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Q&As and disclaimers to start your Monday Loading...

Have you sent me an e-mail and I haven't written back? I try to respond to as many e-mail as I possibly can, but with the deluge that often comes to my mailbox it simply isn't possible to reply to everyone. Rest assured that I read every e-mail that I receive, though I ask for help with the big words.

Remember, the opinions expressed in Loading... are not necessarily those of TenTonHammer.com, it's partners, affiliates, Jon Stewart, Sid Meier or Pope Benedict. I do speak for Vin Diesel.

WordPress, the blog software that we use doesn't like our news HTML. The same HTML works everywhere else, but of course, not here. If you like the headlines then pop over to the main site.

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This column is your column and here are your numbers:

• 364 new Loading... minions have subscribed to the gospel of MMOG, also known as the Loading... mailing list in the first 18 days of September.
• 60 have joined this week!
• 19 people have unsubscribed. May they Rest In Peace.
• 2,403 total subscribers are on the mailing list. You're that good. Spread the word!
• 17 new exclusive MMOG articles this week.

With your WoW Census (in beta ) we are taking names and getting numbers.

• 40,364 characters were added yesterday.
• 913,702 characters are now being tracked across the U.S. and EU servers.

Your WoW Database (more beta - more testing) is growing like Tom Cruise's opinion of himself. It now contains:

• 3,092 quests
• 11,459 NPC records (complete with map locations)
• 1,778 comments from you, the loyal readers.

The new comic that I came up with has received only mediocre reviews, standing with a rating of 3.3/5 and holding #16 slot in the standings. To make myself feel better I'll link you to the current #1 comic. Enjoy!

The letters regarding my Kirstie Alley humour continued to trickle in yesterday. I also received a few in regards to my reply to Jill, the serial killer with the eating disorder. Does that make her a cereal killer?

My fascination with the both the virtual and real population of World of Warcraft continues. I'm absolutely amazed that we can be adding 40,000 characters a day to our database with no real signs of the numbers slowing down. In fact, they went up yesterday. We now have over 920,000 characters in the census. There are still some realms with no data, but as more people start firing up the WoW UI Add-on that we have created that will take care of itself.

In 2000, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped a maximum security stockade to the Toronto underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as programmers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, they will produce cool stuff like our World of Warcraft Server listing. It breaks every North American and European server down by date launch, server type, population, region and alliance to horde ratio. If you are as tired as I am of reading posts in the official forums asking what the newest Lithuanian PVE server is, then this is the answer to your prayers. Link to it religiously. Link to it often!

Another first occurred today. We have posted the shortest exclusive article in the history of the company. A teeny, tiny hat off to the good folks that look after our Vanguard community for this Ask The Devs article.

Post a comment at the bottom of this blog. If you are shy (or female and sending in naughty pictures) you can E-Mail me.

Every good guild needs a home. A home free of gold ads, secondary market farmers. Look no further than GuildPortal.com.

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Exclusive new TenTonHammer.com Content!
Let us entertain you or at the very least waste some of your time at work.09.20.2006 Exclusive Content

• Dungeons and Dragons Online: The Fighter
  "DDO fighters wade through swarms of monsters, hacking and chopping until they are covered with muck and gore. To show our love, we've done a little cleaning for our fighters and redesigned our fighter class guide. You'll now be able to read about what makes the fighter such a terrific class and find all of our great fighter guides in one handy location!"
• Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Ask The Devs
  "We approached Sigil Games Online with an idea: what if our community members asked questions, and a developer provided one answer each week? Sigil said, "Cool, let's do it!" The result is our Ask the Devs feature. Will the Inquisitor class make it into Vanguard by launch? That's the question on the minds of a lot of people interested in playing this unique Vanguard tank class. We've got an answer for you in our very first Ask the Devs column!"
• World of Warcraft: Grouping Guide
  "Last week we launched a new guide, a guide to grouping in instances. Since it's launch I have already gotten lots of posative feedback, and made a few minor additions. Today, I launch the rest of the guide featuring items to consider for each role and class as well as what not to do and horror stories. I would love to expand these sections with additional content submitted by our community members, so if you have more tips for others or some funny or horrifying grouping stories, send them in!"
• World of Warcraft: Transportation Basics
  "We've updated our "Transportation Basics" guide to include valuable links and information, including a teaser about flying mounts in the upcoming "Burning Crusade" expansion."

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Vin Diesel Fact of the Day - Vin Diesel finds it humorous to run into Fire Departments and yell, "Movie! Movie!"

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Now from the real world. You can't make this stuff up. [Thanks Matt for the headline leads.]

• Doctor Accused Of Giving Stipper A Hand
  ...and a $20 bill.
• Microsoft Launches YouTube Killer
  YouTube killers to launch attack on Microsoft.
• Thief Steals Court Computers
  You're out of order! No! You're out of RAM!
• Counties Crack Down On Homeowners Who Hold Onto Junk
  Especially if they are holding onto their junk in front the neighbourhood kids.

As always, thanks for visiting TenTonHammer.com,
-- John "Boomjack" Hoskin