THE STATE OF THE BOARD - 2011
HISTORY REPORT
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 in early 1993 and for about 6 months I was out of touch
with all my Prodigy/online 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 1,527 members. The membership level has been holding
fairly steady between the fifteen & sixteen hundred mark for several years.
HISTORY REPORT: CHARTER MEMBERS
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
(I hope I didn't miss anybody. If you're still here and I didn't list
you, PLEASE email me and let me know.)
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.
ANNIVERSARY DATE
November 29, 2011 marks the 20th 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 12 years since we went automated. Its
seems like only few years go that I was collecting the e-mails and
cutting and pasting the Digest together to send out in the evenings.
NUMBER OF DIGESTS SENT OVER THE YEARS
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 4,904 issues
of the Digest (as of November 29, 2011). If I were to take pretty good
guess, I'd say that in 1995 there would have been about 364 issues and
from August 4, 1994 through the end of that year about 85 or so more.
So, since the e-mail version of the WBMUTBB Digest didn't really start
until 1994, there have been approximately 5,355 issues of the WBMUTBB
Digest through November 29, 2011 (the Digest your reading).
DIGESTS NUMBER 5,000
The "Big" news of of 2011 was the 5,000th issue of the WBMUTBB Digest
which occurred on Sunday January 2th, 2011! To celebrate the big event
The WBMUTBB Online chapter held an online meeting on January 1, 2011 and
in attendance by phone were Bob Bravetti, Tom Rusk, Joe Gritton, Ron
Blankenship, Mike Peacock, Vicki Pillow,and me. We had a total of 15
attending in the chat room talking and visiting.
The audio of the meeting is online so any of you can go and listen to
the entire thing. You can find it on the WBMUTBB page at TalkShoe.com.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/73308
We went into a lot of history of the WBMUTBB Chapter going back to the
very beginning with Bob Bravetti and myself.
We discussed some things that have been a part of the Digest that
impacted our lives in a positive way during the 20 years that have
touched the lives of the member of our online community.
NUMBER OF DIGESTS SENT OVER THE YEARS
Folks, a lot of words about our "hometown" of Mayberry have been
delivered across the web during the last 20 years because of the WBMUTBB
Chapter and I believe it has made the world a better place to live.
This chapter wouldn't be here if it weren't for the great people that
have come together as members. It is you that keep things fresh and fun
for one another and it has always been a pleasure to read your thoughts
about what's going on in our little corner of Mayberry.
So, Happy 20th 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.cafepress.com/wbmutbb
- BUY WBMUTBB Chapter shirts, hats, coasters, and more!
http://www.TwoChairsNoWaiting.com/
- Drop by and give a listen to our Mayberry Radio Show: Two Chairs
No Waiting
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