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How Old Is The Forum & Who Were The Earliest Members?

dr wu said:
The link you posted above doesn't let me access anything.
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Profile information (including postings list) on retired / deactivated / 'fossilized' accounts is not accessible by regular (non-staff) visitors.

You should be able to run a general search on the retired username to get a listing of that member account's postings.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Profile information (including postings list) on retired / deactivated / 'fossilized' accounts is not accessible by regular (non-staff) visitors.

You should be able to run a general search on the retired username to get a listing of that member account's postings.
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Apologies, I forgot about that.
 
dr wu said:
I have no idea what you mean by clicking 'postings'. The link above takes me nowhere.,,it says..'oops you don't have access'..and my own profile shows I go back to 2002 as dr wu.
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You're not the only "Dr Wu" who's ever registered on the old FTMB.

The link Yith posted earlier concerns another account entitled "dr_wu" (note the underscore; the number is not part of the username).

That other account has been retired, and the account record is inaccessible to anyone other than staff. Postings made by that other dr_wu will still carry the username if you happen across them.
 
EnolaGaia said:
You're not the only "Dr Wu" who's ever registered on the old FTMB.

The link Yith posted earlier concerns another account entitled "dr_wu" (note the underscore; the number is not part of the username).

That other account has been retired, and the account record is inaccessible to anyone other than staff. Postings made by that other dr_wu will still carry the username if you happen across them.
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Fair enough...but my registering goes back to 2002.....as dr wu and I know no one else had that name then but I did leave for a long time .
 
September 10 2003?!?!?!

But I had young kids, education, and other stuff disrupt my contributions. Although I think I have always been Bugmum.
 
ramonmercado said:
She met him at a stag party.
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maximus otter
 
I used to work for an ISP back in 2000. I joined here sometime around then, but during a board migration one time, something happened and I couldn't recover my original handle. I had to register with my current handle.

However, I have found a post from 15 August 2001 from my original handle: Lorddrakul

So, I suppose that makes an an oldie.

Fair enough :)
 
Ascalon said:
I used to work for an ISP back in 2000. I joined here sometime around then, but during a board migration one time, something happened and I couldn't recover my original handle. I had to register with my current handle.

However, I have found a post from 15 August 2001 from my original handle: Lorddrakul

So, I suppose that makes an an oldie.

Fair enough :)
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I never realised that.

Indeed, you are one of the first generation. The earliest posts are only 4 weeks prior to your joining, IIRC.
 
Dec 4, 2018
gordonrutter said:
I’ll dig out my back issues from that period and check through the editorials for THE announcement.
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@gordonrutter - did you eventually manage to dig-up the printed edition of FT which made "THE announcement"?!

I mean the one announcing the first (now paleodigital) footprints of the magazine and an incarnation of the forum, uploaded onto the University of Dundee host-server...I think early in the last decade of the previous century. The editorial piece in FT (written by either Bob or Paul) was proudly announcing a quite-raw published URL, and was certainly previous to the later more-polished addresses http://forteana.mic.dundee.ac.uk/ft/ and http://alpha.mic.dundee.ac.uk/ft/ft_stuff.html etc)

I'm still hoping my original copy of the magazine hasn't been recycled.

(ps by coincidence Gordon, I'm posting this approx 130hrs before the 3rd birthday of your above-quoted post...!)
 
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Ermintruder said:
Dec 4, 2018


@gordonrutter - did you eventually manage to dig-up the printed edition of FT which made "THE announcement"?!

I mean the one announcing the first (now paleodigital) footprints of the magazine and an incarnation of the forum, uploaded onto the University of Dundee host-server...I think early in the last decade of the previous century. The editorial piece in FT (written by either Bob or Paul) was proudly announcing a quite-raw published URL, and was certainly previous to the later more-polished addresses http://forteana.mic.dundee.ac.uk/ft/ and http://alpha.mic.dundee.ac.uk/ft/ft_stuff.html etc)

I'm still hoping my original copy of the magazine hasn't been recycled.

(ps by coincidence Gordon, I'm posting this approx 130hrs before the 3rd birthday of your above-quoted post...!)
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I’ve never been able to find it!

The mic.Dundee material was not this forums previous incarnation. It was an email list which was set up in about 1996, I think also mentioned in FT at some point. It eventually found a home on yahoo groups and still exists today hosted by io.com. Usually just referred to as the Forteana email list.
 
Ermintruder said:
The editorial piece in FT (written by either Bob or Paul) was proudly announcing a quite-raw published URL
gordonrutter said:
I’ve never been able to find it!

The mic.Dundee material was not this forums previous incarnation.
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I really did think, though, that the proudly-printed web address in that elusive edition of Fortean Times was indeed an initial Dundee Uni hosting of a rough web-version of magazine extracts, and at least some sort-of FT Message Board...? It did receive proper billing in the magazine (which for FT, in the house-style we love, which was of course understated-but-seminally-significant : and many of us even back then knew it It Was Something Big)

This was so long ago, companies around that time (such as Audi- see https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/web-design-history/audi-com-the-first-partially-responsive-website-2001) were able to generate marketing interest just by sheer dint of possessing & touting these curious cryptic internetwork location address thingmybobs, and displaying it within their tv, cinema & print advertising. Magazines were being printed in that era which consisted (oddly) of thousands of fractured URLs and attempted absolute IP addresses, and strange website 'reviews' - with liberal lashings of AOL, Netscape, Compuserve.....I wonder if FT's pixelated production prototype was ever cited (or slated) within one of these circularly self-sacrificing paper periodical directories?
 
Ermintruder said:
I really did think, though, that the proudly-printed web address in that elusive edition of Fortean Times was indeed an initial Dundee Uni hosting of a rough web-version of magazine extracts, and at least some sort-of FT Message Board...? It did receive proper billing in the magazine (which for FT, in the house-style we love, which was of course understated-but-seminally-significant : and many of us even back then knew it It Was Something Big)

This was so long ago, companies around that time (such as Audi- see https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/web-design-history/audi-com-the-first-partially-responsive-website-2001) were able to generate marketing interest just by sheer dint of possessing & touting these curious cryptic internetwork location address thingmybobs, and displaying it within their tv, cinema & print advertising. Magazines were being printed in that era which consisted (oddly) of thousands of fractured URLs and attempted absolute IP addresses, and strange website 'reviews' - with liberal lashings of AOL, Netscape, Compuserve.....I wonder if FT's pixelated production prototype was ever cited (or slated) within one of these circularly self-sacrificing paper periodical directories?
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It seems that Andy Cobley of Dundee uni was hosting the official FT website at these addresses until 1996 when they got their own stuff sorted, all predating the earliest form of this board. The same Andy using the same servers hosted the earliest incarnation of the Forteana email list.
 
I joined in 2004 but I seem to remember lurking for a bit before then...I remember when the site had the spiders motif. Most of my posting has been since COVID-19 debuted, though.
 
drjbrennan said:
I thought I would post this to re-vivify my account and see how near the 'oldest' I am.
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Since you asked ...

You're the 9th "oldest" (as in "earliest registered") member of the original FTMB actively registered on the current Forteana Forums.

Here are the 18 "surviving" (still actively registered) members among the first 100 FTMB registrants, listed in ascending order of their registration dates in 2001:

Ravenstone 1 August
JamesWhitehead 2 August
gordonrutter 3 August
bagins_X 6 August
FelixAntonius 7 August
maximus otter 9 August
Bilderberger 9 August (Merger with newly re-registered account pending)
KerryDF 13 August
drjbrennan 14 August
Founder 15 August
escargot 24 August
GNC 25 August
Hospitaller 29 August
ginoide 7 September
Electric_Monk 12 September
SimonBurchell 15 September
Mythopoeika 18 September
Beakmoo 20 September
 
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Well, it seems we collectively missed the FMB's birthday of July 27, 2001. I propose we get better organized for July 27, 2023. Maybe two events: one in North America, one in the UK for the rest of the world. Speakers, alcoholic beverages, maybe some roast venison provided by @maximus otter, blurry cell phone photos of anomalies, etc.
 
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