20 Years of ProBoards

[lots0]

The only luck I had was finding old advertisements and affiliates. I have a couple boards from like 07 but I didn't know if there was a way to tell what the old domain number was cause I never linked the address anywhere.

[rohan]

Hello everyone, I am bored.

[Retread]

Mar 28, 2020 3:37:40 GMT -8 rohan said:

Hello everyone, I am bored.

Hello, bored. I am Retread. Glad to meet you!

[rohan]

Mar 28, 2020 22:03:20 GMT -8 Retread said:

Mar 28, 2020 3:37:40 GMT -8 rohan said:

Hello everyone, I am bored.

Hello, bored. I am Retread. Glad to meet you!

It is nice to meet you too, Retread.

[chesterjester]

I've been a member 12 years now. Honoured to have been there in its prime.

[The Dark Knight]

Well hasn't this thread just been a bundle of memories. It's good to see the "old regulars" checking in from time to time.

Where do we begin? I've been a member for 17/18 years. It feels more than strange saying that, because each time I open this forum, I feel like a kid again. A kid that was then discovering HTML and JavaScript, and meeting people my age (give or take) that were interested in building communities on the internet was exhilarating. I was on dial-up internet back then, like many other people, and internet connectivity was expensive, but every minute I could, I used to either be on the Support Board or building my own forum.

Many others like Shady, Syko Nachoman and Bones (it's good to see you guys again!) have talked about how for many of us, this was an important community even in our personal lives. Many of us had friends in real life who didn't understand forums, or didn't understand why you'd make "online friends" and chat with them, but a few of us preferred communicating via text (we're the OG 'omg dont call me text me yo' generation) because it allowed us to structure our thoughts better and say what we really wanted to say.

From starting Outside the Wall with a few people here, a music forum that faded as quickly as it rose to fame, to being a Global Moderator (was I an admin at one point?) at arguably the most famous ProBoards forum ever (SolidSnake Designs) to beta-testing ProBoards, to the AIM chats and the occasional incredibly awkward Skype calls, it was a hoot. It was a circle of friends that I could be myself with. I was active in my teens, and started dropping off when I was in college and finishing college because like all things... life begins to take over.

I really enjoyed the, "What do you think of?" threads - because those were the rare threads where everyone would drop the banter and truly, honestly talk about what they thought of certain members and it was heartwarming to see that the "online friends" recognised you and applauded you for who you were. I know it meant a lot to the self-confidence of a number of teens, including myself. So thank you to everyone who participated in those threads.

My favourite memory of ProBoards? My favourite memory of ProBoards lives off-ProBoards.

There was someone that I met on ProBoards that I became friends with, would chat with on AIM endlessly a decade (or more) ago with, who I added on Facebook, continued to be friends, stayed in touch, exchanged numbers and texted each other, and a few years ago because I happened to be in a different country by chance, we met for dinner. It could have been awkward, these two people that have been in communication over the internet for 10-12 years but have never met and some wouldn't call friends, to having dinner like old friends seeing each other again after a while. It was a lovely evening, and it's by far my favourite memory.

I hope you're all well, and I hope ProBoards continues to be a little spot where those that consider themselves outcasts in the outside world can feel like they're part of a community and discover parts of themselves that they otherwise would never have explored.

[Shady]

Yesterday I turned my PC on for the first time in a couple of years. I’ve been using my iPad and a notebook for almost everything for ages, but lockdown socialising will be better with my PC. In between all the necessary updates I ended up drowning in the nostalgia of everything I have on there. I have a folder for PB stuff, with all my old avatars saved and loads of AIM chat logs. Some good memories in there. Some confusing ones, since I don’t remember the context of all of the conversations. And some that make me cringe about how much some really trivial things meant to me at the time. Discussions about who deserved a warning or ban etc. I’ll be deleting a lot of it at some point (when I’ve had a bit more of a browse!) because I’m sure no one wants me having 10-15 year old conversations with them saved, but it’s been fascinating to look back. It also prompted me to check in with an old friend from here, which was long overdue.

The Dark Knight it’s great to see you by the way. I hope you’re well. I see the odd thing pop up on my Facebook occasionally and you seem to be doing well in life. I’ve deleted most Proboards people from Facebook now I think as I’ve wanted to keep social media for people I actually know, but there are a few who I used to talk to a lot who I just can’t bring myself to remove, even though we haven’t spoken for years.

[Retread]

Apr 25, 2020 4:17:03 GMT -8 Shady said:

I have a folder for PB stuff, with all my old avatars saved

By all means, get dressed and put one of those on.

[Shady]

Apr 25, 2020 6:18:47 GMT -8 Retread said:

Apr 25, 2020 4:17:03 GMT -8 Shady said:

I have a folder for PB stuff, with all my old avatars saved

By all means, get dressed and put one of those on.

Nah, prefer to be a bit less identifiable these days.

[Minime]

Apr 25, 2020 4:17:03 GMT -8 Shady said:

Yesterday I turned my PC on for the first time in a couple of years. I’ve been using my iPad and a notebook for almost everything for ages, but lockdown socialising will be better with my PC. In between all the necessary updates I ended up drowning in the nostalgia of everything I have on there. I have a folder for PB stuff, with all my old avatars saved and loads of AIM chat logs. Some good memories in there. Some confusing ones, since I don’t remember the context of all of the conversations. And some that make me cringe about how much some really trivial things meant to me at the time. Discussions about who deserved a warning or ban etc. I’ll be deleting a lot of it at some point (when I’ve had a bit more of a browse!) because I’m sure no one wants me having 10-15 year old conversations with them saved, but it’s been fascinating to look back. It also prompted me to check in with an old friend from here, which was long overdue.

The Dark Knight it’s great to see you by the way. I hope you’re well. I see the odd thing pop up on my Facebook occasionally and you seem to be doing well in life. I’ve deleted most Proboards people from Facebook now I think as I’ve wanted to keep social media for people I actually know, but there are a few who I used to talk to a lot who I just can’t bring myself to remove, even though we haven’t spoken for years.

I just had a quick browse through our FB friendship, seeing as you had mentioned it, and I had a little giggle over us nerding out about Little Man Tate! I remember looking forward to every music thread you'd post in, as our music tastes were (and I'm guessing to a point, still are) so similar.

I also have some AIM chats saved up - if I find any PB ones, I'll definitely have to share screenshots on here.

[Shady]

Apr 25, 2020 9:11:22 GMT -8 Minime said:

Apr 25, 2020 4:17:03 GMT -8 Shady said:

Yesterday I turned my PC on for the first time in a couple of years. I’ve been using my iPad and a notebook for almost everything for ages, but lockdown socialising will be better with my PC. In between all the necessary updates I ended up drowning in the nostalgia of everything I have on there. I have a folder for PB stuff, with all my old avatars saved and loads of AIM chat logs. Some good memories in there. Some confusing ones, since I don’t remember the context of all of the conversations. And some that make me cringe about how much some really trivial things meant to me at the time. Discussions about who deserved a warning or ban etc. I’ll be deleting a lot of it at some point (when I’ve had a bit more of a browse!) because I’m sure no one wants me having 10-15 year old conversations with them saved, but it’s been fascinating to look back. It also prompted me to check in with an old friend from here, which was long overdue.

The Dark Knight it’s great to see you by the way. I hope you’re well. I see the odd thing pop up on my Facebook occasionally and you seem to be doing well in life. I’ve deleted most Proboards people from Facebook now I think as I’ve wanted to keep social media for people I actually know, but there are a few who I used to talk to a lot who I just can’t bring myself to remove, even though we haven’t spoken for years.

I just had a quick browse through our FB friendship, seeing as you had mentioned it, and I had a little giggle over us nerding out about Little Man Tate! I remember looking forward to every music thread you'd post in, as our music tastes were (and I'm guessing to a point, still are) so similar.

I also have some AIM chats saved up - if I find any PB ones, I'll definitely have to share screenshots on here.

Ah, Little Man Tate. Whenever they pop up on shuffle now I’m reminded of being a student, and that was a long time ago!

I had a browse through more chat logs last night and finally forced myself to delete them. I think some people would probably be relieved that I no longer have a record of what they said as teenagers, and I’m certainly embarrassed by how affected I was by some of the PB drama back then! It was definitely healthy for me to step away from modding when I did. I probably carried on for too long really and might have enjoyed the community more without having that to think about.

I found a few of the pb aim chat logs back when Rene, JD, Squall, Teddy and Terry, kez, Cheat etc were regulars. A chat with Martyn Dale about how we both ended up living with people we met at PB. A chat with The Dark Knight about him getting into a fight. Convos with Rene about people we thought were returning banned members under new accounts, amongst many many other things. It was Rene I got back in contact with, and I’d like to think we’ll always say hi at least once a year. Lots of chats with other people about GT drama, and also just people checking in and saying hi. Someone admitting they we 12 at the time so I had to ban them till they turned 13. A couple of teens who were very full on and definitely wouldn’t want these things sharing now. You’ll all be glad to know the evidence is gone!

I also found a photo of a group of us in Skegness for a meet several years ago. Honestly I was drowning in GT nostalgia yesterday.

[Beyonder]

Congrats to Proboards!!

[tester1]

Congrats!.

[bennie1]

Makes me feel young when I see this

[Summoner]

This is really amazing, I am new to PB, but the little time I have, I can say that I am very satisfied with the result.



Congratulations to the entire PB team.