Behind the Board III - Lost Southernfried Projects (13-18)

13. Conspiracy Month
When Brent suggests a project, sometimes it can be either hit or miss; it really depends on the enthusiasm put behind the project. January 2005 was slated to be “Conspiracy Month,” an attempt to kickstart an ongoing trend of creating monthly themes for the board. Conspiracy Month was first referenced on November 9, 2004, in a call for contributions from other SF members (always a bad sign, as regulars frequently fled from such requests in droves). Then, the next mention of the project was December 3, 2004, at which point the direction of the project was fleshed out even further; “It's gonna be some fucked up conspiracy month shit ... From wrasslin' conspiracies to why the man always keeps redheads like me down. Throw in some shit about UFO's and something about your drinking water that gives you the shits then we'll be set.” As exciting as the project sounded at this point, the project has yet to be mentioned again as of this writing, January 23, 2005.

14. Lazer Tron
“Lazer Tron” was a short story to be told in six parts, written by Nate for the Southernfried forum. It was an attempt to tie up the conflicting storylines involving ’80’s wrestling greats Jimmy Valiant, Lazer Tron, and the New Breed. The first installment was quite popular, and within days, the second installment was finished and distributed. However, between the development of the second and third installments, the story was found to have been leaked to other forums; the leak created some confusion as to creatorship of the story. By the time the third installment was released, readers were undecided about who to credit for the short story. The author would go on to cite “improper treatment of intellectual property” as influential in his decision to discontinue the story. However, demands for the story would not desist, and in 2001, the story as it was completed to that point was sent to another SF administrator and deleted from the author’s CPU. Where the story exists now is unknown.

15. Will’s TV Trivia
Will’s introduction to Southernfried can be summed up in five words: “Who the piss is Will?” This was the first greeting he received when he appeared to post his initial greeting to the board. That first interaction would haunt Will’s contributions for several weeks, as his attempts to initiate discussions would be met with disinterest. In the interest of setting himself apart, Will began to contribute random bits of TV trivia. Including a number of interesting tidbits of info, like the actor who portrays Marvin in “Pulp Fiction” also supplies the voice of Samurai Jack, the trivia posts were quite interesting. However, there’s only so much new info that can be culled from a medium that thrives on its own trivia, and, for lack of new material, Will pulled the plug on the idea.

16. The Southernfried Draft
In the summer of 2004, Lawson revealed that he had developed a project that was being heralded as a revolutionary step in the development of participation amongst the board regulars. Rumors speculated on what the project would comprise of, and questions asked were met with vague and circumventive answers. The project, when revealed, was dubbed the Southernfried Draft. Two camps were established between Lawson and board regular Brad Rader; the camps were named the “Radical Ninjas,“ led by Lawson, and the “Awesome Surfers,” led by Brad. The premise was a simple one; the visitors to the board would be divided up amongst the two camps, with each leader alternating their picks over the course of different rounds. The problems with this project were manifold; first, some of the picks made involved individuals who were no longer visiting the board, or had never visited the board in the first place. Second, once the draft was finalized, there was no plan for what to do with two separate camps of Southernfried readers. Would there be two different boards? Would there be some competitions between teams from each? Would there be separate summits between the groups? The readership was divided; either they were confused, or they just didn’t care. The main crux of the premise was that the picks could be a source of “bragging rights,” which was a fine explanation for those picked highly, but the individuals picked lower in the rankings wouldn’t care in the slightest. After the Draft was completed, it was almost literally forgotten by the next day.

17. Southernfried Interviews
Southernfried has had its share of celebrities breeze through its hallowed halls, primarily such luminaries as Dutch Mantel, Buddy Landel, Jerry Jarrett, et al. Brent had, at one point, planned to go to great lengths to acquire face-to-face interviews with these individuals exclusively for Southernfried. Of the many celebrities to be named for possible Southernfried Interviews, celebrities like Steve-O, Don West, Nappy Roots, and Sabu were mentioned as targets for hard-hitting journalistic opportunities. However, the inaugural interview was abandoned when the target celebrity, Buddy Landel, requested that the interviewer first sit through one of his sermon’s at a local church. Yes, fans, the interview concept was dropped because it was requested that the interviewer be in the house of the Lord. This spelled doom for the Southernfried interview format, and, as you might imagine from reading this deep into the article, it was dropped.

18. Southernfried Year End Awards
The final weeks in December usually sparked a fair amount of retrospection on the year that was. In 2000, the trend was to develop the Southernfried Year End Awards, fictional rewards for the notorious & noteworthy events and individuals that contributed to the year. The Awards were staples of Southernfried’s year end celebrations. However, in 2003, some disputes were made about the format by which the Awards would be chosen. Brent, the founder and originator of the Award concept, wanted to arbitrarily offer awards to the events and people who influenced 2003. Nate, on the other hand, wanted to make the SF awards a “reader’s choice” affair, including questions like, “Besides ‘Hurt,’ what’s the best song on the Johnny Cash album, ‘The Man Comes Around?’” However, dissension broke out about the format, which was peculiar, as the initiator of the Award concept had asked for assistance, and yet became the most critical when assistance was offered. By 2004, the Awards were no longer suggested.