I've thought for most of the forum's existence that it started on the 17th, but it actually started on the 15th, as seen here (http://aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=3). (topic=1 and topic=2, if they exist, are only visible to moderators/admins, and topic=0 redirects to the home page.)
Before I joined this forum, I had a minor interest in roads, editing local road-related articles on Wikipedia, but I knew almost nothing outside my area. I joined a forum at crosscountryroads.com (the owner has 84 posts here), and the forum closed soon after. It had the same idea as the forum here, but only had a few members. I found this forum through kurumi's website.
I created an account on August 8, 2013 and was accepted the next day. This puts my joining date after ethanman was banned and right in the middle of the Alanland thread. I was 14 years old at the time, which might have made me the youngest when I joined, but I'm not sure. My first post was a detailed post using the [table][/table] syntax. When I began, I revived a lot of threads from Who's Online (http://aaroads.com/forum/index.php?action=who), but pretty quickly, I made Recent Unread Topics my home page.
I attended my first trivia night on September 7, 2013. Despite only knowing the local area, I got 6 points (second place), which I believe was 6 correct, no points deducted. I clearly didn't know things outside my area, as one multipart question asked for the list of intrastate US routes, and I typed 301, when I was really thinking of 201 in Maine. (MA was a multipart question, which is how I was able to get second place.)
I was pretty active at the beginning, with an average of 5 posts per day. I have since gone down to 2.5 and back up to 3. I have a lot of active time on the forum (currently listed as 355 days), as I reload the "recent unread topics" page quite often, and it counts the entire time if I don't have any 15-minute gaps. This often includes during class at school. However, except for starting threads and creating lists, my posts are usually very short, with several paragraphs being very rare.
I started taking road photos in mid-June 2017. I first uploaded them to the AAroads gallery. After 9 photos, I created an Imgur account, and then I switched to Flickr the next day. I decided that I didn't want to take up AARoads server space with (eventually) hundreds of photos, as my Ben & Jerry's trip on July 6, 2017 was more than half my total road photos at the time.
I have met with SectorZ a few times starting in 2017, although I have never been to a road meet.
What are your stories about the forum?
I have been aware of this roadgeek forum for some time now (I recall joining roadgeek groups on FB back around 2012 and had been browsing roadgeek websites since sometime before the Great Recession (definitely after Bush Jr. got re-elected in 2004, AFAIK)), but only joined at the height of my interest in roadgeekery a couple years ago (2016). That year I attended not one, but two road meets (Central PA aka Central Pennsylvania by jpi and Capital District by vdeane) for the first (and so far, only) time in one year, a feat I have yet to match again or break due to personal and family commitments. I had only attended two meets prior to 2016 and that was one each in 2011 (Central NJ aka Central New Jersey aka Turnpike hosted by Alps) and in 2012 (Doylestown, PA aka 202 Parkway hosted by Alps). Last year I went to the Aurora-Naperville Road Meet that was hosted by Brandon, and I have yet to officially determine which meets to attend this year other than my own, which is set for late next month here in Jacksonville.
Anyone's account turning 10 want to say anything? I know of a couple people who have been here from the beginning. I've lurked since 2014-2015 but only joined in 2017, and I had a long hiatus between February and December.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 15, 2019, 01:37:56 PM
Anyone's account turning 10 want to say anything? I know of a couple people who have been here from the beginning. I've lurked since 2014-2015 but only joined in 2017, and I had a long hiatus between February and December.
It's too bad Bugo wasn't still here. He could regale all the teenagers out there how this forum was all his idea, and that he came up with it right after he finished curing cancer.
Pity.
My first keen interest in the forum before joining was due to JNWinkler's vast knowledge.
I honestly don't remember how I first heard about this forum. I thought it had been here for awhile before I joined, and it was being kept a big secret from me, but my "registered" date is 1/18/09.
^ This post made me curious of when I first joined actually.
Back then, my username was "sonysnob". The first post that I found with that old username was from April, 2009. I guess I've been here longer than I thought.
February 20, 2011 for me. Out of all the forums I have been on, which have covered many subjects. IMO this is the best one for quality of members and modding. The topic of highways alone is enough to interest me but the goodness here keeps me coming back and has done so for almost 8 years. Boy did that time fly by!
Pleasant surprise: The teenage members here are incredible. A combination of intelligent and interested is hard to beat! I'll be dead in a few years most likely so knowing that the generational passing of the torch regarding roads will take place cheers me up. There are other generational differences in interests that will not survive the passage of time but this one will.
Rick
I have been interested in roads as long as I can remember. I spent the first decade of my life completely isolated from any indication that there was an entire roadgeek community out there. It wasn't until 2009 or so when I actually truly knew about stuff like Google Maps and YouTube on the internet - on the latter site (YT), in the next few years, I would often watch road videos that were made my roadgeeks, and through that, I was introduced to the word roadgeek - but I still didn't truly know what it meant for some reason, so I didn't actually 100% catch on to the fact that there was a roadgeek community until a few years later (at this time I would have been 13 years old). In Summer of 2013 (one year after I was introduced to online gaming), I had come into face-to-face (not literally, as in real life) contact with another roadgeek for the very first time - through our mutual enjoyment of driving games within online gaming that had realistic and mesmerizing roads. Especially starting later in 2013, I started meeting more and more roadgeeks (by the way of the driving games within online gaming). By the time Summer 2014 came around, I already knew dozens of roadgeeks (meeting some of them on YouTube - I set up my own YouTube account for the first time in approximately December 2013 - and many of them via online gaming), none of which I had truly known or talked to just one year before. During that summer, one of the roadgeeks I knew recommended this forum to me, of which I had never heard of (it's possible I may have stumbled upon the regular AARoads site when I was reading about roads online in the past, but I don't vividly remember if I did).
I joined this forum on July 9, 2014. I vividly remember one of the first days I browsed the forum - I was outside on my patio drinking coffee, looking at it on my phone, and it was a breezy summer morning. I was truly fascinated, and I couldn't believe there was an entire forum just for roadgeeks. It was incredibly amazing to me. For the first week I was registered, I was a lurker, but then I started posting.
I did not post at all from around April 2015 to December 2016. My mental health issues started around June 2014, but they really started going downhill in early 2015, so I decided to take a break from the forum - also because I needed to make sure I would pass the two classes I was failing (9th Grade was the last year I would take all advanced classes, as a result - especially with my new impairment and lack of motivation from the psychological disorders). Even though I was put on medications around the start of 2016, I remained completely inactive on the forum until Christmas 2016. Unfortunately, around the time I started posting again, my mental illnesses were still trying to rear around their ugly heads - exacerbated by the monumental stress I faced then during Junior Year. This led to some severe impairment in me making my posts on here (which got to the point where some of my posts temporarily said (-input coming-) for days at a time, and more) - an extremely peculiar and complex situation that would take an entire essay to coherently explain for full understanding - but it involved the negative interconnectedness of mental illnesses - stress and jam-packed workloads of Junior Year, and more. To all who saw, it was a very bizarre sight (it did little actual harm, but it may have been annoying at times, and definitely weird as hell). But the point of all that is that when I had came back to the forum around the beginning of 2017, I came back acting very strange. After a few months, I decided I had to let my impairment be reduced before I could continue posting on the forum - so I posted hardly at all until Summer 2017 had came, and the hell of Junior Year was over. Thankfully, I came back as a poster who was increasingly closer to normal (though I am never too awfully close :D ) as time went on, and it has been like that ever since. I am always trying to improve myself, my contributions, and my interactions, so hopefully as time goes on I will only become a better and better poster.
I am happy and proud to call the roadgeek community home. As a young kid, engulfed in the immense love of roads, I always hoped and wondered if there were any other people on this earth who loved roads like that as well, but I didn't think it was possible - I am now glad to know I was wrong. Since I am unable to drive (due to mental and physical complications, and medications), the chances of me ever being able to go to a road meet may be slim, but perhaps one day the chance may arise. But for now, it has been a true pleasure to interact with the roadgeek community online.
But that's enough of my story - I wish a great 10 year anniversary to the forum, and I hope it will prevail for many years to come. Massive credit must be given to the people who have started this forum, all the roadgeek sites, and everything else. This is a great place for roadgeeks from anywhere in the world to all come together and share our interest for road-related galore.
So cheers to ten years!! :thumbsup: :cheers: :clap:
Quote from: nexus73 on January 15, 2019, 06:29:48 PM
February 20, 2011 for me. Out of all the forums I have been on, which have covered many subjects. IMO this is the best one for quality of members and modding. The topic of highways alone is enough to interest me but the goodness here keeps me coming back and has done so for almost 8 years. Boy did that time fly by!
Pleasant surprise: The teenage members here are incredible. A combination of intelligent and interested is hard to beat! I'll be dead in a few years most likely so knowing that the generational passing of the torch regarding roads will take place cheers me up. There are other generational differences in interests that will not survive the passage of time but this one will.
Rick
There have been a couple of times that the ungentlemanly atmosphere on this forum led me to take months off from the forum at a time, instead either frequenting other forums or just not doing the whole forum thing at all. Since the last time I was away, I've noticed that the atmosphere on here has become a lot more gentlemanly. I think it has some to do with certain members leaving and also an increased willingness by the mods to lock a thread that has gone off the rails.
Quote from: hbelkins on January 15, 2019, 03:55:45 PM
I honestly don't remember how I first heard about this forum. I thought it had been here for awhile before I joined, and it was being kept a big secret from me, but my "registered" date is 1/18/09.
Like H.B., I moved over here from MTR. But it took me a little longer to register here on 7/29/09 (after awhile lurking), though I was also quicker to give up on MTR.
I show I registered on January 19, 2009
I don't miss MTR AT ALL!
I was here in the vger days and important enough to change my start date.
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 06:56:32 PM
There have been a couple of times that the ungentlemanly atmosphere on this forum led me to take months off from the forum at a time, instead either frequenting other forums or just not doing the whole forum thing at all. Since the last time I was away, I've noticed that the atmosphere on here has become a lot more gentlemanly. I think it has some to do with certain members leaving and also an increased willingness by the mods to lock a thread that has gone off the rails.
Hofty shpoof!
It's kind of a known thing that you tend to disappear for months at a time, but I had no idea your absences were actually
caused by the ungentlemanly conduct of fellow AAroadsters! I apologize for whatever my involvement in this may have been --- I have certainly done my best to improve in this regard.
Out of curiosity, I reviewed the members list, and I can't think of anyone who was a forum regular that has dropped off the map recently (except for Roadgeekteen, but he's back, and you're still here). :hmmm:
December 5th 2017: Me going the forum.
July 15th 2015: First finding out about the forum (and started to secretly browse through).
I have been a roadgeek since I was 3 (or so), yet I'm not majoring in that field while I'm in college (sorry, I like meteorology more), but at the beginning, I only cared about posting so my average was 16 to begin with, and now its down to 3, which I'm comfortable with so I can give more quality content when I can.
Happy anniversary!
Quote from: Alps on January 15, 2019, 08:37:44 PM
I was ... important enough to change my start date.
Wonder what will happen when 2020-02-02 actually hits. :eyebrow:
Quote from: webny99 on January 15, 2019, 08:51:43 PM
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 06:56:32 PM
There have been a couple of times that the ungentlemanly atmosphere on this forum led me to take months off from the forum at a time, instead either frequenting other forums or just not doing the whole forum thing at all. Since the last time I was away, I've noticed that the atmosphere on here has become a lot more gentlemanly. I think it has some to do with certain members leaving and also an increased willingness by the mods to lock a thread that has gone off the rails.
Hofty shpoof!
It's kind of a known thing that you tend to disappear for months at a time, but I had no idea your absences were actually caused by the ungentlemanly conduct of fellow AAroadsters! I apologize for whatever my involvement in this may have been --- I have certainly done my best to improve in this regard.
Out of curiosity, I reviewed the members list, and I can't think of anyone who was a forum regular that has dropped off the map recently (except for Roadgeekteen, but he's back, and you're still here). :hmmm:
Zeffy back in 2017 disappeared. Strangely, Alex, who literally runs the whole site, hasn't logged on since November.
I would be wise not to say too much about my early days on the forum, other than that I didn't know much about forums, and I made kind of a big splash, but I think everyone has mostly gotten over it.
Except for me. I may never get over it, because of Reasons Which Shall Not Be Named (I will edit later to link that phrase).
I think the 10-year anniversary is a great time to bump up the post count required for the "Likes the Forum Way, Way Too Much" badge. Maybe to 15,000 posts. Otherwise, eventually, hundreds of users will have the badge and it won't be special anymore.
I found myself searching for road information on the web and by the fifth or sixth visit to something called AARoads, I stopped lurking and jumped into forum about 8 years ago.
Quote from: webny99 on January 15, 2019, 09:18:34 PM
I would be wise not to say too much about my early days on the forum, other than that I didn't know much about forums, and I made kind of a big splash, but I think everyone has mostly gotten over it.
Except for me. I may never get over it, because of Reasons Which Shall Not Be Named (I will edit later to link that phrase).
I think the 10-year anniversary is a great time to bump up the post count required for the "Likes the Forum Way, Way Too Much" badge. Maybe to 15,000 posts. Otherwise, eventually, hundreds of users will have the badge and it won't be special anymore.
There should be a new "roadgeek gold" rank at 20,000 posts. Someone will reach that within the next 5 or so years.
April 8, 2009 was when I originally registered here. I didn't realize the forum was so new then.
I never heard of MTR or any of the stories about it until hanging around in here. I kinda wish I had so I could have experienced it first hand.
Thank you to all who were involved in the creation of AARoads. Happy 10th anniversary! :cheers:
Quote from: webny99 on January 15, 2019, 08:51:43 PM
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 06:56:32 PM
There have been a couple of times that the ungentlemanly atmosphere on this forum led me to take months off from the forum at a time, instead either frequenting other forums or just not doing the whole forum thing at all. Since the last time I was away, I've noticed that the atmosphere on here has become a lot more gentlemanly. I think it has some to do with certain members leaving and also an increased willingness by the mods to lock a thread that has gone off the rails.
Hofty shpoof!
It's kind of a known thing that you tend to disappear for months at a time, but I had no idea your absences were actually caused by the ungentlemanly conduct of fellow AAroadsters! I apologize for whatever my involvement in this may have been --- I have certainly done my best to improve in this regard.
Out of curiosity, I reviewed the members list, and I can't think of anyone who was a forum regular that has dropped off the map recently (except for Roadgeekteen, but he's back, and you're still here). :hmmm:
Sometimes more important things in life take the place of this forum, and it takes me a long time to work my way back around to it. Other times, I just get turned off by the flames and drop out for a while.
In answer to your curiosity... One example is that DZ's absence is a welcome relief. Not sure if that was before your time or not. And the whole post-count puffing having died down is a good thing too–same with the gruesome debate about moderation. I think there was a glut of newcomers poking the bear for a while, and that got old really fast. Some of them have fallen away, while others have settled into the routine around here and become valuable contributors to the conversation.
21 years for me, on Friday. :bigass:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/misc.transport.road/leopard%7Csort:date/misc.transport.road/E2CjHRUwIC4/7QvtDnut1FgJ
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 09:52:47 PM
Quote from: webny99 on January 15, 2019, 08:51:43 PM
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 06:56:32 PM
There have been a couple of times that the ungentlemanly atmosphere on this forum led me to take months off from the forum at a time, instead either frequenting other forums or just not doing the whole forum thing at all. Since the last time I was away, I've noticed that the atmosphere on here has become a lot more gentlemanly. I think it has some to do with certain members leaving and also an increased willingness by the mods to lock a thread that has gone off the rails.
Hofty shpoof!
It's kind of a known thing that you tend to disappear for months at a time, but I had no idea your absences were actually caused by the ungentlemanly conduct of fellow AAroadsters! I apologize for whatever my involvement in this may have been --- I have certainly done my best to improve in this regard.
Out of curiosity, I reviewed the members list, and I can't think of anyone who was a forum regular that has dropped off the map recently (except for Roadgeekteen, but he's back, and you're still here). :hmmm:
Sometimes more important things in life take the place of this forum, and it takes me a long time to work my way back around to it. Other times, I just get turned off by the flames and drop out for a while.
In answer to your curiosity... One example is that DZ's absence is a welcome relief. Not sure if that was before your time or not. And the whole post-count puffing having died down is a good thing too–same with the gruesome debate about moderation. I think there was a glut of newcomers poking the bear for a while, and that got old really fast. Some of them have fallen away, while others have settled into the routine around here and become valuable contributors to the conversation.
Also, Marf (or "Linda" :sombrero: ) went away quite a while ago, although he did put up a fight at the end for a while with the fake accounts and all that.
So thankfully many of those conflicts have been eased (or removed, as in the case of Marf) recently, so that is good.
I joined during Ethanmania in 2011. My interest in roads has waned over the past five years as I've gotten into other hobbies, but I still come here daily. I usually stick to OT or Mid-Atlantic.
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 15, 2019, 10:35:57 PM
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 09:52:47 PM
Quote from: webny99 on January 15, 2019, 08:51:43 PM
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 06:56:32 PM
There have been a couple of times that the ungentlemanly atmosphere on this forum led me to take months off from the forum at a time, instead either frequenting other forums or just not doing the whole forum thing at all. Since the last time I was away, I've noticed that the atmosphere on here has become a lot more gentlemanly. I think it has some to do with certain members leaving and also an increased willingness by the mods to lock a thread that has gone off the rails.
Hofty shpoof!
It's kind of a known thing that you tend to disappear for months at a time, but I had no idea your absences were actually caused by the ungentlemanly conduct of fellow AAroadsters! I apologize for whatever my involvement in this may have been --- I have certainly done my best to improve in this regard.
Out of curiosity, I reviewed the members list, and I can't think of anyone who was a forum regular that has dropped off the map recently (except for Roadgeekteen, but he's back, and you're still here). :hmmm:
Sometimes more important things in life take the place of this forum, and it takes me a long time to work my way back around to it. Other times, I just get turned off by the flames and drop out for a while.
In answer to your curiosity... One example is that DZ's absence is a welcome relief. Not sure if that was before your time or not. And the whole post-count puffing having died down is a good thing too–same with the gruesome debate about moderation. I think there was a glut of newcomers poking the bear for a while, and that got old really fast. Some of them have fallen away, while others have settled into the routine around here and become valuable contributors to the conversation.
Also, Marf (or "Linda" :sombrero: ) went away quite a while ago, although he did put up a fight at the end for a while with the fake accounts and all that.
So thankfully many of those conflicts have been eased (or removed, as in the case of Marf) recently, so that is good.
In response to @Kphoger I am pretty sure I'm guilty of that, as when I started, I had a goal to get to 10,000 posts in 3 years. Once I realized that I was just spewingout content, and only 30% of my posts were meaningful (I'm pretty sure one of my posts was "I agree" and left it at that), I cut back, went on a break as well, and starting to ramp back up activity, but I want it to be quality (most of the time, maybe some things aren't), and posting will be under the 16 a day for 3 months like I had before.
In response to @adventurenumber1 I don't think I fully know what happened with Marf. It is my understanding he got the coveted 10,000 year ban, and got IP banned, but I could be wrong. If this is inappropriate to talk about here, I apologize mods.
I dabbled about on MTR back in the late 90's-early noughties, reading way more than posting as I had nothing of importance to add.
I stumbled across the forum in 2012 while I was researching some things and I registered on 3/26/12 because I wanted so see things only registered members could see. I never did post during that time frame, and in fact I had forgotten about the forum's existence until 2015 when I was....researching some things (see a pattern?)
I made my first post on 2/3/15 and I have enjoyed my time here. Apparently I have spent too much time here as I lost my position as moderator of 2 different unrelated forums because I wasn't spending enough time there. :/
In any event, Happy 10th AARoads and here is to 10 more! :cheers:
It looks like I registered a few months into this forum's existence. I only occasionally looked in at MTR, but was an active reader and occasional contributor on the "Roadgeek" Yahoo group at the time. I knew about aaroads.com's content previously, but I am pretty sure it was through the Roadgeek group that I discovered that there was a Forum here.
I was happy to see a lot of great information and discussion here and recognized names from other places like the Roadgeek group. I was hooked.
The membership and activity here has grown to the point where following it all would be a full-time job or more. I check in several times a day but I bet I only ever look at <10% of the threads. Anyone who sees where I post most frequently knows that one of the attractions for me is in the photos threads, but the main thing that keeps me coming back is that I can hear a lot about interesting history as well as current projects and future plans, and maybe even contribute something useful once in a while. I'm sure I'm like many of you in that I know whose posts are likely must-read and whose are likely to be a waste of my time, and pick what I read accordingly.
Thanks to all who make this an interesting, informative, and often entertaining place to discuss our common interests. Yes, there's a lot of noise, some horses have been beaten beyond recognition, and there are occasional flare-ups and other distractions, but in general I find that the moderators do an incredibly good job finding a balance between an unmanageable free-for-all and discussion-quashing restrictions. Thanks to them and especially to those who pay the bills to keep it running.
I can no longer remember exactly how I found this forum way back in 2010, but it was presumably via one of the various roadgeek websites I frequented throughout the 2000s. I lurked at m.t.r for a good while (probably around 2000 to 2006 or so?), but I think I only ever posted there once or twice.
At any rate, almost nine years of being here nearly every day must mean that I like the place pretty well.
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 09:52:47 PM
In answer to your curiosity... One example is that DZ's absence is a welcome relief. Not sure if that was before your time or not.
Yes, definitely before my time.
I can't remember the exact date I joined - see below - except I know it was in 2017.
One little detail I had actually forgotten about, which is the reason I can't look up my start-date: I originally joined using a different username, then decided I wanted my current one, but didn't know how to change it. So I created a new account --- to this day I have no idea how it got past the mods. I had two accounts for at least several months, and not a soul knew about it. So when webny99 got in trouble and became a controversial figure, I simply let him be and went back to posting from my old account. Eventually, the whole thing came crashing down, and I somehow revealed my double-identity (I'll link to the thread if I can find it). At that time, I had to give up one of the accounts and I chose the original. The posts were merged to this account, but none of them exist anymore (except for maybe a few OP's) since, later, as part of separate incident, I was so mad (can't even remember about what! :-D) that I deleted every post I had ever made, even going so far as to put all my OP's inside a quote (some may remember this bout of complete craziness).
Quote from: Hurricane Rex on January 16, 2019, 02:18:43 AM
In response to @adventurenumber1 I don't think I fully know what happened with Marf. It is my understanding he got the coveted 10,000 year ban, and got IP banned, but I could be wrong. If this is inappropriate to talk about here, I apologize mods.
I deserved Marf. In many ways, he was the best thing that ever happened in my forum experiences.
The end of Marf marks the beginning of me just being "normal" (as much as possible) and making reasonable contributions to the forum.
But yes, he is gone for good. He tried to come back many times (in fact, he may
still be trying), but to no avail, thanks to the mods staying on top of the situation.
Quote from: webny99 on January 16, 2019, 10:20:32 AM
Quote from: kphoger on January 15, 2019, 09:52:47 PM
In answer to your curiosity... One example is that DZ's absence is a welcome relief. Not sure if that was before your time or not.
Yes, definitely before my time.
I can't remember the exact date I joined - see below - except I know it was in 2017.
One little detail I had actually forgotten about, which is the reason I can't look up my start-date: I originally joined using a different username, then decided I wanted my current one, but didn't know how to change it. So I created a new account --- to this day I have no idea how it got past the mods. I had two accounts for at least several months, and not a soul knew about it. So when webny99 got in trouble and became a controversial figure, I simply let him be and went back to posting from my old account. Eventually, the whole thing came crashing down, and I somehow revealed my double-identity (I'll link to the thread if I can find it). At that time, I had to give up one of the accounts and I chose the original. The posts were merged to this account, but none of them exist anymore (except for maybe a few OP's) since, later, as part of separate incident, I was so mad (can't even remember about what! :-D) that I deleted every post I had ever made, even going so far as to put all my OP's inside a quote (some may remember this bout of complete craziness).
Quote from: Hurricane Rex on January 16, 2019, 02:18:43 AM
In response to @adventurenumber1 I don't think I fully know what happened with Marf. It is my understanding he got the coveted 10,000 year ban, and got IP banned, but I could be wrong. If this is inappropriate to talk about here, I apologize mods.
I deserved Marf. In many ways, he was the best thing that ever happened in my forum experiences.
The end of Marf marks the beginning of me just being "normal" (as much as possible) and making reasonable contributions to the forum.
But yes, he is gone for good. He tried to come back many times (in fact, he may still be trying), but to no avail, thanks to the mods staying on top of the situation.
DZ got banned about a month after I joined. I got involved with him near the end and I sent him a pm telling him that he was a troll. That did not go well.
Joined September 2011
Hiatus December 2012 to May 2017
I remember joining the forum when I was in my last year of my undergrad degree (2016), but then kind of forgot about it until I was a few months into my current job and wanted an outlet to talk about roads whenever I felt like it. I'm glad you guys exist so we can argue about things that matter, like signs and roadway striping. :)
Happy 10th from someone who's been a proud member since 1/25/11!
Quote from: Beltway on January 16, 2019, 12:46:14 PM
Joined September 2011
Hiatus December 2012 to May 2017
Why such a long hiatus?
Am I the only one here who still has an active Usenet provider account? You just about have to have one these days if you really want to take advantage of everything that's on Usenet, since so many ISPs don't offer Usenet feeds anymore, and Google Groups doesn't allow access to binaries. I'm a member of Newsguy, although I took a hiatus of a couple of years and may end up being forced to do so again when my current subscription runs out in July. But I've noticed a significance decrease in traffic on the binary (mostly MP3) groups I frequent in the last year, so I just wonder how much longer Usenet as a platform has.
But even when I didn't have an active Usenet account, I checked in on MTR via Google Groups, occasionally posting. Activity has slowed to a crawl there. Only two posts since the first of the year, and one's a troll. Calrog even seems to have disappeared.
The Yahoo "roadgeek" group has also pretty much evaporated. I haven't had a new member request in months, and there are only one or two posts a month there.
I'll be honest. I do miss MTR. I've said that often. I miss the freewheeling nature and lack of moderation. Just as there has been a revival of vinyl as a source of music, perhaps there will someday be a revival of Usenet as a discussion zone.
Anyone here who want to check out MTR can visit https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/misc.transport.road. Unfortunately, a lot of past posts are not visible. Google took over DejaNews, and there was a "no archive" header that could be used in posts to thwart DejaNews. I can think of one particularly active MTR poster (who is not here, because he has some sort of dislike of PHP-based forums, yet he's all over Facebook) who used it.
^ On that note, I can't remember the last time I logged into the Yahoo groups.
Quote from: hbelkins on January 16, 2019, 07:35:23 PM
Am I the only one here who still has an active Usenet provider account? You just about have to have one these days if you really want to take advantage of everything that's on Usenet, since so many ISPs don't offer Usenet feeds anymore, and Google Groups doesn't allow access to binaries. I'm a member of Newsguy, although I took a hiatus of a couple of years and may end up being forced to do so again when my current subscription runs out in July. But I've noticed a significance decrease in traffic on the binary (mostly MP3) groups I frequent in the last year, so I just wonder how much longer Usenet as a platform has.
But even when I didn't have an active Usenet account, I checked in on MTR via Google Groups, occasionally posting. Activity has slowed to a crawl there. Only two posts since the first of the year, and one's a troll. Calrog even seems to have disappeared.
The Yahoo "roadgeek" group has also pretty much evaporated. I haven't had a new member request in months, and there are only one or two posts a month there.
I'll be honest. I do miss MTR. I've said that often. I miss the freewheeling nature and lack of moderation. Just as there has been a revival of vinyl as a source of music, perhaps there will someday be a revival of Usenet as a discussion zone.
Anyone here who want to check out MTR can visit https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/misc.transport.road. Unfortunately, a lot of past posts are not visible. Google took over DejaNews, and there was a "no archive" header that could be used in posts to thwart DejaNews. I can think of one particularly active MTR poster (who is not here, because he has some sort of dislike of PHP-based forums, yet he's all over Facebook) who used it.
Imagine what the stock market thread would have become without moderation.
Marf–or, as someone once put it in referring to his sockpuppet accounts, "the Marves"–got banned for starting fights and attacking other users and then for creating a sockpuppet to circumvent the ban; he subsequently got an IP address ban for creating further sockpuppets, though he managed to get around that at least once more (and he got banned again within an hour or two that time).
His sockpuppets are usually easy to identify because he typically rips on webny99 using some form of the word "fuck" somewhere in his posts. Some of his sockpuppets have had really stupid names, too–I believe "ShoppingForFood" and "PatTheSplasher," among others, were both Marf sockpuppets.
I still have my registered date in my signature (May 14th, 2015; a few months shy of my fourth anniversary). Like many of the younger members, there I used to spout off useless posts, till I wised up. I joined back when I was 10, and actually put thought into my posts when I was 12, so there's two years of crap that I need to delete. Still haven't done it, so that tells you about my motivation.
I have no idea how people reacted to a kid joining the forum, but nonetheless I shocked everyone when I went to my first roadmeet. I've been pretty quiet for a while, only reading through threads and posting here and there.
I went through the whole dzlsabe and Marf affairs, and in my opinion, I had no idea (back then; I had a somewhat idealized view of adults) there were people older than me who could still be very immature.
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 16, 2019, 10:49:46 PM
Marf–or, as someone once put it in referring to his sockpuppet accounts, "the Marves"–got banned for starting fights and attacking other users and then for creating a sockpuppet to circumvent the ban; he subsequently got an IP address ban for creating further sockpuppets, though he managed to get around that at least once more (and he got banned again within an hour or two that time).
His sockpuppets are usually easy to identify because he typically rips on webny99 using some form of the word "fuck" somewhere in his posts. Some of his sockpuppets have had really stupid names, too–I believe "ShoppingForFood" and "PatTheSplasher," among others, were both Marf sockpuppets.
And one sockpuppet, IIRC, was called LindaOfGreenGables - which is why I like to alternatively refer to Marf as "Linda." :D :-D
But yeah, he'd always make it so obvious it was him, since he would create those provocative, vulgar threads that would have a malicious undertone to it, either constantly attacking webny99, exposing how he was the "mastermind troll" or whatever, or something else. The thread would be posted usually either in "Suggestions and Questions" or "Off-Topic," and then it would disappear (as well as the account) very shortly after due to prompt moderator action.
Quote from: noelbotevera on January 16, 2019, 11:00:22 PM
I still have my registered date in my signature (May 14th, 2015; a few months shy of my fourth anniversary). Like many of the younger members, there I used to spout off useless posts, till I wised up. I joined back when I was 10, and actually put thought into my posts when I was 12, so there's two years of crap that I need to delete. Still haven't done it, so that tells you about my motivation.
I have no idea how people reacted to a kid joining the forum, but nonetheless I shocked everyone when I went to my first roadmeet. I've been pretty quiet for a while, only reading through threads and posting here and there.
I went through the whole dzlsabe and Marf affairs, and in my opinion, I had no idea (back then; I had a somewhat idealized view of adults) there were people older than me who could still be very immature.
You are very mature for your age.
So apparently I started July 28, 2011. I was a slight latecomer, being I had been with MTR for years prior. Guess I just never found out about the site (or was kept out of the loop!).
I stumbled across this site in October 2013 while googling some Ohio road project at the time, and immediately fell in love with the forum's style and subject matter. I had previously held the naive idea that my interest in roads was somewhat unique and strange, but upon finding this place I quickly became educated that there are a LOT of roadgeeks and that my meager interest level in roads in general had barely even scratched the surface of how deep one can dive into the details of this hobby.
I'm one of the O.G. forum members. It's been neat- I lurked on MTR for a couple years and even posted a few times pre-forum, but it wasn't really my jam so it was neat when something new came along.
The forum's been great- I've formed real relationships with some people in here and that's cool.
Ten years is a long time though, and at some point you've said everything there is to say, so I don't post as much anymore.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 16, 2019, 11:05:27 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on January 16, 2019, 11:00:22 PM
You are very mature for your age.
Agreed. I don't really interact with you much on the forum,
noelbotevera, but the impression I get from other members is that they have high respect for you because you act quite mature for your age. I only have the vaguest of memories from when you first joined, and I seem to recall it didn't take you very long to settle in.
I think the biggest hurdle some people have had to fitting in on here is that they just plain didn't care what anyone else thought. It was their way or the highway.
Quote from: kphoger on January 17, 2019, 01:56:08 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 16, 2019, 11:05:27 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on January 16, 2019, 11:00:22 PM
You are very mature for your age.
Agreed. I don't really interact with you much on the forum, noelbotevera, but the impression I get from other members is that they have high respect for you because you act quite mature for your age. I only have the vaguest of memories from when you first joined, and I seem to recall it didn't take you very long to settle in.
I think the biggest hurdle some people have had to fitting in on here is that they just plain didn't care what anyone else thought. It was their way or the highway.
I agree. You are incredibly mature, and I consider you to be a very valuable contributor to the forum, and a great guy. We all improve as forum-goers as time goes on - we become more experienced, and our contributions typically increase in quality. I started out (when I joined a few years ago) as a much more mediocre poster, but I have strived to improve myself as much as possible since then. You are now about the same age I was when I first joined the forum, but you are about a 10x better poster than I was when I started. I agree sometimes it can take a little time for new members to get used to the forum, but everyone will become accustomed to it and get better over time.
I highly appreciate the sentiments you two have given me; I still believe that I can make improvements here and there.
For example, my parlance and vocabulary isn't as developed as I'd like, but that's what happens when you don't read enough books. I've also noted that I should try and research a bit more; to be honest I feel that my contributions tend to be a little lacking in terms of solid evidence or content.
I knew of MTR but never posted there; in general, I avoided posting to USENET for a variety of reasons. I knew about the AARoads site for a long time but for whatever reason I didn't notice there was a forum until 2011, so I joined then when I discovered it. It's modem or less replaced a couple of other fora I used to frequent as my interests diverged from other forum members on those sites over time and as some of those other fora became too nasty in atmosphere due to political sniping.
(Edited to finish my thought after my wife interrupted me to ask me to reach up to a shelf that's too high for her)
Happy anniversary to this place!
It's actually funny, I saw a 2010 post of mine in the thread of "how would you change your state's highway system" and it amuses me that the same exact issues I mentioned for California's signed routes (piecemeal relinquishments, approved future Interstates that still have state route shields) are there 9 years later. :-D
I haven't read MTR in years though used to about 17-20 years ago. Overall really like these forums, especially in following long-term project sagas as they evolve (i.e. the I-69 extension, I-95 completion in PA). I guess for the California side of things we have a few of those (241, 710, and...Rice Avenue :wave: ) too. I probably decided to go on a bit of a drive on I-69 south of Bloomington back in 2016 thanks to seeing the updates here week after week for so long.
Seeing the progress of the Louisville East End Bridge project (from long-held idea to fully complete) both here and in person is fascinating. And in the last 2 years tracking the progress of the elevated freeway project in Manila is equally as notable, especially in comparison to both how developed the US urban freeway networks are and how their projects are the antithesis of San Francisco's freeway revolt (and other cities' revolts for that matter).
i had heard of MTR but avoided Usenet like the plague. like 1995hoo, i knew about the aaroads site but didn't notice the forum until 2012 or 2013. i lurked for at least a year before playing with sammi's rsm tool gave me a reason to post for the first time.
having moderated boards elsewhere, i truly appreciate all the hard work the mods put in here!
Today is my 8th anniversary here. It seems like that kind of number would be a long time but what is longer is the McCullough Bridge project that saw the replacement and renovation of so much concrete. That began in 2009 and wrapped up in 2018, only to see with the passage of time that the bridge now needs to be repainted! This stage begins this year and is expected to last through 2021. Wowsa, it only took three years to build the bridge back in the Thirties!
Dog years are one thing. Bridge project years are another...LOL!
Rick
We could always bring back the stats page in celebration of the forum's 10th anniversary.
Just a thought. :meh:
Quote from: webny99 on March 08, 2019, 12:36:46 PM
We could always bring back the stats page in celebration of the forum's 10th anniversary.
Just a thought. :meh:
We should bring it back either for post #2500000 or thread #25000.
By the way, I suggest that thread #25000 be similar in content to #10000, with beautiful photos from a road trip. Don't just create a thread that says "I got it".
Quote from: webny99 on March 08, 2019, 12:36:46 PM
We could always bring back the stats page in celebration of the forum's 10th anniversary.
Just a thought. :meh:
The fact that you still want it... nope.
Quote from: Alps on March 08, 2019, 04:35:25 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 08, 2019, 12:36:46 PM
We could always bring back the stats page in celebration of the forum's 10th anniversary.
Just a thought. :meh:
The fact that you still want it... nope.
I still think a genuinely useful feature has been lost. Regardless of me personally wanting it back, I think it should be available for other users to view, too.
I just took two months off from the forum, and I could probably take two years off and my feelings on this subject wouldn't change.
Quote from: webny99 on March 08, 2019, 04:53:51 PM
Quote from: Alps on March 08, 2019, 04:35:25 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 08, 2019, 12:36:46 PM
We could always bring back the stats page in celebration of the forum's 10th anniversary.
Just a thought. :meh:
The fact that you still want it... nope.
I still think a genuinely useful feature has been lost. Regardless of me personally wanting it back, I think it should be available for other users to view, too.
I just took two months off from the forum, and I could probably take two years off and my feelings on this subject wouldn't change.
and neither will ours!
Hey, I just posted to this thread!
Deleting legitimate concerns as if they do not exist, IMO, is incredibly high handed.
I won't poll the issue, but I think everyone would agree.
Quote from: webny99 on March 08, 2019, 08:15:14 PM
Hey, I just posted to this thread!
Deleting legitimate concerns as if they do not exist, IMO, is incredibly high handed.
I won't poll the issue, but I think everyone would agree.
I saw it, but I thought you deleted it yourself. This is definitely an abuse of power.
Quote from: 1 on March 08, 2019, 08:16:03 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 08, 2019, 08:15:14 PM
Hey, I just posted to this thread!
Deleting legitimate concerns as if they do not exist, IMO, is incredibly high handed.
I won't poll the issue, but I think everyone would agree.
I saw it, but I thought you deleted it yourself. This is definitely an abuse of power.
I moved it aside and raised it to the admin staff for discussion.
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 15, 2019, 06:55:40 PM
I have been interested in roads as long as I can remember. I spent the first decade of my life completely isolated from any indication that there was an entire roadgeek community out there. It wasn't until 2009 or so when I actually truly knew about stuff like Google Maps and YouTube on the internet - on the latter site (YT), in the next few years, I would often watch road videos that were made my roadgeeks, and through that, I was introduced to the word roadgeek - but I still didn't truly know what it meant for some reason, so I didn't actually 100% catch on to the fact that there was a roadgeek community until a few years later (at this time I would have been 13 years old).
Similar story here - I've been more or less interested in roads my whole life, although the level of interest has waxed and waned at points (the I-95/VA 195 and I-95/VA 895 interchanges in Richmond always fascinated me as a little kid, I like to think that's what kicked it off) and really had no clue what this obsession of mine was until a few years ago.
All in all I'm glad to have found a forum where I can actually channel my interest in an atmosphere that is (mostly) civil and nice to one another. Even with the occasional,
ungentlemanliness, it's miles better than most other internet forums I've been a part of. I have been discouraged to be here because of it sometimes, truth be told. All the chaos from 2018ish and late 2017 seems to have subsided, thankfully. And I think my posting has got better since.
Quote from: nexus73 on January 15, 2019, 06:29:48 PMFebruary 20, 2011 for me. Out of all the forums I have been on, which have covered many subjects. IMO this is the best one for quality of members and modding. The topic of highways alone is enough to interest me but the goodness here keeps me coming back and has done so for almost 8 years. Boy did that time fly by!Pleasant surprise: The teenage members here are incredible. A combination of intelligent and interested is hard to beat! I'll be dead in a few years most likely so knowing that the generational passing of the torch regarding roads will take place cheers me up. There are other generational differences in interests that will not survive the passage of time but this one will. Rick
I appreciate your optimism on posters of our age . :sombrero: I'm not perfect but I like to think I'm not very bad either.