The Gang of Five

Important Announcements => Announcements => Topic started by: Petrie. on June 17, 2006, 09:18:26 PM

Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Petrie. on June 17, 2006, 09:18:26 PM
I had first considered the idea of building a site about dinosaurs (not LBT specifically) as early as 2001.  Free hosting only since I wasn't too keen about internet buying when I was only 17.  :P:  They were never anything big, and the topic largely was about Dinotopia.  None exist anymore, and there's nothing to be found of them online anymore.

2002

The start of 2002 was big for me...I actually went and stepped into paid webhosting, so enter treestars.net  That was largely made for the Land Before Time, but I had also made a section for Jurassic Park.  My original vision was fan art, fan-made creations, and screenshots (at the time you had none).  I still have those cheesy 320x240 vhs screen captures...they're cheesy because in this day and age with dvd screenshot capability, vhs captures are a thing of the past. :P:

In April I had also founded a message board, originally themed around Dinotopia.  It actually worked quite well from the start and I kept making changes to keep it going strong through the end of the year.

2003

I kept treestars.net going adding artwork I found or people had been willing to submit to me.  One of our prominent members here, Malte279, was one of those who agreed to let me post his artwork online.  By October, treestars.net had another significant addition: a feedback forum--which evolved into the Gang of Five in time.

The Dinotopia-themed message board ran into trouble....shady staff appointmets by me put the nail in the coffin and the entire board collapsed.  By that time I had broadened its focus to include Jurassic Park and the Land Before Time.  The failure of Hallmark to deliver a really decent Dinotopia film to the fans really didn't help interest either on the topic.  The plug was officially pulled at the beginning of 2004.

2004

The beginning of 2004 not only saw the demise of the broadly themed, old, Dinotopia board, but also a change in vision.  That vision no longer included a site which hosted artwork on LBT created by fans.  It wasn't proving popular...people were much more interested in screenshots or information about the films.  That was very depressing, but numbers don't lie.  I paid for the last month of hosting on treestars.net in February or March, and the site was closed.

By June or so, I had started up a new section, knowing what people really wanted. Thus, we start the landbeforetime.org years.  The Land Before Time Archive was created to give info on the films, screenshot pictures, audio and video clips--the whole kit and caboodle.  The design was entirely different from what was available on treestars.net, and learning more on html helped greatly.  The most complete character list at that time was created with the help of Malte, and according to the stats, it was the most viewed page of any of them by the end of the year.

As for the LBT message board, it was christened with a new name: The Gang of Five not long before treestars.net went offline permanently, and it would no longer be a feedback forum.  Some of the earliest visitors included Malte279, Tyrannosaur22, and JojotheLongneck.  Growth did not happen overnight; in fact it barely happened.  With ezboard forcing us to pay an insanely sum for a place so small to keep ads off of the board, I decided we needed to get the board out of ezboard.  It was moved to the site you're currently at now on September 5, 2004.  After the move, some members such as New Order (formerly AdriJobecq on the ezboard), Threehorn, and Nick22 became very active here.

2005

This year unfortunately saw the unraveling of the Land Before Time Archive.  Partially, the fault lies with me and the hosting company I put the board with...it because unstable and unreliable.  Moving the board to a new host proved equally troublesome as the entire place folded about four months after I had moved there.  With no webhost, and no place where I could continue to offer all the types of files that the Archive had at a cheap price or without huge ads everywhere, the Archive was put in cold storage in mid-2005 and has been there ever since.  I have told people if they want, I can give them all the code to the site as it looked before it went offline, but nobody has seriously taken up the offer, so the Archive remains offline.

The Gang of Five had a much larger success rate when it moved to a site with few ads and no tricks.  Free hosting for avatars and the like helped attract those who had little web experience gave a friendly atmosphere where the staff could help initiate one on one conversations with new members, and that initial helpfulness and friendliness is why many have stuck around.  For a brief time, the board could be accessed through the landbeforetime.org domain since I was able to point it towards the board with no added charge, but I soon took that down, knowing full well that it wouldn't be an option forever.

2006

January marked the end of the landbeforetime.org years as the domain expired and went back into public realm for purchasing.

The Gang of Five continues to soldier on quite successfully without any "mother ship" to attach itself to.  The only alignment of sorts is to the Network54 message board about Land Before Time (now owned by Malte279).  Affiliates have been welcomed, but thus far, there haven't been many takers, perhaps showing that only a few such communities about LBT are able to exist.  Some members have come and gone, a few staff changes have been made (addition of action9000, removal of Intrepid), new members have joined and quickly became very active (F-14 Ace, Cyberlizard, action9000 to name a few).  As of this writing (June 17, 2006) the Gang of Five has amassed over 30,000 posts and will hit its three year anniversary in October.  Thus far, it has been an amazing journey that the board continues to survive and thrive.

2007

By late May and early June, the Gang of Five has hit a magical number--50,000.  That's how many posts have been created on the board.  Some say its just a number.  I call it a dream turned reality.  Finally--I think it can truly be called a successful Land Before Time message board and I don't see any chance of it pulling a Titanic and sinking.  At 117 members and still growing, largely thanks to the introduction of the Land Before Time TV Series, the Gang of Five continues on through summer looking healthier and brighter than ever.  By December, with new members bringing role play back to the forefront, it made sense to bring one of these new role play pioneers onto the Gang of Five staff.  AvestheForumFox was chosen unanimously to moderate the role play section of the board on December 14th.

2008

On May 11th the magical number of 100,000 post was reached. The fact that only about a year had passed since the 50 000th message goes to show the great increase of activity and number of active members of the Gang of Five.  By October, nearing our official 5th anniversary (counting the time the board was called the treestars.net feedback forum) the GOF has over 250 registered members and 125,000 messages posted.  The GOF changed its new posts/no new posts images for the first time since coming to IPB in 2004, and added some lovely dinosaur emoticons to replace the more generic human ones.

2009

As the GOF continues to grow and become more active, especially in the role play sections of the board, a second moderator was added to ease the load on Brian (Aves).  Gustav (Lillefot) was added as a forum staff member on January 31st. 

New public sections were created to address member ideas and issues in a public setting before being decided on by voting members of the staff.  The Rock Circle was added to the board in late July.  In addition to this section, moderators in the forums were bumped to a new staff level - The Circle to indicate their voting ability on board decisions, along with the admin staff.  The Great Valley Guardian joined this group in October when it was decided that another mod was needed to guard the role play sections of the board.

2010

2010 has been a very quiet, consistent year for the GOF.  Iris (Mumbling) joins the GOF staff as a global moderator to help advise and watch over the entire board in July. Relatively shortly after, she got promoted to Admin.

2011
We had to say goodbye to our admin Tim (Action9000), but also welcomed a lot of new faces on the Gang of Five. After much demand, the fanfiction awards were finally added to our awards segment.

2012
We were lazy this year.

2013
We had to demote two of our moderators in the Role Play section due to inactivity. Gustav (Lillefot) and Brian (AvesTheForumFox), thank you for being with us for so long. We have added Kor to keep an eye on this part of the forum now, together with Great Valley Guardian and Nick.

2014
Other than the infamous kitchen spammers (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=16322.0), this was a very quiet year for the Gang of Five.

2015
Shall we call this the year of Path Light? Nah, let’s not. Again, other than some staff annoyances, not much happened during 2015. Many older members became inactive during this time, including some old-timers on staff.

2016
The lovely diamond parallelogram rhombus joined our team of administrators, immediately picking up all things staff-related. Welcome to the team!

2017
We were forced to transition from the invisionfree board to zetaboards at the end of this year. The conversion had been a long time coming (the option to convert had existed for years), but we were never truly quite happy with what zetaboards offered us in terms of customizability. Zero-point was promoted to admin to help with the conversion, welcome to the team! He also made sure we could use our old theme on Zetaboards, which was a big help! Other staff members that were now inactive (Littlefoot1616, Malte279, and Mumbling) were added to The Circle.

2018
(https://i.imgur.com/egfBfjP.jpg)
Remember this little guy? KABOOM! Our team of Photobucket Obliterators (Ducky123, DarkHououmon, Fyn16, and Littlefoot505) worked hard for many months to make sure all images that were originally hosted on Photobucket were transferred to more reliable image sites, thus making sure that all image history on the Gang of Five, particularly in the Caption This! section, was preserved.

2018 turned out to be an eventful year. We decided to split the After Midnight section into multiple subsections to make sure it would remain an accessible place for everyone. Just a short few months after we had made our transition to Zetaboards, a new contender popped up. We were forced to move to Tapatalk (https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/thegangoffive1/), a new messaging boards system mostly focused on mobile devices with very little options for customization. Thought Zetaboards was bad? Think again!
 
After much discussion, we decided it was necessary to move to a self-hosted place and move away from free messaging boards. We set up a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/user/overview?u=5609318) to cover the monthly costs and worked hard to set up a forum together with our technician James Gryphon and Zero-point. It’s been a learning process for all of us, but we are still very happy to have made the switch! Mumbling returned as an active admin, and Littlefoot505 and DarkHououmon were promoted from Photobucket Obliterators to Moderators.

2019
2019 saw the introduction of the Monthly Character Showcase (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=16265.0). We made several improvements to our hosted forum to make it easier to use for everyone. After some consideration, Littlefoot505 was removed as a Moderator.

After 16 years (or 18, if you wish to count back even further), our founder Petrie has decided to step down (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmCraKwD2sE), leaving the forum in the caring hands of Rhombus and the Discord channel under Mumbling's care. He's still around, but has been retired to The Circle as an honored long-time admin.

Last updated by Mumbling on 17/10/2019.

Additions welcome if they coincide with our history online. :)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: action9000 on June 18, 2006, 03:13:45 AM
I read it. B)
That is quite the story, Adam.  Appreciate you passing it along. :yes
It is unfortunate that the Dinotopia stories released on video weren't up to par with the books (at least from what I've heard, and gathered from you).  The idea itself looks very intriguing.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Megatoph on June 18, 2006, 05:27:08 PM
WOW! sounds like the history of america. (now all we need is a theme song)
I didn't know the GOF had such a history. this form has had alot of predasesors didn't it.

jee I wonder if your son is going to continue the saga of the GOF?
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on June 21, 2006, 09:08:06 AM
Hehe, that's quite a ways off if it ever comes to that. :P:  Why would I want to give up control anyway if I'm still able to manage it?  It's not like we have thousands of members (yet) or anything.  B)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Threehorn on June 25, 2006, 07:35:21 PM
Great to see that back online after a long time, maybe you can put in Big Daddy and the other new charcaters like Tria and the tinysauroues into the charucater profile :)

That would make that fully update with all that been and gone, soon we will have the Series version with new friends that will be in a few espoides :) keep the good work up Rogar you've shined through and will do so on :D
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on June 25, 2006, 09:20:55 PM
http://z7.invisionfree.com/thegangoffive/i...p?showtopic=876 (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=750)

Read this Wayne.  I don't have LBT 11 to do any of that so I'll have to have someone else get that stuff.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 08, 2007, 04:08:55 AM
Quote
I have told people if they want, I can give them all the code to the site as it looked before it went offline, but nobody has seriously taken up the offer, so the Archive remains offline.


Awwww.   That's too bad.  I might consider it.  There is always a way to do it for free.  I have always found that to be true.  I can even get a free .com domain name for my site but I wouldn't want to.  landbeforetime.com is already taken.

Anyway, if I could find a way to do it for free, I'd do it for sure, but It'll be hard to find all the stuff I would need for free.

I can host any type of file up to 1gb for free and I would have unlimited storage space.  I've never seen the archive you're speaking of so I don't know exactly what the site would entail, but I'm pretty sure I could get it running for free.  I would never go with freewebs or anything and I'd have to do a lot more research, but there is a way to do it.  My fifth grade teacher knows all the tricks to get anything for free.  If only I could find him.  He had a 100% free site that was html based and had all the perks.  He did it using some sort of offer thing.  I don't know exactly.  I'd have to find and talk to him.  If I can find him, I would be willing to do this.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on July 08, 2007, 07:55:15 AM
While your offer is rather nice, I'd like to warn you that it won't be as simple as putting up files and saying "tah dah".  I would safely say, there hadn't been an update to the site since 2005, so its really two years obsolete, and you'd have some work to do.  Also, this is where the hosting problem lies....the way I set up the character page is not friendly with free hosting because I used server slide coding (shtml) and it won't load in most free places, so you probably will have to pay, or recode the entire thing.

Just a few warnings.  I still got the files...just sitting there.

EDIT: Oh yes, and I did post the character page here, minus all the fancing coding and <A NAME> tags.

http://z7.invisionfree.com/thegangoffive/i...?showtopic=1219 (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=1079)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 08, 2007, 04:06:40 PM
There IS a way to do it 100% free and quite easily if I remember what my old teacher said.  As for the work, I don't care how much time I have to invest in updating the thing.  It's summer now and I'm just bored all day.  I know the feeling.  I don't wanna pay either and if they tried to make me, I'd shut down the site too.  The only issue is finding what my teacher had.  It is a program where teachers that are registered in Washingotn can get a free website and have up to 100 sub sites, meaning that 100 other people can get a website for free off of his free service.  I have his phone #, but it's obsolete and he doesn't return any of my emails.  He must have moved and changed email addresses.


Anyway, I'm not even going to bother unless I can get that service.  Free web hosting that is paid by advetrizements is not the way I wanna go.  If I can find my teacher again, this will be the first subject I bring up.  I could search google for a free web hosting site that supports html and doesn't have ads, but I don't think that exists.


I'm not worried about work at all and I'm not lazy when it comes to things I care about such as my school work and LBT.  I am very good at html and have been the best person in all my html classes to do the work as quickly and efficiently as possible.  I haven't taken html for about a year but the only code I've forgotten is how to make that scrolling text since I've only used it maybe 3 times.



To conclude, I will not let a nice LBT site be bombarded with ads and be degraded in that manner.  I will try to get a free hosting service that'll not do this.  My teacher had a service that has 10gb of storage and 100gb monthly bandwidth.  Will that be enough?
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on July 08, 2007, 10:27:10 PM
Since you're bored, I'll give you the files to play around with.  If you can find the right service, great, if not, at least I gave you something to do with your time.  Anyone else who wants to download this and tinker around, that's fine with me.  You don't need to keep my name or any sort of copyright notice associated with me.

This is a rar archive of the stuff (17 mb total).

http://download.yousendit.com/4BB8415154F26A79 (http://download.yousendit.com/4BB8415154F26A79)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 08, 2007, 10:38:27 PM
Thanks.  I'll see what I can do.  I'm not optimistic though without my teacher's site to go off of, but I'll sure try!
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 08, 2007, 10:46:27 PM
I'm not sure exactly how to organize this.  I've never seen the actual site before so It's gonna be impossible for me to reconstruct it the same.  I'll do my best to get all that info on a site and looking nice though.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 08, 2007, 10:59:54 PM
I've begun to reconstruct the character page if anyone's interested.  I'm trying to get the pictures up and please understand, making html pages takes time.  If there is no image for a character, it's because I haven't added it yet.  I have to relocate the images of each character to get them to appear.  It takes about 3 minutes per character.  This is gonna take some work, but I think I can pull it off.


http://www.freewebs.com/landbeforetimeinfo...information.htm (http://www.freewebs.com/landbeforetimeinfo/Character%20information.htm)


EDIT: Oops.  LOL.  I get it now.  Should have reviewed the pages more before just jumping right in there.  Okay.  I'm getting that page working.  Not all of the links work yet, but I'm working on it!

http://www.freewebs.com/landbeforetimeinfo/Characters.htm (http://www.freewebs.com/landbeforetimeinfo/Characters.htm)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 09, 2007, 01:44:50 AM
Okay.  I got the homepage worked out for the most part.  Am I doing this right Petrie?  I really don't know how it originally looked.


http://www.freewebs.com/landbeforetimeinfo/test%20home.htm (http://www.freewebs.com/landbeforetimeinfo/test%20home.htm)

EDIT:  None of the links or images are valid anymore.  I'm having to create new links and image paths.  That's what's taking so long.  I hope I can get it all done by tonight, but It may take longer.  And good news.  I'm able to put many more videos onto the site.  That message that says that you have limited space is coming off as soon as I get all the links on all the pages done.  I don't know what I'll do as soon as I'm done with this.  I'll have to update it for sure and perhaps add new features for sure.  I want this site to be more than what it was.  I hope you have no objections to me adding on to it.  Anyway, I think I got this all figured out.  The way you have it filed is rather confusing and you have copies of many things such as pages and images.  You'll have to tell me if anything's missing, cuz it's hard to tell with the way you have the RAR set up and the names you chose for the files.


And one question I have is where the heck does the title bar on the top go to?  It is a link, but I don't know where it's supposed to go.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 09, 2007, 03:10:07 AM
Quote
so you probably will have to pay, or recode the entire thing.

I'm probably recoding the thing.  I had to modify the code so much, it looks nothing like it did at first.  This is taking forever!  Heck, it takes 5 minutes just to make the link to Malte's review of LBT 2 to work.  I definently won't get done by tonight.  I've already made some mistakes cuz I'm so tired.  I have fixed them all, but with a loss of valuable time.  I'll work till I fall asleep from being so tired.  I probably won't be on the board so much tomorrow cuz I was up all night. :(


Anyway, there's no template for the image gallery page.  I dunno what to do there.  Should I make my own, or did you forget to put that template in the rar archive?

I hope I'm doing this right Petire.    :unsure:
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on July 09, 2007, 06:02:05 AM
The main page shows up funky in Opera but that's not unusual, since I don't think it ever worked entirely properly.  Everything else save for the character page looked pretty much like it used to.  I told you it would be messy.  :lol:
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 09, 2007, 06:04:11 AM
Quote
Everything else save for the character page looked pretty much like it used to.

Uhhhh... Is that bad?  What did I do wrong?
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on July 09, 2007, 06:07:11 AM
No no, nothing's wrong its just been so long since I've seen the pages.

Songs - exactly the same as I remember it
Video - missing the header with all the links
Reviews - (did I REALLY choose those colors? :p ) but otherwise how I remember it

And the character page of course, you're revising.

And get some sleep.  I didn't say fix it in one night.  :P:  B)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 09, 2007, 06:08:07 AM
What do I do about the image gallery?

EDIT:  Fixed the video's page ;)


Quote
did I REALLY choose those colors?

Yeah.  You did. :lol:
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 09, 2007, 06:36:56 AM
Okay.  I just got a decent domain name and submitted the site to google.  That other one was bothering the heck out of me.  Here's the new one:


www.lbtarchive.co.nr (http://www.lbtarchive.co.nr)

Quote
And get some sleep. I didn't say fix it in one night

I tend to get a little obsessive.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 09, 2007, 01:44:16 PM
Oh, and I gotta go to the city now so I can't work on it much today. :(  I'll try to revise the character page soon though.

Thanks a lot Petrie!  That was really fun!  If you look at my profile, I have web design as one of my hobbies. :lol:

It was a pain in the butt to recode the whole thing, but in the end, it was fun.  The only thing I'm worried about is the character pictures.  I have no idea how you made the pictures of the characters like that.  I know that you don't have photoshop, so how in the world did you do the pictures of the characters like that?
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Malte279 on July 09, 2007, 02:07:50 PM
Thank you for bringing the land before time archive back Austin :yes
It sure is good to have that page online again. Good going!
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on July 09, 2007, 03:15:36 PM
As long as you had fun, that's all that matters. :)  I was surprised you didn't merge the site you had already done with this one.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 10, 2007, 02:31:17 AM
Quote
I was surprised you didn't merge the site you had already done with this one.

#1, I didn't think I had the right to and #2, I didn't make my other page with html.  The best thing I could do is put a link to each other on each of them. :P:
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on July 11, 2007, 08:49:04 PM
Forgot to answer this one earlier:

Quote
The only thing I'm worried about is the character pictures. I have no idea how you made the pictures of the characters like that. I know that you don't have photoshop, so how in the world did you do the pictures of the characters like that?

Those came from using outdated software and vhs captures (yep, no dvds).  :lol:  The program was called Microsoft Picture It 2002 and it came with my old desktop.  I have Microsoft's Digital Image Pro and it can do the fancy borders, so if worst came to worst, you'd have to email me the pictures and I can continue with the border for consistency, or you have the option of not using it at all.  You're the webmaster now so its your call...don't let my interpretation from the past hold you back. :)  I honestly don't care.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: AvestheForumFox on December 15, 2007, 07:48:32 PM
Is it wrong for me to hold my head up high like a prideful Longneck for simply having my name added to the forum history? XD

A Roleplay Pioneer indeed. *smirks* but I also give credit to other wonderful members.. Manny, Kor, GreatValleyGuardian, Nick, and several other members worthy to get recognition for their efforts and help in reviving the Roleplay section.

If we continue to work together as a team, I forsee this little section of the web grow into something big.

Again, I tip my hat to you, Petrie, for your hard work and efforts
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Manny Cav on December 15, 2007, 11:12:10 PM
Yes, the Role Play pioneers are all of those who helped to, er, "revive" the thing (it never really seemed dead to me). :P: I'm not much of an RPer at all, and truth be told, I'm not that much into it, but the Insane CafÈ was my first venture into such, and also served as a sort of sandbox to get me familiar with the process and see if it's for me. So far, it is the only role play I have participated in because, as I stated, I'm not an avid RPer, so AvestheForumFox was definitely more better suited for the position of role-play moderator than I, and for that, I congratulate him. :)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Lucario#1 on June 14, 2008, 08:24:01 AM
Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Jul 9 2007 on  05:36 AM
Okay.  I just got a decent domain name and submitted the site to google.  That other one was bothering the heck out of me.  Here's the new one:


www.lbtarchive.co.nr (http://www.lbtarchive.co.nr)

Quote
And get some sleep. I didn't say fix it in one night

I tend to get a little obsessive.
hey I love the new place you said about!!! :DD
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on July 25, 2010, 09:57:11 AM
Added a tiny piece this year.  Seven months and nothing had been written for 2010.  Quiet year for us. :yes:
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: WeirdRaptor on April 20, 2011, 05:29:10 AM
So does this mean that the GoF will be celebrating a kind of tenth birthday this year, since this thing has been building up for about ten years now. Seriously, we should have some sort of celebration for the tenth year of hard work for this.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on April 20, 2011, 07:55:38 PM
That would be if you want to count those unofficial years before the board was created.  Otherwise you need to wait a couple more years for a tenth anniversary.

What would you do for ten years?  I couldn't think of anything to do...after ten years, you've pretty much done it all. :)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: WeirdRaptor on April 20, 2011, 09:24:43 PM
Well, the unofficial years were still building up to this, so there's that. Hmm. It's kind of hard to hold a celebration on a chatroom, but I'm sure there's something that can be done. Oh well, if it's not for another couple years, then I guess everyone here has plenty of time to figure it out.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Daddytops2009 on April 23, 2011, 06:52:13 PM
Nostalgia tears!  :)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: vonboy on April 23, 2011, 07:01:32 PM
Other than maybe a "GoF awards of all time" vote or something like that, I can't think of anything.

I feel kind of weird just now joining a very old board for a dead franchise. I hope this place stays alive, I don't want to see it go :cry .
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Malte279 on April 24, 2011, 05:24:39 AM
I don't think that the GOF is so dependant on the franchise that it would cease to exist with the franchise. Not only are there many topics and fanmade stuff left to discuss about it but also there are many non LBT related topics in the GOF. I think the interest in LBT provides the basic common link under which we, the members of the GOF have found together, but it is us rather than the franchise that keep this community alive. And seeing how active we are, how new and active members keep joining us, how even the very regretable decisions of some appreciated members to leave do not mean a deathblow to the community, and also seeing how some members who left returned... with all this I see the GOF as a community very much alive and not going any where any time soon.
I thank all of you for that :yes
As for 10 years anniversaries I'm not so certain if 2011 is the year for it. I also think that individual members may link different dates to the GOF. This here exact board was created in September 2004, so 2014 might be the most appropriate year for an anniversary. There had been predecessor boards to the GOF which had already been frequented by some of our members. For me personally August 2002 marks a very important point as it was when I got to know Adam, but it might be rather ego(s)centric to consider this the anniversary of the whole community.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on April 24, 2011, 09:21:13 AM
Ideally, I would set the 10th anniversary date to October 12, 2013 - that would be 10 years from the date the board (in its original creation--it wasn't the GOF from the start).  Even if it wasn't hosted here on invisionfree.

Malte, you have a point about 2002...and it sounds egocentric, but I don't believe the GOF would've happened had we not met up.  I had no intentions of a LBT site or forum....it was all Dinotopia then. ;)
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on April 24, 2011, 09:22:48 AM
Quote
I feel kind of weird just now joining a very old board for a dead franchise. I hope this place stays alive, I don't want to see it go

Well, its not a super old board...it just happens to have survived and made it through many years and happens to have LBT as a theme.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: WeirdRaptor on April 24, 2011, 07:55:49 PM
Well, if there's going to be a GoF Award Ceremony, I've got dibs on "Worse GoF Regular".
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie. on April 25, 2011, 10:22:27 PM
^ Probably no awards ceremony.  I wouldn't like that.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: WeirdRaptor on April 28, 2011, 08:13:14 PM
Well, if you give away out with or without a ceremony, I still got dibs on "Worse".
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Path Light on June 13, 2013, 05:03:26 AM
Quote from: arboldin,Aug 6 2006 on  06:52 AM
ROCK ON PETRIE! =D kudos! I made a little stick with a flag for you :)

o-----o|---------->
\(?_o)/  | LBT |
What could that be? :blink:
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie85 on June 13, 2013, 06:41:21 AM
It's amazing how the place went through so many changes over the course of twelve years. Petrie did a amazing job getting the place going even tho most of the other topics for a forum name didn't catch on. I'm happy to see this forum survive for ten long years and it's still going strong today. That is amazing that after ten years this place is still active daily and I'm happy to see a good amount of members still log in here today. Great job by the staff for keeping this going for ten years and I hope for many more years to come. And I'm happy to have been for for the two years as well and happy to see some new members join and are active here witch is also very nice to see as well. Excellent job everyone.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: LBT90321 on February 19, 2017, 11:15:59 PM
So Petrie is the GOF founder?
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: Petrie on February 24, 2017, 05:51:02 PM
Yes, I am the founder. :)  That being said, Malte279, Littlefoot1616, and Nick22 were also instrumental in making sure this forum was working from the get-go.

Hard to believe it all began 15 years ago.
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: LBT90321 on April 30, 2017, 05:05:04 PM
15 years and more to come
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: ddmkm122 on June 22, 2017, 09:10:03 AM
This is nice!  I joined in 2013 and have never really been very active, on here...
Title: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2013)
Post by: LandBeforeTimeFan2017 on August 20, 2017, 12:37:35 PM
Its amazing how long this site has been on for. more to come...
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2018)
Post by: Sneak on October 12, 2019, 01:51:43 PM
Happy Starday, Gang Of Five! ^^
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2018)
Post by: StardustSoldier on October 12, 2019, 09:29:00 PM
Happy 16th Starday to this fantastic forum!

(https://i.imgur.com/d6d4z63.jpg)
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2018)
Post by: ImpracticalDino on October 12, 2019, 10:14:10 PM
Oh crap! I didn’t realize it was the 16th anniversary of this forum! Silly ol’ me. :slap

Cheers to another year! :celebrate :cheers
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2018)
Post by: rhombus on October 13, 2019, 12:09:35 AM
Happy starday, forum!  :birthday  :celebrate :celebrate It is amazing to think it has been around for 16 years in its current form!  May it last for years to come!  :DD
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2018)
Post by: Anagnos on October 13, 2019, 03:47:53 AM
Happy birthday, dear old forum! It is indeed amazing and a delight to see the forum still standing after all these years. Even if I joined a bit later, I hope to see this forum still stand for years! :celebrate :cheers
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2018)
Post by: DiddyKF1 on October 14, 2019, 11:29:06 AM
Happy belated birthday, GoF!

Cheers to another year, and cheers to many more years to come! :cheers
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: ImpracticalDino on January 25, 2020, 12:18:18 AM
Did I seriously only discover this video just now? :P
And since the GOF Discord Group Chat (specifically Nick22) provided the idea, I’ll also assume a lot of people saw the vid way back in July.

Eh, I think it’s weird that nobody shared the vid on the forum. Unless I’m wrong and someone could prove otherwise.

I do admit that I was cringing throughout the entire vid, but it’s still very informative and I learned a few things about the site that I haven’t know of before.

But anyways...enjoy! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJhjdPTrdVI
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Mumbling on January 25, 2020, 01:45:16 AM
Did I seriously only discover this video just now? :P
And since the GOF Discord Group Chat (specifically Nick22) provided the idea, I’ll also assume a lot of people saw the vid way back in July.

Eh, I think it’s weird that nobody shared the vid on the forum. Unless I’m wrong and someone could prove otherwise.

I do admit that I was cringing throughout the entire vid, but it’s still very informative and I learned a few things about the site that I haven’t know of before.

But anyways...enjoy! :)

You're right, it was not posted on the forum. I'm not 100% sure if Adam wants to have this shared in a public space on the forum, so I've removed the video for now until I get his confirmation.

Also, it's quite rude to say
Quote
I do admit that I was cringing throughout the entire vid
"If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all." as Thumper wisely told us in Bambi.
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Sneak on January 25, 2020, 07:02:11 AM
what was it about? Discussing history of the forum?
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: ImpracticalDino on January 25, 2020, 02:42:28 PM
Did I seriously only discover this video just now? :P
And since the GOF Discord Group Chat (specifically Nick22) provided the idea, I’ll also assume a lot of people saw the vid way back in July.

Eh, I think it’s weird that nobody shared the vid on the forum. Unless I’m wrong and someone could prove otherwise.

I do admit that I was cringing throughout the entire vid, but it’s still very informative and I learned a few things about the site that I haven’t know of before.

But anyways...enjoy! :)

You're right, it was not posted on the forum. I'm not 100% sure if Adam wants to have this shared in a public space on the forum, so I've removed the video for now until I get his confirmation.

Also, it's quite rude to say
Quote
I do admit that I was cringing throughout the entire vid
"If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all." as Thumper wisely told us in Bambi.

Alrighty, fair enough. I only shared it here considering that it was already shared on a public platform on YouTube, and because it’s a much better and relaxing way of learning the history of the Gang of Five then just looking through an entire thread. I can absolutely see why someone wouldn’t be comfortable with it.

And regards to the “rude” comment I made, I admit I was weighing my options and pondering about it for awhile. That was how I truly felt throughout the vid, but I also wasn’t sure whether to add it to the final post or not. I almost decided not to include it, but I didn’t think it would hurt. My judgement believed it wouldn’t overstep boundaries, so I included it. I had positives to include with the one negative, and the comment itself wasn’t so bad considering the constant amount of bs they receive on the internet daily for doing what they like to do.

I took my chances, waited it out, didn’t think I’d receive any flack for it, came back and saw that someone wasn’t satisfied. Oh well, lesson learned. Sorry about that.

what was it about? Discussing history of the forum?

Basically, yes. :)
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Mumbling on January 26, 2020, 01:58:54 AM
I got confirmation from Adam that the video can be posted here. I've restored it in the original post.

Two rights plus one wrong still make one wrong - this isn't maths. This is about hurting someone's feelings. If you feel like you need to "take chances" making a comment like that, then it is probably best to withhold it. How would you feel if someone commented on part of your personality and called it cringy? Just give that some thought. If you need to discuss this further, send me a PM and I'll gladly explain.
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Sneak on January 26, 2020, 06:55:30 AM
My SubGod...

(wow, now text box is golden? I like it! :D)
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: ImpracticalDino on January 26, 2020, 05:29:31 PM
@Mumbling: You have made your point very firmly here, and I fully understand what you’re stating. It isn’t the first time that I had to decide whether to include something in a post or not, but apparently a lapse of judgement has occurred on that very night. Through my own tinted lens, I may have viewed it as something not to really scoff at, but for others it may be received in a different light. So, I would like to apologize for that. As I don’t want to instigate further on this sensitive topic, the discussion is adjourned.

My SubGod...

(wow, now text box is golden? I like it! :D)

...?

Tell me more. :olittlefoot
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: StardustSoldier on January 26, 2020, 06:35:15 PM
Hmm, I don't see a golden text box either. Does it appear different for you, @Sneak?
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Sneak on January 26, 2020, 07:18:40 PM
yes...
maybe this style is unique to my browser... though it appeared only today.
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: StardustSoldier on January 26, 2020, 08:18:54 PM
What browser do you use?
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: ImpracticalDino on January 26, 2020, 10:04:19 PM
^Perhaps a screenshot of the golden text box too Sneak? That would be a huge help. :yes
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Petrie on May 31, 2020, 08:08:51 AM
Did I seriously only discover this video just now? :P
And since the GOF Discord Group Chat (specifically Nick22) provided the idea, I’ll also assume a lot of people saw the vid way back in July.

Eh, I think it’s weird that nobody shared the vid on the forum. Unless I’m wrong and someone could prove otherwise.

I do admit that I was cringing throughout the entire vid, but it’s still very informative and I learned a few things about the site that I haven’t know of before.

But anyways...enjoy! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJhjdPTrdVI

That video is a good simplification of everything that happened up to 2019.  Sorry you found it cringey (must be the fursuit) but I can't please everyone, nor do I try to!
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: FallenTreeStar on September 09, 2021, 12:30:22 AM
I just got done reading the history post and watching the video. I wish I had joined years ago. I feel like I missed out in life. Thanks for keeping a record like this though. It's nice to read through. Seems like a great community that's been great for lots of lives.
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: StardustSoldier on September 17, 2021, 05:38:40 PM
I too have sometimes wished that I'd joined sooner than when I did.
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Mumbling on September 18, 2021, 01:51:22 AM
Oh man I haven't made any updates in two years!!! I'll see about adding information about 2020 and 2021 (though rereading the first post there is a very clear difference between my short facts and Petrie's lore, haha). Glad people appreciate the read though.

Believe it or not, but when I joined back in early 2008 this place already felt like a tight and established community. I too felt like I had missed out joining so late, and perhaps that I wouldn't fit in with the existing relationships people has built up. Needless to say, that fear was unfounded. Rather than regretting finding the GoF late, I think we should all be happy we joined when we did. Every single member here has been a welcome addition to the community, and it is through new members that we keep the place alive and healthy :yes So thanks for joining when you did and I hope you stick around in the future as well ^^
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: ImpracticalDino on September 19, 2021, 05:35:09 PM
For sure I'll be sticking around forever. 💚

And as soon as have a job and be able to afford it, I'll be financially supporting this forum so I can help keep it alive for the many many years to come! This is something I've wanted to do for many years now too. 😊

And personally for me, nah I have absolutely zero regrets when I joined this forum. It really doesn't matter to me, what matters is I did join this community and I found out it was the most lovely one out there in the internet! It's still not perfect at all by any means, but at least it's relatively peaceful compared to the bigger and more rampant fandoms out there.
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on November 30, 2021, 08:46:05 PM
I agree that GOF is the most friendly and constant community on the internet. On other forums I deal with drama-a-saurs, but not here. This is a sanctum in a sea of very harsh waves. 
Title: Re: The History of the Gang of Five (2001-2019)
Post by: Petrie on December 25, 2021, 02:47:45 PM
Glad to hear all the great comments about the forum as it comes up on 20 years of life. ^_^