20 Years of ProBoards

[leif]

On January 1, 2020 ProBoards turns 20!!! 26 days to go!

1. Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us. .
2. How did ProBoards affect your life?

Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us. .
My personal favorite was when I was on an old RPG we mixed elves and humans with an advanced society. We had a massive plot on this RPG that took us 3 years to play out and it resulted in our favorite characters, we grew attached to all dying. Some of the greatest stories we ever wrote! I miss those days!

How did ProBoards affect your life?
I sucked at reading and I sucked at English and Literature. I still do to an extent. But, ProBoards made me learn to type quickly. I learned how to form sentences and more. Pretty awesome I learned skills I use every day by using ProBoards since 2002.

[STLUEE]

I been here about 6 years. I have learned alot.

Thank you proboards for putting u with me.

[📚 Dianne 📚]

I've only been here since '06 I'm on my second forum now which bit the dust, my original forum was for readers and chatterers of books.

I miss several people who have passed away over the years and those who have simply forgotten me or went in a different direction.

I love all of the people here and because of the venue we can actually say what we are feeling and almost never worry. ('tho I do find myself apologizing a lot!)

[bigballofyarn]

I created my forum on January 18, 2003. My forum is old enough to drive, but not old enough to vote. My forum was born before some of its members.

I survived the Proboards server fires circa 2008. I was around for the phantom, blank, private messages people received from 1979 or so. I was around for many bugs, staff changes, and software changes.

I think the most depressing thing is that I know people from my forum and Proboards Support who have already died. I hated having to make those announcements. I wonder about the people who made thousands of posts and decided one day to never log in ever again.

This is the very first announcement I made on mine. It's kind of funny.

Jan 18, 2003 at 02:56

Hmm, I guess I should welcome you all. I hope you have fun. Thanks for signing up.
-Christina

I remember as a teenager when I thought the idea of a "join for join" was cool.

I lived through someone trying to shut down my forum, but he ended up getting his removed because of a ToS violation.

I had a temporary ban from Proboards Support in or around 2004. It's somewhat of a long story and a big misunderstanding.  My membership was reinstated after explaining the mixup to a former moderator here.

My forum's first mascot was Marsupilami.  I retired him since my forum had nothing to do with the show, but his face is still hidden within my forum's new/old icons beside every board.

My forum has been responsible for many friendships and relationships, which is something that's hard to comprehend.  One member moved from CA to PA because she fell in love with a member she met on my forum.  I've met many of my members in real life.  Other members have met one another.  It's hard to process being responsible for how I've affected and influenced so many people's lives.

[Brian]

1. Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us.

My initial group of friends I met here back in 2005 and the handful of years following it are probably still the most interesting folks I've met online to date. It was always fun chatting with them every day, especially when a large enough amount of us were present every day to keep the conversation flowing. I don't know if I'll ever relive the sense of community I felt back then. It's kind of bittersweet.

2. How did ProBoards affect your life?

ProBoards was pretty much my gateway into everything ever thanks to the chain of events that came as a result of joining. The first forum I joined ended up leading me to create my own which eventually got me to ProBoards Support like many others today. This is where I met most of the people that defined my teenage years and molded me into the person I am today.

Someone else I met here introduced me to a band that would eventually grow to be my favorite ever. The same person also introduced me to an MMO called Ragnarok Online where I met the group of online friends I still talk to regularly to this day. A bunch of us even went to one of their weddings, and a handful of us went on a trip to New York a couple years ago.

The folks I met in that game introduced me to another game called Left 4 Dead, and in the process of looking up gameplay footage I stumbled upon a gaming podcast that had daily online streams and a large community where I made even more friends. I ended up purchasing my first ever plane ticket and going to conventions with these friends annually for several years.

Oh, and I guess I've worked here for the past 7 years. Having it go from my teenage hobby to my source of income is interesting to say the least.

[Retread]

Dec 6, 2019 12:27:17 GMT -8 Brian said:

Someone else I met here introduced me to a band that would eventually grow to be my favorite ever.

I can only imagine what sort of Toxicity you listen to.

[Caajscot (John)]

Been on Proboards 6 years next April and have seen the ups and downs of things but I will just plod along and I am happy with that, some old members who were here before me don't post so much as they have other things on their minds like a very good member in here in ♥ ℒʊ√ ♥ who was looking after her very ill brother and spends a lot of time with him god bless her.

Then we had good old Butch who passed away over a year ago and who would disappear for a while but we all knew that he had gone on one of his camping/fishing/hunting trips and would come back and tell us of his exploits and what fish he caught.

But we are all brothers & sisters in here and we all still gather together, sometimes we might not post for a while and suddenly we see "Hi all...it's been a while, but here I am again..."

[BEAST]

So much seen and done in 18 years I wouldn't know where to start.

[D]

Dec 6, 2019 12:27:17 GMT -8 Brian said:

1. Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us.

My initial group of friends I met here back in 2005 and the handful of years following it are probably still the most interesting folks I've met online to date. It was always fun chatting with them every day, especially when a large enough amount of us were present every day to keep the conversation flowing. I don't know if I'll ever relive the sense of community I felt back then. It's kind of bittersweet.

Exactly the same for me. I can't point to any particular event that sticks in my mind, but the 4-5 years where I was part of a distinct community of friends were what made ProBoards special for me.

As for the second question, ProBoards allowed me to hone my writing and critical thinking skills at a young age (chiefly through 'debating' in GT ), exposed me to people and views from all over the world and I think generally toughened my character. Exposure to people I both agreed and disagreed with in GT definitely helped shaped my political views and outlook on life in a way that still persists today.

[Nscalerr]

Hi all.

1. Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us.
Been on ProBoards over 10 years, (May 2nd 2009). Forum is still sort of chugging along. The help from here on Support has been great over the years.


2. How did ProBoards affect your life?
I never used to take photos of the models I build and now I get photos of every model and have over 4,300 photos of all sorts of models I have and still are building. As a result of taking photos of models I ended up as ModelSpace Scale Modeller of the Month – August 2016.

[Bones]

Dec 6, 2019 8:14:06 GMT -8 leif said:

On January 1, 2020 ProBoards turns 20!!! 26 days to go!

1. Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us. .

Oh boy, I joined in 2002 and set up an all-round sci-fi forum that lasted 2 years and was successful for at least 1 & 3/4 of that time - but that's not the relevant bit here.

The fondest memory is that it became more than a sum of it's parts and became more about the friendships there than the board itself and what it was about. Those online friendships and long-lasting ones that they have been are what are the fondest to me. Believe there were some rough spells along the way! Which I'll part reference in the second question.

Dec 6, 2019 8:14:06 GMT -8 leif said:

2. How did ProBoards affect your life?

It certainly cooled me down - as a kid I was hot-headed and had a temper, even in those early days as an admin of my own message boards (In my late 20's) it surfaced now and again. I'd say 2002 - 2004 maybe even 2006 it wasn't always pretty - and I don't claim to be a saint or the best admin there was. It was rocky and there times where I wasn't the best person I could be, and not nessacarily making the best or right decisions.

So it taught me humility, and patience both as a being a better person in real-life and as an admin/owner of a message board/forum and member of other communities. To understand and listen more and not be so quick to judge and grow mentally.

So if I fell out with anyone here or on any PB community, I can only apologie prefusivley. Maybe, just maybe give me another try and you might find I'm not all that bad after all. People change as do communities, some grow old and stale and always stay the same - but some evolve and adapt which is why they should hang on in there - through the good times and the bad!

[Shady]

20 years? And I’ve been here for 16 of them. Wow.

My fondest memories are of the times in 2004-2008 (and maybe into 2009?) when the old AIM chat was active. The sense of community both with the folks I’d be chatting to every day in there, and on GT itself, was like nothing I’ve experienced online. It was an escape for me during times where I often felt lonely offline. I had friends, but not people I felt I could really be myself with like I could my GT friends at the time. I don’t know if I could pick a single best memory from that time period, but the PB meets in the UK were a highlight, and the GT comics Rene used to do where featured as the terrible bowler. Oh and being asked to be moderator. That really meant a lot to me at the time.

How has it affected my life? Well as I’ve said above, I think I was always able to be myself here, and I believe i am that same person offline too now. Although most of my friendships here have faded away, I’ve had some good times with great people, and even had someone I met here live with me for a couple of years. I’d also say that participating in GT threads helped me to form my own views on a lot of issues, including some I hadn’t considered that I needed an opinion in before.

I haven’t had my own forum for most of the time that I’ve been here. In fact, I kind of gave up on it in 2004 I think, so it’s really GT that has had the major impact on my life. I’ll never be part of the community in the same way again, but I’m grateful for the part this place has played in my life over the years.

[charlie]

Dec 7, 2019 1:30:29 GMT -8 BEAST said:

So much seen and done in 18 years I wouldn't know where to start.

This guy is definitely my worst ProBoards memory How are ya bud?!

ProBoards was how I grew up. I joined my first forum that was hosted by a few friends from school when I was 13. Tried a few of my own. By 14, I found Support and signed up mainly because of General Talk. A couple of years making very naive and young-at-heart posts and threads, I found a place with an incredible community. I will always remember thoughts days, 2003 - 2008 very strongly. It was busy, filled with amazing people, and a lot of creativity. I could not name one best memory, because there were so many.

Oh I remember... meeting you guys for real life, in London twice! Definitely a great experience to go from online to reality. Martyn always made me laugh.

Chaz 

[Bennett 🚀]

Dec 6, 2019 8:14:06 GMT -8 leif said:

On January 1, 2020 ProBoards turns 20!!! 26 days to go!

1. Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us. .
2. How did ProBoards affect your life?

Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us. .
My personal favorite was when I was on an old RPG we mixed elves and humans with an advanced society. We had a massive plot on this RPG that took us 3 years to play out and it resulted in our favorite characters, we grew attached to all dying. Some of the greatest stories we ever wrote! I miss those days!

How did ProBoards affect your life?
I sucked at reading and I sucked at English and Literature. I still do to an extent. But, ProBoards made me learn to type quickly. I learned how to form sentences and more. Pretty awesome I learned skills I use every day by using ProBoards since 2002.

I joined in 2007, that is crazy to me that I've been on PB for 12 years.

1) Probably creating the Style Tags header/footer script back when that was how scripts worked on PB. It was the most ambitious script I had completed to date, and is still used by many RP forums on PB.

2) ProBoards was my gateway to scripting (much like how Neopets or MySpace was to others). I have always been interested in computers and the whole technology scene, but programming / scripting was introduced to me with ProBoards header/footers. Now, I'm a salaried full stack web developer and doing web development as a career, so I've got ProBoards to thank for sparking my interest in programming.

[User 180565 is taking donation]

1.Share your fondest memories of ProBoards with us. .

Theirs too many to share, after being part of proboards for nearly 12 years you meet interesting people. I originally joined back when I was 16 now I'm almost 28. Of course it doesnt feel the same as it did back then. Many have come on gone many have passed away which you never think could happen. I have fond memories of Tobi although we havent communicated that much.

My fondest memory will always be seeing higgerz in a dress and myself of course having to photoshop VS Admin giving higgerz a rose. If my memories right it was for the mouse pad competition way back then.

I do kind of kick myself for not doing a better job at getting to know people on here to connect with them. I'm kind of a hermit type of person. I dislike talking to people in person so this place helps me keep my sanity somewhat. In the 12 years I've been here I dont even think I have users on my Facebook account here.


Of course kapts candy eye forum I remember and how everyone was using his squiggles from his username to show support of him.

Also the legit wars of trying to get a 01 server domain name when in reality it meant nothing just for bragging rights.

2. How did ProBoards affect your life? 
In all honesty its helped me not get overly worked up of what people say to me online. I know a lot of us get upset way too easily online and end up deleting our accounts thinking there will be a huge outcry in the community when really it wont change anything at all just make you look like a whiner.

Message boards will always be a neat way to keep your privacy safe as well as connect with others. It has helped me learn a bit of online use too down the time. Although I can never do what some here can it helps knowing they're here to help out free of charge.

#StillNotAModThough 😠