Five on Friday
Five on Friday was started in an effort to take the best questions asked by the playerbase and display them on the Ultima Online homepage so that a greater number of players could view the answers. It was originally written by Wilki (Mr. John Wilkinson), but was later taken over by Jeremy (Ms. E. Jeremy Dalberg) when Wilki become a Designer.
It was decided that the number of questions each week would be five in order to maintain consistency, although this number has not always been strictly adhered to, and that they would be culled from various forum posts and other sources throughout the week and presented on Friday before most of the development team went home for the weekend. Some of the questions were originally answered on the forums and copied and/or modified to fit in the Five on Friday, and some were only answered in the Five on Friday.
Controversy
It is common for controversy over the Five on Friday questions to break out on the forums. Arguments frequently arise if less than five questions have been answered, if some of the questions were never actually asked by anyone, or if some or all of the questions are in fact not questions at all, but are actually in-character conversations in support of recent in-game events, general announcements, or other, non-question entries.
Alliteration
Beginning on January 26, 2007, Jeremy began naming the Five on Fridays with oddly alliterated titles. Then on February 8, 2008, she made a forum post on Stratics asking for input on whether or not she could break from this theme as she was running out of words beginning with the letter F. After much discussion, it was decided that the alliteration would continue, but that the choice of letters would be expanded to include the entire alphabet. This plan was only followed for a short time, however, and now the Five on Fridays possess names of all configurations.
Disclaimer
After repeated complaints concerning the reliability of the information from old Five on Fridays, Jeremy retroactively added a disclaimer to every Five on Friday. It is as follows:
- PLEASE NOTE: The Five on Friday archives are not updated with each patch. Please take older documents with a grain of salt, as they may be inaccurate.
List of Five on Fridays
These are all of the Five on Fridays to date, in reverse chronological order.
Note: Some Five on Fridays have been posted either on Saturday morning, or so late on Friday night as to be Saturday morning for most time zones. Their associated dates reflect this. Also note that some weeks are missing due to them coinciding with various holidays or other events, meaning that no Five on Friday was posted for those weeks.
2008
June
- Five on Friday - June 13, 2008 - It's Hot!
- Five on Friday - June 6, 2008 - Details, Details
May
- Five on Friday - May 30, 2008 - Housecleaning
- Five on Friday - May 23, 2008 - A Patch Note Preview
- Five on Friday - May 16, 2008 - Curses!
- Five on Friday - May 9, 2008 - The Vanguard Approaches
- Five on Friday - May 2, 2008 - Happy Birthday!
April
- Five on Friday - April 25, 2008 - Publish 52 Is Coming!
- Five on Friday - April 18, 2008 - Looking Forward
- Five on Friday - April 4, 2008 - That Time Again
March
- Five on Friday - March 28, 2008 - Time's Passing
- Five on Friday - March 21, 2008 - Prickly Publishes
- Five on Friday - March 14, 2008 - Antsy with Anticipation
- Five on Friday - March 7, 2008 - Triple Digits
February
- Five on Friday - February 29, 2008 - Fiddly Bits
- Five on Friday - February 22, 2008 - Asked and Answered
- Five on Friday - February 15, 2008 - What a Week!
- Five on Friday - February 8, 2008 - Spring Has Sprung!
- Five on Friday - February 1, 2008 - Finally Friday
January
- Five on Friday - January 25, 2008 - Fletching, Finally
- Five on Friday - January 18, 2008 - Fearsome Frailty
- Five on Friday - January 11, 2008 - Fount of Facts
- Five on Friday - January 4, 2008 - Happy New Year!
2007
December
- Five on Friday - December 21, 2007 - Documentation Frenzy!
- Five on Friday - December 14, 2007 - Year In Review
- Five on Friday - December 7, 2007 - The QA Team's Special Requests
November
- Five on Friday - November 30, 2007 - Fond Farewells
- Five on Friday - November 16, 2007 - Feast then Famine
- Five on Friday - November 9, 2007 - Finding Fatalities
- Five on Friday - November 2, 2007 - Fencing Under Fire
October
- Five on Friday - October 26, 2007 - Falling Fundament
- Five on Friday - October 19, 2007 - Former and Future Faces
- Five on Friday - October 12, 2007 - Future Features
- Five on Friday - October 5, 2007 - Focus and Fairness
September
- Five on Friday - September 28, 2007 - Festivities and Feats
- Five on Friday - September 21, 2007 - Fixing Follies
- Five on Friday - September 14, 2007 - Founding Father
August
- Five on Friday - August 31, 2007 - Feathered Friends
- Five on Friday - August 23, 2007 - Early!
- Five on Friday - August 17, 2007 - Flying Fast
- Five on Friday - August 10, 2007 - Faultlines and Fortune
- Five on Friday - August 3, 2007 - Finding and Fixing
July
- Five on Friday - July 27, 2007 - Feather-light and Fancy-free
- Five on Friday - July 20, 2007 - Focused Fisticuffs
- Five on Friday - July 13, 2007 - Freaky Friday
- Five on Friday - July 6, 2007 - House of Commons
June
- Five on Friday - June 29, 2007 - Festival of Fireworks
- Five on Friday - June 22, 2007 - Future Fun
- Five on Friday - June 15, 2007 - Fully Fluorescent
- Five on Friday - June 8, 2007 - KR Edition
- Five on Friday - June 1, 2007 - Free Files
May
- Five on Friday - May 25, 2007 - Formic Fun
- Five on Friday - May 18, 2007 - Faces and Features
- Five on Friday - May 11, 2007 - Fighting With Foam
- Five on Friday - May 4, 2007 - Farewell, Firebrand
April
- Five on Friday - April 27, 2007 - Fear and Foreboding
- Five on Friday - April 20, 2007 - Form and Function
- Five on Friday - April 13, 2007 - Feast of Facts
- Five on Friday - April 6, 2007 - Fabulous Flash
March
- Five on Friday - March 30, 2007 - Filling In and Forewarning
- Five on Friday - March 23, 2007 - Fire and Fundament
- Five on Friday - March 16, 2007 - Felonies and Felicitations
- Five on Friday - March 9, 2007 - Fever and Fey Fedoras
- Five on Friday - March 2, 2007 - Foresight
February
- Five on Friday - February 23, 2007 - Food and Farce
- Five on Friday - February 16, 2007 - Fried and Fabulous
- Five on Friday - February 9, 2007 - Forms and Formulae
- Five on Friday - February 2, 2007 - FAQs and Foulups
January
- Five on Friday - January 26, 2007 - Fortune of Fighters
- Five on Friday - January 19, 2007
- Five on Friday - January 12, 2007
- Five on Friday - January 5, 2007
2006
December
- Five on Friday - December 22, 2006
- Five on Friday - December 15, 2006
- Five on Friday - December 8, 2006
- Five on Friday - December 1, 2006
November
- Five on Friday - November 17, 2006
- Five on Friday - November 10, 2006
- Five on Friday - November 3, 2006
October
- Five on Friday - October 27, 2006
- Five on Friday - October 20, 2006
- Five on Friday - October 13, 2006
- Five on Friday - October 6, 2006
September
- Five on Friday - September 29, 2006
- Five on Friday - September 22, 2006
- Five on Friday - September 15, 2006
- Five on Friday - September 8, 2006
- Five on Friday - September 1, 2006
August
- Five on Friday - August 25, 2006
- Five on Friday - August 18, 2006
- Five on Friday - August 11, 2006
- Five on Friday - August 4, 2006
July
- Five on Friday - July 28, 2006
- Five on Friday - July 21, 2006
- Five on Friday - July 14, 2006
- Five on Friday - July 7, 2006
June
- Five on Friday - June 30, 2006
- Five on Friday - June 23, 2006
- Five on Friday - June 16, 2006
- Five on Friday - June 9, 2006
- Five on Friday - June 2, 2006
May
- Five on Friday - May 26, 2006
- Five on Friday - May 19, 2006
- Five on Friday - May 12, 2006
- Five on Friday - May 5, 2006
April
- Five on Friday - April 28, 2006
- Five on Friday - April 21, 2006
- Five on Friday - April 14, 2006
- Five on Friday - April 7, 2006