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just to ask ! who is the longest serving member of fodors? winner gets a round of applause

And out of curiosity , how did it start - did Fodors make an announcement on it's normal website that there would be a discussion forum from date XX/XX/XXXX?

Did it start out as just one general board, then branch out to US, Europe, Pacific etc ? have the question types changed over the years? I have no need to know any of this, I am just interested.

I started in April-May 1993, the forum didn't look nowhere near what it looks today; 3 responses to a post were the average, no filtering or search functions at all. The posts were all long lines all jumbled together. I was planning to accompany my husband on his first business trip to France and stumbled upon this forum. That's why I remembered the time & year so well. I posted first under my hubby's email/name, then under my real name, and now I am just Viajero2. Back then sally fowler, Al Clem from Arizona, Wes Fowler, BOB the Navigator were already here, so any of those guys, who may still be around, deserved your applause. Some people will claim most longevity, but I definitely can tell you who TRULY was here back when. It certainly got more interesting when Kavey, Monica, Rex, Bob Brown, Elaine, Patrick joined in, let's not forget Stellarosa, the Scottish man who married Emily, another wonderful contributor (I believed they met thanks to this forum!!). I have met some of the Fodor's staff, other Fodorites, and it has been a wonderful ride!!

LONG LIFE TO FODOR'S!!!

Thank you - of the names you mentioned, I only recognise Bob the navigator, but then I have not been here long.

i reckon we all should get together in 1 place and have a laf? fodors aught to put a venue together at discount prices for us members wat do think folks? be great if it happened late night talking about experiences. !!!!! lol

I did a search on my old name and was able to go back to April 1997.

An intersting idea...I searched for my name and came up with a mara (not me) in '98 but my first post that I remember for sure was in early '01. Wow, does time fly!!

As someone who just comes here occasionally (researching some trips) I wonder what makes people come and go, or come and stay for years.

Dr. Betty, is that you???

And speaking of Patrick who has been banned. Fodor's will not even respond to his 20 emails to them. How sad!

Oh, no, here we go AGAIN ...

I've wondered about this too. Who posted first as opposed to who has the most postings (although this would be interesting to know too).

I have been a "reader" for quite awhile and don't post a lot. I think I started reading in '97.

Is there a way to go to the very first post ever? Where is Rex when we need him :)

I know my first post was in March 1997.
<i>Autres temps, Autre moeurs</i>.

The flyertalk board has a great function as part of the board itself -- it shows the date the poster joined, and the number of posts to date. I like it :)

Oh, sorry, I thought you were looking for the toilets ...

Some time ago Rex did some sort of research and learned that Ira had posted more than anyone else.

I don't remember the year but I remember it was at the tail end of some dispute about a Doctor Abate , his name, something like that

Would this be a Dr Abate who has apartments in Rome ? Just curious, as I am sure I saw a major debate on a person of this name on the Slow travel site quite recently.

Holly Uncasdevar, you called? I am here! AGAIN ;) Or better yet, Mrs Again.

Who can forget Alice Twain?

That's it, willit. I missed that at slowtrav?

I think that time has blurred your archival memory, viajro...

The oldest posts are from August 1996; thre are none from earlier than that. They are (presently) a bit more than 200000 posts back. I choose not to give individual URLs, in order that I do NOT make it easir for othrs to &quot;mess&quot; with the &quot;ancients&quot; (by topping them, for example).

My own first posts were over three years later.

Best wishes,

Rex

&gt;Some time ago Rex did some sort of research and learned that Ira had posted more than anyone else.&lt;

True, but that's because I usually have to post a PS.

PS,

If I didn't have to post PSs, I would have 1/2 the number of posts.

Well, actually, no... ira... my tallying has nothing to do with the true number of posts (i.e., counts multiple posts as one on the same thread) - - it only identifies the number of threads on which you have at least one post.

It has been suggested (but almost impossible to verify with currently available tools) that I may have posted more WORDS on the Europe forum - - could be true for at least two reasons:

1) your posts contain more instances of only &quot;ttt&quot; or &quot;topping&quot; than mine (just my impression)... and

2) you post more often on forum web pages other than the Europe forum alone (I have posted fewer than a few dozen times on the US and other forum pages).

Since registration, I have posted on roughly 6700 threads (over 11000 total, counting back to 1999 - - I can identify this because I have always used rbmd in e-mail address, and that remains searchable, even though it is not displayed on pre-registration posts).

Since registration (in Jan 2003), you have made nearly 17000 posts; doing a text search of your name &quot;ira&quot; (and this restricts the results to the Europe forum, if the search is initiated on the Europe forum) seems to make the numbers harder to understand - - you have _fewer_ than 11000 (of those 16000+ threads) on the Europe forum since registration, and only about 200 more, when the search is conducted all the way back to 1997.

Thus, the hypothesis that I have posted more _words_ here on the Europe forum seems to be plausible, but I know of no easy way to come up with data to answer the question one way or the other.

As if it matters...

;)

I'd really like to see some of the early posts but don't have the time to do a proper search. At the same time, I agree with Rex and don't like to have all those early posts topped.

I wish they'd archive the &quot;early&quot; posts; de-activate the post-a-reply botton so they can be viewed only. Some posts are topped and some end up being deleted when disagreements start and we lose a little bit of the &quot;history&quot; here.

OMG Dr. Abate
And the limericks ....

LOL, that does go back a ways... I wrote some of those lyrics! I can't find the karate/Abate thread back though.

...Elvira. Who could ever forget Elvira?

I've been here since the winter 1997, stumbling across the site while researching my first trip to Italy in the spring of 1998. That's long enough to remember the highly controversial Dr. Abate.

Now for a question: Has any thread reached 1000 responses yet? I'm keeping my eye on the &quot;What are you reading now&quot; thread which has 732 replies. Are there threads with more?

Given to curiosity, I sent an email to the folks at HQ asking them to post to this thread info about the very first post--who, when, etc.

Betsy

There is a thread on Other Topics with a whopping 890 posts!

Wine-O's Only! started in 2003 and still going strong...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34415962

Do you guys remember the Fodor's pin? I still have mine! I did wear it in Spain, France, and Belgium, almost lost it in Amsterdam and that's when it went back to storage. I reckon one day it will be a collectible; who knows, I may be able to pay a year in Provence with what I make selling it....:-D

Yes! I have a Fodor's pin, and it's among my most precious possessions for it's provenance. Remember the outpouring of emotion from those who received torn and/or empty envelopes because the pin punched through?

I've worn the pin in Europe but have not been approached by anyone who recognized it.

trip advisor has that same feature on their forum where it shows when you joined and how many posts you have contributed.

fodor's pre-registration was a different beast ten post-registration, not better or worse in my opinion but different.

hiya fodorites! how do you get your pins? i would wear mine with pride,
if i had 1.

Ira - ROTFLMAO!! TWICE!!

Mara, I came on about the same time as you - mine was late Feb '01 researching my very 1st trip to Paris &amp; London. Wes Fowler (God bless his soul) &amp; Ben Haines helped me with an issue about the Gatwick Express. I've always been grateful.

My favorite early name was Martha Python. Such a clever name. Wonder if she's still around posting under another nom de plume.

viajera says 1993. Rex says the records show not until 1996. But perhaps there are no records of the very earliest postings?
Vera

I have looked for my postings pre-1996, couldn't find any. As a matter of fact, all postings under the old format are gone. There was a memorable one, hilarious about the French. I wished now I had made a copy.

My first post was July 10, 1998.