
• Q: What if I contest a moderation with something stupid/offensive?
  A: Then you will most likely receive this message: "Contest Abuse: Your contest has been determined to be an abuse of the moderation contest system. You have lost the right to contest further moderations." If it was bad enough, you can even be banned.

3. Banned Words List

This section is hosted on another page to keep this site acceptable to link to from GameFAQs.
*Warning! Scary offensive language ahead!! Enter at your own risk!!!*
Banned Words List

4. The Moderators

Current Moderators:

Alpha218, Alucard188, Apoca88, Apodyopsist, Arkane Denial, AssultTank, balaysked, billyb2004, Caelthus, CapnMuffin, Centurion, Compsognathus, Crazymaori, Crono99, CTVector, DDJ, De-, Deathjester, Deja Blue 03, Devin Morgan, Dikitain, DoomtheGrav, dur, Error1355, Evthean, Exolamb102, FabIemaster, FridgeBeard, gmo7897, Happy1912, Hikewne, Itachi157, Jetblackmoon, JMPzero, jondias, Kimberly, Landman, LanHikari10, Life Sympathy, Lord_of_BeefDip, Magna Stryker, Matelite, MegaBlaZone, Mental_Daxter, MMZ, ne14a6t9r, NES4EVER, Optimus Magnus, powerman1426, Ps2Twilight, Ranting Nord, RaptorLC, SBAllen, ScarlettEve, Seaman9999, Shah138, Shotgunnova, Silent Sniper IV, SlabAcid, Sorugue, spooky96, stahlbaum, SuddenlyNinjas, SwordMaster13X, TarElessar, Team Rocket Elite, TheFifthPerson, Tom Clark, Tyrasibion, Valjackal, westy159, XIII_rocks, yoshifan1, Zanzenburger, ZoopSoul, ZoqFotPik

Moderator Abilities:

Moderator Selection History:

* denotes former mods

* - Denotes former moderator/admin status

Trivia:

• Faye Valentine X, Fantasy Man, Absinthe Martini, Icebrand, goople, cold blue steel, Wolfshade, Cat Nip, Proctodynia, The Pain Monster, and Ayanako are all alternate mod accounts created by users who want(ed) to keep their real identity a secret. Cat Nip is Split Infinity and The Pain Monster is Jerec.
• Users who have had their mod status switched to a different account include: CVagts/j00, OrochiJin/Orochi_Jin, Garibaldi84/Garibaldi, Cat Nip/Split Infinity, Jerec/The Pain Monster, dreen/foxeye, and Zhuge_Liang/Incredifail.
• Devin Morgan, A I e x, Split Infinity, and Shotgunnova have been the site's leading FAQ contributor (in terms of KB) at one time or another. Kasket Darkfyre has been the site's leading review contributor (in terms of KB).
• La_Vaca was de-modded and temporarily banned when darkangel76 suspended his alternate account (RicoTGB) for censor bypassing.
• Devin Morgan was de-modded for one day after he closed a topic without good reason.
• crimsonassassin was de-modded after he supposedly trolled the GameSpot mods, and AlexN (a GS admin) asked CJayC to de-mod him.
• Prior to becoming moderators, dyse, SineNomine, A I e x, Silent Voice, Mith, Takato, and -Unowninator- had accounts that were banned. Also, numerous moderators have had accounts on their usermaps banned (the most famous example is "Scum", an account which was shared by many users).
• Nemesis once moderated one of CJayC's messages on Current Events after CJayC called someone a lamer for hacking aetherspoon's account. Following that, Nemesis closed and re-opened his account, officially announcing his retirement.
• KatThePoet once deleted one of CJayC's topics on the Metroid Fusion board due to a post from an offensive username.
• A user once removed one of CJayC's topics on Message Board Announcements by using an exploit.
• CJayC's topic on The Daily Grind about April Fools Day in 2006 was moderated (possibly due to ASCII art in the first post), but the topic was later restored.
• Devin Morgan, aetherspoon, SBAllen, SPENCERNAMAN, replicant, wallywest80, Kaboobi, GalFord, Bastard Knight, mouse53149, ChiZPoof, Garibaldi, Auto2112MBE, London Prophet, LordOfDabu, Xanthoroz, EL PARRo, Fossil, Bishounen no Miko, and kirpikong have all been "hacked" at some point in time.
• On March 7, 2005, hundreds of users had access to CJayC's account for about 15 minutes due to a bug.
• Several of the earlier moderators' accounts have purged from the user rolls.
• Many of the moderators have willingly taken time off from their positions.
• mrCube was made a moderator for 10 minutes on 4/28/2009 as a birthday present.
• DekuPoe was made a new moderator without access to the mod tools for around an hour after a joke topic on CE where he was granted one wish for mentioning SBAllen.
• There are (or have been) three Cronos, two Knights, two Jesters, two Wallys, two Whizkids, two Tigers, two Colds, two Fans, two Crimsons, two Mr's, two Deaths, two Paragons, two Silvers, two Scarlets, a Jarek, a Jerec, and a whole lot of confusion...
• Absinthe Martini, AGH, almightybob14, Ayanako, BethanyM, Bishounen no Miko, CrystalMoon, darkangel76, DASUBERMACHT, DiamondGirl1092, dreen, Faye Valentine X, jmoneycgt, Kali101, kirpikong, KookyCouture, Krystal109, Lady_Ninane, Lain, Moonlight Sprite, nintendogirl1, Palidor, Quistis, Rydain, ScarlettEve, Shadotak, siara79, steffie2, Taladashar, Terii senshi, TezzaLovesBarryB, and ZoraTunic are the female mods and former female mods of GameFAQs.
• A I e x, Auto2112MBE, banfee, Big Bear is back, BlitzBoy, choblerone, CNash, cold blue steel, Crazymaori, Crazyreyn, CrystalMoon, Darth Maul, dcow366, Drunky, FAHtastic, Funguz, GalFord, genie, Houle, Iluna, javence, Jerec, JL Lee, Kaas, KatThePoet, Kildread2, Kimari Lonzo, Laevant, Lain, Luigi and Tails, mao2, MastaGus, Math Murderer, max123, Mr Bump, ne14a6t9r, nintendogirl1, pastaman44, Quistis, Rimmer_Dall, Robbobloke, RSmit, Sashanan, ScarlettEve, Scottie_theNerd, seifer psx, Silent Voice, Solo, Split Infinity, Takato, TezzaLovesBarryB, TheFifthPerson, TheStarCore, Tom Clark, Touchdown Boy, Tyrasibion, WhizKid, and _CARLOX_ are the foreign mods and former foreign mods of GameFAQs (which is based in the USA).

5. Damn Posting Limits

There was an error posting your message:

• To prevent flooding, no user can post more than 2 messages per minute. Please wait and try your post again in 60 seconds.
• To prevent flooding, users cannot create more than 3 topics in any 15-minute timespan. Please wait and try your post again later.
• To prevent flooding, users cannot create more than 10 topics on any single board in one day. Please wait and try your post again later.
• Your topic title contains a single word over 25 characters in length. This can cause problems for certain browsers, and is not allowed.
• Topic titles must be between 5 and 80 characters.
• Topic titles cannot be in all uppercase. Turn off your CAPS LOCK.
• Topic titles cannot contain non-ASCII characters.
• A topic with this title already exists. Please select another title.
• Your message contains a single word over 80 characters in length. This can cause problems for certain browsers, and is not allowed.
• Messages cannot be blank.
• The maximum allowed size for a message is 4096 characters. Your message is ____ characters long.
• Messages cannot be in all uppercase. Turn off your CAPS LOCK.
• Your HTML is not well-formed - please check for unmatched quotes and tags.
• There was an error sending data to this page; your previewed message was not properly stored.
• There was an error sending data to this page; your user ID does not match the previewed message.
• Invalid data was passed to this page.
• There was an error sending data to this page.
• There was an error posting your message; please try again.
• This topic has been closed. You cannot post in it.
• This topic has been deleted. You cannot post in it.
• You are not authorized to create topics on this board.
• You are not authorized to post messages on this board.
• You are not allowed to post at your current user level.
• The topic you entered contains one or more banned words. You will need to change the topic title in order to post. Please change your topic, and please note that using symbols or misspelling banned words to bypass the censor is grounds for immediate revocation.
• The message you entered appears to contain one of the words that GameFaqs has deemed inappropriate for use under any circumstances. The only acceptable means of using this word is to completely block it out (i.e. "****"). Partial blocking, misspelling, or other attempts to use the word is considered a censor bypass, and a severe terms of service violation.
• You can have a maximum of 5 quote blocks in your message - please edit some out
• You can have a maximum of 10 spoiler blocks in your message - please edit some out
• Your poll must include at least 2 options
• You may be attempting to bypass our profanity filter in your Message Text - remove HTML tags and other symbols from those words and try again

6. Secret Boards

The term "secret board" often refers to game boards where off-topic posting is allowed. You can tell which boards allow off-topic posting by clicking "Create New Topic" and checking to see whether or not you get a warning message telling you to stay on-topic.

The following systems have at least one board where off-topic posting is allowed: 3DO, Amiga, APF-*1000/IM, Apple II, Arcadia 2001, Astrocade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, BBS Door, CD-I, Channel F, Colecovision, Commodore 64, DVD Player, Famicom Disc System, Game.com, GameGear, GP32, Intellivision, Jaguar, Jaguar CD, Lynx, Macintosh, Microvision, MSX, Neo-Geo CD, NeoGeo, NeoGeo Pocket Color, Nintendo 64DD, Nuon, Odyssey, Odyssey^2, OS/2, Palm OS, PC-FX, Pinball, Playdia, Pocket PC, Redemption, Sega 32X, Sega CD, Sega Master System, SG-1000, Turbo CD, TurboGrafx-16, Unix/Linux, Vectrex, VIC-20, VirtualBoy, WonderSwan, and WonderSwan Color.

Special Boards:

The "official" secret boards:

• Brilliant - first post by misterbum
• Nine - first post by iGenesis
• Level - first post by hdt12345678910111213 (hotdogturtle)
• Room - first post by Cosmic
• Blink - first post by monkeybrigade
• Board 250
• WOT
• Eggbeater
• Spork
• Spatula
• Semprini
• State - first post by spudY2K
• IT'S SLIGHTLY UNDER 9000
• IT'S OVER 9000 - first post by Swordless Link
• IT'S OVER 9001
• Maniacs - first post by spudY2K
• Manos: The Hands of Fate - first post by Steve
• Qass - first post by QassTank
• Bananadine - first post by QassTank
• The Goggles, They Do Nothing - first post by Llama Masters
• Fried Egg
• Snakes on a Plane - first post by Crazyreyn
• Empire - first post by FireZeal
• Angela - first post by Eggie
• Jenny - first post by DuckX3
• Jumpman - first post by barbarianbob
• Rollin' - first post by Takato
• Game F.A.Q.'s
• VGFA - first post by barbarianbob
• Lame - first post by meninite
• <blink>Awesome</blink>
• The End of the World - first post by ChatbotSana
• The End of Time - first post by barbarianbob
• e
• Rnd() - first post by Black Tyger
• Pie
• LifeLock - first post by DGKMO
• Wow - first post by barbarianbob
• Toaster Oven - first post by The Phoenix of Sno

Special Social Boards:

The de-linked social boards:

• Capcom vs SNK *Social*
• Digimon Games *Social*
• MegaMan *Social*
• Pokemon Games *Social*
• Palace of Wisdom
• Zelda Games *Social*
• Resident Evil *Social*
• Mario Games *Social*
• Yu-Gi-Oh *Social*
• Sonic Games Social
• Three Kingdoms Social
• Metroid *Social*
• Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire - Social
• Xbox General - Social
• GameCube General - Social
• PlayStation2 General - Social
• GameBoy Advance General - Social
• Roleplaying and Fanfiction - Social
• Metal Gear Solid 3 - Social
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Social
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Social
• Wii General - Social
• Xbox 360 General - Social
• Pokemon Black/White - Social

Beta Boards:

The boards that were created prior to the GameFAQs/GameSpot merge in April 2004:

• GameFaqs Forums Beta Bug Reports
• GS-GFQs Sharing Test Board
• GameFaqs Forums Beta Discussion

7. Board User-Level Requirements

You must at least be level 0 to read any of the boards, at least level 5 to post messages on any of the boards, and at least level 10 to post topics on any of the boards. Moderators can read all of the private boards.

8. KoS

A KoS ("Kill on Sight") was formerly the worst punishment on GameFAQs. It happened when a user violated the TOU to the point where the administrators felt the user should no longer post on the site. In this scenario, the user either went under "Name KoS" (allowed on the site, but banned upon revealing identity) or "Full KoS" (the user's IP address(es) may have been blocked from creating accounts and moderators told to suspend the user's accounts whenever they are found). Very few users ever reached KoS status.

It is speculated that the system disallowed users who have an ISP with a high number of banned accounts from making accounts on anything except pending review. This usually provided a small amount of protection against KoSed users trying to get back in. CJayC was known to go as far as banning/reviewing names of notorious users from account creations and banning/reviewing commonly used passwords of notorious users.

In extreme cases, the user's ISP and other authorities may be contacted. CJayC got a few websites shut down for hosting private information from GameFAQs, and he issued a cease-and-desist order on more than one occasion.

9. Miscellaneous Questions

• Q: When were the GameFAQs message boards opened to the public?
  A: November 7, 1999 at 9:43PM CST.
• Q: When was the karma system first implemented?
  A: August 19, 2001. Everyone was given karma retroactively according to the date that they signed up.
• Q: Who was the first person ever to register?
  A: 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.
• Q: Who was the first banned user?
  A: A user named DrunkenSailorStyle.
• Q: What are the message purge rates?
  A: Topics and messages are archived or purged daily between 3:00am and 5:00am Pacfic 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 below.
  
  • 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
• Q: What are private boards?
  A: 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 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 to 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 said board. Due to an overwhelming number of these boards, only the boards privately managed by users before this feature are listed below:

  Date of Creation	Board Numbers	Reason for Creation
  4/6/2004	810-819	April Fools 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 #4
  8/1/2008	824	SBallin' contest #3
  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

• Q: How many annual karma boosts have there been?
  A: The first karma boost (10%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2001. The second karma boost (7%) was given to all active users on 11/5/2002. The third karma boost (8%) was given to all active users on 11/7/2003. The fourth karma 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.
• Q: When did we get extra daily karma in 2006?
  A: After missing 2 net karma during the April redesign, we received 1 extra karma on the following days: May 17, May 18, May 23, May 24, May 25, May 31, June 1, June 2, June 8, June 9, June 13, June 14, June 15, June 16, June 23, July 6, July 7, July 12, July 13, July 18, August 15, August 16, September 6, September 7, September 12, September 26, October 11, October 26, and November 7. We received 2 extra karma on the following days: May 20, May 27, July 25, September 1, and November 13.
• Q: Have we gotten extra daily karma on any other occasions?
  A: On 10/22/2012, GameFAQs experienced 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 had 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.
• Q: How do certain older users have punctuation in their name?
  A: 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

• Q: How do certain older users have names that start with numbers?
  A: 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.
• Q: How does this old user have such a short name?
  A: The user "Id" (user ID #6216) is the only known old GameFAQs user with less than 3 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.
• Q: How did these old users get consecutive spaces in their names?
  A: 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.
• Q: Have any users ever had karma transferred to a new account?
  A: 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	2739228	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

• Q: Have any users ever had their usernames changed?
  A: 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	Hyper Inferno, Hyper_Inferno	Hyper Inferno
  632710	hakikev	Hak
  834874	Sins Tox1n	MarkSmith
  947076	bluerain	bluerainisglad

• Q: What is username reconciliation?
  A: On March 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	Moderator: 5th Batch
  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

• Q: What are the user levels?
  A: 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 blocked 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 production.
  • 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.
• Q: Who are the VIPs?
  A: 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:

  User Name	User ID
  Level 41:
  Fragnarok	40562
  MasterGnet	47459
  corbie33	1175454
  osgcn	2198215
  Suikodish	4050300
  AerisHime *	4600545
  BestEditor	4735793
  Mike_Damiani	5465140
  LitesJusticeZ	7286913
  Level 42:
  mdude4	100146
  MiltyKiss	109508
  Ronin7997	199598
  Razoraks	289266
  Jial Silverthorn	319432
  hydro94545	440762
  Jay_FNG	559311
  EP_VCS	6171025
  JoelFB	6572690
  4JSteve	6614531
  vicireland	6775378
  Newegg_Support	6804122
  CeeCee-Natsume	6983542
  TroyCotter	7033282
  Level 43:
  Logick	184005
  stv2049	331503
  Mr Strange	501837
  tragic	534961
  Blackronin5150	583496
  uUnreal	592905
  Grampa Spanky	663192
  Setokaiba123456	772079
  toaplan	1173207
  Glaiel Gamer	1527052
  olkingsoul	2297757
  Sabre_Fox	2456758
  L_Spiro	3341084
  SigmaLongshot	3362406
  Pennaduro	3410615
  Nickf42	3592294
  kcsunshain	3866761
  dragonforces	3967528
  BIGsheep_	5190865
  HVSTony	5291228
  Antisimplistic	5481323
  SpikeGames	5818213
  knolan11	6242748
  AdamTierney	6260172
  fyzxwhyz	6274268
  foresti	6468643
  demiJustin	6619153
  Bartman_	6693367
  evilpaul2012	6693531
  NGsonicmega	6737489
  AealofDarkness	6747990
  igetgames	6769564
  fix_omega	6875501

• Q: What subdomains does GameFAQs currently use?
  A: 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.
• Q: What was Marked Message Accuracy?
  A: 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.
• Q: What was AutoMod?
  A: 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.
• Q: What is a Generated Message?
  A: 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.
• Q: Can I be moderated for a message after it has been overturned after a previous moderation?
  A: 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.
• Q: How do sigwipes work?
  A: 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.
• Q: How does my Usermap work?
  A: 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.
• Q: How does a Usermap Axe work?
  A: 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.
• Q: How can I see the archived topics on Message Board Announcements, SBallin'!, and GameFAQs Competitions?
  A: Search for "%" on those boards.
• Q: How can I block the ads on GameFAQs?
  A: 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

10. GameFAQs Related Links

Spinoff Message Boards:

• The Secret Level - Peter Griffin
• Canadiana - Shuzo
• Flying Turkey - Magus
• Random Insanity Online - FireCrotch
• Lost Facts - Roaddhogg, Mith
• End of The Internet (formerly LUElinks) - LlamaGuy

Miscellaneous:

• WikiFAQs - Drunky, Dragon
• GameFOX - Karamthulhu
• GameFAQs Archive - Roaddhogg
• GameFAQs User Database - Your Eliteness
• Karma Calculator - Time
• GameFATs - Xim
• Secret Board Archives - Scum
• GameFAQs Weird/Funny Topic Archives - Broo2
• GameFAQs Prolific Ranking - dark52
• ASCII FAQ - warriorness
• GameFAQs @ the Internet Archive
• GameFAQs @ the English Wikipedia

11. Contact & Credit

If you feel you have a noteworthy addition to the site or something about the site requires attention, you can create a topic on the To be on Top message board on GameFAQs.

Special Thanks goes to acidfreeze30, AggroSk8er, Alpha218, Anubis IV, AssultTank, BAMX, Baseman, Betelgeuse, billyb2004, billybobfred, Biospark27, blue_man, BrandonNC316, Corbon440, Crazymaori, Crono LV99, darkangel76, Devin Morgan, Doodleheimer, dws90, enalzi, Enygmatic, Ex-Kefiroth, FBI Porker, Flintlock_Staff, GauRocks, guwa, hotdogturtle, iamtheprodigy, IONO, ixfd64, jimfish, jonthomson, Kadamony, Kaitlyn, King of Cats, Krystal109, Land Of Gamecubes, leakytoilet, littleman1314, Luster Soldier, Magna Stryker, Manocheese, Math Murderer, Mauron, Mental_Daxter, Meowth, Mingy Jongo, misterbum, Mookiethebold, Mr Lasastryke, NickBush24, Numenor, omgLImES, OnionKid2002, OTACON120, P4wn4g3, PaperLink64, PerseusRad, pojr, R351D3NT3V1L4, Ragn_Charran, Ricky Williams, Ryajinor, Sashanan, SBAllen, ShadowDragon777, SineNomine, SourlDieseL, Space Medafighter X, Sparkmen, Spring Rubber, spudY2K, stx4, Superaielman, Takato, TheEmulatorGuy, TheFifthPerson, Therum, The_Ryman_06, Time, tm315, TML, TMola, Total Lost, TRC, Twisted Silence, UD4, untrustful, UseMyExciter, Volt7x, wallywest80, WhizKid, Xythar, Yaggy, zoips, --Typhlosion--, _Captain_, anyone else who may have helped us along the way, and of course, the man who created it all- CJayC.

This FAQ has been brought to you by Kirby Still On Top, TrueDFX, RockMFR, FireCrotch, AGH, Error1355, and Magna Stryker