Great Moments in Misc.transport.road history

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

From January 28, 2005

OG Loc (aka Bugo)

I envision an alternate-universe version of the road enthusiast community.
Here's a timeline:
December 1996: Tim Brown and H.B. Elkins announce the opening of
www.kentuckyroads.com. This site is the home of the Kentucky state highway
log, the first state highway log on the WWW (Hey Beavis...) It also
contains H.B.'s Fun Facts about Kentucky Highways and one of the earliest
highway sign 'goof' sites.

June 1997: Tim and H.B. have minor dispute on what color to use as a
background color on a redesigned kentuckyroads.com. H.B., a huge Kentucky
Wildcats fan wants the site to use a blue motif, while Tim, a Louisville
Cardinals fan prefers red. A compromise is quickly reached, and the new
kentuckyroads.com debuts using a purple motif.

August 1998: First national roadmeet held in Syracuse, NY. 16 road
enthusiasts make the trip, some traveling from as far away as Seattle,
Washington and Tampa, Florida.

July, 2000: Myself, Alex Nitzman and Andy Field announce www.aaroads.com. I
actually complete the Arkansas state highway log (imagine that!) in May
2001.

November 2000: Doug Kerr and John Lansford join the aaroads.com team.

January 2001: Adam Prince, Brian LeBlanc, and Sandor Gulyas announce
www.gribblenation.com.

May 2001: Jeff Carlyle joins kentuckyroads.com.

August 2001: Third annual national roadmeet held in Breezewood, PA. Road
enthusiasts drive many miles out of the way to pick up road enthusiasts who
could not otherwise make the trip because of a lack of transportation. 68
road enthusiasts attend the three-day meeting. Main site for the meet is on
an old abandoned stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

January 2001: C.C. Slater joins the aaroads guys. Exit lists for Arkansas
and Missouri soon appear on the site, along with C.C.'s wickedly humourous
Pict Mission site.

August 2002: Fourth annual roadmeet held in Joplin, MO. 89 road buffs
attend. National Organization of Highway Enthusiasts formed. H.B. Elkins
is elected President of NOHE.

September 2002: Marc Fannin, Carter Buchanan and Sherman Cahal join
gribblenation.com.

January 2003: Trent Legg and Geoff Hatchard join gribblenation.com and
announce the new Georgia Highway Ends site along with Adam Prince.

April 2003: GA state highway end site complete, with every highway ending in
the state photographed. Site goes from creation to completion in record
time.

August 2004: NOHE turns two years old. Group has many accomplishments, such
as saving several historic bridges from destruction, input at state DOT's
regarding highway renumbering, and educating the public about using
photography to document the current highway system for historical reasons,
an important consideration in a paranoid post-9/11 world. NOHE President
Elkins re-elected to a second two-year term.

----
Unfortunately, this timeline is fictional. Petty chatroom feuds, political
and non-political flamewars, and bewilderingly-long grudges have hurt our
community and turned off many newbies. Why can't we all just get along?

[zachary_amaryllis]

Unfortunately, this timeline is fictional. Petty chatroom feuds, political
and non-political flamewars, and bewilderingly-long grudges have hurt our
community and turned off many newbies. Why can't we all just get along?

[/quote]

because it was usenet, the last great unmoderated thing on the internet. there was definitely a lot of chaff to sift through to get to the wheat.

some of it was kinda funny, in a sad way...

but yeah. post a comment about a road sign, and 10 people would be calling you a racist, offering to sell you porn, or commenting on sizes of various body parts.

[Rothman]

I can't even remember when I joined m.t.r., but I remember at least reading it in the late 1990s.

[zachary_amaryllis]

I can't even remember when I joined m.t.r., but I remember at least reading it in the late 1990s.

i started lurking and occasionally posting around 2003/04 or so...

the big thing then was some guy named 'bullis' who i think was just a troll but to watch the interactions was just pants-crappingly funny at times.

but on the real, it was also the first time i noticed that there were other people that were into this sort of thing. the roads, that is.

[Dirt Roads]

I think you missed one about Calrog developing a new mapping site for all of the Federal roads in North America, whereby he only acknowledged state-maintained roads in the United States.