I remember TS and other newer members asking a while ago about the origins of dasdc. Since I’m sick today I decided to write it up as I remember it. Enjoy!
The Beginning
The birth of da SDC is inextricably linked to the demise of the old chopin files so the story will involve discussing the way things went down on that forum.
In the beginning, there was Comme_le_vent. He joined the CF in March 2004, possibly after already being banned for the first time from Pianoforum. Also he joined before me, so some of the story comes second hand (I pieced it together mostly from sugar packets)
Comme had a unique take on things; he was the one who first become a speed and fury fanatic (although Zepp had independently been a time-keeping nazi). He was also the one who started writing in the “mofo” style. At this stage it was rather unsophisticated and was primarily Ali G-esque. Naturally a group of posters found his manner hilariously irreverent in the usually dour forum and so banded around him. You’ve got to understand that the CF moderators took their jobs (too) seriously. They’d delete posts left, right and centre for completely moronic reasons like being slightly off topic. So when Comme came to CF with this sassy attitude it shook the place up to say the least.
Da SDC is born
The story starts around May 2004. Comme came up with the idea for a speed demon community during an MSN convo with Zepp. He declared himself “Chairman” and Zepp “Vice-chair”. Then the recruitment topic was posted on the board asking people with a similar zest for speed to audition for a place in the community. Benchmark speeds were set for each Chopin Etude which applicants had to better to gain admission. The topic caused much consternation amongst the more staid members of the forum (led by the twins Virtuoso735), some of whom had been lobbying for Comme to be banned.
Of the people who actually submitted recordings, anima (there was a tilda there somewhere), Chozart, PianistSk8ter, Nerd (iirc), SteinwayModelD, chopinfreak (SpeedShaga on da SDC) and possibly a couple more were accepted. Each was giving an SDC member title. Comme exempt himself from auditioning since he had come up with the idea and because, according to him, chopin’s ocean etude was his first piece (this assertion was a source of some controversy amongst CF members). Other members granted exemptions were Thracozaag (senior demon) and e60m5 (junior demon) who had previously posted recordings in the audition room (an actual CF board where people would post recordings for comment/rating). There were other members who got in through other means (pozz someone else can provide the details) pedramrad, dor, k-nar. So now there was Da SDC, a group of speed and fury lovers who posted on the CF.
The CF moderators (as mentioned above) were extremely zealous, and there were even topics where members compared how many of their posts had been deleted, with Comme as the ‘winner’. Just as an aside, I was an inoffensive and uncontroversial member and I still had about 100 posts deleted, so you can understand people’s frustration.
The mods acted as a veritable thought police deciding which comments where “inappropriate” or “off-topic” either of which were cause for deletion. Particularly, they (Nijntje and BigD) hated the subject of homosexuality amongst pianists being discussed. I expect this was partly in deference to another mod Malcolm who was gay (and incidentally who claimed that only Poles can play Chopin 
)This lead to what I believe is the catalyst for the CF’s downfall.
The day the CF died
During a discussion about Jorge Bolet or Horowitz, Thracozaag and another member got into an argument about whether or not the pianist was gay, with Koji providing strong evidence that they were. BigD took exception to this and reprimanded Koji with a “stay on topic” type post. It was uncalled for, and Koji got offended and said that he was leaving CF. This caused massive backlash against the mods by the members who respected him. Immediately other members started leaving (such as Chozart). It was a tense few weeks with Da SDC (Fans of Koji) agitating more that usual. To be fair most of the mods were cool, and really they were in a hard position with a large proportion of the forum (lead by Da SDC) fighting for less censorship, and another (smaller but more vocal) group arguing for stricter moderation and mass banning (PianistSk8ter – an SDC member changed sides by supporting them). I should note that the founder of the CF lando was MIA and none of the mods had the power to permanently ban someone.
Comme gets banned
One day, egged on by BoliverAllmon, Comme went crazy and just spammed the whole forum. Unfortunately for him it happened to be the day that Lando returned, and so Comme was banned. This caused outrage amongst the members of Da SDC with several of them leaving in protest (mazeppa, k-nar, jeff). Now there was a massive hole in the forum and it just went to shit. The top poster (the_tempest – a fellow aussie and top bloke) left and so the discussion got bare.
The return
Then one day, posts started disappearing. At first the members thought it was just the mods being themselves, but they denied this. Soon whole topics were gone, and everyone was wondering wtf was going on. Also one moderator was unable to access his account. It transpired that he had been hacked by chopinistic, (da koala on SDC), who had given Comme access, and he had been being the mass deletion. Randomly, I still don’t know exactly how Kev hacked into Malcolm’s account.
By this point most people, whether enemy or friend of da SDC had had enough, with some (PianistSk8ter/JBJ and e60m5) going off to found their own forums. Lando decided to start a new CF using PHB Nuke, which he would eventually close it due to lack of time.
So the old CF was brought undone, in part by the zealously censorious moderators, in part by the antics of Comme and Da SDC.
PianistSk8ter’s new forum was essentially a chopin files clone called chopin music. However, members of Da SDC started showing up there and PS feared that his forum would become the refuge of da SDC and end up like the Chopin Files he had left.
The SDC forum
So he started the SDC forum in September 2004, making Comme an admin. Here was a place where Da SDC could operate in a censorship free way without contaminating (as he saw it) his new board. And so that’s how the board was created.
Eventually he got tired of Da SDC (who had not stopped posting on his board) and banned most of them. He also handed over ownership of Da SDC forum to Kev (chopinistic/lost in code). At this stage Comme still had all the power and was the “chair”. He was the one who started posting recordings on Da SDC. Originally it was to showcase fast and furious pianism through recordings such as Cziffra’s live Totentanz. News that there was a forum offering free/rare recordings for download spread to pianoforum (whose members had been very hostile to Da SDC) and PW and soon the sharing of recordings become the focal point of the forum (thanks largely to Iamcanadian) and comme lost most of his power (forum ownership having moved from Kev to da Mart).
Ok so that’s pretty much what happened, any members who notice inaccuracy or missing info or who wish to offer their perspectives pls do so.
rezpec
