Happy anniversary RV Forum

[Tom]

We're approaching the one year anniversary of the RV Forum at our current location. After more than 10 years at the old place, we moved the forum here and started over. Today we have over 3500 members, including many long-time members, and the number continues to increase daily.

What's kept us going?

• The wonderful group of folks who come here and readily share their knowledge and experience, in addition to the folks who openly share their problems and ask questions.
• Our great team of volunteer staff who spend countless hours patiently answering questions; I really can't thank these folks enough for all they do.
• The folks who donated $$ to help offset the costs; Without their generosity I'd be digging into my pockets to pay the bills.

A big thank you to all for making this the friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing.

Hopefully, we've lived up to expectations and kept our promise to make the forum easy to use, with no commercial ads in forum messages. We've also tweaked the software to implement additional functionality requested by our members. We won't make a lot of promises for the future, but we do have some new/improved features planned.

Please remember that the forum needs your continued participation to keep going; If everyone merely reads and nobody asks questions or provides answers, it will soon become stale. So, please ask questions, help a fellow RVer with an answer, tell us about a repair you made, share recipes, crafts and hobbies, and post stories and photos from your trips. Most importantly, share in the friendship of the folks we collectively refer to as The Framily. If you get an opportunity, join us at one or more of the forum rallies, where you'll be sure to receive a warm welcome. (See the Calendar for rally dates and venues.)

For anyone interested, the following is a timeline of events that led to our move a year ago:

January, 2005

• Attendees at the Quartzsite rally/potluck voted to move the forum from the old (Compuserve) location because it had become unusable for many and was burdened with numerous commercial ads and repeated login difficulties.
• We moved our web site to a new host and installed the forum software.

February, 2005

• The forum staff were getting acquainted with the software and giving it a workout.
• A limited number of folks were invited to join us.

March, 2005

• We opened the doors.
• Many familiar faces started showing up, including folks who'd previously given up and had left the old venue.

To help maintain the resource that the RV Forum has become, please consider donating a little something to help offset our costs. You'll find the Donate button in the toolbar above.

 

[Jeff]

Tom:

Happy Anniversary to you as well.

Thanks for all the work!

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

Everything has run so smoothly it just seems like we've been here forever. Thanks to you we are now back together as one big, happy framily with a comfortable home where we can gather at anytime.

I think the forum has met everyone's expectation and probably exceeded many of them. It is so much more pleasant to use than our old home and much faster, too. As some would say "You done good!!!". Thanks!!!!

 

[Ned]

Congratualations on a job well done.  See, we told you so

 

[Tom]

Thanks Jeff. I've sure appreciated your kind words of encouragement.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Jim and thanks for all the time you spend helping folks. It sure does feel like we've been here forever.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Ned.

See, we told you so

That's very true and it sure feels good to have made a relatively smooth transition.

 

[Tom]

Steve, I honestly don't know the original date. I came along shortly afterwards, but can't even recall that date. Somewehere in my archive I have a message from John Wilson, our original librarian, who helped fill in a couple of gaps.

 

[Ron]

Happy Anniversary to you to Tom and Thanks for all you have done to make it happen.  We all appreciate all the time and effort put in to make this Friendlest RV Forum happen.  Yes this home is much more satisfying than the previous.  Thanks again Tom for your leadership, insights, work, and time you put in keeping this forum going.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Ron and thanks for all your help. Folks can be sure of a "friendly face" when you welcome them, either on the forum or in person.

 

[Kenneth]

Happy anniversary to all of you who have made this the absolutely best ,most framily type atmosphere for Fulltimers and wanabe's on the net.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the kind words Kenneth.

 

[Bob Maxwell]

Tom,

Thank you and all of the staff and contributors that make this RV community one that many of us consider our first choice for friends.

You need to know that a long time member, Steve/NJ, was never able to make the crossover until this week. Steve and I conversed by email this winter while I tried to troubleshoot his problem. Finally I asked the right questions, first as to the url he was using and then "Do you have java on your computer?" "Uh, what's java?" I sent him a link to Sun's download and after a years absence, Steve pulled up his chair once again at the Virtual Campfire.

Now if we can get Joe Frost and Marty Erhlich back, the circle will be complete. Some of us are still in touch with both of them and time will tell. Then there's the Gray Ghost. . .

 

[Shayne]

Congrats Tom and many more to come

 

[Mike Goad]

Congratualations to Tom and everyone else that has made this the exceptional forum that it is.  I'm still a "newbie" here ? and don't even have an RV yet ? but I've looked around at a lot of the other RV forums that are available on the internet and this is by far the best I've seen and the easiest to use.

I've already spent a lot of hours here just poking around and learning in some of the older threads and I've already learned a lot that will be helpful when we get to where we are ready for me to retire and for us to hit the road.  (That's still a year away, but we've been planning for it for over 20 years.)

Again, congratualations to all involved in this forum and thanks for the interest and caring that all of you put into it!

 

[Tom]

Thanks Shayne and thanks for the kind words Mike. Those are the kind of comments that make it all worthwhile.

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

I don't think one can participate in this forum that you created without wanting to help keep it going. It is a true pleasure to visit here everyday.

 

[Tom]

Jim, I sure get a lot of pleasure from it myself and I learn something new every day. I don't always remember what I learn for very long though  :-[

 

[Jim Dick]

Jim, I sure get a lot of pleasure from it myself and I learn something new every day. I don't always remember what I learn for very long though  :-[

That's OK because most of us don't remember stuff that long!

 

[Tom]

Bob,

The pleasure is all mine and I'm honored to work alongside a great team of volunteers. Your efforts are very much appreciated; You provide great counsel to us all and have been a pillar of our community for many years.

Glad to hear you were able to help Steve get back online here.

Now if we can get Joe Frost and Marty Erhlich back, the circle will be complete.

I agree and there are a few others who have strayed and not returned.