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How old is the oldest forum
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 7:31 am
by Vain
So it got me thinking when Av said it was unusual for a forum to live as long as KW has - so the question is, how old is the oldest forum?
See if you can find any that are still active and still going after 15 years.
Considering that Al Gore only created the internet in 1994, the oldest forum can only be 23 years old....
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:38 am
by Avatar
IGN forums have apparently been running since 1998, although on multiple platforms over time.
--A
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 9:05 am
by Vain
Excuse my ignorance but what's IGN?
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:28 pm
by aTOMiC
Though I can't name any boards that are older than KW I would be interested to know of any if anyone knows.
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:29 pm
by Sorus
Trek BBS has been around since at least the late 90s. (Though I can't remember my login info!) Most of the boards I belonged to before that were either on AOL or Compuserve, and are long gone.
Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:41 am
by Avatar
Vain wrote:Excuse my ignorance but what's IGN?
IGN Entertainment, computer games company.
--A
Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2017 9:11 am
by Vain
Ahh so not a real forum run by normal people then
Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2017 11:12 pm
by Sorus
Wait, this forum is for normal people?
*backs away slowly*
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 6:07 am
by Vain
haha - well 'people' then? if that makes you back away then i'd be curious
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:38 pm
by aTOMiC
I was just reading that bulletin boards can be traced back to the late 70s. Maybe the early 80s. They mentioned the CBBS which is among the earliest. KW is still pretty old though and is still thriving after a decade and a half.
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 11:29 pm
by Sorus
Vain wrote:haha - well 'people' then? if that makes you back away then i'd be curious
Rumor has it that I'm a cat. Not saying I am. Not denying it either. There's no shame in being a cat.
At least half the people on the internet are cats.
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 11:32 pm
by Cagliostro
This was the first of the modern-like forums I had joined.
www.douglasadams.com/forum/
But yeah, AOL and some local free ones if you had dialup in the early 90s.
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:16 am
by Avatar
That one doesn't appear to still be active though.
--A
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 8:31 am
by Vain
Sorus wrote:Vain wrote:haha - well 'people' then? if that makes you back away then i'd be curious
Rumor has it that I'm a cat. Not saying I am. Not denying it either. There's no shame in being a cat.
At least half the people on the internet are cats.
My cat died
He managed 15 years though and probably cost enough over that time to buy a car but worth every penny
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 8:32 am
by Vain
So we could certainly be one of the oldest functioning forums on the net. That's pretty cool. Now just to figure out how to get people to still think it's a way to communicate
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:44 am
by Avatar
Maybe we could win an award...
--A
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 7:19 pm
by I'm Murrin
Vain wrote:Now just to figure out how to get people to still think it's a way to communicate
Upgrading to modern, secure, functional software might help. The upcoming launch of a new Donaldson series could be a perfect time to give this place a facelift...
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:28 pm
by Sorus
Oddly enough, the board I linked up there somewhere just made the change to SSL. I don't have any idea what the process involved or how similar our software is, but it does seem to be the thing to do.
Vain wrote:Sorus wrote:Vain wrote:haha - well 'people' then? if that makes you back away then i'd be curious
Rumor has it that I'm a cat. Not saying I am. Not denying it either. There's no shame in being a cat.
At least half the people on the internet are cats.
My cat died
He managed 15 years though and probably cost enough over that time to buy a car but worth every penny
I'm so sorry.
Losing a pet is the worst, even when they've had a good run of it. Never enough time.
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:20 am
by Avatar
I'm Murrin wrote:Vain wrote:Now just to figure out how to get people to still think it's a way to communicate
Upgrading to modern, secure, functional software might help. The upcoming launch of a new Donaldson series could be a perfect time to give this place a facelift...
The people have spoken Vain. (I've been saying this for years already, but clearly my voice is not important...
)
--A
Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:31 am
by Vain
Avatar wrote:I'm Murrin wrote:Vain wrote:Now just to figure out how to get people to still think it's a way to communicate
Upgrading to modern, secure, functional software might help. The upcoming launch of a new Donaldson series could be a perfect time to give this place a facelift...
The people have spoken Vain. (I've been saying this for years already, but clearly my voice is not important...
)
--A
What is considered modern, secure and functional nowadays?
Why can't we get SRD to put a link to KW in his books??