Behind the Board II - Lost Southernfried Projects (7-12)

7. Brent Burke Is Dead Month
I know what you may be thinking, and yes, it is a little on the morbid side. In the span between 2003 and 2004, board tensions reached an all time high. Admin fought admin, audience warred amongst themselves, opinions were no longer appreciated and elder statesmen attempted to sabotage the board on several occasions. In an effort to mend fences and show appreciation, the “Brent Burke Is Dead Month” project was born. It was to comprised a photo montage background of pictures of Brent, links to websites bearing Brent’s influence, and daily posts commemorating things that the man liked, disliked, participated in, and accomplished during his life. However, the catch is, of course, that Brent, the Southernfried originator, was not deceased; he was alive and well and living in Kingsport, TN. Also, he was in no way made aware of the plans to introduce this project to the board. The premise created to address this issue was that, whenever a post by Brent would occur, the creative minds behind the project would lambast the poster for being an “imposter” (when, in all likelihood, it was the real Brent Burke). Other board visitors were kept in the dark, as well. Whenever someone were to meet the real Brent at work or at a softball game or in a restaurant or retail store, they would be encouraged to post “Brent sightings,” akin to the Elvis phenomenon. In the chance that someone would honestly believe that Brent had passed on, the plan was to make sure that people knew the intentions of the project was as an homage, not to mock death or to insult the board’s founder and all around great guy, Brent Burke. The mock memorial was set for June 2004. However, in May, a close friend of one of the project’s developers died tragically, and out of respect for the true meaning of life and friendship, the project was shelved and never spoken of again.

8. Lawson’s Unnamed TV Project
Jason Lawson has been a contributor for Southernfried Wrestling News almost since its inception. He at one point produced a weekly sports article called “The Way It Is.” He also organized the second Southernfried Survivor, as well as the ongoing Pay-Per-View Pick ‘Em contests, where Southernfried regulars can guess who will win certain matches in upcoming pay-per-view contests from WWF & TNA. However, Lawson’s participation is often at the mercy of his internet access through work, and some of his initiated projects have suffered because of it. One such project was an unnamed TV project where a request was made for SF regulars to send in their top 10 lists of their current favorite television programs; the shows had to be series in their current run, and could not include older shows in syndication. Months went by, and nothing further was presented as a result of this initial request for submissions. Questions about the project were cryptically answered. Suddenly, the project was mentioned again, and another list was requested for use in the project. Yet, just like the initial call for submissions, months would go by and nothing further would be mentioned about the project. If the project will ever be finalized remains to be seen.

9. Southernfried Radio
A popular board participation project was the Music Download of the Day. At irregular intervals, board visitors would post a favorite song for eager music bandits to download. During the affluent days of downloading music for free, this was an entertaining way for individuals to be exposed to new artists and styles. One such offshoot of the Download project was Southernfried Radio, a free web-based utility from live365.com that allowed the hosting of music on an internet radio. At any point, you could hear Johnny Cash’s version of “Time of the Preacher,” followed by Big Ass Truck’s “Malt Liquor Man,” and then maybe the Cunninglynguists’ “Mic Like A Memory.” However, then the crackdown came on internet music downloads. Coupled with a change in format from live365 that anyone using their service was required to pay a monthly usage fee, Southernfried Radio was disbanded.

10. On The Road With Bryan Hunter
Bryan Hunter has an on-again/off-again relationship with Southernfried. One moment, he’s a prolific contributor to the forum. The next moment, he’s gone for months on end. In one of his most productive moments, he submitted the article, “On The Road With Bryan Hunter.” In it, he would detail his travels during his employment with a trucking company. He told stories of connecting with people through the use of music, he introduced “lot lizard” into the lexicon of many a SF faithful, and he told heartwrenching stories of missing his baby’s momma. But, like any articles based on the misadventures in the world of gainful employment, the article only survived on the strength of the job, and, after three submissions, Hunter lost the job and the article was discontinued.

11. Lawson’s Comic Book News
Lawson’s contributions have always been sporadic, this much has been already covered. But, following a heartfelt plea in early 2004 for more contributions*, Lawson made a public commitment to contribute as much as humanly possible to the board. One way that he did this was to supply the “Comic Book News,” a semi-weekly article of reviews of recent comics, as well as in-depth looks at news and rumors that were at the forefront of the comic book industry. Interesting and relatively well-written, the articles survived to six installments, at which point they were discontinued without reason.

*It should be noted that a similar plea for contributions sparked what has been called the “Admin War of 2003,” which, arguably, was the event that forever splintered the board. The argument as to what happened in this conflict are open to interpretation, but suffice to say that Southernfried attendance was forever affected, and friendships suffered as a result.

12. Zen of Public Enemy
Less a project and more of a cosmetic change to the newsboard, this random text application was to be full of quotes and dialogue from tracks recorded by the seminal rap group Public Enemy. The way the Zen text generator worked, each new load of the board’s main page would produce a different rotating quote. Eighteen total quotes were originally submitted, with more planned. However, as SF admin alliances splintered, this forum was used as a tool for former allies to take shots at each other. When the board loaded, you were just as likely to see a quote from a UPS or Sprint commercial as you were to see an insulting comment made by one admin to another, and somewhere in there would be a quote from Public Enemy. Later, the Public Enemy quotes were removed, and clever quotes from the contributors were added. However, tensions flared again, and this application was removed.