Do you find yourself obsessively installing to ROMs to your device on a weekly, daily, or even hourly basis? If so, you may have Obsessive-ROM Updating Disorder, or ORD for short. ORD sufferers often will deny their condition at first, justifying that they flash simply to make for a better-performing device. Then, the flashing becomes more frequent, and soon goes out of control. egzthunder1 has started a thread for those of you showing early signs of ORD. hilaireg gives his account:

It started back in late 2008, early 2009. I had just purchased my new HTC Fuze and wasn't very satisfied with how it performed. After a few hours of searching, I came upon XDA Developers and started reading about what could be done to my phone to make it better. In excitement, I created an account on the forum ...

At first, I was flashing ROM's to my device so that I could get the best features and performance. I would leave the ROM on the device for a few weeks; then weekly, daily, and finally ... hourly. I didn't notice that I was becoming addicted at first; my friends and family had. We would be at a social dinner or event and I would find myself logging into XDA from my phone to see if a new ROM had been released. I'd pretend to be involved in the conversation we were having, but cursing inside at the fact that I wasn't in front of my PC to download and flash it to my device.

Popular chefs like NRGZ28, NATF, and ARUPENTHAL would announce an updated release of their next Fuze ROM and I would find myself refreshing my browser every hour waiting for the "uploading" message to change to "uploaded & ready" - like a junkie waiting on a street corner for his pusher to arrive. I would get frustrated at how long it was taking to download the ROM from my 16 Mbps downstream connection. I would stay up all night trying to figure out the best time to download ROM's so that I could push my 16 Mbps connection to it's limit - I even called my ISP to complain about the fact that I couldn't get an OC48 fibre optic connection to my house. I even called RapidShare, Hotfile, MediaFire, and 4shared technical support to plead with them to remove the waiting period - I even bought every single item from the popup advertisements.

During the day, I would find myself taking several breaks so that I could check the forum to see if a new ROM was available or another registry tweak that would enhance my phone. I would tell my colleagues that I had a bladder condition just so I could sneak to the bathroom and check the forum. If a ROM had been released, I would go back to my desk and announce that I wasn't feeling well just so I could go home to download the ROM.

I found myself filled with anxiety wondering if someone else had already downloaded the ROM. Would there be a download slot left for me? I found myself pre-booking helicopter flight services to my home just so I could get there as quickly as possible and make sure that I was the first one to download the latest ROM. I found myself setting up sockpuppet accounts so that I could trace the IP Address of any member who had downloaded the ROM before me ... just to call their ISP and have their accounts suspended so that it wouldn't happen again.

And it got worse; I met a dealer name Da_G. He started supplying me the latest versions of kitchens so that I could make my own ROM's. No more waiting. No more pushers. I was "plugged-in" at the source. I would find all of the latest application packages, and add them to my kitchen. If I ran into a problem, I knew I could turn to him for another fix. I craved it more than life itself; I needed the latest ROM ... even before HTC thought of it.

Near the end, it's all I could do. I even worshipped the great goddess Flar of XDA, so that I would be blessed into the order of modship just so I could get into the "inside track". I sold myself like a cheap prostitute/junkie in need of "just one more fix; and then I'll quit; honest". Then another release of Opera or SenseUI would come out; then a new version 6.5 - the cycle would repeat itself over and over.

I found myself waiting in dark alleys looking for iPhone users just so I could show them the latest ROM I had built; "see," I would say, "I have an app for that too". I was a lost soul like those that perish in the Bermuda Triangle; except mine was that of a lost GPS signal. I found myself on street corners calling friends and asking: "Can you hear me now". I lost everything, my house, my home, my wife, my dignity, my HTC Fuze. I felt like I was in a deep dark cave unable to use the backlight of my Fuze to shine the way.

But then, I was saved - I found ORDER. Founded on the teachings of the grand master ITJE and his three followers of the HardSPL: FALLEN SPARTAN the mystic flasher, STYLEZ the rominator, and the all-knowing MIKECHANNON; the high priest EGZTHUNDER1 seeks to enlighten those afflicted with his wisdom. He taught me that all was not lost ...

I simply had to go buy another phone.

My name is hilaireg and I have ORD.

:)

Continue on to the support group...

Update: The term ORD was originally coined by itje.