The Birth of Orbiter-Forum
Posted 11-22-2009 at 07:24 PM by Tex
October 14, 2007 - Orbiter-Forum.com is founded.
Some of you have been around long enough to remember when I first suggested the idea of setting up a new Orbiter forum over on the M6 forum. The idea was not very well accepted among the senior members (rightfully so, no one wants to start all over again) which ended up in me giving up on the idea all together for the time being. This was probably a good thing since at the time I had just founded a vBulletin forum setup for friends and Formula 1 fans, so I had little webmaster experience.
About a year after I founded my first forum, I decided to go ahead and purchase a domain for a new Orbiter forum and another vBulletin license. I was dedicated to providing a solid platform for the community to expand with its ever growing membership. Needless to say it wasn't long before the M6 server started having more serious issues and everyone initially thought the database had been lost. Users were left stranded at their keyboards hailing the probe in an attempt to bring the server back to life. Fortunately the database was able to be restored after the hosting company could finally be reached.
Several members had already found Orbiter-Forum and joined before the more serious M6 server issues, however the amount of down-time the M6 servers were experiencing lead to the majority of the membership migrating over to Orbiter-Forum. It seemed almost over night the forum got busy with lots of traffic and has continued to grow to this day. By this time Martin had taken notice which lead to my first contact with the ever mysterious man himself and the beginning of a friendship which would continue to grow over the coming years.
Two years later we have just over 3,000 members, 10,200+ threads, and 126,000+ posts. We've seen a lot of great discussions and projects developed over that time and it's been very exciting to be a part of it all! I would like to thank everyone for all your support and contributions the past 2 years and I would also like to say thank you to all of our moderators who spend countless hours on the forum. Most people don't realize just how much energy is put into each issue. When someone reports a post the moderators are busy discussing the issue which helps them come to an objective decision together. Combine that with the time they spend just monitoring the site and you can begin to understand just how much work they put into this community. Last but, not least - I'd like to say thank you to Vash for offering to host Orbiter-Forum after we outgrew the shared server we were on. Without his help we would probably be struggling to stay online today.
Here's to all of you and a bright future for us all!
HAIL
Some of you have been around long enough to remember when I first suggested the idea of setting up a new Orbiter forum over on the M6 forum. The idea was not very well accepted among the senior members (rightfully so, no one wants to start all over again) which ended up in me giving up on the idea all together for the time being. This was probably a good thing since at the time I had just founded a vBulletin forum setup for friends and Formula 1 fans, so I had little webmaster experience.
About a year after I founded my first forum, I decided to go ahead and purchase a domain for a new Orbiter forum and another vBulletin license. I was dedicated to providing a solid platform for the community to expand with its ever growing membership. Needless to say it wasn't long before the M6 server started having more serious issues and everyone initially thought the database had been lost. Users were left stranded at their keyboards hailing the probe in an attempt to bring the server back to life. Fortunately the database was able to be restored after the hosting company could finally be reached.
Several members had already found Orbiter-Forum and joined before the more serious M6 server issues, however the amount of down-time the M6 servers were experiencing lead to the majority of the membership migrating over to Orbiter-Forum. It seemed almost over night the forum got busy with lots of traffic and has continued to grow to this day. By this time Martin had taken notice which lead to my first contact with the ever mysterious man himself and the beginning of a friendship which would continue to grow over the coming years.
Two years later we have just over 3,000 members, 10,200+ threads, and 126,000+ posts. We've seen a lot of great discussions and projects developed over that time and it's been very exciting to be a part of it all! I would like to thank everyone for all your support and contributions the past 2 years and I would also like to say thank you to all of our moderators who spend countless hours on the forum. Most people don't realize just how much energy is put into each issue. When someone reports a post the moderators are busy discussing the issue which helps them come to an objective decision together. Combine that with the time they spend just monitoring the site and you can begin to understand just how much work they put into this community. Last but, not least - I'd like to say thank you to Vash for offering to host Orbiter-Forum after we outgrew the shared server we were on. Without his help we would probably be struggling to stay online today.
Here's to all of you and a bright future for us all!
HAIL
Total Comments 16
Comments
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Tex, O-F is a great piece of workPosted 11-22-2009 at 07:34 PM by garyw 
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Well done!Posted 11-22-2009 at 07:36 PM by dougkeenan
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awesome keep it up!
Posted 11-22-2009 at 07:49 PM by RustyM
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It's great to part of the community. And I always notice how cool this is.
Posted 11-22-2009 at 08:01 PM by the.punk
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This is without doubt one of the best and friendliest forums I've ever come across...great work!Posted 11-22-2009 at 08:37 PM by Fabri91
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Greetings from the ever mysterious man
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It's a momentous anniversary for an integral component of the Orbiter experience!
Cheers to Tex and the moderators who keep this forum running smoothly, even when we users get into the occasional mudslinging contest.
Posted 11-22-2009 at 11:16 PM by martins
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Well said, Tex. Very well said.Posted 11-23-2009 at 06:20 PM by Orbinaut Pete
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Has it been a full year already? my my, where has the time gone?
I still remember signing up though, It was almost vacant forum. It says I am the 18th member to sign up.Posted 11-23-2009 at 06:42 PM by Bj
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Thank you everyone, it's been a pleasure for me! Here's to another two fantastic years!Posted 11-23-2009 at 08:10 PM by Tex
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Thanks, Tex!
Hail!Posted 11-24-2009 at 05:16 PM by Arrowstar
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Thanks Tex and Vash for providing this wonderful service that allows this community to continue to grow and thrive. Without it, I'd still be bound in Orbiter to LEO in a Deltaglider, or confined to the Earth-Moon system at best. Here's to another two years and beyond!
Hail!Posted 11-24-2009 at 06:57 PM by n122vu
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I've seen so much forums opening and closing right after or left abandoned that I must admit that I had some doubt at start. Maintaining a forum on the long run is a huge work and require great qualities.
Now there is two years that you created this forum and all the work done is really really impressive. It show a real dedication, great managment and there is a lot of great ideas in O-F.
In brief: Much thanks to you and all the peoples involved.
(I'm not sure Probe allow icon to replace his mighty name so )
HAIL Probe ! (and his son for those that follow )
Cheers
DanPosted 11-25-2009 at 12:13 PM by dansteph
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I was hailing the while reading this interesting history.Posted 11-26-2009 at 01:28 AM by Unstung
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I am mostly just a reader - but I have welcomed change from limited software and slow servers of M6 forums with great joy. I admire all the work that has been put into this.
Simply Amazing.Posted 11-28-2009 at 09:12 AM by shamandgg
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Can't believe it's been so long already. Great job bailing us out from the Great M6-o-clysm of 2008, Tex.Posted 12-01-2009 at 05:18 AM by Andy44
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"Users were left stranded at their keyboards hailing the probe in an attempt to bring the server back to life."
Bwahahahahah
"... and I would also like to say thank you to all of our moderators who spend countless hours on the forum. Most people don't realize just how much energy is put into each issue. When someone reports a post the moderators are busy discussing the issue which helps them come to an objective decision together."
Tell me about it. I was an admin/moderator myself and I've had it with some people so I dropped the job. It's easier to program a heartless machine than to be keeping order on a forum. Even before I was moderating another forum with 3 admins and each one of them was doing completely different things without consulting anything... This job is indeed for the most responsible and patient people around.Posted 12-29-2009 at 08:44 AM by Enjo
