Patrick

Welcome aboard, Mac. Glad to have you.

Check out this great video where New York City is taken over by old video games: http://www.urlesque.com/2010/04/09/short-film-pixels-old-video-games-new-york-the-one/ Via Digg.

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing that. Patrick

Welcome back, Brian! We missed you. Patrick

Thank you for the submission.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/04/lucasfilm-developing-star-wars-comedy-series.html Will you watch? Via Digg.

Not kidding at all! Haha. Very deserving. Thanks for the kind words about the community. Patrick

Glad that you enjoyed it, Bob. Thanks, Patrick

Welcome aboard, RyanG. If you ever are unsure of anything, please feel free to ask me and I'll be glad to help. Good luck with the test! Thanks, Patrick

Welcome to KF, AustinG010. Patrick

Happy Easter. What's your favorite Easter candy?

Thanks for sharing, everyone. If it was the teacher's birthday, maybe they still should have received a cake. lol. But that is pretty good. Patrick

lol, that is pretty mean.

Hello, KarateForums.com recognizes one member every month as the Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The April 2010 selection is... JohnASE. Congratulations!

So, what were your favorite pranks for April Fools' Day 2010?

It's not really being gullible as much as it is the original message striking the right balance between absurdity and believability. And then, of course, me carrying on the act and staff members replying, etc. It would be natural to be dissatisfied with such a change. Plus, not everyone who falls for something will admit they did, for various reasons. Those that do should be proud of their honesty. Thanks, Patrick

You might be surprised how much closer it is to reality at some other sites, Lupin1. Thanks, Patrick

Please read: http://www.karateforums.com/april-fools-vt38411.html I hope that everyone had a fun day. Thanks, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. Today is April Fools' Day and, as we've done in the past, we decided to have a little fun here with the Moving Our Focus to Street Tested Martial Arts announcement. Something that we've always specialized in here at KarateForums.com is the ability to welcome you to our community regardless of the martial art that you practice. People who may not be welcome at another site, just because the loud participants of that site don't like their art, will likely be welcome to participate here. The practicality of an art is of importance, just as it's important to realize that your idea of practicality will not be the same as someone else's. Sometimes people are asked if they've actually used their art. This is a harmless question, yet it's also used sometimes to make someone feel lesser. One thing that I've noticed throughout my (nearly) 9 years of running this community is the number of times the word "street" gets mentioned. It's almost a meme. As a non-martial artist, it's been interesting to view this phenomenon. And so, we decided to poke fun at it. I hope that this proved interesting. I appreciate everyone who participated and was a good sport. If anyone feels odd or takes any offense to it, I apologize to you - but, this is that one day a year. Everything returns to normal now. I hope that you had fun today. Thank you for your time and for reading this message. Sincerely, Patrick

Once again, I just wanted to clarify that these videos should not showcase "attacks" - only legitimate uses of one's art in a situation that depends upon it. Any criminal activities are inappropriate and will not be accepted. As far as my own qualification, suffice to say, I'll be exempt to it as I still need to be able to run the site. Thanks, Patrick

Thanks for the replies. The date is definitely April 1, says my calendar. It's a funny day, I know. As far as this becoming a reality website, that wouldn't be my exact terminology. I would say it is just a focus on street tested martial arts. I guess some would take that as reality, so sure. A video of you bashing someone's face in is not what we want. A video of you utilizing your art in a situation where it was needed, yes, that is what we want. I appreciate your thoughts, GeoGiant. I'm sorry to hear that, but it's understandable. Thanks again for the replies and questions. Sincerely, Patrick

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure what you mean, Lupin1. GeoGiant, No worries, I'm glad to help, don't worry about it. You've pretty much described what we'll expect to be contained in the clip. At the end of the day, you are either using your art in real situations on a regular basis or you are not. If you are, then it shouldn't be too difficult to to record it in some manner or another. I hope that this clarifies any confusion. I appreciate your time and cooperation. Thanks, Patrick

Thanks for the replies all. Toptomcat, No worries. Derwentbob, I'm going to presume your joking. Haha. That was pretty good. That said, this announcement is serious and I hope that you'll be able to submit a video before July 1. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. GeoGiant, Good question. For the sake of this endeavor, I would define "proficient use" as an actual confrontation in a street setting (defined in the initial post) where you ably defended yourself. Not "won," but defended yourself. All of this should be included in the video, of course. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks again, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We have removed a post from this thread in error. It is included below. I apologize for the confusion. Sincerely, Patrick Shouldn't it be Honbu as written? Compound of two words - Hon = Head and Bu = department ie Headquarters. Its another on of those Bilabial sounds in spoken Japanese Senpai as writted is spoken as Sempai. Chitsu

Edit: This was an April Fools' Day joke. Please read the second announcement for full details. Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. As we've grown over the past (nearly) nine years, we've continually noted the importance of martial arts tested in the only arena that matters - the street. This has only become more prominent during the last few years. As such, today, I wanted to share some plans that we have to focus more on these street arts. It's not so much about a particular art as it is about where you've personally tested the art. For this reason, we've decided to validate all memberships on this community on a manual basis, after receipt of a video demonstrating proficient use of your art in the street. If you have not used your art in the street, with video evidence of you doing so, you will not be able to hold a membership here. I realize that this may exclude some people and I apologize for that. But, I see this as a natural evolution of this community. As far as video guidelines go, you will need to be plainly seen in the video. After the fight footage, we'll expect a separate short clip of you holding up a piece of paper with your KarateForums.com username on it. That is why you need to be plainly seen - so that we'll able to verify that you are the same person featured in the flight clip. The definition of street is loose. Pavement, asphalt and gravel are all acceptable. No carpeting of any kind. It cannot be indoors. It must be an actual area with businesses or establishments. It cannot be your backyard, for example. We expect to roll this out slowly. All new accounts from this point forward will be placed into a validation que to await video. All current members will need to submit their videos, but this can be done by July 1. We'll launch some site based facilities soon, to enable the easy uploading of video. But, if you'd like to get a jump on that, you can send your video to me directly at patrick@ifroggy.com. I look forward to seeing the long term effects of this change, which should greatly enhance our community. Thank you for reading and for your support of KarateForums.com. Sincerely, Patrick