About us...
by deathblade_penguin, 2007, and edited over the years.

History...

Back in September 2000, at the "generally accepted" start of the millenium, 7 great men chatted online and said "We should start our own Diplomacy club, after all how much work can it be?" The words were spoken (and the work load completely underestimated) but that day diplomaticcorp was born. For that we have to thank:

• Tony Tella aka JAFAinRI (Initial founder of diplomaticcorp) also known as that grumpy old guy from Rhode Island.
• Stephen Lytton aka deathblade_penguin (Founder and Moderator from 2000-2009) played in dc1 and plans to play in the last DC game ever. One of Steve's many great creations is the DC Invitational, but what he really brought was not any particular feature-- Steve's meticulous work in ensuring every single game was well documented, on-time, and moving along smoothly helped make dc the great place it is today.
• Felix Kamchung aka Felix388 (Founder and current member). Anyone who knows online diplomacy has encountered this mad player. Beneath his random moves, incohesive rants and diplomacy obessesion is rumoured to be a competent player.
• Salim Furth aka Chops (Founder) This highly political christian was an outspoken key member of the initial start to the club. His argumentative style was an asset to many games and the club.
• David Hill aka Hobart4life (Founder). Arguably, the better of the Hill brothers, Dave was a vocal member of DC and a very dangerous player.
• Dan Foreman aka dan39_usn (Founder). A very quiet reserved player but got things down.
• Jon Hill aka coolj4e (Founder). Unlike his brother, Jon seems to play diplomacy with his heart on his sleeve which either worked very well for him, or was used by his enemies.

So the club was formed and games had started. Invites went out to friends, fellow players, work colleagues and our membership number began to increase. We made ties with the other diplomacy clubs of the time and fought for our share of the diplomacy players out there. Over time, old players left to take up spots in real life, new players came, old moderators left and new ones were recruited.

Current...

That was 10 years ago and many things have changed in that time. Many players have come and gone, but what remains constant is the friendly community atmosphere and wide selection of games to choose from in Diplomaticcorp. Our moderators today are:

• Michael Sims (poobaloo, Moderator) active member since 2004, GM, and technical liason.
• Garry Bledsoe (kielmarch, Moderator) active member since 2006, GM, and WB Champion.
• John Reside (untitled36, Moderator) active member since 2009 and four-time WB GM.

In 2008, for the first time dc endeavoured to bring a team of Jr Moderators to share the load of our growing community: Jason Koelewyn was the first Junior Mod to grace our administration team, while Fredrik Blom joined the following year.

• Jason Koelewyn (githraine, Jr Moderator) active member since 2007.
• Fredrik Blom (z93blom, Jr Moderator) active member since 2008 and technical contributor.
• Jerome Payne (jerome777, Jr Moderator) active member since 2010 and Winter Blitz 2013 Champion.

Other contributions...

• Former Trout, a Moderator from 2007 to 2009, is best known for running 10 games at a time while playing 10 more - all, flawlessly. When not busy with his games, Trout created some of our many great feautres - including the Companion Knights, the Light Brigade, the Winter Blitz, and our very own Diplomacy Wiki.
• Kevin OKelly, a Moderator from 2006 to 2007, was fundamental in our transition from the Yahoo Group to the website, and helped create the Diplomacy Rating System in place today.

The club website (www.diplomaticcorp.com) has changed significantly over the years, evolving from a static page to the interactive games and player database we have today. Over 800 players have played a game in the club, and there are currently around 40 games active at any one time.

Our purpose is to have a club where each player can quickly and easily play a game of diplomacy without fear of spam emails, heavy regulations and other hassles. We also tried to create a community with one forum, one message board for games (and any topic that took the player's fancy) and of course a place where Diplomacy players could get to know each other. We also wanted to create an environment where every game was played as if it was the first, and every player was treated as if you never played them before. Each game was new, but with old friends.

How is diplomaticcorp funded?