In what may be a rare occurrence in world history, a user on the Something Awful forum has returned from a blank period of time to address the very same tabletop game geek controversy that genuinely got him banned in the first place, after a decade-long ban.

Let's start at the beginning. The Something Awful forum is (among other things) famous, and with God's help, genuinely culturally significant. Despite the $10 registration fee, or maybe because of it, all sorts of memes, phrases, and general ephemerality of Internet culture have come out of it over the course of its 24-year existence. It is also at least partially responsible for the birth of 4chan, created by disaffected members of SA's anime subforum.

SA forums are also notorious for giving moderators free reign. It is not uncommon for users to be banned (for which they must pay $10 to get it lifted) or subjected to lengthy investigations (“probes,” or time-limited bans) for being annoying, neglecting posting etiquette, or simply being funny. The forum keeps a list of all recent bans and probes, along with the reasons for them, like a spiky wall.

One such head on spikes was a poster in the SA Tabletop Games sub-forum. Etherwind, the protagonist of this story, was disciplined in 2013 for jokingly wishing death upon an author during a debate over the political direction of the World of Darkness TTRPGs series. Etherwind's punishment was swift and lengthy: a probationary period of 100,000 hours that began at 10:24 PM BST on February 14, 2013.

This is not the only 100,000-hour investigation handed down by the SA mod, but whereas most users would simply take it as a de facto permanent ban, our own Etherwind set an internal timer: 100,000 hours equals about 1.1 decades, 11.4 years, or 4167 days. The time is set to be 1.1 decades, or 11.4 years, or 4,167 days. He will be able to post again in July 2024.

Eleven years have passed. And...

Etherwind returns exactly 100,018 hours after probation began, posting on July 14, 2024 at 9:04 BST, quoting a post from the thread where he was first banned within SA's latest and greatest WoD discussion thread, some sort of net-bound Hiroshi Onoda He promptly resumed the discussion, ready to resume the war as if he were a man of the world.

Some of the thread's inhabitants, who had only just registered with SA long after Etherwind had been placed on probation, were suitably in awe of his tenacity and dedication. “Will someone on 11 years probation set a calendar reminder, or are their poster souls simply vibrating with a new freedom [...]? .

"I'm very curious.”

“Must feel great to spit it out. Rand Brittain said, “I don't think I'll ever get over this.”

“So why don't we ban him for another 11 years?” Some compared this to the events of the World of Darkness itself. For example, when an omnipotent Antillean vampire awakens from a centuries-long slumber to wreak godlike destruction. A user named Dawgstar said, “Imagine the threads of Something-Of-Full becoming your fetter.”

But as remarkable as Etherwind's commitment to the bit was, frankly, his resurrection was not simply the result of his immense dedication to posting. In a Google doc shared with the thread through social media, Hero explains how posting to the SA community was an important part of his life, how he grew a lot during those 100,000 hours and gained a lot of emotional healing, and how the now infamous rub I explained how I regret my life as a contributor.

But still, with a new outlook, he recognized that the end of his exile would be an incredible opportunity for comedy. I set a reminder on my “His Decision” calendar and resumed the discussion as if no time had passed at all.

This is quite frankly the greatest feat of posting I have ever witnessed and also very heartwarming. As strange as it may sound, online communities like SA are an important aspect of many people's lives. Lord knows that I have had several experiences over the course of my life that have actually shaped me as a person. Going through this ordeal again 1.1 decades after a petty argument on the forum ended seems like the perfect way to reflect at once how serious and ridiculous it is.

Finally, Etherwind was right. The 20th anniversary edition of the Wraith was not released in 2016.

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