The early days (have you been here a while?) [Archive]

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nick

2010-01-29, 08:22 PM

Hi y'all!

So... I almost never post on here anymore, but I've been getting back into riding my unicycles, and it seems like maybe I'll make more of an effort to be part of this community again.

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to have attended Mad Fest, the Madison, WI juggling festival. The Twin Cities unicycling club was there, and Connie Cotter managed to teach me a few new things. What a great person to re-introduce me into unicycling!

I guess I'm just wondering who's still around from the early side of this millennium. How many other folks on here were posting to rec.unicycling via email?

Anyway, I doubt I've ever thanked the people who were on here with me when I had just started learning. So if you're still here, thanks for the support back then, and with any luck more of it now.

johnfoss

2010-01-30, 12:51 AM

Not me. ;)

SpaceFmK

2010-01-30, 12:56 AM

Sweet avatar by the way... Look like good ol' AOL instant messenger icon..

john_childs

2010-01-30, 01:40 AM

I still have an archive of emails in eudora format hiding somewhere. My introduction to newsgroups was reading r.s.u. through CompuServe's newsgroup gateway. You can see from my join date that I didn't join the forums right away and continued to use the newsgroup. John Foss trumps all those accomplishments though.

And Connie rocks, literally. She has a cool rocking technique with the feet on the tire wheel walk style.

GizmoDuck

2010-01-30, 01:56 AM

I still have an archive of emails in eudora format hiding somewhere. My introduction to newsgroups was reading r.s.u. through CompuServe's newsgroup gateway. You can see from my join date that I didn't join the forums right away and continued to use the newsgroup. John Foss trumps all those accomplishments though.

I used the newsgroup when I first started riding in 2001. But that got really annoying because of the hundreds of disjointed emails I'd get.

Been on the forums since 2002- initially under my own name, then Gizmoduck.

UniBrier

2010-01-30, 03:50 AM

I'm still around. Mostly lurkin' though.

Still in the animated avitar club too.

nick

2010-01-31, 01:42 PM

Is Harper still around? I seem to vaguely remember that he cloned himself on here or something.

ħǻřрέŗ

2010-01-31, 01:58 PM

Is Harper still around? I seem to vaguely remember that he cloned himself on here or something.

Nope.

reprah

2010-01-31, 01:59 PM

Is Harper still around? I seem to vaguely remember that he cloned himself on here or something.

.epoN

Klaas Bil

2010-02-01, 12:46 AM

I'm still here. Started reading and posting through the newsgroup a little over 10 years ago (2000). I did read every single post for at least the first five years. Never used the email list. Switched to the web-based forum a few years ago. Now read and post occasionally, but am still passionately unicycling.

Does anyone remember my posting statistics pages? I did those from 2001 to 2005, and they're still online at http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/uni_statistics.htm. Nostalgia to read those poster names and subjects...

No-one can beat John Foss as the only one who has been involved in this group from the very start, and is still posting. I think he is also the only person in the world having attended all Unicons (but there might be more?). This guy has persistence!

john_childs

2010-02-01, 01:22 AM

Does anyone remember my posting statistics pages? I did those from 2001 to 2005, and they're still online at http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/uni_statistics.htm. Nostalgia to read those poster names and subjects...

Yes, I remember. We need to restock Gilby's fridge with beer (lots of beer so he never has to leave the house) and get him to code up some PHP scripts to generate year end statistics with graphs and prizes and dancing girls. All the info and data that is needed is in the forum database.

evil-nick

2010-02-01, 05:23 AM

The sad thing is that I haven't been on (or riding) nearly as long as you guys, but I feel like an old timer now ;)

I wonder what the stats would be like now...

Klaas Bil

2010-02-01, 07:01 AM

Yes, I remember. We need to restock Gilby's fridge with beer (lots of beer so he never has to leave the house) and get him to code up some PHP scripts to generate year end statistics with graphs and prizes and dancing girls. All the info and data that is needed is in the forum database.Good idea. I suggest that he should do each forum separately (once you got the code working, the effort must be trivial), and then all forums combined.
Chances are Gilby is already reading this, he seems like the kind of guy to have created an automatic flag at some words, like his name. So, how much beer would you like?

nick

2010-02-01, 07:13 AM

Klaas Bil

2010-02-01, 07:39 AM

Thanks for the stats, I don't think I ever made it onto them. You feature in the 2005 stats. Search the page for "Nick".

john_childs

2010-02-01, 07:39 AM

Good idea. I suggest that he should do each forum separately (once you got the code working, the effort must be trivial), and then all forums combined.
Chances are Gilby is already reading this, he seems like the kind of guy to have created an automatic flag at some words, like his name. So, how much beer would you like?

Ha! Gilby doesn't read the forums. Flag the post as SPAM if you want Gilby to see it.

We drank all of Gilby's beer when he went over to New Zealand for UNICON. It's gonna take a lot of beer to restock. This is going to be a big project. Plus he'll need wine coolers for all of the dancing girls.

GILD

2010-02-01, 01:54 PM

Still in the animated avitar club too.
And so am I.

Still around, and member of the animated avatar club.

Zzagg

2010-02-01, 04:07 PM

I wouldn't call myself an old timer around here but old enough to be in the animated avatars club.;)

maestro8

2010-02-01, 05:53 PM

I wouldn't call myself an old timer around here

You won't? I will, grandpa! And so will all the rest of the little squirts on these forums. Remember, anyone over 30 is ancient!

johnfoss

2010-02-01, 07:25 PM

No-one can beat John Foss as the only one who has been involved in this group from the very start, and is still posting.Could that be true? I hope not. And if so, what the hell's wrong with me?

I'm not sure what year it was when I found the unicycle mailing list. I feel bad that I can't even remember the name of the person who started it up. Terry something? From Harvey Mudd College? I'm sure it can be dug up in here somewhere. Anyway, I got my first computer in 1992. I think it was 93 or 94 that I got connected with the mailing list.

Then somewhere around that time, Beirne Konarski (from Ohio) created Unicycling.org, the site that still hosts the IUF web site. I think it was Beirne and Ken Fuchs that teamed up to get rec.sport.unicycling registered with Usenet. This was around 1995 I think. Then I switched to that.
I think he is also the only person in the world having attended all Unicons (but there might be more?). This guy has persistence!I'm like a cockroach! Probably to the annoyance of more people that I would rather know about. And yes, I'm the only person that's been to every Unicon. As of Unicon VI it was just Ken Fuchs and me. After that we managed to make it to all of them up until Unicon XII in Japan, where Ken was not spotted. But I believe he still ownes the machine that unicycling.org runs on, though he doesn't maintain it. Gilby has password access so he can make some changes though.

GILD

2010-02-02, 11:27 AM

I wouldn't call myself an old timer around here but old enough to be in the animated avatars club.

That alone makes you plenty old-timery.

Klaas Bil

2010-02-02, 08:10 PM

I'm not sure what year it was when I found the unicycle mailing list.Probably 1994, see below.

I feel bad that I can't even remember the name of the person who started it up. Terry something?Terry Jones. Initially he wanted to start rec.sport.unicycling as a newsgroup (on 13 November 1992) but could not get it through. Then he created the mailing list as an alternative, on 19 January 1993.

From Harvey Mudd College? From Santa Fe.

I'm sure it can be dug up in here somewhere.Maybe in here. But I consulted my own archives.

I think it was 93 or 94 that I got connected with the mailing list. 9 December 1994. Or at least, that day saw your first contribution, about Snappy Comebacks. I can't see when you subscribed.

I think it was Beirne and Ken Fuchs that teamed up to get rec.sport.unicycling registered with Usenet.The second proposal to establish rec.sport.unicycling as a newsgroup was proposed by ten people. Ken was the lead proposer, Beirne was second on the list, and a person named John Foss was also one of the ten.

This was around 1995 I think.Yes, 22 March 1995.