Where we are now.

[Ivyn]

I’m making this post as a little “game” of sorts. Interested in seeing what people will say.

We should all make a post/comment or whatnot of where we were in life back when we joined, and where we are in life now. For example:

12 years ago, I was best test user.

Today, I’m still best test user.

Signing off,
-Test

---

6 years ago, I was a high school student. I spent most of my days playing video games, watching animations, and coding dumb games with no purpose. I would come here every day after school, talk with people who I’d never met about art, technology, philosophy, and life. Dumb memes were made, laughs were had, and bonds were built.

Today, I’m a Soldier on reserve and an Engineer at Facebook. Over the years, I’ve made friends, enemies, and memories. From playing Minecraft with Matt and Fragger, to mulling through a chess game with Victory. Becoming a character in a bizarre comic. I ran away from home. I joined an army.

Would my life be any better or worse had I not seen this site? Probably not. However, did I enjoy every moment I spent, and every connection, however brief, I made on this site? You bet your ass I did.

Signing off,
-Ivyn

[Jedi-L]

8 years ago I was a 17 year-old High School senior who thought he was just so cool. Of course the reality is that I was a hyper-maladjusted young man.

Over the years I kinda carved out a little place for myself here, and actually grew as a person IRL thanks to some of the experiences here.

Now I'm a slightly less-maladjusted young adult working as a civil engineer in Florida, married the love of my life, and have been able to mend bridges I thought were permanently burned.

[username]

shit its been 9 years lmfao god

9 years ago i was...12? middle school so i was this dorky kid, cringey etc but really who wasn't in middle school

joined cause i loved castle so much & lurked the website w/o joining for a year or so prior and wanted to join in on the fun with the cool kids here

had some great times, felt like i was a part of a nice community for a good hot second

now i am a senior in college with one more semester to go, ready to get my bfa in animation actually lmfao, i have to say this website & the work that inspired it did a lot in inspiring me to choose the career path i did

the expensive trade college I'm going through is similar to this website in that it too is close knit/intimate and whatnot


wish i stayed more close in contact with the folks here. pretty sad to see it go but i understand why

[Tyle]

So imagine, almost exactly 10 years ago, this kid ,who is in a little insignificant place called Hong Kong, slurping her instant noodles for lunch while binging through stickman flash animations through Newgrounds (despite it being finals week). “Wow, this one called Castle is really amazing,” she thought, it felt like watching a movie, it had lighting, heck, the stickmen had fingers. This kid was like, that’s it, I really gotta go to the source of this.

I’m not quite sure why I remembered this part so well, but that was how I found out Deletion Quality.

That was the first time it came across me that, wow, people from all over the world could come to a place to chat and share art and laugh with each other, and I can join in with them. That last part took a little longer as I lurked for a year to figure how not to talk like an utter noob(a legit word at the time), I think that helped. I wasn’t significant, and it was comfortable for me. Still, friends were made, some of you remembered me as the resident bird lady (and I’m thankful) and many of you made me laugh. DQ was a very important part of my teenage life.

Now? I’m a little slow in this game of life – it’s a little embarrassing to say despite being 24, I’m still not in the work field – though, right now I’m working on my master thesis on behavior biology in Taiwan, it’s tough but super fun! Life probably didn’t turn out the way I expected long ago, but it has been a fun and forgiving ride so far.

Can’t say much for the future, but DQ gang disbanding for real is one of the last things I want to see. I like to thank all of you for the great time here, and may we keep this going over at Discord!

Love ya all,
-Tyle

[PiscesFish]

I joined just after my 14th birthday because I thought it was a huge step up from 13 and that I was adult enough to join this site. I was wrong; I was a little pissbaby brat and I was just as socially awkward online as I was in-person. My home life was shit, I hadn't figured out that I was mentally ill, and I was angry pretty much all the time regardless of whether I had a reason to be. Despite all that I somehow thought that I was hot shit.
Now I'm 18, going on 19, and I've never been happier. I'm in college, I have great friends, a boyfriend I think I'm in love with, and I'm finally comfortable with who I am as a person.(Plus I'm finally on medication that works for me) If I could only get a job everything would be perfect right now!
Even though my beginner here was pretty shit I can't imagine abandoning any of the people I've met here and I look forward to lurking around Discord.

[Shinoi]

7 years ago, a little boy called Shinoi_Ookami found the website called DQ after rewatching Castle series for about a millionth time. Thought the place was cool, but didn't sign up for the next half a year. So in May 2011, Shinoi_Ookami became one of the newest members.

He was a little shithead. Wanted to be a part of the cool kids club and he lacked any manners, any sort of rationality. Over the next couple of years, he got a bit better. He changed his name to Shinoi in order to make it less weeby and cringy. Met lots of great people here, had some awful arguments too, overall it was great.

Now, Shinoi is less of of a shithead, at least aware that he has issues. He went through seriously turbulent life changes in the last 3 years, now he is bitter, irritated, a bit mental and sad. Much better than he used to be, though! A bit more stable, so to say. He still wants to travel back in time and beat up all of his younger selves. Maybe that's how he will forgive himself and find redemption.

[NoxArcana]

Five years ago, I was 14 and discovered the Castle series. I rewatched it over and over. Funny thing is, when I first watched it, I watched the episodes backwards. Still don't know why. I wrote fanfiction and stories about it (Until this day I haven't been able to stop writing the ongoing story) and wanted to be part of the community. I was socially awkward as fuck but believed that if I socialized enough, I would get rid of it. Sadly, that logic obviously didn't work for the most part, but I found my home on DQ and made lifelong friends. I've never stayed on a forum or site longer than here.

Today, I'm 19 and in college studying animation and creating projects of my own, which is something I've always wanted to do. I believe I have the series to thank for that, otherwise I would've been discouraged and ended up somewhere else.

I wish I could've found this place during it's early years when it was active and people were roleplaying and the castle hype was present. But I don't regret watching Castle, and I don't regret joining this site. We had a great run. Feels disheartening to say goodbye to this place, but we'll all still be on Discord and stay connected. Love you all. <3



I'll never reach 1,000 posts, rip.

[codbarley]

9 years ago I was a 16 year old piece of shit who wanted to do something big but was too afraid.

Now I'm 24 and still too scared to do anything big.

[Cajolocs]

Not sure I am 'deserving' of posting here, since as I recall my contributions to this community were, in the most optimist of perspectives, non-contributions. I'd like to say something about them being negative or toxic trash, but I doubt they ever important enough to warrant such a categorization.

I was actually here almost since the beginning, typical lurker type, and my account got a renewal a bit after the big wipe-out. Not many remembered me then, although Draunia05,one of the few that did remembered, can be quoted as saying at the time: "yeah i remember this guy, you're a tool."
Not a week after I got banned for what should have been a week, but by accident was a full year. Fair is fair, especially for a guy who, at the time, when prompted with the question "Who the fuck are you?" proudly replied with:

1- I´m a guy;
2- I like Stcks, Flash Animations, gore and blood;
3- I get pissed-of very easly
4- I´m not here to make a biografy
5- Please don´t lock!!!!!

[sigh]
Shit, I wasn't expecting this to get so depressing...

There's a reason why I don't really look back upon it fondly, or proudly. But actually reflecting on it now, mostly due to me wishing to contribute to this thread, has made me really appreciate how much I've actually changed. I don't really think I need to spell out what went on in the meantime, or how exactly I am now. Crap, I remember sending 'love' declarations left and right in some twisted quest in search of a girlfriend. I honestly don't know how I can look back and not just cringe at every turn of memory lane. Especially given some of the things that I did back then... Maybe that's why I'm here, because in some deranged way I'm glad that this fossilised piece of my childhood identity is to be forever gone...
That's not it though. I actually have fond memories of just spending time here. This has been the first and only forum I ever joined, at a very very young age (I'm 20 now, so go figure) and just learning so much from so many people was eye-opening for a young brain. Sure, most of it was either random or unimportant, but it felt important, it was people and it was the internet, and I was as much a part of it as anybody else, and oh my god I sound like this was way back in the 90's or something. But that was the main point of it all, at least for me. There was this piece of media that I really enjoyed and here was a way to interact with other people that enjoyed it as well, including the creator himself; and holy crap these people also created things of their own, and had wonderful amazing thoughts, and I... uhhh... [fart noise] yeah...

Of course I'd like to say that's come around. I think I've developed a bit of a sense of humour, become more self-aware and whatnot. Unfortunately I still lag behind on social skills and I'm as sad and depressed now as I was then, maybe even more so. And that's as natural as it is lovely. Especially natural given the fact that the site's life-cycle caught my teenage years; and especially lovely given what all these other people have experienced: from people like Nox and many others having taken a particular path professionally due to the website, as well as the sheer love that Tyle oozes for the community and her experiences with it, to the frustrations Cody and Shinoi show towards their past selves. It feels especially beautiful to me due to how relatable it is. Surely others feel the same, but I think it was important to write it out. If there's one good reason to make one last post that is it, to let everyone know...

I feel you bro.

P.S. - I'll leave here, at the end, two drawings that have stuck in my memory alongside the rest of the website. One is a bird that Tyle designed, just to encapsulate her amazing skills as an artist in this in memoriam thread, and another is what I feel is a perfect representation of a part of this community. It's an unfinished custom personality-based character concept art for a never-made comic series.