Room With A Moose

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Forum · Message Board
Name: RoomWithAMoose, Room With A Moose, A Room With A Moose, RWaM, RWAM
Date(s): April 20, 2001 -
Moderated:
Founder(s): ssjvaporeon
Type: Invader Zim fan site with forum
Fandom: Invader Zim
URL: 2002 capture
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Room With A Moose (abbreviated RWaM or RWAM) was an early Invader Zim fan website with an accompanying fan forum and an IRC chatroom. It's earliest capture on the Wayback Machine comes from May 26, 2002, and as of 2021 the domain remains up while its forum has since gone down. The website itself states it was opened on April 20, 2001. The main page of the website hosted links to multiple other fan sites where fans could find downloads of or watch Invader Zim episodes. Room With a Moose also had a cafepress where RWaM themed items could be bought, including shirts, a mousepad, and a postcard.[1] RWAM is credited as being where Invader Zim Fan Animated Shorts group was conceived, which would eventually branch off into its own forum.

After its merge with another website called GIR in 2003, RWaM would explode into one of the most popular Invader Zim fan sites and communities, with an active news section on its front page that kept members well informed on new Invader Zim merchandise, information, and events. Despite the merge, RWaM would continue to just be called RWaM.

A post on the front page from Sept 21, 2003 shows that individual members were called "Moosers,"[2] and from its DeviantART page multiple users were called "Meese."[3]

History

At its earlist capture from May 2002, Room With A Moose was relatively simple with its presentation, being essentially a black background with a list of links. But by the end of 2002 RWAM had added more graphics, gifs, and images to the front page, and then in fall of 2003 merged with another website, causing the title to change into "RWaM & GIR." Its front page was heavily updated after the merge and included a new news section.[2]

Part of the front page of the Room With a Moose Website, 2004. At the top right GIR sits on top of a disgruntled moose. To the right there is a list of links, such as The Closet, Screenshots, Other Images, and 18 more links. In the center is the news section with several news posts by the admin ssjvaporeon
RWaM, 2004

Yes, that is right! RWaM and GIR have merged. It will be glorious!

Right now I am working on getting all of the pages on the site up and working. If you see a page that has the old GIR or RWaM layout press refresh to see the new layout, if it doesn't work then I have not changed those pages over yet. I should, however, all be completed by tomorrow evening. Those Fan Fic pages are going to take me a bit to do.

So, sit back, relax, and watch that nice Closet II intro. New stuff coming soon.

ssjvaporeon, Sept 6, 2003[2]

On Aug 10, 2008, the admin of the site made a news post stating that the site had been dead for about two years by then, but would remain up as an archive for the fandom. This would insinuate the main run of the site itself was between 2001-2008, or eight years.[4] They suggested members continue to use the forums however, which would continue to be used until roughly 2011 when it may have been compromised. After 2015 when the forum seemingly went down, the main Room with a Moose website has continued to remain up into December, 2021.

UltimateGrillFan said in a 2010 forum reply regarding the state of Invader Zim fandom and the board:

yeah and not that i think it sucks now but i'm at a point where i can no longer watch it without having a mental image of what's going to happen next. at least when this board was all pimped up over season 2 episodes finally being available to watch and of course the dvds being available i knew i was reaching a point where i was saying to myself "god this show has gotten so fucking old now." so now since i've been here for nearly nine years i look at this place at a social board and not a zim board since no one even talks about the show anymore unless a twelve year old newbie brings it up.


yeah thats the end of my rant.

UltimateGrillFan, Dec 28, 2010[5]

Possible Forum Compromise

Sometime between Nov 21, 2010[6]and January 22, 2011[7] the background of the forum was suddenly changed from black to an image of a tattooed man in what appears to be a bar. With very few archives of the forum's threads existing, the reason for this change and the identity of the person is unknown. While only speculation, the first capture that recorded this background change also captured an admin logged in who had a username with two slurs in it, insinuating the site may have been hacked or compromised by an unknown party. This background stayed for the remainder of the forum's life. Further evidence of possible compromise is a forum topic added in 2012 titled "The Republican National Convention (NSFW)," and the change from the forum name "the RWaM & GIR Message Board" to "the ROOM W/ THE MOSES MASSAGE BAORD" in 2013. Captures during these times show numerous users with inappropriate, or bot-like names, such as "Deez Nuts," and usernames made of random strings of letters.[8] Captures would no longer be viable by 2015, the forum having seemingly gone down.[9] A few posts from 2010 (before the year of the background change) at the Invader Zim Fan Animated Shorts forum state negative opinions about RWaM's forum, but nothing about a potential hacking or catastrophe.[10][11][12]

In an attempt to find more direct evidence for what occurred at RWAM, Tumblr user mybrainisbigpoop, who used archives to research the possible forum compromise, said in a post that there were signs as early as 2007 that there was internal discourse on the forum. Mybrainisbigpoop stated: "lots of bullying was going on by certain groups and there were a few names that were consistent throughout the course of tracking the downfall of the forum."[13] Then, between Jun 2009 and Sept 2009, a handful of boards altogether disappear, along with a new color change to certain user groups, likely admins or mods. By 2010 forum topics and discussions took a sharp turn into adult content, and a few captures of the threads survive. For example, forum members casually discussing "going to the club," taking shots of alcohol, and playing poker. Some forum signatures and quotes within signatures at this time period also include adult content, such as one user, who has a slur for a username, including lines about being sexually asphyxiated among other sexual remarks within their signature.[14]

Community

The website was very active in its running years of 2001-2008. The owner, ssjvaporeon, included several links in the righthand sidebar, many of which include lists of downloadable fanart submitted by members. Then, under the "THE FANS" tab, there were links for places the community could chat and gather, including an IRC chatroom and it's forum. The IRC chats were titled "#ZiMMY" and "#zimchat", and were described as not being censored "but please try to behave yourself."[15]

According to the RWaM FAQ, multiple Invader Zim staff members had joined and posted on the site's forum. The very first RWaM member, named -45-, was confirmed as being an artist on the show named Steve Ressel. Others were Chris Graham, a story boarder with the username "Xtro," and John Fountain, a character designer with the username "Richard Hatch." This interaction between Invader Zim staff and the Invader Zim fans at Room With a Moose shows a very early example of content creators interacting directly with their fans, which was much more uncommon in the early aughts than it is in 2021, particularly as social media was much less popular in 2001.[16]

Fanworks

  • Icons, a list of icons by RWaM members from 2004
  • Wallpapers, a list of wallpapers by RWaM members from 2007
  • Mascots, a downloadable list of "mascots" from 2007, which would walk around one's computer screen
  • Fanfics, a list of fanfics by RWaM members from 2008

Archives

  • rwam, Room With A Moose's Livejournal community
  • RWAM, DeviantART profile from 2004

References

  1. ^ A store with a moose!, Cafepress. May 3, 2012 (Accessed 1/20/2022)
  2. ^ a b c roomwithamoose after merge, Oct 6, 2003 (Accessed 12/1/2021)
  3. ^ RWAM, DeviantART. (Accessed 12/1/2021)
  4. ^ Room with a Moose, dead for about two years. Mar 5, 2010 (Accessed 12/12/2021)
  5. ^ This wont work, but it'll be fun, page 4. Room With a Moose Forum. Circa 2010-2011 (Accessed 1/20/2022)
  6. ^ Room with a Moose Forum, before background change. Nov 21, 2010 (Accessed 12/12/2021)
  7. ^ Room with a Moose Forum, after background change. Jan 22, 2011 (Accessed 12/12/2021)
  8. ^ Room With a Moose Forum, odd usernames. Jul 25, 2013. (Accessed 12/2/2021)
  9. ^ Room With a Moose Forum, error codes. Aug 26, 2015 (Accessed 12/12/2021)
  10. ^ Hey...? Invader Zim Fan Animated Shorts forum. Apr 15, 2010 (Accessed 12/12/2021)
  11. ^ The History of IZFAS, That forum is horrible now. Dec 5, 2010 (Accessed 12/12/2021)
  12. ^ The Depressing State of the Forum, still by far superior to rwam gawd that forum is a real mess. Feb 25, 2011 (Accessed 12/12/2021)
  13. ^ What Happened to Room With a Moose (RWaM)?, Tumblr. Dec 14, 2021 (Accessed 1/20/2022)
  14. ^ ITT we post about what we are looking forward to, page 1, Room With a Moose Forums. Circa Jan 2011. (Accessed 1/20/2022)
  15. ^ Moose Chat, Room With a Moose. (Accessed 12/15/2021)
  16. ^ FAQ, Room With a Moose. Dec 4, 2003 (Accessed 12/15/2021)
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