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! =-)

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New Underwater Photos

Anyone know a good dive photo site?

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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

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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?

 

[Akimbo]

Just curious @Akimbo can you tell what's the # for the latest user?
Is this something one can look up for themselves?

One way is to find a "linked username" like your quote above reply. This is what it looks like to you before you post it:

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Your user-number in the database is USER=5572, but I wouldn't put too much value on that number given the huge number of imports of the database for all the upgrades over the years.

I'm reasonably confident that the numbers indicate the relative sequence when people joined, but I "suspect" there is some "padding" in between. Of course there are also a lot of people that register but never post so it is very difficult to draw conclusions from the number.

For example, Pete/The Chairman is USER=879, but we know that he joined way earlier than than that in terms of "real people" on ScubaBoard.

 

[Ana]

Understand, thanks

 

[ginti]

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

Say that to me...

 

[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]

Lady Diver were the first 2.

She was LadyGoDiver and didn't join until August as user 153.

 

[Akimbo]

promoted me to "Regulator" which is what the mods were called back then.

Too bad that changed, Regulator would be ideal for ScubaBoard... but I guess there are too many synonyms in computing as it is.

 

[The Chairman]

Too bad that changed, Regulator would be ideal for ScubaBoard... but I guess there are too many synonyms in computing as it is.

It was a bit too cutesy for the mods and they requested the name change.

 

[Akimbo]

I am user #879 and my join date was 2001/1/20.
I believe I took over in November of 2002. The first 100 users were sock puppets and they carried on discussions just to make the Board look viable.

Your user ID is 879 and there were 100 sock puppets, would you actually be the 779th real member? We the puppets purged at some point?

@herman seems fairly sure that he was member #16 and is USER=57. Do you have any idea how that worked? I think @Ana is also curious too.

 

[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.

 

[Akimbo]

In case any of you are wondering what these options on the side of posts are about, this thread is using the new "question thread type".

Click here for more information.

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FAQ - Using the Question "thread type"

Using the Question "thread type" A better way to get answers to your questions :FAQnew: New in ScubaBoard 2021 A new Question "thread type" is available for starting a new thread in most of ScubaBoard's forums. Is the Question Flag Required? No., but is highly recommended. The Question...

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