Why did you start using forums?

[Cory]

I started using forums as a means to trade Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I'm still using them two decades later, but more for the webmaster, coding, and discussion aspect.

 

[SarahKik]

I was trying to find information on a game I was playing (Harvest Moon), and the website I found had a community forum attached to it. Been on 'em ever since

 

[Bryn]

It was only to seek help with Game Maker, and the rest is history.

 

[frm]

I started when I learned about domain investing, and the secondary market just so happened to be the strongest on forums.

 

[Cedric]

I was trying to find information on a game I was playing (Harvest Moon), and the website I found had a community forum attached to it. Been on 'em ever since

I remember Harvest Moon Ivy that you owned. Was awesome to see new skins every time.

 

[Num7]

I didn't know at the time, but the first forum I joined would eventually, one day, belong to me. It was a previous iteration of Paranormalis. Back then, it was called TPN: The Paranormal Network. I joined because I wanted to join various discussions about time travel theories and whatnot.

Here's what it looked like, back in 2005. Man, that old style felt good. vBulletin 3 Forever baby!

 

[Arantor]

Back in the late 90s it was the only place to find out information on Amiga emulation (which was just getting going then), and Reddit/social media didn’t exist to ask around and share ideas and thoughts.

Later I got into running a forum for a piece of software we were developing (because GitHub didn’t exist yet and SourceForge had a lot of odd restrictions at the time), and the rest is, as they say, history.

 

[Cedric]

I started using forums as a means to trade Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I'm still using them two decades later, but more for the webmaster, coding, and discussion aspect.

Same here! My first introduction to forums was through Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card forums, which eventually led me to explore more forums. Later on, I got into clan forums for games like No One Lives Forever and Soldier of Fortune around 2003-2004. That era of gaming communities was just so immersive.

From there, I became really interested in creating forums myself. I started with phpBB, but since discovering InvisionFree, I quickly switched over and got into building forums there. In the beginning, I’d actually copy layouts and designs from forums I admired - it was my way of learning, though I didn’t quite realize it wasn’t the most original approach! Over time, though, that phase taught me a lot about forum structure, design, and eventually developing my own style. I always been fortunate that I've been able to build forums with some pretty awesome people. I dare to say that we were in a group where everyone knew who we were. And that definitely helped launching some forums.

Even today, I see old names from back in the day (such as @Bluezone777, @Cory, @SarahKik, etc.) that are incredibly great people to know and know most of my online adventures.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

My first forum (phpBB1 and then soon after v2 after it got released) was about gothic culture. Please don't laugh. I was a weird teenager. LOL.

I can't even remember what it was called. But I remember the phpBB2 theme was really cool.

I also made a forum about WebTV tricks and secrets. But once I upgraded to an actual computer, I didn't stick with it for too long.

 

[Cory]

Same here! My first introduction to forums was through Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card forums, which eventually led me to explore more forums.

It's pretty neat that we got into forums the same way. For all we know we crossed paths on a Yu-Gi-Oh forum before we started engaging on Zathyus Networks. The World Wide Web is huge, but like in real life, sometimes "it's a small world after all".