Hello,

I've just noticed that it is my AR-membership birthday. Sometimes I see tha date of registration of other members, and note that many have joined more recently than I. Then of course thare are the old hands!

I thank Saheed for his sponsorship here and wish him and the forum good health.

Now I wonder: Who started it all? Who are the most senior members? Can they tell us a bit about the start, growth and highlights of the forum?

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

This July will mark my third AR birthday and this June my 50th real one.

I'll probably be on safari for both of them though!

quote:

Originally posted by Verewaaier:


Now I wonder: Who started it all? Who are the most senior members?

Andrew McLaren

...look here - start from bottom and a happy birthday

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/members?user_sort_order=3&p=197

Verewaaier,

The idea of having a website came from Walter. Those who have been on AR long know that he is our expert in everything.

From gunsmith to computers.

He just has a fantastic knack of "re-designing" everything he touches.

We call it "break everything!"

I asked my friend Don to set up the site for us. He designed it and and set up as a sourtce of reloading data.

We had a few calibers only then.

Then we added a single forum. That software was set up to display the last 500 messages. Of course, we did not have many members them, and any messages further down the list of 500 went down the drain.

It was not such a problem at that time, as it took about 2 weeks for 500 messages to be posted.

The membership increased, and we changed the software so that we could have seperate forums for different subjects.

Right now our members are posting about 1300 messages a day, and we have almost 20,000 members.

I joined 8 June 2000 and am member # 111

AR has been a great source of new friends and information.

Certainly thanks to Saeed for setting this up.

I joined on 4 July 2000. but don't ask me my #, I don't remember it. If I count my position in the newest members mode list I am in the 43th position, but Terry is the #111 one month before me, +/-. I'm a little confused

I officially joined March 2005. I lurked and learned for a good year and a half before that. I found the site while doing a web search for one of my shotguns. Thanks to this site and the helpful advice I have made one trip and hope to make many more. Interestingly Terry Blauwkamp was very helpful with my intail planning and I met Steve on the plane home. It is a small world.

Thanks everyone!!

Ian

Been around since the old, original forum, had member # 46 I belive. Registred in the new forum 2.June 2000.
Not a big contributor, but have learned truckloads from AR.
Have also got new friends on the internet thanks to AR
Guess I´m more or less addicted

If I remember correctly, I am member #224..been here since March 2001.

I have been a member since the late 1990's. Certainly before late 1998. I remember asking questins about my "to be built" 338 Hawk.

Have had to re-register and start over several times with all the upgrades

I remember the old forum very well.
text based, indented style, all on one page.

Anybody remember the the poster Latigo?
Ray Atkinson was about the most active poster back then.

I have been here since 1998.....not long after the site started.

Registered (I hate that word) date does not always mean too much because of software changes and also members who changed their posting name.

Mike

quote:

Anybody remember the the poster Latigo?
Ray Atkinson was about the most active poster back then.

Latigo.....Yes, and equals many people

Don't agree that Atkinson was a poster early on...he started getting active here as HuntAmerica was folding.

Mike

You have to ask which AR site? I've been friends with Saeed long before he had a website. I would guess that was back about 1995 or so but I cannot recall the dates now.

There has probably been 4-5 "new" versions of AR which required re-registering and then getting a new Member number. The original AR had that funky staggered posting display and was a bugger to follow along. Things have really grown on this site. Lots of guys have come and gone. There are still quite a few of the original gang from Waaaay back at the start.

Since about 1997, or so! The web-site has changed a couple of times, causing the loss of post count. I have 4418 posts today, but lost over 8000 posts on one of the changes,in 2000, along with my member screen name, which used to be DUGABOY1. For some reason, I couldn't re-register under DUGABOY1, and had to change it to my old work handle MacD37 for work at my company, before I retired. On all other web-sites my handle is DUGABOY1.
It's a great web-site and is the vault of some of the most knowledgable people in the world where firearms, and hunting of big game is concerned!

WOW! It's hard to believe that it will be 5 years for me on Valentine's Day!! I can't begin to tell everyone what a pleasurable and valuable experience AR has been for me. Happy Valentine's Day!

quote:

Originally posted by trigger:


Anybody remember the the poster Latigo?
Ray Atkinson was about the most active poster back then.

Yes ...remember Latigo, he was also Cody wasn´t he ?? Remember he was a sour, angry man who invited one after another to a fight in his backyard. He was badmouthing JJHACK now and then, as well as Saeed and others who disagreed with him. ....Strange fella he was....
And there was Thor from NY who loved big guns...and Extarheel.... guess I better stop before I got all nostalgic

I think I found the site in 1999 shortly before planning my first plains game hunt in RSA. I came to this site after hearing about it on HuntAmerica where I was a moderator. Had a falling out with Swamp over a post by JJ Hack. Swamp banned me and I haven't been back to that site since. I used to delete the crap out of the "pissing" contest posts between Latigo and everyone and Tink and everyone, but have since decided it is better to let posts run there natural course and simply ignore that posters and posts I don't like.

Saeed, you run a great site and handle all situations like a gentleman. I don't agree with your politics or world view but admire your generosity in making AR available for all of us to share our passions. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!.


Perry

That's a fair description of the Latigo I remember.

I have been fortunate enough to hang on to my screen name through all the changes.

Do you know my pal John Kolver over by Philoppolis? I was a member years back but only recently signed on again.

quote:

Originally posted by Verewaaier:
Hello,

I've just noticed that it is my AR-membership birthday. Sometimes I see tha date of registration of other members, and note that many have joined more recently than I. Then of course thare are the old hands!

I thank Saheed for his sponsorship here and wish him and the forum good health.

Now I wonder: Who started it all? Who are the most senior members? Can they tell us a bit about the start, growth and highlights of the forum?

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

I have been here pretty much from the start. Saeed's practically brand-new site was the very first one I found, my very first time on the internet in Feb of 1998. Saeed was kind enough to try and answer a question I had about my 6.5 Gibbs, and I've been here ever since.

Mike is right about Ray...he came afterward from HA. Latigo/Cody7/Sidecar/Mike Boyd was the most prolific poster back then.

Mike375, Teenut and Matts (Matts Johannson) were also regulars that I recall.

Don_G was here near the start as well.

Cheers,
Canuck

Was ther not a time in AR's history when on an upgrade most members lost their original registration?
There have been many memorable moments on AR, the two most memorable for me were "sierra matchking"
backed by Boyd, and one about shooting cats which got quite heated and threatened to de-stabilise world peace.

long may it continue..

regards

griff

gee 22 may 2002......................coming up 4 years.

Me too, PC! And that was because i was thrown out with the Vortex. I have been here since spring 2001 I think.

My spontaneous reaction when reading this thread is that someone ought to write at least a short "official" history of AR. Since so many threads have been lost in cyberspace it should be done while someone still remembers the "old" days. It should be nice to have on the main AR-site as I am sure it will interest new members of the site. Something like "AR - the first ten years".

Perhaps a nice task for Walter?

Regards,
Martin

I first found AR in either late 2000 or early 2001. There was about a year or so that I took a break and then I had to re-register. I do not remember my old web name, but I believe it was "BusPilot." Most all of my learning has come from this site. I really appreciate all that Saeed has done to make this work.
In the earlier days of AR, I remember it seemed that a majority of the members had actual safari experience and it was a friendly, good-natured environment. I have noticed over the years that some seem to post what they've read from others without speaking from experience, or much of it at that. I've also noticed more "pissing contests," which are disappointing. We seem to have lost some in our midst that, while opinionated, had some important experience to share with the group as a whole. (I have no safari experience, but am working on the details of my 2007 safari presently.) In the words of one civil disobedient, "Can't we all just get along!?"

I joined April of last year.

Back then as I read old posts adout some of the members getting together at the last DSC, I regretted not finding the site sooner.

I now look forward to tomorrow's show opening knowing that I will close out the evening with 30-40 new friends from this site. That is just about as good as it can get without smelling gunpowder.

Doug

PS MacD37 - thanks for changing your name.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

The idea of having a website came from Walter. Those who have been on AR long know that he is our expert in everything.

From what I have read about Walter(Camp Clown) I can hardly believe he could come up with an briliant idea like this Forum Somebody must have helped him.

I have learned not only alot about guns/hunting but I also learned how different people are.

Wimpie

Not long enough. I read every day but I wish I had found this forum years ago.

January 8, 2004. My how time flies when one is having fun!

I started in 2001 and if I remember right my number was 371. I then had to restart from scratch in 2004 at a reconfiguration at AR. Still enjoying it after all these years. Good shooting.

July 4, 2000.

I think around #44.

Still the best hunting and shooting site around.

Does get a little raucous now and then but it's always fun reading.

Roger QSL

I started luking, then posting here in 1998 or 1999 or there abouts, when there was only one forum.

July 12th, 2004

I was on a local bowsite, one guy said he read something on Accuratereloading, I thought Why there, isn't that just for reloaders? I wasn't interested because I don't reload. But I had to just take a look, contacted the guy, got the web site address and checked it out. Well took me a whole 10 minutes to realize this was a site for me! Watched for 2 days, saw a post that I just needed to answer, the rest is history!

1,346 post later...........

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Verewaaier,

The idea of having a website came from Walter. Those who have been on AR long know that he is our expert in everything.

From gunsmith to computers.

He just has a fantastic knack of "re-designing" everything he touches.

We call it "break everything!"

I asked my friend Don to set up the site for us. He designed it and and set up as a sourtce of reloading data.

We had a few calibers only then.

Then we added a single forum. That software was set up to display the last 500 messages. Of course, we did not have many members them, and any messages further down the list of 500 went down the drain.

It was not such a problem at that time, as it took about 2 weeks for 500 messages to be posted.

The membership increased, and we changed the software so that we could have seperate forums for different subjects.

Right now our members are posting about 1300 messages a day, and we have almost 20,000 members.

I can still remember Saeed sending me those Exel files and asking me to put "some color" in them.

We played with several names before I registered accuratereloading.com.

I still have the original website on a disk, maybe for our 10th anniversary (coming soon) I'll put it up for you old timers to reminisc. I won't ever put up the original forum software. What a nightmare that was.

I also still have a database of all the old member numbers. It's amazing how many of the old gang are still here.

8 years...wow time flies.

Don

I started as mamba member #32 and had to be reinvented when I changed internet providers the same time that the site was remodled.

I think I started in about 2001/2 also but had to re-register when I came back from sabbatical and found my old registration gone.

Pretty sure I started surfing here in 1999, I don't remember when I first registered. I lost my screenname and posts twice during board updates.

I still have the original website on a disk, maybe for our 10th anniversary (coming soon) I'll put it up for you old timers to reminisc. I won't ever put up the original forum software. What a nightmare that was.

I also still have a database of all the old member numbers. It's amazing how many of the old gang are still here.

8 years...wow time flies.

Don[/QUOTE]

Don...
Once, when time allows you, it should be really funny if you would post that list of "old timers" and their original member #

I joined the original site (list?, BB?) back in 1998. I don't remember the exact date I joined, but I think it was the second time Saeed invited me to "drop in".

Soon after I quit visiting all other international hunting sites, as this is the best clearing house for that information on the web.

I "dropped out" for a while after my divorce, as I was working 16 hours a day and could not do a reasonable job as a moderator. I'm still working unreasonable hours, but I now have enough time to hang around again sporadically.

We have had "trouble cycles" before on AR, and will again, but there is a core membership of experienced hunters and outfitters that seems to become visible again as soon as the dust settles.

As I have said many times over the years, "Thank you, Saeed!"

I stumbled across AR back in 2000 while "thinking" about a trip to Africa. Been around ever since and have one trip to Zimbabwe under my belt with another in the planning stages. Great site here with alot of great men and women who share a common passion - even with our occaisonal bumps in the road.

Phil

I joined in 2003 but had a heck of a time ever signing on up until the last redesign.