Question ScubaBoard's first thread?

[Akimbo]

I was exploring our updated search function and wondered what ScubaBoard's first thread was. The two oldest threads I could find were dated Jun 14, 2000:

If this isn't a gorgonion, what is it?

Great Forum here! I really think the way these forums are run are a wounderfull and welcomed changed to the diving Industry! =-)

scubaboard.com

New Underwater Photos

Anyone know a good dive photo site?

scubaboard.com

I would have expected some kind of Welcome thread as the first post, and maybe it was. I suspect it is lost in digital history. The only name besides @The Chairman (NetDoc then) that I recognized while tromping through the old threads is our illustrious colleague, @herman.

I started looking for Pete's oldest post and it turned up on Mar 20, 2001:

SUUNTO Cobra Issues?

I just took my brand new cobra to cayman brac, it seems accurate but after 15 dives it started leaking air from computer/hose conection. Have not had a chance to have it serviced it yet. Also it seems a little difficult to review dive log. mike

scubaboard.com

Note the Reply from @Warhammer, I'm guessing of the famous Warhammer Maneuver fame.

So, the question is, what was the first thread and what was ScubaBoard like?

 

[herman]

As I recall, Ted was most likely 3rd, he was the tech admin. King Neptune (originator of the board I think) and Lady Diver were the first 2. Walter, Ignana Don and Warhammer were few of the early ones. I remember welcoming every new member back in the early days, there were so few of us, we could do that sort of thing.
I don't recall how I found the board but think it was a google search.
The reason I have the gray mouse avatar is because in those days you had to pick from a small selection that was built into the software of the board. There was a mouse cartoon back in the 50's who's name was Herman so I chose the mouse, I keep it to this day since it was my first one and to my knowledge the only remaining one from the early days


And I still miss the macaws. Lets see who remembers them

 

[The Chairman]

Who actually started SB, the first one with the idea and made it happen? Was it NetDoc?

@Ted S is user #1 and his join date was 200/07/13. King_Neptune, the original owner, is user #5. I am user #879 and my join date was 2001/1/20.
The first 100 users were sock puppets and they carried on discussions just to make the Board look viable. We lost a lot of data in early 2002, due to a server not being paid, again in 2008 (7?) due to an attempted hijack. All of my early comments, before the one cited were "purged" during the attempted hijack and never recovered. One of my first comments was about the Warhammer Maneuver, named after Greg, aka Warhammer shortly after I joined. King_Neptune thought it was funny and promoted me to "Regulator" which is what the mods were called back then. When he found out that my username, NetDoc, was my profession (The doctor for your network is "In"), he made me an admin. That was all within about a week of me joining, so they were pretty desperate. I believe I took over in November of 2002 when we were at about 2,500 users.

 

[The Chairman]

We the puppets purged at some point?

Many were. It's when we first found out that deleting the user didn't work as expected. We had lots of orphan threads and posts. We also found out that numbers were unique. Once deleted, they were not able to be re-used.

The original servers were on FreeBSD, a type of UNIX, and then ported to Linux about a year after I took over. One of the techadmins really wanted Ted S' user number, but was not able to snag it. Kinda of funny and he would go on to try and steal SB. I don't miss him a bit.

 

[Compressor]

WOW; 19 years ago. I joined in 2002. Scubaboard lives on.

 

[Akimbo]

I joined in 2002. Scubaboard lives on.

That explains how you got such a great username. I joined in 2009 and all the cool names were already gone.

 

[herman]

I think I was member 16, been here a while.

 

[Akimbo]

I think I was member 16, been here a while.

The first two quotes I found were in the Marine Life & Ecosystems and Underwater Photography forums. Did they have a lot of forums at that point?

How did you discover ScubaBoard? Was it even on Google's radar?

---

 

[Ana]

I couldn't find my joining date but I came over when Diverlink took a dive. Seems like very long ago. Wasn't it a different name back then? I don't remember all the details.
Walter and I used to dive together often at that time. A big group from Diverlink tried this place but it was very different, many didn't stay.

 

[Compressor]

I couldn't find my joining date but I came over when Diverlink took a dive. Seems like very long ago. Wasn't it a different name back then? I don't remember all the details.
Walter and I used to dive together often at that time. A big group from Diverlink tried this place but it was very different, many didn't stay.

@Ana : Hover your mouse over your name. You will see your join date.