THE STATE OF THE BOARD - 2012 (November 29, 2011)
For our newer members, and to remind those who have been chapter members
for years, it's always good to start the State of the Board address with
a history of the WBMUTBB Chapter.
HISTORY REPORT
Back in April of 1990, a fellow named Bob Bravetti was on the Prodigy
computer network. He started what was called a "topic" on the Prodigy
bulletin board system with a subject header of "The Andy Griffith Show".
After a few replies and a little bit of chatter, the topic died off.
In the early fall of 1990, Allan Newsome signed up for the Prodigy
network and started a "topic" on the same bulletin board system Bob had
originally started his topic. The "topic" was called "Andy Griffith
Show." After that first message Allan was joined (over time) by more
than 57 other fans of The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS), including Bob who
was the very first person to reply to Allan's note, who enjoyed visiting
online and talking about Mayberry.
On the first anniversary of the posting of the "Andy Griffith Show"
topic by Allan, those original 57 or so Mayberry fans decided to make
the group of TAGS fans a "real" chapter of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun
Watchers Club (TAGSRWC). People sent 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's approval arrived by mail
on November 29, 1991 in the form of our Chapter Charter from TAGSRWC
Headquarters in Nashville
1991-1999
For another two and a half years things continued to grow. Friends were
made online that sprouted into "real world" friendships. Members shared
photos of one another by postal mail (we couldn't really do it online
back then) which allowed faces to be associated with those that until
then had only been names on a computer monitor. Times were wonderful.
Allan left Prodigy in early 1993 and for about 6 months he was out of
touch with all the Prodigy/online Mayberry friends. Then he 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. Allan emailed them right away because he missed the fun
and fellowship he 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. By
August 1, 1994 (the oldest "New Member Update" still accessible) the new
Internet version of WBMUTBB had 25 members.
The "New Member Update" was emailed out manually on a regular basis to
all members of WBMUTBB so everyone could stay in touch. Back in those
days, there was no good way to create an automated email list so
manually emailing every member was the only way to stay in contact.
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 over to Allan. 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.
10TH ANNIVERSARY - NOVEMBER 2001 - PRESENT
Chapter membership grew to a high of over 1,740 members in November 2001
(our 10th Anniversary year).
Since 2001 we have fallen in number, but not in spirit, to 1,518
members. The membership level has been holding fairly steady between
the fifteen & sixteen hundred mark for twelve 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 on Prodigy 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.)
HAND DELIVERING THE WBMUTBB DIGEST (1994-1999)
For the first five years of the Internet version of the WBMUTBB Digest,
until November 5th, 1999, Allan Newsome did the WBMUTBB Digest by hand
everyday. For those five years, members would e-mail Allan any comments
they would like to make to the group. He would gather all the comments
and place them into a single e-mail "Digest" and then email the hand
created "WBMUTBB Digest" out to all (by the end) 1,300+ members. He did
this every day for five years only missing a few days in the process.
AUTOMATING THE WBMUTBB DIGEST (1999-2001)
In November 1999, the collecting and emailing of the WBMUTBB Digest to
its members was finally automated. The time consuming process of
collecting the e-mails and cutting and pasting the Digest together to
send out in the evenings was over.
THE WBMUTBB DIGEST TODAY (2012-Present)
In November 2001 the Digest had "growing pains" because WBMUTBB's
mailing list became so large that the software used to mail the WBMUTBB
Digest to all the members each day could no longer handle the number of
members. So we moved to the software we now use, called "mailman." This
move changed the look of the Digest a little but has allowed our chapter
members to continue to enjoy our little corner of Mayberry.
END OF WBMUTBB HISTORY
COMMENTS BY ALLAN FOLLOW
ANNIVERSARY DATE
November 29, 2012 marks the 21st Anniversary of the WBMUTBB Chapter here
online!! Wow....
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 5,278 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 5,729 issues of the WBMUTBB
Digest through November 29, 2012 (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.
I know it's a year old but I still think it is fun to hear so check it
out if you're a mind too.
MAKING THE WORLD A LITTLE BETTER PLACE
Folks, a lot of words about our "hometown" of Mayberry have been
delivered across the web during the last 21 years because of the WBMUTBB
Chapter. I think the chapter and it's members HAVE made the world a
better place to live. I know that to be true for me...the world is
better for having this chapter and it's members in my life.
This chapter wouldn't still be here if it weren't for the great people
that have been drawn 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.
Happy 21st Anniversary to the "Who's Been Messin' Up the Bulletin
Board?" Chapter. May we continue to enjoy all the fun and fellowship
that Mayberry has to offer.
Sincerely,
--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 Two Chairs No Waiting and/or
http://www.MayberryBibleStudyPodcast.com
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