The Daily Otaku (2001)

The original Daily Otaku was a series of threads in the General Discussion (now Otaku Lounge) forum, created by Stardust and others in 2001. The Daily Otaku was the original OtakuBoards newspaper, and each “issue” featured brief articles discussing popular threads and interesting quotes of the day. These articles were written by Stardust and a staff of “Reporters,” including Forte, Tec-9, Krillen, Deathknight, Shy and others.

Each issue of The Daily Otaku was posted in a seperate thread, and, ironically, on a semi-daily or weekly infrequent basis. These threads were initially well-received by the members; at one point it was decided that new issues of The Daily Otaku would be given prominence among the General Discussion forum by being “stickied.” This success led to other members attempting to create their own daily Otaku-themed newspapers, causing a great deal of conflict at the time. Stardust seemed incapable of organizing the ambitious project by herself, and the quality of The Daily Otaku suffered as a result.

Reporters became frustrated by The Daily Otaku’s lack of communication with Stardust, often resigning from their positions shortly after being hired. These reporters were hired over literally a dozen threads, leading to mass confusion and putting her at odds with many staff members. At one point each individual reporter posted their own Daily >Otaku news thread, the idea being that each individual forum was active enough to support their own thread. This idea was quickly dismissed, and due to oversaturation it may have been responsible for deteriorating member interest in the concept.

Over the course of several weeks only a handful of issues were posted. Stardust became aware of these problems, but her immaturity only made the growing problems worse. Finally Stardust was ordered by staff to end the project, and all of the active Daily Otaku threads were closed (The General Discussion version was closed while still stickied, and remained at the top of the forum for several days following its’ closure.)

Several attempts to resurrect The Daily Otaku were made, but they were each short lived. Years later Desbreko created his own Daily Otaku thread in the Anthology forum, sharing a legacy with the original in name only.

Categories: Notable Threads