Portugal, the country, became a common target for jokes on the forum for a period of time.

It originally begin when member Metratron started lamenting about games that were not released in his country of residence, Portugal, in the Video Game Club fanclub around December 2004. These cries were repeated often, and it caught the attention of members Otaru, Iruya, Kaneda-san, and Go Go Guncon Fighter. They developed a "hatred" (not really) for Portugal. This "hatred" carried over to the forums Just Chatting and Random Ramblings.

People were confused by this inside joke and thought that they really despised Portugal, because the group commonly blamed all of life's problems on the country for humor. It got out of hand and many people started copying the movement, bashing Portugal in their own manner.

sk89q, seeing that it was spreading too fast and would have looked bad to both visitors from and not from Portugal, he announced on 6 April 2005 that bashing Portugal was prohibited. It was stated that bashing Portugal, or any country, is against the rules (3.4), and that if it were to further continue, warnings and bans would be issued.

Links

• First recorded instance of Metratron referring to Portugal
• Good example of referring to Portugal, one of the first
• Original post announcing against the use of Portugal
• Post reiterating the rule about Portugal, November 2005