Your first post on the forum

[horizon]

If you joined the forum before 2007 there are ways to find your first post. When was it and what was it about? And who was the first to post?

[Bicycler]

Are all the previous forum threads from earlier forum versions still in existence? Google seems to find this as the earliest existing thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5
Does this make CJ our longest serving forum member?

[BeeKeeper]

I'm just a youngster, joined in 2011 and my first post was about midges! I still hate them. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=51269&p=426208#p426208

[gaz]

First post on the forum, discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=60263#p511258

[gaz]

I believe my own first post was on the For Sale board, our Burley Solo. The post was auto-deleted long ago but it's old enough that it's still possible to find the accompanying picture.

[horizon]

Am I right in thinking that despite various updates there is only one transition from one forum version to another version that prevents backward reference (except by using search)?

So it would be:

First ever CTC forum (message/bulletin board) set up September 2004 (first post: Cycle Camping Kit List)
Change to new forum (message/bulletin board) Dec 2006/Jan 2007

That means that all threads are seachable from 2004 but some member information isn't carried forward.

[horizon]

gaz wrote:
This has got me thinking about how the forum came into being. Someone at CTC must have sanctioned it, arranged for the forum to be hosted on the website or whatever the technical side of things is but the forum doesn't work without members.

Where did they come from?

Tri-ing wrote:
Interested in comparing notes - what to take, what to ditch etc.
Lightweight tips etc.
Mainly weekends.
Thanks


This appears to be the very first post. How did Tri-ing find out about the forum? Was Tri-ing the very first member? Was he the only member? (I'd bet there were a few lurkers even back then ). Who was he hoping to compare notes with?

A little over a day later Pete replies. Was Pete looking for a camping kit list when he found the forum? Was he the second member?

Another day passes, Tim arrives. A week and a bit later they are joined by sandy but it's another 8 months before the thread really takes off!

Should we call Time Team to investigate?

A few questions not answered, at least in that thread.

[Bicycler]

...and surely that wasn't the first thread on the forum? No introductory thread? Maybe only a few of the original forum threads were kept? they certainly seem relatively few in number.

BTW, I notice from the linked threads that Bikepacker and 661-Pete are also original members who are still with us

[gaz]

I have no first hand knowledge of the earliest incarnation of the forum from September 2004 to December 2006. By my own approximations 20,500 posts remain from that period, I cannot guess how many separate threads.

[Bicycler]

Okay, that's more than I thought. Thanks for fixing your old link on that thread.

Why do the 2007 - early 2009 posts not show a thread title (eg. search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=1&start=5070)?

[gaz]

From time to time the forum's underlying software has been upgraded: viewforum.php?f=10

The current edition of the software repeats the thread title (editable) in every post, at a guess one or more of it's predecessors did not.

[Mick F]

First ever CTC forum (message/bulletin board) set up September 2004 (first post: Cycle Camping Kit List)
Change to new forum (message/bulletin board) Dec 2006/Jan 2007

There's a bit missing there.

This is the THIRD version of the forum.
I was on the first, second and third.

This version is a new forum with new/different software. The first two had something very different to this one. If you search from the early days, the results are in this new software and not in the original.

[horizon]

So when was and where is the first post from the first version?

[gaz]

Earliest recorded forum post.

It's possible that there was an earlier post, either on a board set to auto-delete or that was spirited away as unfit for viewing.

If you are hunting for your own first post then start from here, select page 2210 and work backwards. The January 2007 edition kicks in around page 841. It might take a while but you will find it.

[Mick F]

I joined the forum in late 2004 or early 2005, having found it by accident whilst doing something bike-related on Google. Maybe didn't join then but lurked?
I can't remember.

I do know that one version of the old forum was plagued with trolls and it was closed down, then resurrected "clean", but I only know that from chatting about it on here.