500 topic

A 500 topic is a defining characteristic of the GameFAQs message boards. In order to prevent memory consumption by humongous topics, topics on the boards can only reach a maximum of 500 posts before being closed, at which point the topic is over and either the conversation ceases or is continued in a new topic. Despite being a fairly common event, with one 500 topic appearing at least once every week, it is still considered a major achievement on the message boards, and Current Events in particular.

Topics with a high post count, which can be "predicted" to be 500's, generally begin to lose coherence towards the end, ignoring the actual subject matter and instead posting things like "500 get" or simply counting up the posts, culminating in a mad scramble to have the final post.

Additionally, mods and, interestingly, GameSpot users are capable of posting beyond the limit, allowing topics to reach unlimited numbers of posts. However, it is possible for normal GameFAQs users to post beyond the limit too if they get a same time post with the 500th post, since there is a small delay before the automatic closure.

As mentioned earlier, Current Events is notable for their 500 topics, with several CEmen often attempting to reach 500 by troll topics, excessive planning, or simply asking for one (which often fails). Also, Current Events was a major force in the fastest 500 topic on GameFAQS, managing it in just a few seconds. Excessive planning was used for great effect, with several topics beforehand being arranged to set up the topic title and time it would be created, as well as recruiting people both on CE and inferior boards.