Hatrack River Forum: Just how long has hatrack been around?

This is topic Just how long has hatrack been around? in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003338

Posted by TheDisgruntledPostman (Member # 7200) on :

I've just noticed a couple of people have names form 1998, im just wondering when did the site realy come to be?

Posted by Lanfear (Member # 7776) on :

I don't know.. but i just finished reading Crystal City, and in the acknowleadgments it said that the Papa Moose in the story was named for the Papa Moose in the forum.. i always thought it was the other way around... that is so cool

Posted by TheDisgruntledPostman (Member # 7200) on :

wow, that is.

Posted by just-a-min (Member # 7308) on :

I remember first hearing about hatrack and AOL together. Others will know for sure but I estimate that hatrack has been around since the mid-90's. That makes it nearly 10 years old!

Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :

TomD or Papa Moose can answer this better than anyone, if they notice this thread.

There are some members who's "registered" date just says "a long time ago" and my understanding is that they were together as Hatrack on a separate, previous board, and then when this site was created, their screennames and user accounts were pulled over here. Then everyone with a date is AFTER that time.

So probably MORE than ten years old.

FG

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

If i remember when i first got here in 97 the archives at the time went back to 95.

at the time it was on a furom program called "Big Mouth Lion".

I could be wrong since my memorory isn't that good. [Dont Know]

Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :

Yes, the UBB forum went public on May 14th, 1999 (I registered just after TomD, but same day), before which it was the Big Mouth Lion forums. I first participated in BML some time in late 1998. Before that, I believe, Hatrack was an AOL site, which started somewhere around '94 or '95, but I have no idea what that was like, as I was not around. (The acknowledgments or Alvin Journeyman, ©1995, references the AOL site having been around for a while.)

--Pop

Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :

Even though I have posted as a member only recently, I used to read the Forum when it was AOL. It was horrible! You not only had to open each thread individually, but then had to open up each post individually as well. However, I believe the membership and topics were a lot less gaurded and more diverse in viewpoint and temperment than they are now.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

IIRC, the AOL forum began sometime in early 1992. I seriously considered joining AOL to participate. However, I was already a member of two other services (GEnie and Prodigy, for anyone who remembers either) and really didn't need another.

Posted by pwiscombe (Member # 181) on :

Many of the characters in Alvin Journeyman were actual participants in the Hatrack River Town Meeting on AOL. I'm not sure exactly what years that was, but it was a pretty cool period.

OSC was able to post his manuscripts as he was writing them, a couple of chapters at a time (Word Perfect format if I remember right) I know I read Alvin Journeyman, the entire Homecoming series, and I don't remember what else.

OSC was a very active participant (so long as someone brought snickerdoodles).

Posted by kacard (Member # 200) on :

I don't remember all the dates, I'll try to have Scott help me remember. But I know the AOL version of Hatrack River Town Meeting started in the basement of our old townhouse -- which we moved out of in 1991 -- so I believe it was actually before 1990. We were actually one of the first groups to have a presence on AOL when it was a start-up. We were cool to them then -- but they got too big and we stayed too small so we were "dismissed." That's when we took Hatrack to the web.

But even before the AOL rendition, we had a little group on Prodigy as I remember. No clue how long that one went on. My memory isn't that good! But we'll try to piece it together when next I see my husband (who is in London at the moment, so it will be a few days [Smile]

Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :

quote:
I first participated in BML some time in late 1998

Me too, only it was early to mid-1998. I think I'd just left grad school in Madison, WI at the time. I remember when Annie was Morgan Majors, and Papa was still Uncle Moose.

Now I mostly just lurk a lot. [Frown]

Posted by TheDisgruntledPostman (Member # 7200) on :

Thank you very much mrs.card [Wink]

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

quote:
Originally posted by kacard:
But even before the AOL rendition, we had a little group on Prodigy as I remember. No clue how long that one went on.

Pretty sure it was a year or two. [Smile]

And it wasn't called Hatrack, neh?

Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :

Just for anyone interested, the wayback machine archives the Hatrack River Forum back to 1996. [Smile]

--j_k

Posted by JohnHansen (Member # 41) on :

Back in the BML days I wrote a program that made reading and posting to the forum bearable. I called it AWFuL - A Web Forum Looker. There may be a few people around still who remember that old thing.

I will be forever grateful to Kathy Kidd and Scott Card for making me feel welcome when I first joined AOL oh so very long ago. I will see if I can dig up some really old stuff later this evening.

John Hansen

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

hey John do you have anything from VBS, from the BML days?