Hey folks, Below is the annual State of the Board report and while many of you will remember the history of our little corner of Mayberry...many will not. If you think it is the same as those reports from the past, well...it isn't. I've updated the data to reflect this years data.
THE STATE OF THE BOARD - 2009 Back in April of 1990, Bob Bravetti was on the Prodigy computer network and he started the topic on the Prodigy "bulletin board" system with a subject of "The Andy Griffith Show". After a few replies and a little chatter, the subject died off. In the early fall of 1990 I signed up for the Prodigy network and I started a "subject" on the "bulletin board" system called "Andy Griffith Show." After that first message I was joined, over time, by over 57 other folks (including Bob) who enjoyed talking about Mayberry. On the first anniversary of that first message, we decided to make our group of TAGS fans a "real" chapter of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club (TAGSRWC) so we had people send in their suggestions for a chapter name and "Who's Been Messin' Up the Bulletin Board?" (WBMUTBB) was born. A note requesting the chapter name was sent to TAGSRWC HQ on November 4, 1991 and official verification of our chapter arrived by mail on November 29, 1991 in the form of out Chapter Charter from TAGSRWC Headquarters in Nashville I left Prodigy and for about 6 months I was out of touch with all my Prodigy Mayberry friends. Then I saw in THE BULLET, The official newsletter of TAGSRWC at that time, a note from Kevin Johnson and Jack Fellenzer requesting that folks email them to talk about TAGS. I emailed them right away because I missed the fun and fellowship I had with fellow TAGS fans and the WBMUTBB Chapter folks. That note in THE BULLET resulted in the WBMUTBB Chapter being expanded from just being on Prodigy to being on the whole Internet and by August 1, 1994 the Internet version of WBMUTBB had 25 members. Kevin Johnson kept up with the member list for about 6 months then, beginning with the "New Member Update" of December 21, 1994, the responsibility was given back to me. We had 50 members on that update. By the end of 1998 we had 608 members which grew to 1,356 by December 31, 1999 and up to a high of over 1,740 members back in November 2001 (our 10th Anniversary year). Since then we have fallen in number, but not in spirit, to 1,522 members which has been holding fairly steady near the fifteen hundred mark for several years. Our online Mayberry friends have come and gone but I would like to mention the three Charter Members who have been with us from the beginning and are STILL here and a at least somewhat active part of the WBMUTBB Chapter: Bob Bravetti Allan Newsome Kathy Jo Stahl Back in November 2001 we had some "growing pains" because WBMUTBB's mailing list became so large that the software we used to mail the WBMUTBB Digest to all of you each day could no longer handle the number of members. So we moved to the "mailman" software system. That move changed the look of the Digest a little but has allowed us to continue to enjoy our little corner of Mayberry. November 29, 2009 marked the 17th Anniversary of the WBMUTBB Chapter here online!! Wow.... I looked back and realized that up until November 5th, 1999...I did the WBMUTBB Digest by hand everyday. It's mostly automated now and I don't have to work quite so hard to keep things running (most of the time) but its hard to believe that it's been 9 years since we went automated. It seems like just a few months ago that I was collecting the e-mails and cutting and pasting the Digest together to send out in the evenings. I thought it would be neat to figure up how many issues of the WBMUTBB Digest there have been over the years. I'm not able to say exactly how many there were between 1994 and 1996 but since 1996, by the banks best estimate and their machines are gooooood, there have been 4,517 issues of the Digest (as of November 29, 2009). In 1995 there were 364 issues and from August 4, 1994 through the end of that year 85 more. So, since the e-mail version of the WBMUTBB Digest didn't really start until 1994, there have been approximately 4,966 issues of the WBMUTBB Digest through November 29, 2009. Folks, that is a lot whole lot of words about our "hometown" of Mayberry that have been delivered across the web. This chapter wouldn't be here if it weren't for the great people that have come together as members. You folks keep things fresh and fun for each other and it's always a pleasure to read what's going on in our little corner of Mayberry. Happy 18th Anniversary to the Who's Been Messin' Up the Bulletin Board Chapter and may we continue to enjoy all the fun and fellowship that Mayberry has to offer. --Allan Newsome http://www.wbmutbb.com/ http://www.mayberry.com/podcasts/ - Drop by and give a listen to our Mayberry Radio Show: Two Chairs No Waiting PS: Believe it or not, I've never removed the 15 Anniversary items from the web so if any of you are interested, drop by our store ( http://www.cafepress.com/wbmutbb) and order a shirt, mouse pad, or something. Please REMEMBER to shop at Weaver's Department Store ( http://www.WeaversDepartmentStore.com) for any Christmas Mayberry stuff you're looking for. Weaver's is the one the keeps Mayberry.com and the WBMUTBB Digest going. http://www.cafepress.com/wbmutbb _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
