How did you get into forums?

[Deleted member 49125]

Either you creating your own or joining. I had a forum 15 years ago & once you have a forum, you find more forums to join. I never was into Social Media. I felt it was too “busy”. Forums have a more natural vibe & conversations tend to flow freely.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I discovered a community based around the various glitches found in the old Gen 1 Pokémon games. That was back in 2006 and ever since I’ve loved forums. The site was called Glitch City Labs and it unfortunately closed back in 2020 and was rebranded as a Discord server that same year.

 

[Page]

Got into Forums when I started to join them back in the day and became active one many gaming related. Plus really got into them when I studded I.C.T certificate three in webmasters

 

[fords8]

Started 20 or so years ago with forums. Joined one and wanted to learn more about them. Played around with PHPBB, SMF and a few others. Got into building forums for clans. Used to run/admin a SMF clan forum that took off on day one. Had a blast with that clan.

 

[Nebulous]

I don't really remember how I got into them. But I have doing this for a very very long time!

 

[Shawn Gossman]

When I first got online in the 90s, I used a WebTV.

I learned about a feature where I could create a website using WebTV. The address was really long lol.

I made a website giving tips and tricks on how to use WebTV (later MsnTV) and the secrets of it.

Then someone said I could make a forum on ProBoards. This was the very early proboards. By that time, I was using a computer with high speed DIAL UP service lol.

Back then I thought boards were topics so I'd create a board for every topic LOL

 

[Deleted member 49125]

When I first got online in the 90s, I used a WebTV.

I learned about a feature where I could create a website using WebTV. The address was really long lol.

I made a website giving tips and tricks on how to use WebTV (later MsnTV) and the secrets of it.

Then someone said I could make a forum on ProBoards. This was the very early proboards. By that time, I was using a computer with high speed DIAL UP service lol.

Back then I thought boards were topics so I'd create a board for every topic LOL

Our first internet experience was WebTV as well. We had Dial Up too. Very slow!
I can see how being new, boards & topics would be confusing. Not to mention a forum can be called a "board" (message board) as well lol

 

[Nomad]

I built my first forum in 2017 as a support community for my multi-author blog. However, I have been posting on forums since 2010. There was a time when I was making over 100 forum posts every day.

 

[Shortie_]

I remember back in 2004 I joined a forum that was based on technology and at first, I was a lurker but then decided to start replying to threads, and the more I replied and got to know the community, the more I enjoyed posting on forums and grew interested in creating my own. I started my very first forum towards the end of 2004 which was on phpBB but due to how you had to add mods and themes back then, I used to mess up a lot and have to start again. It wasn't until around 2006 that I heard about vBulletin and I decided to give that a go and that was when I created my first general chat forum. It never really took off so I left it for a little while and in 2009 I reopened my general chat forum under a different name using vBulletin up until Xenforo was released and then I ran my forum on Xenforo up until 2017 when I had to close it.

 

[Deleted member 17779]

I started participating on different forums before I decided to start my own forum. I've been participating in forums for the last 15 to 20 years, somewhere around there.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I did take a break from forums for a few years. I was having issues and needed to tend to them.

I will say that I missed them a lot.

When I came back, I mainly just hung out here of FP. Then became staff. That just made me miss having my own forum.

Now I'm pretty happy to be running my own community again. It feels just like the old times only I changed myself for the better.

 

[Cory]

I wanted a place to trade Yu-Gi-Oh cards and online seemed like the best option considering I had very few TCG shops in my area.

 

[PGen98]

I was a kid in the mid-90s and stumbled across a general chat forum, signed up, as a 9 or 10 year old, quickly got in trouble for...well, being a kid, and that was it. I was hooked. Been on forums consistently ever since 😀.

 

[Cory]

quickly got in trouble for...well, being a kid

Got in trouble with your parents or the admins?

 

[PGen98]

Got in trouble with your parents or the admins?

The admins, lol, I was a little terror in those days because I hadn't come to understand the so-called netiquette 😀

 

[Cory]

The admins, lol, I was a little terror in those days because I hadn't come to understand the so-called netiquette 😀

Luckily, you registered in the min-90's instead of the late '90s when COPPA came into effect. 😉

 

[PGen98]

Luckily, you registered in the min-90's instead of the late '90s when COPPA came into effect. 😉

Yeah, lol, if COPPA was in effect I would never have gotten the chance to learn about forums. 😀

 

[Cory]

Yeah, lol, if COPPA was in effect I would never have gotten the chance to learn about forums. 😀

I didn't even know about COPPA when I first registered on a message board, but I think I was lucky enough and registered right at the age of 13 or 14.

 

[PGen98]

I didn't even know about COPPA when I first registered on a message board, but I think I was lucky enough and registered right at the age of 13 or 14.

That perfect age! I remember when I was helping with the GameWinners.com forums we had several COPPA members, they legitimately had to fax in their signed permission form to the owner in order to get unbanned and participate. It makes sense, kids are impressionable, but what a hassle 😀

 

[Cory]

I remember when I was helping with the GameWinners.com forums we had several COPPA members

I don't deal with COPPA on my forum, underage users go straight into the validating bin. Since 2018, there have only been 3-4 members in the validation group, so it doesn't look like my forum necessarily attracts the younger audience.