Forum Beginnings Question?

[SmithNut]

Sorry I missed this last year.......

I don't think he, parabellum, started it. I'm not sure, but I think he acquired it from the starter(s), probably about 02, give or take a year.
The earliest member registrations I can track are from Feb, 2000. It may have started before that and the data was lost when it was moved or software was changed. Not sure.

I bought the forum from parabellum in Dec, 2008. I assumed control Dec 28, 2008.

The original owner was a nice young man (can't remember his name, lost a lot of emails when an old computer died sometime back).
He tried running it but, I believe, he had other interests and did sell it to Parabellum, who did have the Sig forum and I recall he had the Ruger forum as well (or maybe that was the original owner, it's foggy in my memory)
Parabellum mostly hung around the Sig forum, and on occasion would come in and do a drive-by here.
The Mods have been identified in previous posts, all good folks, I was one of the Admins for a few years.
Edit, I was invited to come over from another forum by Max as I recall (Max, it was Shooters, right?), was one of the early members something like #27 (?), but with software bugs and such, I got kicked out and had to post for sometime as tuNhtimS (catchy, huh?) until those bugs got fixed and could re-join as SmithNut..... Ahhhh those were the days....
We had a "mostly" congenial atmosphere - mostly. On occasion some posters would get out of control and had to have some counselling Aren't personalities great.... !
There's more to the story, but the most important part was Lee eventually buying it and putting a great focus on appropriate discourse.
This is the best forum on the net, IMHO.

.............SmithNut

 

[dant]

...early forum....

Smithnut that sounds pretty on as I recall, I had retired from GE and the kids put me on the 'computer' back then, early 2002, and I recall MIke had this forum, the Ruger forum, the Sig forum and I thought he was in a couple of others,,,those early ones were "United Forums"?? or some such ...sadly I never caught on the ANY of the PC '(on line) basically only this form and the Ruger one,the kids did not want me to be "unleashed" on the free world so NEVER taught me any of it they just redid, resigned etc...hell the first thing they did was sign me MSN,way over my pay grade or IQ level but belonging to OGCA and the "boys " RBurg and company would always stop by my tables, check in and find out where ALL the S&W collectors were in the building...yep even Lee was there back then...the 'old days'...went all the routd of collecting but could not afford to belong to each and every "collecting" group, and went from Colts , to S&W,s and today Rugers,even with RBurg and Dave B, helped Rich and Jim S with the "standard catalog" as I was the about the FIRST of the Kings of carboard? I bought,sold ,found "boxes" way before it became the "fad", dug them out of the trash at the old Chagrin Falls armory shows back in the mid 1960s,,,,yes, many great memories and could NOT even count the number S&W guns I went through and twice as many "boxes". Yes some of you early guys were awesome, great helps and in the know and yes ,there were many "yay hoos, cons, and crooks " out there.As I said earlier Thank You Lee and keep up the awesome job,

and all the guys ( and ladies) we lost along the way ,over the years, may they rest in Peace..........

 

[Onomea]

Hey Dant, you were a boxer back when boxing wasn't cool!

I remember, when I first joined the forum, being astonished that some of us put such store in boxes. I never got into boxes myself, but I came to understand it.

Then there's the thousand dollar pre-war screwdrivers...

 

[Tom S.]

When did it start? Here's a clue:

 

[H Richard]

This Forum has been the cause of my "accumulation" of S&W's and other handguns. It has made retirement a little fuller, and I have met and shot with other members in various parts of the world. As I gradually sell off lots of my accumulation, my wife is amazed at the size of some of the checks I get and deposit. While not intended to be investments, S&W's have done right well.

(And yes, I lost a bunch of Likes back then also).

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I don't think he, parabellum, started it. I'm not sure, but I think he acquired it from the starter(s), probably about 02, give or take a year.
The earliest member registrations I can track are from Feb, 2000. It may have started before that and the data was lost when it was moved or software was changed. Not sure.

I bought the forum from parabellum in Dec, 2008. I assumed control Dec 28, 2008.

And PLEASE NEVER sell to that Canadian outfit buying up all the gun forums and changing them to one standard(not liked) format.


This is my "Happy Place"................

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I was looking for info on a 422 for sale locally. One joker of a poster wrote on another forum that the 422-3 was the only reliable model 422 made....all of the other 422 dash models were junk......Soooo, my first question here was what was the dash model differences on the 422? Proud to say the members here let me down gently from that question (LOL).

What a great informative forum.....recently learned ketchup is taboo on hot dogs.....who'd a thunk it?

SC hotdogs..........Wear catsup/mustard/slaw/onions/chili or whatever you like.........We live in the land of the free.

 

[Bekeart]

SWMBO

Much had been said and much more could be said about the high quality of this forum.
Accurate Information - Any inaccurate information posted is politely, quickly noted, and corrected by other members.
Humor is clean and usually funny. Some exceptions for the Bayou Barrister
Many regulars are well know to others on the forum, even if not FTF.
The forum is not just a gun discussion only forum.

Recently SWMBO has sat beside me while reading the forum.
She is not gun savvy and thinks of 38 and 44 as bra sizes.
She is very impressed by the friendliness and civility we show.
She has enjoyed some of the well spun tales found here.
She was also impressed by posts where it was obvious that one member was talking about another member like close friends, even though they have never met FTF.
Some times I would see a name and then tell her some details about that member, and some times the member's dog's name.

SWMBO and the forum are both keepers.

PS: I do remember some dissension and incivility Before Lee.

Bekeart since Sept 2006

 

[hsguy]

SC hotdogs..........Wear catsup/mustard/slaw/onions/chili or whatever you like.........We live in the land of the free.

Freedom has a price. Being from the Chicago area catsup on a hotdog is one no person should ever have to pay!

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Freedom has a price. Being from the Chicago area catsup on a hotdog is one no person should ever have to pay!

Ya northern guys can't enjoy real food such as boiled peanuts, catfish stew/fried okra/homemade pickles /pan fried corn bread, catsup or any of the other fine condiments out there

 

[VictorLouis]

I quit the Sig forum over the attitude of some of the members.
I like it here much better.

Hmmm, Mike runs a pretty tight ship over there, in my view.
I haven't seen any non-sense getting out of hand.