When did this forum start?

[Squigy]

At first I thought it was 2002, but when going through old posts I saw a member (PTimber, I'm guessing his ID is now PeterTimber) who is listed as joining in 1970! Is this even possible?? And when did it start getting so much traffic? I could see before it didn't have many visitors. I'm curious about this sites "history".

[PeterTimber]

When I first joined the forum it was quite simple and there were not as many people responding as there are now and inquiries were backed up to a considerable extent.

I joined and set out to bring the backlog up todate which I did and this in turn spread the word that there was a forum (among others) where the response turnaround was quick (as I am prone to be) and it soon took off and Edmondo and I thought we were doing great when we reached the 1000th member!!I studied in Italy and worked in South America for several years before "settling down". =Peter=

Edmondo then streamilined the website and I just kept up with the inquiries because I answered in both Italian and Spanish and referred people to the many websites I accumulated on my own from Italy, South America and Australia. I always enjoyed research in College and so it was easy for me to assist people research themselves.

=Peter=

[liviomoreno]

Squiggy's question was not answered.

How could you join the forum in January 1970?

[PeterTimber]

I joined the forum when it was just starting off and I presume that it was in 1970 since it had less than 1000 members because I do recall when we reached that mark as a memory of an accomplishment. I really do not recall the year and whatever archives Squigy uncovered is the the year but 1970 sounds about right.

I left the forum for some time before I rejoined in 2002. =Peter=

[johnnyonthespot]

I joined the forum when it was just starting off and I presume that it was in 1970 since it had less than 1000 members because I do recall when we reached that mark as a memory of an accomplishment. I really do not recall the year and whatever archives Squigy uncovered is the the year but 1970 sounds about right.

I left the forum for some time before I rejoined in 2002. =Peter=

If in 1970, then it must have been operating as a BBS (Bulletin Board System) since the WorldWideWeb as we know it today did not come into existence until the very early part of the 1990's.

The only other possibility which comes to mind would be a CompuServe Forum, though I am not sure they were available for public access as early as 1970 either.

Anybody here ever do CompuServe? For several years, I was a "Sysop" of the OzCIS Forum.

[liviomoreno]

In 1970 Internet and Personal Computer did not exist. Also teleprocessing was at the very beginning and only huge companies coul afford to have computers (mainframes that were mainly used for invoicing and accounting)... The largest mainframes had less than 256Kbytes of CPU.

Edmondo joined the forum in 2002, so I tend to believe that this the year when the forum started...

[PeterTimber]

Dear Livio my wife just reminded me that I must have joined sometime in 1996 when I purchased my first computer so 1970 does not sound correct. It just FEELS like it was 1970 but I stand corrected by she who must be obeyed!!! =Peter=

[Squigy]

Here is the post where I saw 1970

Actually, it says Dec 31 1969! At any rate, you were here from the start, right Peter?

[liviomoreno]

"ptimber" was the 4th person to join the forum where Edmondo was the second and joined on July 11, 2002, his profile is now cancelled. There are no info on who were the first and the third users.

[vj]

Hello!
There are references to the old forum in this post (and others)
No doubt Edmondo will respond when he drops by
Valarie

http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... 17.html#17

[Squigy]

Hello!
There are references to the old forum in this post (and others)
No doubt Edmondo will respond when he drops by
Valarie

http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... 17.html#17

I was hoping Edmondo might stop by and shed some light on this. If anyone knows, he does.

[lilbees]

I joined the forum about 2003 then left for a few years (computer broken). Rejoined later. Peter (ptimber) was of great assistance during the early forum in helping me with my family research. Still giving me people and places to search rather than an answer I may have been looking for.

He really hasn't changed much.

lilbees

[Edmondo]

If I remember well it was April 1994 when I started this website, in those days it was known as 'The Italian Genealogy Homepage'.

I think about one year later I started the forum and remember that Peter was one of the first members.

In 2002 I started to use the current CMS (Content Management System) to maintain the site.

[nuccia]

I remember the forum when it was just starting out (in it's current form) although I did not join for a few years later.. We used to make fun of Peter's date of joining and number of posts at that time. I think it was something like 00000 although it's changed since then. It's also fair to remember that suanj was also one of the first members here and just as active. I believe Lee and Jim followed a year or so later as did Ricardo and a few others.

[PeterTimber]

Poetry is the use of a few words to convey complex and philosophical thoughts and thus I succinctly reduce a few lines from Romeo and Juliet to:

."...and when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun"

=Peter=