Sythe's 20th Birthday

Whether you joined in 2005 or just yesterday, thank you for being part of the journey! Here’s to 20 years of trades, memes, debates, friendships, drama, and above all—progress.

Back in the early 2000s, Sythe was a much simpler site, focused mostly on RuneScape market trades. Over the years, it grew into a hub for not only game trading but also community building, development projects, and self made businesses.

In light of Sythe's 20th Anniversary, I thought it would be nice to share a little bit of Sythe's history—from forum ranks to forum updates, and a little of the in-between.



Forum Ranks/Development Teams

• The first user to be promoted to a Sythe Global Moderator was Steph, in December 2005

• The first user to be promoted to a Sectional Moderator (Support Center Mod) was Govind, in September 2006

• The first Official Middlemen were promoted in December 2006
• The OMM ranks were retired and reinstated a few times throughout the years, but they were permanently retired in May of 2020 with no plans to bring back

• The Community Development Team was first introduced on September 21, 2012

• Sythe Verified User was introduced in March 2013
• The rank was removed in July 2016 and replaced with an option for users to provide a recovery phone number to assist with recovering their Sythe profiles

• The Technical Core Team was introduced in 2016, but ultimately retired in April 2019

• The Public Relations Team was introduced in 2016, but ultimately retired in April 2019

• The Do Not Trade (DNT) rank was implemented in August 2016

• Sythe donations have been around since close to the beginning, but the Bond Holder funrank was introduced in September 2019

Forum Designs

Spoiler: April 13, 2003

Spoiler: August 31, 2004

Spoiler: April 15, 2005

Spoiler: May 11, 2005

Spoiler: 2006-2008

Spoiler: 2011

Spoiler: 2014

Spoiler: 2016

• Beyond this Sythe looks the way that we know it today!
• You can see more of these on the way back machince: Wayback Machine
• You can also read some nice stories from the past with Sythe's 10th/15th Year Anniversary threads:
  • [Miniranks] Sythe's 10th Birthday!
    
  • Sythe 15th Anniversary Thread

To wrap things up, I have reached out to some older users who were around from the early beginning to share their advice for new members, favorite memories, and anything in between.


Let's start off with a quote from our head of donations and second in command, Matthew.

A lot of newer members probably don't know much about me because I'm a professional lurker, but I've been around Sythe for almost 20 years. Not since the very beginning, but close. Over the years, I've encountered many different people and personalities, some enjoyable and some challenging. I saw someone else mentioned the Finn and Pen era and that made me laugh, I had to deal with a lot of that mess and Finn tried VERY hard to get rid of me (spoiler alert: it didn't work). But I also got to work with Steph, an ex-admin, and many others who were great people. For my favorite memory, I'd have to say it was probably getting banned. I got banned many years ago by Sythe himself. We had a disagreement, I don't even remember what it was about anymore, but he banned me over it. The best part was that when he unbanned me, he changed my username to Matthew. Fun fact: my original username was DaRk_NiGhT but he told me he didn't want to see that name anymore so... now it's Matthew. Richard (Sythe) and I have known each other a long time now and even though we haven't met in person in all this time, I consider him a friend. This site has been a fun community to be a part of and it just amazes me that it's already been 20 years!

(ex-admin, all but in name)

Fuck I’m old

My fav memory is me and pendy messing around with admin commands and him sending tens of thousands of dms to everyone on sythe without realising it would take forever and we later realised he didn't have to do that Also another memory is someone decently reputable choosing to scam for the first time and somehow hit the lottery of unlucky cus the person was my irl friend and immediately told me gg

Mumble (Ex-CDT leader)

the time i meme'd @Blupig into member of the month just because he was funny in spam forum

(ex-global mod)

I joined Sythe at the beginning of 2013, started my journey with the CDT and created events that we currently still do today (all the Holiday events with the new accounts such as Santa and the Witch.) I retired from the CDT and became a moderator and quickly became a global moderator. I created the community pay back thread and advocated for scam victims to get their money back one way or another. I saw too many people trying to pardon and their victims not being active so it was a way for me to figure a way out to give back to the community that deserved it. These are some of the best memories I have from Sythe and the things I'm most proud of that are still in Sythe today 2025. I worked for many companies during my time in Sythe and they gave me so many opportunities online that I never would of thought of. Thank you Runestake! Sythe really is a place that you can grow and give yourself great opportunities.

Shin

(ex-head admin)

I would probably point to some of the biggest staff dramas and controversies over the years, such as Shredderbeam or Gladiator being banned, or the overthrow of the Finn and Pen era.

I think my favorite experience during my time on Sythe has been the development of the community repayment system. There are many other similar communities to Sythe out there, but none are as dedicated to assisting scam victims as our community, and I think that's something we should all be proud of. I also want to give an honorable mention to all of the friendships I've made during my time on this site, I am grateful to have met such wonderful people and look forward to meeting many more in the years to come.

Pendulum

1. I would say its probably doing our monthly suggestion meetings and the wide range of shit that would happen from King's low battery smoke detector going off, video eating salmon, or hahanerd being 2 hours late joining us in the parkinglot of his Gym because he forgot There was always good banter and funny shit going on during them that made them fun to be apart of

Tengauge12

Do you ever think back to the days when we were all connected through mIRC, with some of us branching out to Ventrilo and TeamSpeak? It was such a special time. We spent hours gaming and chatting, and I met so many incredible people along the way. I remember even Sythe himself, who back then seemed so larger-than-life. We became a tight-knit group—friends who’d share countless hours together.

Of course, as with any group, things weren’t always smooth sailing. Some of us got banned, myself included. There was an admin who, in a moment of power, caused a rift, and as tensions grew, I found myself banned multiple times. But I fought tooth and nail to come back.

I remember when I was a Moderator, passionately working through the ‘Report-A-Scammer’ section, investigating cases, passing them along, and eventually earning a promotion. It was such an exciting moment for me! Being promoted to Official Middleman felt like a big achievement, and I was so proud. I even became a donator back then, complete with a custom name and all—though sadly, that’s all vanished with the bans. As time went on, though, my dedication to Sythe started to fade.

Even so, I’ve never truly left. I’m still here, though now from a distance. I’ve lost touch with a lot of old friends, like n4n0, and it’s hard to think about those days spent with Ryan, Shin (Alex), and others, playing Counter-Strike and diving into new games together.

Sythe will never be what it once was. Maybe it’s because I’ve drifted so far from the scene, but even now, I see the Discord and wonder where all the lively conversations went. It’s mostly just general chatter these days. The friends who made it great are long gone, many of them people I haven’t spoken to in years. I even remember CJ (bombshell), who was an admin, though we can skip over that story, haha.

I’ve done a lot of behind-the-scenes work for Sythe, though I’m unsure how much of that is still remembered or appreciated. Time has a way of making everything fade, but the memories remain. It’s been so many years.

Even so, Sythe will always hold a place in my heart. It’s still a part of my online presence, and I’ll continue to visit it as long as it’s here. We all know that nothing good lasts forever, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t leave its mark.

I’m grateful to still be here, though I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic about how things unfolded. I’ve found myself far removed from the community, and I regret that it ended up this way. But then again, perhaps everything happens for a reason.

The people I’ve met along the way—those I’ve loved, those I’ve lost—will always be a part of me. Some might say it’s "just online," but the bonds you form, even in the digital world, can be some of the most real friendships you’ll ever have. Communication may be easier online, but it’s also fragile. Treacherous, even.

And so, though things have changed, I’ll always carry these memories with me.

Sythe.org is a place where you can connect with various individuals, whether they are like-minded or completely different, from all around the world. It's a place where a person can freely joke with a peer without being banned, start a business in a digital space, or connect with someone who can supply physical products directly from China. The platform matures alongside its core user base as we get older.

Sythe.org has a real community, whether you are a complete newfag or have 50k posts and are operating a business on a larger scale. It allows you to get in contact with real people. It's an ever-evolving market that enabled Chinese gold farmers to make a living more than a decade ago by trading in-game currencies or providing accounts and services to people from different parts of the world. It also enabled people from Pakistan to farm and sell RuneScape accounts on a large scale, and allowed people from South America, predominantly Venezuela, to put food on their table or even have a relatively luxurious life.

There have been many humorous and serious situations during my time on Sythe.org. One such situation was this report: Neres not paying for lewd camshow

Another situation that I sometimes think about is when I first joined the staff team and @Pendulum parked his car just so he could focus on explaining to me how to use the staff tools.

The last situation involving staff members that I will leak is when a now ex-mod tagged me at 3 AM and called me to share Stella's (a RuneScape personality and an OF girl) latest private video, with a third staff member already in the voice chat. I called them "gays" and went to bed.

Some people say that Sythe is dead, and the community has certainly shifted to Discord and diluted into many servers, but the amount of market participants is, in my opinion, larger than ever, with many people having their "Venny" do tasks for them for a penny.

Also in light of the event, if you guys have moment to share your favourite story from Sythe and you will get mini rank (

) and I have also convinced CDT to host event along side this: [CDT]Sythe 20th Anniversary Birthday Card Event[Ends May 30th @ 11:59PM GMT] No longer disbursed

Without question, it is the members of this community who have shaped Sythe into what it is today and who continue to contribute to its ongoing success. Thank you for your dedication and support throughout the years!

​

 

Better get a minirank for sharing.

 

tl;dr hpbd @Sythe

 

[AKingStore]

hpbd sythe

 

[Tengauge12]

Happy Birthday you old fart!

 

Damn so much has changed over the years. Iv been around on sythe for some years but never really interacted with the community until like the last year. I love to see the forum growing.

 

Happy brithday Sythe!

 

So many good memories.

I remember my first “deal” on Sythe. I was 16 and working my first job, at CFA. Yes, USA has child labor laws, unlike Venezuela.

I was making a $6.25/hr minimum wage a few nights a week after work. It took me like three months to save up enough money to buy 75M. My first trade, and I got scammed.

Lmao!

Life lessons, learned early.

I’ve got more memories here than I could begin to count. Sythe is home. Grateful to have been a part of, and to have been able to help shape the community over the years. It’s been fun. Here’s to 20.

PS: @Idolized, still waiting on you to come back up this way and let’s grab a beer, old friend.

Thanks to all the staff, CDT, and community members that have donated your time, effort, and energy over the years to make Sythe what it is. It’s been a fun ride.

Owned

 

[jackthehackm8]

the best moments i have had have been in the spam forum. so much fun happens in there but now it is dying.

i remember when sythe gold first got released and we were spamming the spam forums for it !!!!!!! haha !!!!!!

 

some good times were pre service discord days when the market forums were actually used and not just all post bots. was exciting to find customers and see all the people who needed things making threads and having to constantly check your inbox.

also the pokemon minirank era was super fun. going at it with @Bogdan all the time in dms and bidding other people for mods minirank of choices. i was able to get an insane collection which was awesome and eventuallly let them all go. shoutout to @King for that obsession since my first one was his Houndoom that i won from him through a dice bet. i also remember @Devil @Prizford @hattez being into it as well. good times.

 

Happy 20th Anniversary, Sythe!

What a milestone, and I’m truly grateful to have been a part of this amazing community.

I started selling RuneScape names back in 2020, and since then, Sythe has brought me so many great experiences. I’ve connected with countless people, improved my English, expanded my network, and learned a ton. Not just about the game and how to safely trade and transfer names, but also about sharing knowledge and building trust in a community.

When I first launched TBM’s Name Shop at 17/18 years old, it was just a small experiment, mainly to earn some extra GP to enjoy OSRS. I had no idea it would lead to so much more. Running a small shop on Sythe gave me valuable insights into entrepreneurship, communication, and customer service. Skills I never expected to gain through a game.

In fact, in 2023 I even started a small business in real life, next to my full-time job, and many of the lessons I learned here on Sythe helped me take that step.

One of the biggest things I’ve realized is that trading and making people happy through what I do is something I genuinely enjoy.

So, thank you Sythe and thank you to everyone I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years. This platform has given me so many opportunities to grow, not just in-game but as a person. Here’s to many more years!

Much love,

TBM

 

• The Community Development Team was first introduced on September 21, 2012, but ultimately retired in July 2025

Got this info using Wayfuture machine

 

So where do i start?

Well when i was a little Dbuffed and didn't actually know anything about the blackmarket side of things we're talking 2004-2011 back when things seemed a lot more different and we had all the fun stuff like free trade (back in falador/varrock at the time before GE) and you would see me sitting there killing chaos druids for herbs to sell or fishing lobsters etc including for my friends who all played along side me in an internet café, this same lan-café which is now a shop that runs via a charity lol weird how things turn out.

Anyway, in the end after switching over things like swiftkit (i think it was?) etc a lot which was the OG client we used to use other than the default website login one back in the day i came across Powerbot for those who are familiar with it, although it had an obviously large botting community it also had a service section and being that i had already spent unknown amounts of time doing dumb things like collecting resources and such for friends it just made sense to maybe try it out, so originally i was introduced to the website because of the dungeoneering bot program that was then called "idungpro", and despite it being a bot people actually requested some users to run the script on their account(s) to get dungeoneering levels as it was basically 1/4 the cost/time if not less of leeching and trying to learn at the time. This is where i found my passion for service providing as a whole

As for the name "Dbuffed", yes i know it may seem a bit funny and all perhaps thinking of "small" guys with minimal/no muscles etc like yeah they proper debuffed. The actual reasoning behind my name was due to a game also back then in the 2004-2007 area mainly called Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC for short for those who may remember) where i played a cleric healer, you guessed it called Dbuffed, which was a spell you had in the game and was able to strip away at peoples buffs (similar to how potions work on OSRS, and say weakening spells etc) and thus i continued this name on forums as well.

I would like to say if it wasn't for Powerbot, and the few people who have continued to remain active here like @Yoshiki i would not have been able to find Sythe either. I was someone with 0 experience in the market forum side of things and i learned on the fly like we should to slowly improve and make it a better place for the people after us. I can say happily if it wasn't for PB there wasn't a me here or me on any other forums, but i look forward to another 12 years of Sythe hopefully running.

Happy 20'th birthday Sythe community, i hope this gievs you a little backstory to how i started, and a fun fact for you - I was one of the ONLY users on Powerbot who had no sponsorship rank or anything, yet got over 800 feedback from just doing what i enjoyed, and we used to also get paid by @Divica to advertise in the what was spam section XD

Edit - I did come back from a temp ban once and magically had a sponsor rank for like a week or two lmao although that doesn't count.

 

Happy Birthday Sythe! @Sythe

 

So many mems, happy birthday @Sythe

 

[Buyacc]

My most precious memory is being a pain in the ass of the CDT lmao

 

[Exodos]

Happy Birthday Sythe! It's been a pleasure to be part of this wonderful community!

 

[Jibby Jibby]

Happy birthday to sythe. I do miss a nice message from the man himself tho. Speech time @Sythe

 

[Shin]

also the pokemon minirank era was super fun.

I had a lot of fun getting these added to the site. I still wish the shiny variants would have been approved, but I think the entire collection of Pokemon miniranks would have been limited to Gen 1.

Happy birthday Sythe.

 

[Add My Msn]

Happy birthday Sythe and thanks for everything <3