pOnju, which roughly translates from Chinese to Big Pig, is the online alias of the popular webcomic artist Henry Chiu. Chiu is responsible for the creation of the webcomics Chiga and Kaput, Piggy Hunters, Welcome to My World, Second Chance, and Character Roster, all of which are hosted at his personal website ponju.com.
pOnju also refers to the popular online community known as The Piggy Farm, which is hosted on Chiu's other domain, ponju.net. The forum has a highly active community of over 7000 members and is host to a variety of topics including help forums for up and coming web comics, artists, and writers. In March of 2003, Hanna succeeded Henry as the official administrator of the pOnju forums, though he continues to assist in its management.
There is also a pOnju IRC chat room, #ponju on Sorcery.net, and a pOnju based PaintChat and Oekaki board.
Forums
In addition to the usual "common area" forums, the Piggy Farm hosts forums for several highly popular webcomics and their authors. There have also been a number of comics hosted on pOnju that have since ended or fallen into indefinite hiatus.
Common Area Forums
- General Chat (GC) - Currently moderated by Jonathan888 and mental flux. This is the most active discussion area on pOnju with over 200,000 posts. The most often debated topics include: religion (in general), abortion, homosexuality (in general), and American politics (in general). Economic systems (capitalism vs. socialism) are also discussed with some frequency. It's usually asked that newcomers DON'T begin debates on these topics.
- Webcomics/Websites/General Art Technique and Strategy - Currently moderated by Bryan Y B Wong. This is a forum specifically for people new to webcomics to ask for advice, advertise their own comics, or find a partner. Many of pOnju's resident comic makers, such as Emi-chan and Dedos, frequent this forum.
- Sports/Hobbies/Gaming - Moderated by Dedos. The most recent common area forum which was made in November 2004 at the request of members after heavy lobbying by Makaris. It is where discussions of sports, CCGs, and RPGs take place. Several games of "Diplomacy" have also been held there.
- Weekly Drawing Contest (WDC) - Currently unmoderated, though drakahn manages the contest itself. Originally, the WDC began as a Tsunami Channel event sponsored by Akira Hasegawa. It eventually moved to its own website and was given its own forum.
- Word Games - Moderated by Dedos and Jonathan888 and formerly by Xuanwu. One of the three most active forums on pOnju overall with over 150,000 posts. It began in 2001 with a Word Association game thread in General Chat and was soon given its own forum in 2002. It was first moderated by Jonathan888 and then by Xuanwu, who codified the rules for all present games. Dedos succeded Xuanwu after he retired from his role of moderator. Popular games include Word Association, The Person Above Me (TPAM), String Posted Above Me (SPAM), and the Killing Game.
- Mixed Media - Moderated by N8 Dawg. Topics can include anything from music to movies or television. The most popular thread in this forum is "What Are You Listening To".
- Lightweight Role Playing (LWRPG) - Moderated by RIvaL and mental flux. LWRPG is the single most active forum on pOnju with more than 300,000 posts. Popular threads include Loss of Topic - Random Acts of Insanity (LoT - RAOI) and Bar. It has also been the host for three pOnju balls: the Easter Ball of 2003 (led by RIvaL), the Halloween Ball of 2003 (led by Xuanwu), and the Halloween Ball of 2004 (led by Blue Wolfie).
- Heavyweight Role Playing (HWRPG) - Moderated by RIvaL and Shaolang. The counterpart to LWRPG, HWRPG is for indepth and thoughtful role-playing similar to table top games only sans dice.
Active Comic Forums
- Club Ph34r by Nat "N8 Dawg" Lee and D-Boy (Joined in April 2003)
- Dedos by Christopher Lopez (Dedos)
- Ghost Hunters by Eunice P
- Lovarian Adventures by Gabriel "Geejay" Fua
- Okashina Okashi by Emily Snodgrass (Emi-chan) and Xuanwu (Joined in January 2005)
- Rules of Make Believe by Chin Julian (Ju-Lian)
- Saturnalia by Space Coyote (Joined in August 2003)
- Seasons of Constancy by Bryan Wong (Joined in January 2003)
- Montrose Academy by Kittyhawk (Joined in October 2002)
- Tsunami Channel by Akira Hasegawa (Joined in March 2002)
- Wish3 by Sylvia T. Leung (Songblade)
Inactive/Closed Comic Forums
- by Road Hunter (forum closed in February 2005)
- Demonology 101 by Faith Hicks (Faith) (Joined in October 2002; forum closed in Autumn 2004)
- Eat the Roses by Meaghan E. Quinn (forum closed in November 2004)
- pOnju Webcomics by Henry "pOnju" Chiu (forum for this set of web comics closed Winter 2004)
- Unfamiliar Destiny by Dragoness (forum closed in February 2003)
Stubble by Josh Mirman was previously part of this community as well, but decided to secede, on good terms, in order to form an independent forum on November 16, 2004. Meaghan removed the link to her comic's pOnju forum in November 2004 for reasons unknown. Eat the Roses now has its forum on Keenspot. No official announcement about the end of her association with pOnju was ever made.
Memes and Traditions
Over the years since July 2001, the pOnju forum has developed its share of traditions and memes. Some have arisen from individual members, others developed by groups.
- Orgy and Pie - This meme first arose in the Tsunami Channel comic forum as a replacement for the poll option "Don't Know/Don't Care." Previously, members had been using "Pie," until Xuanwu first introduced "Orgy." A member later combined the two into "Orgy and Pie" (or O&P for short). This meme spread quickly throughout pOnju until eventually being banned for use in pOnju's general areas by Henry Chiu himself for being beyond the PG13 threshhold. The meme remains in use in the comic forums, however, including those for Okashina Okashi, Rules of Make Believe, and Tsunami Channel.
- Toasters - Member Jonathan888 (a consistent and frequent poster who was second to get over 10,000 posts) has had a tradition of giving various types of toasters in greeting to new people.
- Rivkaris - The 2002 "fusion" of members RIvaL and Makaris, done in DBZ style. Possessing unlimited arrogance and (supposedly) phenomenal power, Rivkaris remains a potent force in the pOnju community to this day. In competition, The-Borbes and Highlander created their own fusion, Borbeslander, to combat Rivkaris, but the two never clashed. The actual powers of Rivkaris, other than his crushing ego and sharp tongue, are unknown.
External links
Last updated: 10-14-2005 20:48:02
