Forum History- Any members from 2000 left?

[dewey]

I know Thumper, Gunslinger, BunnyBuster, ParaMike, and Legacy are gone.
SmithNut stops in sometimes.

Ya'll out there????-dan

[diamonback68]

I'm a 2003 alumni. Does that help. I think Celticsire is still here too. Not sure if rburg was on back then, but he's still here too.

[Marvin Gardens]

Hi Dewey.

I started here in 1999. I had a gap in membership, hence the join date and post count. I still remember and appreciate you giving me that hammer for my Pre-24 project.

Regards.

Bob

[dewey]

You were on GUNSPOT,right.
I TON of folks have asked me for pre-24 stuff but sadly, don't have a thing to spare. This Forum started at the end of Feb, but didn't get rolling till March. I was proud member 32, when we used to keep track.

DBack-of course I remember you !!

[V-35]

Any Members From The Year 2000 Left?....... (You asked)

......................................................................................................


I think that most of us were too busy trying to dispose of our Y2K stockpile then to be talking guns.

If you notice, it took me about 4 yrs. ;-)


Art

[Marvin Gardens]

Hi Dan.

I don't recall Gunspot so I must be wrong about the date. I tend to associate years now with where I was stationed and what pickup I was driving. I must have joined in summer of 2000.

I posted looking for a hammer and trigger to replace the ones chromed by a previous owner of a Pre-24. You answered and gave me a hammer. If memory serves, you were later bidding on some Ron Power stuff I was selling on eBay. I figured out it was you and PM'd you to stop bidding and sent you whatever it was you were trying to buy.

Lots of good and not so good times on this board since then.

Take care.

Bob

Originally Posted by dewey

You were on GUNSPOT,right.
I TON of folks have asked me for pre-24 stuff but sadly, don't have a thing to spare. This Forum started at the end of Feb, but didn't get rolling till March. I was proud member 32, when we used to keep track.

DBack-of course I remember you !!

[dewey]

I wish I remembered what Power's stuff that was I'd try to go find it !
Does 12 years count as Short term or Long term memory loss?

That's a gas, no pun intended, about your PICK -UP calendar.

[Bullet Bob]

It's funny to me now, but I didn't join until 2001 even though I had been a stalker since much earlier. I didn't think I had anything to add to the knowledgeable folks already here, but now I know knowledge isn't required

[pharmer]

You mean way back when these here Intar-nets was a new thing? Joe

[Marvin Gardens]

The power stuff had to be shims or the other Power item I was selling at the time.....memory???? I was given a bunch of two different items by a gunshop that was closing and sold it on eBay.

Regards.

Bob

Originally Posted by dewey

I wish I remembered what Power's stuff that was I'd try to go find it !
Does 12 years count as Short term or Long term memory loss?

That's a gas, no pun intended, about your PICK -UP calendar.

[max]

I am 3-3 of 01. One of my first internet gun sites was shooters and Smithnut was there and told me about this place.

[dewey]

BOB
That's who I got ALL THOSE shims from. BTW, I passed them forward free to 6 or 7 guys who were very happy to get them.

=============

MAX-
Yes, I remember shooters but Gunspot was my favorite.

Dan

[BILL]

I've been around for a while. I remember Shooters, too.

[dewey]

Bill

So far you have FEB 2000 to my March 2000.
You win, pass the gunpowder.

[BILL]

Originally Posted by dewey

Bill

So far you have FEB 2000 to my March 2000.
You win, pass the gunpowder.

I have about a half pound of Pyrodex from the mid 1990's. Will that do?

Bill

[longhair]

I was a member of Shooters back in the 90's. Used to have some fun sitting around the 'cyber campfire' talking with the Ctaorians.

[dewey]

Did they know what
haler'points were back then?

[photoman]

I don't remember when I first joined. My original account got flushed down the toilette along with 3k posts. Boo hoo.

[dewey]

so far BILL at Feb 2000 is the oldest and probably it
will stay that way

[paladin42]

Same here

Originally Posted by Photoman44

I don't remember when I first joined. My original account got flushed down the toilette along with 3k posts. Boo hoo.

[dewey]

We've all been flushed a time or two

[handejector]

Originally Posted by Photoman44

I don't remember when I first joined. My original account got flushed down the toilette along with 3k posts. Boo hoo.

Originally Posted by paladin42

Same here

Do you know your original User ID's?
I can check if they still exist.

[handejector]

Below is a list of members from Feb and March of 2000.
2-29-2000 is the earliest date.
If the 'Last Activity' field is blank, they have not logged in since we moved in June of 09.

[fat tom]

Originally Posted by handejector

Do you know your original User ID's?
I can check if they still exist.

By ID,do you mean username?
f.t.

[dewey]

User ID and month, Feb or March 2000 in which
that person joined.

Pineing Away for the good 'ole days .

dan

[handejector]

Originally Posted by fat tom

By ID,do you mean username?
f.t.

That is correct.

[BILL]

It's interesting to watch the changes in internet forums. People come and go. Makes me wonder why.

I recognize some of the names from back then. Wonder where they are now?

[dewey]

THANKS LEE

OPENED Second time around....DAN

[dewey]

Not to be negative, but I know some folks left after we got to 2,000 members 'cause the Forum lost it's 'Family Feel'. Of course it's good to have a ton of new people to help spread S&W Info.

Down side is, people looking to Buy or Sell their Smiths now know what they are worth and the internet STEALS have disappeared !
Gone are the days of getting 98% 5 screw in the box for less than $1,000.

Dan

[handejector]

I'd appreciate help from the early guys with Forum History.

Who started it?
When did parabellum take over?
Any idea who the first hosting service was?

[dewey]

We were members at Gunspot where SmithNut was very active but I'm not sure who was the mod there...Para was the 1st Mod here, IMMICorrect.

SmithNut started helping out here and took over after ParaMIKE left I believe, I forget why. Or 'Nut could have been 1st Mod.

I'll get ahold of 'Nut and ask him if he'd come back and check this Thead.

>>> ALL THIS INFO is Subject to Change. It's been quite awhile ago <<<

Dan

[dewey]

for those old guys like me who only wake up from their naps on Saturday to hit the gunshops.

[Sebago Son]

Victor Louis is back after a long hiatus. Maybe he could fill us in on more detail. Can't remember my exact incept date, but I think it was the summer of 2001.

[geoff40]

I'd make a request if I may, that Smithnut be told/asked that many of us miss his participation here, that it would be a really great thing to see him check back in from time to time.

I think I started observing the forum in 2002. Lurking to me means lots of observation, and I didn't start lurking until 2004ish I would guess. In 2000 I had barely found my way on to the internet at all. Back in the days of dial-up, 56k modems.

[dewey]

email but they have not replied.

[SmithNut]

Hello all,

I appreciate Dan reaching out and the nice comments from all...

I'll try to reconstruct, from the best of my memory, some of the early forum history, others will need to apply better timelines or names as my memory is a bit fuzzy and I purged several years of hotmail messages a couple years ago and have lost some detail.

Many of us posted on Shooters and then GunSpot (hope I got that right, it might have been GunSpot then Shooters). When this forum opened, the GunSpot level of posting went down for sure. I was not one of the very early posters here (measured in days), didn't know about it until someone sent me an email asking "is there a reason you are not posting on the new S&W site?", of which I replied - "What S&W site?. Once I got the link, I was over here getting used to the new format and new friends. I do recall that my original member number was two digits, thought I was #62, but that is fuzzy now and long-gone due to various circumstances.

The forum was originally started by an individual or individuals near the end of the dot.com rage, they opened six or eight online forums individually dedicated to several manufactureres - S&W, Colt, Ruger, Sig, Taurus, and others.... can't remember all as I was only interested in the S&W forum. At the inception, the Administrator here was a nice young man from the south (I think he was from Georgia, but for the life of me I cannot remember his name or screen name now). For anyone who remembers, he was actively seeking a career in law enforcement and I believe he eventually became a Sheriff somewhere in the South. He had, from my recollection, another mod who went by the name of "Mercator". Again, this is sketchy in my memory. A few months into our time here he (the nice young man from GA) asked if I'd be interested in being a Moderator, who could miss out on that kind of fun??

From my recollection, the forum ran great for most of a year, but I don't believe the "return" was what the original owners had envisioned, so they decided to sell it, and some of the other forums they started, on eBay. At that time Parabellum and his partner (can't recall his name) bought the S&W, Ruger and Sig forums and started running them.

I recall, again subject to clarification, that when Para bought the place, we had him (Para), Mercator, Fud, myself and possible Victor/Louis as mods, but I could be wrong and VL cound have come on later. Fud later left and is now active on FFF.

Over time Mercator drifted away, and we later added Osprey to the Mod/Admin team, which stayed pretty much that way for most of the 2001-2008 timeframe. I've had the privelege to meet VL and Osprey over the years, while on business travel and really enjoyed the experience, both gentlemen for sure.

I will add that the early years were pretty slow relative to todays volume. In 2000, when this place started, we were almost immediately hampered by the fall-out/negative reaction to the S&W "Agreement" that Ed Shultz signed with HUD. Lots of interesting dialog around that, and very slow growth in membership for some time. That lasted about 2-3 years then things started growing faster. We have had some very good folks here, many S&W enthusiasts like myself, lots of real dedicated high end collectors and other general fans, shooters, hunters and followers. I believe this place has helped grow the knowledge and interest in the S&W world, as well as swell the ranks of the Collectors Associations dedicated to S&W Collecting.

When Lee took over the place (seems like a long time ago now), he set about making it what it is today, through lots of dedicated time, attention to detail, posting rules and setting "boundaries", many of which do get followed today. Along the way he's added new mods and admins, who I must say have kept the tone and "feel" in keeping with much of what we had going from the early years until he took over.

My wife and I had the pleasure of actually meeting with Lee a few months ago in Boise, ID, and really enjoyed the day and a half we spent - talking guns, forum stats, and life in general. I know the past couple years have been taxing on Lee, the pace, the challenges, the constant attention and finally - the cost - of running this place. He's weathered this better that I could, that's for sure, but I know also that he probably would have done it even if he'd known - going in - what it was going to be like.

It's been fun and I've met (virtual and face to face) some very good folks here. It's been a great, fun and rewarding place to hang out. Unfortunately time, interests, family and work can detract from the fun and we all drift in and out of the fray, but that's life.

Hope this information is helpful in the understanding of the early years of the S&W Forum.
For those that have direct knowledge (names, timelines, etc.), please add to the information to help reconstruct the early days.

Cheers

[fat tom]

Thanks for stopping by Rob. And thanks to Dan for contacting you. Just one question. Did Osprey ever get a car that runs?
f.t.

[dewey]

He sold the wheels and batteries bought some feed and a mule. Starts every time. dan

===
Rob just rattled all that off, pretty amazing and accurate !
===

[SmithNut]

Originally Posted by fat tom

Thanks for stopping by Rob. And thanks to Dan for contacting you. Just one question. Did Osprey ever get a car that runs?
f.t.

I'm not sure he ever did.... I heard a rumor that he spent all his $$ trying to break an old ratty pencil barrel Mod 12 by shooting a lifetime supply of hellishly powerful Plus-P-Plus ammo through it.

[handejector]

Rob,
THANKS for that history, and thank you also for the kind words.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I will state before the world that this board would probably not still be here without the guidance, encouragement, and friendship Rob provided me in some very taxing days. I'm in your debt.
It is also a fact that his moderation and the knowledge he contributed over the years helped build this board into what it is today.

I'm sorry we sound like fanboys praising each other in public, but I simply won't let my appreciation for all he did go unspoken. Many new people here don't know what a vast contribution he made in time and effort.

[dewey]

and don't forget his GREAT KNOWLEDGE of S&Ws, 'specially his J frame collection. I still have a copy of his collection from about 2002 or so. I should have asked him if I could share it....pretty darn amazing !

I believe he won an award at a S&WCA's meeting.

[VM]

Originally Posted by dewey

and don't forget his GREAT KNOWLEDGE of S&Ws, 'specially his J frame collection. I still have a copy of his collection from about 2002 or so. I should have asked him if I could share it....pretty darn amazing !

I believe he won an award at a S&WCA's meeting.

I learned alot from Rob.............I especially liked the rare and unusual K frame collection

[max]

As I have stated before, I started at Shooters and Smithnut told me about this place. Nut, I can't believe you were in Boise and I didn't get the chance to shake your hand and buy you a drink or something.

[SmithNut]

Max,
I didn't actually attend the show, we left early the morning the show actually started. I'd of loved to meet you as well, it was just a timing issue, my wife and I were enjoying a few days away from home but had to get back (the realities of work, grandkid care and all... )
Appreciate the kind words, maybe we can meet at a future show, depending on location.

[ladder13]

Great to see the 'NUT back

[Danny Abernathy]

I believe that I originally joined in 2002 but with the turnover from the old days I don't know if my join date is correct.
I will state that I have enjoyed this site tremendously and I have learned more in the years on this site than I could put into a lifetime.
The people here are the most honest and down to earth folks that you could ever imagine and it has been an honor to be associated with them.

[paladin42]

Thanks for asking but I don't remember. Heck I don't remember my wife's name half the time.

Originally Posted by handejector

Do you know your original User ID's?
I can check if they still exist.

[kennyb]

a much appreciated history lesson...thanks so much!

[jj2am44]

I'm still here-joined in March of 2000 when there were only 800 members.

[Marvin Gardens]

What was SmithNut's title?

"Forum Potentate"? I can't remember but it was funny.

I remember thinking that I was pretty knowledgeable, and then being amazed at how much I learned from the forum members. I've turned full circle now and realize that I still don't know anything.

I'm happy for the success the forum has achieved but at times miss the little forum that it used to be.

Regards.

Bob