Search
Forum Home | Login
Frogboy
Frogboy
Join Date 03/2001
+2412 sdemperor

Your online community origin?

July 31, 2019 8:47:49 PM from Galactic Civilizations III ForumsGalactic Civilizations III Forums

I started out with BBSes back in the 80s. Fidonet and Usenet in the 90s. Forums and later Reddit.

My first BBS was for the Commodore 64.  

Where did you start?

Search this post
Advanced Search
Subscription Options
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
RedneckDude
Join Date 04/2009
+2223
Reply #1 July 31, 2019 9:30:25 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums

WinCustomize in 2004, when I got my very first PC.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
Kazriko
Join Date 07/2004
+10
Reply #2 July 31, 2019 10:38:08 PM
from Brad Wardell's Little Tiny FrogsBrad Wardell's Little Tiny Frogs

BBSes in 91-97 starting on an 8086 and 1200 baud, Ran my own BBS in 92-97, Fidonet 93ish-97 (1:15/42,) and some other QWK networks, #OS/2 Undernet starting about 1995-1999, I actually probably talked to Brad once during that because we ran an AMA sort of thing for Stardock once there. Forums heavily from 1998-2012 or so, and now I'm dabbling in Pleroma/Mastodon/Discord.

My first computer was actually 1986 and Atari 8-bit, but I didn't get into BBSes until much later.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
Jafo
Join Date 03/2001
+1830 sdemployee
Reply #3 July 31, 2019 11:54:13 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums

33.6 dialup at $2 per hour ....got 'expensive' by the time I was Admin here at Wincustomize...SP2 for XP took 8 hours to download...

First community interaction was via Customize.org and Skinz.org....with #skinners etc on IRC ...

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
SchismNavigator
Join Date 06/2012
+165 sdemployee
Reply #4 August 1, 2019 1:28:02 AM
from Stardock Games ForumsStardock Games Forums

I think my earliest community experience was a combination of Gamespy servers, usermade forums for different clans I joined and of course the old MSN service which was more popular here in Europe than America oddly. I also did IRC off and on for awhile. It was actually through one of the last IRC servers I was a part of where I learned about Discord a few years back.

Something I really miss even today was a lot of the old community servers for Team Fortress 2 I would play on. Before the game went free 2 play those places really felt like family sometimes. You got to know everyone on voice and text chat even as you fragged one another.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
MyViewsAndMuse
Join Date 05/2003
+4
Reply #5 August 1, 2019 9:24:58 AM
from Brad Wardell's Little Tiny FrogsBrad Wardell's Little Tiny Frogs

Much the same.  I started in the 80's as well with BBS using CP/M and some C64.  Then Fidonet and Compuserve.  I loved Usenet before forums and eventually reddit took off.  Although, Compuserve was my go to location for the chat and message forums as a developer. I thought it was a little expensive in the day but fortunately my work paid for it.

 

 

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
admiralWillyWilber
Join Date 05/2009
+99
Reply #6 August 1, 2019 11:12:20 AM
from Galactic Civilizations III ForumsGalactic Civilizations III Forums

Here in 2007 at triple t hotspot with my first labtop. I was old-school where computers didn't need the internet. I registered dark avatar didn't regularly get on untill 2008 where I had dial up, and a friend of mine in the military made me get on Facebook.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
ZubaZ
Join Date 11/2001
+917
Reply #7 August 1, 2019 11:53:26 AM
from Stardock ForumsStardock Forums
  • ~'95, '96 - CompuServe groups - Focus on X-Wing and Star Wars, some Grateful Dead
  • AOL groups - OS/2, Star Wars
  • Newsgroups - Stardock products
  • IRC
  • Stardock/Wincustomize forums
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

 

 

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
Publius of NV
Join Date 08/2002
+231 mvp
Reply #8 August 2, 2019 1:17:09 AM
from Galactic Civilizations III ForumsGalactic Civilizations III Forums

Usenet in the 90s, Stardock forums as soon as they came along. However my company had an international network as far back as the late 70s and I used their equivalent of forums back then if you want to count that.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
neone6
Join Date 12/2010
+942
Reply #9 August 2, 2019 3:08:35 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums

Wincustomize Forums definitely. -Finally "a topic" that was interesting.   

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
BlackSmokeDMax
Join Date 03/2006
+60
Reply #10 August 2, 2019 11:21:47 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Actually contributing to a community, probably Usenet in the mid 90s, then Kali (the game matching service / chat program) around 97 or so.

 

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
Kazriko
Join Date 07/2004
+10
Reply #11 August 5, 2019 4:05:29 PM
from Brad Wardell's Little Tiny FrogsBrad Wardell's Little Tiny Frogs

Quoting BlackSmokeDMax,
reply 10

Actually contributing to a community, probably Usenet in the mid 90s, then Kali (the game matching service / chat program) around 97 or so.

Kali was great, I used the OS/2 version and played Descent and a few other games on it.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
Hankers
Join Date 04/2004
+542
Reply #12 August 5, 2019 6:51:40 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums

BBS in 80's. IRC and forums.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
DivineWrath
Join Date 05/2006
+135
Reply #13 August 5, 2019 8:46:52 PM
from Stardock Games ForumsStardock Games Forums

I would say this online community back in 2006. GalCiv 2 forums to be specific. This was after I made an account to update my game. I absorbed just about everything thing there was to know about Galciv 2. Then I got involved.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
sydneysiders
Join Date 04/2004
+1042
Reply #14 August 6, 2019 2:57:57 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums

Quoting RedneckDude,
reply 1

WinCustomize in 2004, when I got my very first PC.

   ditto.....  April '04 to be precise....

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
Daiwa
Join Date 07/2001
+351
Reply #15 August 7, 2019 10:04:46 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

AOL, in 1983 after getting my first Apple IIe (2 5.25 floppy disc units - 2!).  The nut on that job was north of $2k, a boatload of money (even now), and the entire computer I'm using to post this is half the size of the floppy box alone, not to mention a third of the price.  Crazy.

Didn't really participate in any online communities until WC in 2001 & JU in 2004.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
ForgottenSlayer
Join Date 01/2014
+11
Reply #16 August 11, 2019 7:55:34 AM
from Galactic Civilizations III ForumsGalactic Civilizations III Forums

 Battle.net on my 166mz with dialup. In like 99 when I was 10. Starcraft for the win.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
Philocthetes
Join Date 10/2003
+153
Reply #17 August 11, 2019 9:26:01 AM
from Galactic Civilizations III ForumsGalactic Civilizations III Forums

Several years back, learning that you'd started in BBS-land made lots of aspects of Stardock fora 'click' for me. The bandwidth back then was, um, laughable in comparison and the world appeared monochrome, but it was somehow more exciting and. And it was easier, at least for me, to find spaces where the moderators were active and focused on free but civil discussion.

  • Local BBSs around starting around '83, some FIDONET in there, stayed engaged with a particular one for many years
  • Mid '80s, saw a mainframe data center workmate meet, court, and marry via IRC--couple lived in North Florida and southern Ontario
  • We bit of IRC early '90s, including ~a year puttering at MIT's MediaMOO
  • Hiatus, then off and on here since 2004
  • Brief, disgusting flirtation with Fartbook in 2014
  • Token use of Twatter and Lurkedin over past few years
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Frogboy
MindlessMe
Join Date 12/2011
+36 sdemployee
Reply #18 August 11, 2019 2:19:38 PM
from Stardock Games ForumsStardock Games Forums

I'm going to go with GameFAQs in the '90s.

From there it was a variety of gaming forums. Some of those were created and managed by me and a couple of friends. Then on to Reddit!

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
View all recent posts
Mark all posts as read Delete cookies created by the forum Return to Top
Stardock Forums v        Server Load Time:   Page Render Time:
Stardock Entertainment

Press | Support
Copyright © 2025 Stardock Entertainment. The Political Machine is a trademark of Stardock Entertainment. Steam and the Steam logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved.