quote:

Originally posted by MitchbSC:
Sigforum was in there with GT and ARF back in 2000 - 2001. What Sigforum didn't do was become heavily commercialized. No banner ads. No membership fees. No strange and shifting connections to various players in the industry. No attempts to monetize on the big socials sites. Few-to-no attempts to tie the site tightly with certain vendors or firearm platforms because the Sigforum site owners know those boats rise-and-fall with the industry hype cycle and management du jour.

The pioneering spirit here has been the consistent and unwavering focus on quality discussion. It is in keeping with the true spirit of how the internet and then Web 2.0 were founded. Collaboration without the clutter and hype. Sigforum isn't the biggest. It's the best. For this, I am very grateful to lbj and para for this beautiful island.

This. Absolutely this. I started browsing the forum back around 2003, but didn't join until 2006. I still don't post all that much compared to some, but I'm on here almost every day. The quality discussion and informative topics are great. I like the community, but I also love the format.

I grew up in the 90s. I remember how the internet used to be...simple and collaborative. Yeah, sites were ugly, but you could find what you were looking for. Nowadays I hate going to most sites because I get bombarded with ads that try to get around my adblocker, or the site itself yells at me for blocking the ads. And if they're not obsessed with ads, it's all about flashy graphics and multimedia, to the point that you have to dig to find the content.

This place is different. It's a site that I can come to and relax, laugh, and learn without being bombarded with all the senseless unwanted crap. It's one of the few holdouts left from the good old days. Thanks LBJ and Para for keeping this place what it is.

Yes, Para ran them both when I started here in 01. I joined the S&W forum the day before this one. They are still the main ones I look at daily.

quote:

Originally posted by Dusty78:
Weren't Smith-wessonforum and Sigforum somehow related at one time? I bought my first online pistol which was like my 3rd overall gun from Ordnance Outsellers on this forum. It was a Sig 229R 9mm CPO.

Back in the early to mid 90's they used to be called message boards. When I had a Mazda Miata they had the Miata board back then in 1996. I also had a Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo and was a member of that board back then at 1996 which both still exists today. God Bless

quote:

Originally posted by detroit192:

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:

quote:

Originally posted by lbj:

It's just so romantic sounding, pioneer.

Just not Donner party type of pioneering.

R.I.P. packing.org

Ha! That's how I found SIGforum. I joined packing.org in 2003 or so when I was looking into getting my first pistol. They kept talking about this place like it was The Holy City or something.

They were right

 
SIGforum is indeed an oasis. I did not join until 2006. But I was involved with the transition from BBS --> Internet forum era. I ran a BBS in the late '80's/early 90's, and when the WWW came along, the best ones migrated to the new web. I can still access some of my fellow BBS nodes that are now WWW sites. SIGforum is my favorite and perhaps the best out there.
 

Wait, para has a phone???

quote:

Para ran them both when I started here in 01.

Yes, I recall facing something of a 'migration' crisis of my own at the time. While S&W was my main revolver interest, it took some time & a couple of thwarted attempts to finally figure out how to sign up for Sigforum. Gradually developed a taste for the type of humor, an understanding of Sig model variation, and an appreciation for political opinion served neat, properly like a decent whiskey.

quote:

Originally posted by craglawnmanor:
Wait, para has a phone???

And...I've heard it's RED

quote:

Originally posted by Bisleyblackhawk:

quote:

Originally posted by craglawnmanor:
Wait, para has a phone???

And...I've heard it's RED

Ohhhhh, so it's one of those rotary dial versions. It's all making sense now...

The only older forum I have been involved with is slashdot. However even with moderation that forum is chaos.

I believe it is the moderators and the respect that each of us has for the other that makes it successful. Sigforum truly is a pioneer in this format. There were newsgroups that went back further but those are so overwhelmed they were nearly useless. But in the modern Bb format, yes, I know of no other community like this one.

quote:

Originally posted by craglawnmanor:
Wait, para has a phone???

He has one, but its buried somewhere under his huge stack of floppy disk that he uses to back up the forum.

Whether considered pioneers by the public at large or not, I can say this much:

SigForum without a doubt has the highest quality members as a whole of any forum (or group of people anywhere, for that matter) that I have ever seen - and that's saying quite a lot.

You guys have been here for me and my family during some of the hardest parts of our lives, and I don't forget. SF has also been a part of some of the most intelligent conversation I have ever seen on a forum.

Thank you Para, for starting (and maintaining) the absolute top-notch firearms discussion forum around, bar none.

I tip my hat to you, sir. And to all of you here at SigForum.

quote:

Originally posted by rscalzo:

quote:

I hung around a few USENET groups back in the day

A few of us go back to the days of CompuServe and 300 baud modems.

Modems? We had to mail punch cards, and like it!

quote:

Originally posted by Sammael:
Whether considered pioneers by the public at large or not, I can say this much:

SigForum without a doubt has the highest quality members as a whole of any forum (or group of people anywhere, for that matter) that I have ever seen - and that's saying quite a lot.


You guys have been here for me and my family during some of the hardest parts of our lives, and I don't forget. SF has also been a part of some of the most intelligent conversation I have ever seen on a forum.

Thank you Para, for starting (and maintaining) the absolute top-notch firearms discussion forum around, bar none.

I tip my hat to you, sir. And to all of you here at SigForum.

This.....times the speed of light. I consider it both an honor and privilege to be a small part of this community.

Back in the late 80's my friends and I had BBS systems.
My friend Phil had Moonlight BBS and I had Moonbase Alpha BBS.
Complete with a chat feature and a marketplace for selling tech stuff.
The very first forum I joined was MacMonkey.
I think that was 1997.

I think SigForum is one of the longest lived.
Others I've joined have come and gone.

I'm not sure if it's a pioneer as I did not join until 2005 while looking for a P229.

What I do know is that this is the most unique group I've ever been a part of. I don't think there is any question that can't be answered by a member here.

You become friends with people you never even meet. The member quality here is incredible.

I began discovering forums through my changing interests. I joined Bladeforums in 1999 when I became interested in more modern folding knives. It's still an active forum but I rarely ever go there. I've joined quite a few firearms forums including S&W forum as I was acquiring some J frame revolvers. A short while later my interests turned toward SIG P220 pistols and I joined this forum. I no longer own any SIG pistols but I still come here every day. It's the place that's held my interest the longest and continues to. There's just "something" about it.

First gun board I was on in the early 1990s was the Machinegun News board. When the
magazine folded, FJ Vollmer made a board. That folded and Tom Bowers started the
Subguns Board. Around that time Buddy Hinton started the Sturmgewher board.
Those were the first gun message boards.

I was reading and posting on a hunting list in 1993 on a DOS looking text looking screen using a 28k dial up modem. The fact that this is still here and in basically the same format is pretty amazing. This is the first forum I ever really joined.