Post by: Kobuk on November 21, 2004, 09:30:13 pm
I was just wondering about the early history of Furtopia.
Who thought up the idea of creating this community?
How did it go from idea to Internet?
What were the early days like?, and What were some of the earliest members like?
Do any of the earliest members still visit?
I myself didn't join Furtopia until Nov. 2003, but for those furs who were here longer before then, can you share some stories/history? What was it like when you first joined?
Sorry if I seem inquisitive. Just curious, that's all.
Post by: Benjamin on November 21, 2004, 09:48:58 pm
Me, I got involved about two years ago. I was looking around WS's site, since I've been a friend of his for a while, and saw that he had these rather horrible forum scripts for the users to communicate on. At that point, I suggested Ikonboard and offered to help out by setting one up and admin'ing it... and he took the offer. I set up the board, designed the graphics and all, and have helped lead it toward the success it is now. A lot of work has gone into this board, and not just from me.
What was also nice was that the look that I gave the board was eventually adopted for the hosting site as well.
Quick note here... The board here turns two years old this coming Thursday, the 25th of November, 2004.
Benjamin
Post by: firefox_b on November 21, 2004, 10:30:57 pm
Post by: on November 21, 2004, 11:11:30 pm
Post by: Kobuk on November 21, 2004, 11:26:29 pm
| Quote |
| The board here turns two years old this coming Thursday, the 25th of November, 2004. |
Happy Birthday Furtopia!
Congratulations on a wonderfull two years running and hopefully many more wonderfull years to come!
*pops open a Mt. Dew, raises it in a toast, then chugs it in a few gulps to celebrate*
Post by: Wtcher on November 22, 2004, 11:08:53 am
I refused to sign onto the forums for a very long time as the sign-up script required a gender to be filled in. One day I downloaded the page, edited the source and applied as a neutral party.
I was never particularly active in the forums. I remember them being quite a bit smaller. The same names would keep coming up in almost every thread. There was a real feeling of closeness, you could say.
Post by: on November 22, 2004, 11:53:18 am
*Rambles on for the next ten minutes, fake FX fog rolling in behind him*
And that is where babies come from.
Post by: MorbidCorvid on November 22, 2004, 12:18:06 pm
| Quote |
| ...*Rambles on for the next ten minutes, fake FX fog rolling in behind him* And that is where babies come from. |
O.O *interested look*
Post by: firefox_b on November 22, 2004, 12:36:21 pm
Post by: Kada-Ru on November 22, 2004, 01:03:06 pm
We worked out a design, on paper, very much in its' infancy, (which I still keep for nostalgia) and worked on what we wanted it to have etc. It went live on the internet on 3-21-02.
At that time it was only a hosting service. A few months later we added the forums, (giggles) as Benjamin stated, horrid but it worked. It also didn't have all the other things then that you see for the members today.
Then WS chatted with Benjamin about redoing it and like magic it was created anew! It is still the same now as it was when Benjamin took over because it looks great. The only difference between then and now is it has GROWN tremendously with the wonderful furs you see today! Yes, many are still around from the beginning but not as active at times as life has a way of getting in the way of having fun.
WS can describe more about his feelings and the things in the background that keep Furtopia running. How it used to be in our apartment, run on 8 separate computers and is now hosted elsewhere because it had grown so immensely that it needed more space. (smiles)
Post by: Sskessa on November 22, 2004, 01:58:23 pm
Post by: on November 22, 2004, 02:02:03 pm
| Quote (Sskessa @ Nov. 22 2004, 12:58 pm) |
| Wow, that is so cool....I wonder who the very first members were...*goes to snoop around in the "members" page* |
the first members were the worlocks, who aided the beasts in their neverending struggle against the first men
Post by: Wtcher on November 22, 2004, 02:55:44 pm
Post by: on November 22, 2004, 03:35:03 pm
| Quote (Wtcher @ Nov. 22 2004, 1:55 pm) |
| Now there's one name just won't go away. |
huh?
are you with the warlocks?
Post by: Kada-Ru on November 22, 2004, 03:39:33 pm
Post by: Running_Wolf on November 22, 2004, 03:52:16 pm
Post by: Kada-Ru on November 22, 2004, 07:07:35 pm
Post by: Benjamin on November 22, 2004, 09:47:01 pm
Benjamin
Post by: Sporty Fox on November 22, 2004, 10:00:55 pm
| Quote |
| (giggles) We just keep things running, you, the members are who built it up to what it is today. (smiles) |
| Quote |
| Yeah, we just put the tools in place and the users have done much of the rest here in order to make it a success. |
To both of you, WS, all the rest of the staff, and those furs who joined in the begining and kept the dream alive until it grew-
THANK YOU *and a big hug*
Post by: Rune on November 24, 2004, 10:43:12 am
It's really cool! You can see what the website looked like when it was first made. You can even click the links and see what the forums, and other things looked like.
Post by: -Otakon- on November 24, 2004, 10:59:17 am
| Quote (Rune @ Nov. 24 2004, 5:43 pm) |
| Way back mechine! It's really cool! You can see what the website looked like when it was first made. You can even click the links and see what the forums, and other things looked like. |
Wow, that's awesome.
Post by: Kada-Ru on November 24, 2004, 01:02:42 pm
Post by: on November 25, 2004, 08:52:54 am
Sorry!! Couldn't resist!!
Keep up the excellent work all you furs involved in the running of this place!!
P.S.
Anyfur know where the above quote is from? I can't remember.
Post by: SatisWindpaw on November 26, 2004, 08:00:00 pm
*fweet on a plastic toy horn*
*tiny sprinkle of confetti*
Post by: HockeyRaven on November 26, 2004, 08:15:08 pm
Post by: -Otakon- on November 27, 2004, 03:18:33 am
Post by: WhiteShepherd on November 27, 2004, 06:09:50 am
WARNING! Long story ahead.. non-computer geeks and history buffs may need a sip at Mt Dew before continuing...
Two things I've always loved growing up is computers and helping others. When I was little before there was even a desktop computer I used to cut out twinkie boxes like tv sets and using card board pieces pretend how cool it would be if it was a machine animated game.
On my first apple computer (we could not afford one but my father found one from a fire) was a Apple II+ with 32k of ram. The case was a little blackened and the "X" "S" and a few of the number keys were melted and unuseable. But it was a working computer! It wasn't long before I was customizing/upgrading it. I bought a old mainframe 1200 baud modem from the college but had to figure out a way to "wire" it to my computer as apple cables were to expensive and hard to come by. I solved this problem by stealing some wires from a dead power line. I then threaded the wires through sewing needles and taped them in place with small band-aids. Using a schematic I slowly began plugging the needles into the port on my computer.
Now I did not blow up my computer. However I did prick and fry myself for most of the day (DarkDancer can attest to watching this event! ). Plugging in one needle has a 75% chance of pulling out another and a 25% of pulling out more. So I was busy. But it did work and in Apple "Basic" wrote some of my first communication programs all designed for helping others. "Modem Hound" was a repeat dialer for modem calling busy BBS's and was the first of it's kind.
Fascinated with communications with my first 286 I started "Music & More BBS!!!" in the early 90's. The goal of this project was to create a home for artists where musicians could freely exchange, talk, and enjoy each others compositions (theme sound familiar??
). The project took off like wildfire. Aided by my a 60 meg MFM drive and 4 proto-type Sony daisy chain CD-ROM drives (for storage) "Music & More" grew to be the largest music BBS archives in the world for a couple of years. It eventually ran Wildcat BBS under OS/2 on a 386 with 4 dial in lines and 6 telnet nodes (run from a dedicated slip line). We also had many online text based games for members to enjoy and play together (Furs in Space on Furtopia came from one of these games).Things continued to grow until the phone *mafia* stepped in. In the mid 90's I got a call from a "man" at Ohio Bell "security". He warned me unless I paid them a $300/month ransom (which I did not have) I would be stopped from using my modems. I argued the point I should not have to pay it and the guy just taunted me. Well the next day all my lines had bad noise problems and the modems were having a hard time keeping sync. Every time Ohio Bell put in a order to repair the repair order was "cancelled". At one point I was even assigned a manager to over see the repair until she gave up. In the end after 8 months they told me the lines were "unfixable". Nobody would listen. One of the hardest things I ever had to do was shut down the "Music & More!!! BBS" and realize "why" it had to go. However during this time I had hooked up with other "furries" over the IRC and learned about a small close group of individuals who was just like me. This connection had got me thinking of hosting furry artists.
A couple years and college went by and with my mate Kylee, I got whiteshepherd.net in 1996. Kylee thought the idea was cool to host artists too. However I had little experience so whiteshepherd.net became my first "testing grounds" where I learned a lot from experimenting and my mistakes. Running Xitami under OS/2 I hosted us and a couple of artist friends.
Later after Kylee moved on and I met Kada-Ru I explained this "furry community project" to her that would grow to help others from being a "part" of the furs who helped it grow. Kada-Ru thought it sounded great and backed me 100% working side by side with me. This was in 2001 and I got the domain Furtopia.org .
When I started Furtopia I wanted five key elements. 1st The server HAD to be the "upmost" in stability. 2nd speed must remain good for hosted members, 3rd: as a community service give the best for free (php, perl, ssi, mysql, etc), 4th attentive, quick, and friendly tech support/atnesphere. 5th always try to respect others as equals and let Furtopia be of the community and not just my needs/ideas. Somewhere in that recipe and the efforts that put into it came a lot of furs who enjoyed the new place very much.
As far as hardware/design: In 2002 the VERY first Furtopia ran on a Cyrix 133 using OS/2 and Xitami running on a 768SDSL line (at a operation cost of about $300/month). At this time I had made a simple set of forums but i knew it was inadequate for what Furtopia needed. I could make a fantastic server but was not experienced enough with forums. In steps Ben who set up the Ikonboard we use today. Very classy design that has grown on us all the way to our main page and T-shirts! (Thanks again Ben!
Next was a upgrade to a K6/2 550 (making the Cyrix the backup server), and as the "fur data flew" to keep speed up as promised this upgraded to a Athalon 2400 running on x2 768 lines). Eventually we had to co-locate to where we are now in a Texas data center off of 11 giga feeds.So for the curious that is the VERY beginning from a infancy concept in a kid pup to the home we have today.
WhiteShepherd
Post by: on November 30, 2004, 02:14:45 pm
Post by: Kada-Ru on January 17, 2006, 09:40:43 pm
Furtopia's original look
Post by: Kobuk on January 17, 2006, 09:53:55 pm
But sadly, I'm only member #396. 
Post by: gremly on January 30, 2006, 12:28:22 pm
| Quote (Rune @ Nov. 24 2004, 3:43 pm) |
| Way back mechine! It's really cool! You can see what the website looked like when it was first made. You can even click the links and see what the forums, and other things looked like. |
ahhh, neon blue writeing! it burns! :P hehe
Post by: Serra Belvoule on February 13, 2006, 02:56:19 pm
Actually I did enjoy it. It's good to know when/where/how did this place started. =n-n= I just wanted to add it's a great thing you did. (all hail WS
)
Post by: AladTheAnthroMeerkat on May 20, 2006, 10:18:44 pm
| Quote (Kobuk @ Jan. 17 2006, 10:53 pm) |
| It would've been great to meet some of the very first members who made this community what it is. But sadly, I'm only member #396. |
I'm #677 if that's of any consolation...
Whoops. I bumped the topic after five months of inactivity... X*6~
Post by: Benjamin on May 27, 2006, 04:05:24 pm
http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Furtopia
Benjamin
Post by: Taren on May 27, 2006, 04:28:53 pm
| Quote (AladTheAnthroMeerkat @ May 20 2006, 10:18 pm) | ||
I'm #677 if that's of any consolation... Whoops. I bumped the topic after five months of inactivity... X*6~ |
I'm only #600. :\
Post by: Kobuk on May 28, 2006, 11:17:13 am
| Quote |
| There. I've been using this information to help update the history and such on the Furtopia entry on WikiFur. http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Furtopia |
Good job, Ben.
But you forgot one thing: You forgot to list Kaisilverfire as a moderator in the Staff section. 
Post by: zachhart12 on January 13, 2007, 10:47:55 pm
Post by: Foxxhoria on February 11, 2007, 08:29:15 am
Edit: four and a bit years... sorry
but two years to get like thisPost by: Kattywampus on March 07, 2007, 07:19:42 pm
| Quote (Kada-Ru @ Nov. 22 2004, 12:39 pm) |
| DJ Vix-N (4-11-02) and Kattywampus (4-12-04) were our first website applicants. (smiles) |
Psst...'02
*cracks her back and shakes a cane*
Back in my day, we used to... uh.. zzzzzzzz...
Wow, I didn't realize I was the 2nd webspace applicant!
I didn't want to join the forum at first, 'cause I don't like them generally, but Kada-Ru convinced me, and I finally did. And then they gave me that artists' forum thingie within the forum, and I'm too shy to use it. Hehehe. I'm forum member #10, incidentally.
I was desperate to find webspace that was ad-free and springtime fresh. One of my older sites, "The Ryo-Oh-Ki Shrine" got so many hits that it took me over the bandwidth limit to update it, so I had to abandon it. That's about when WhiteShepherd posted to a.l.f. about his service. Booyah! (Read about your furry history on WikiFur, kiddos!
Post by: Prince Karo on March 08, 2007, 08:27:53 pm
Enjoy! :3
Post by: Kattywampus on March 15, 2007, 01:47:34 pm
Post by: Kumori-kun on June 04, 2008, 05:50:44 pm
Aside, I think I like the old theme better. Just my opinion.
Post by: Varg the wanderer on September 08, 2008, 08:24:11 pm
Post by: Adamina on December 22, 2008, 07:20:26 pm
Gosh it's been so long since I've been back, but nowhere else is as good...
And of course old members still visit!
It's nice to know that Furtopia is still here to welcome me back...
Although I'd forgotten my password and apparently the email address I had registered here was one I stopped using shortly after joining, so I *did* have to re-activate an old email account to re-set my password. But it was worth it :)
Post by: The Wise one on August 02, 2012, 11:44:37 pm
Post by: Mylo on August 01, 2013, 10:36:24 am
We worked out a design, on paper, very much in its' infancy, (which I still keep for nostalgia) and worked on what we wanted it to have etc.
Do you still have this design? Would it be possible to post a picture of it for historical purposes (fun)? :D
Post by: Mylo on August 01, 2013, 11:23:49 am
The first Furtopia:
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/2_zps02f654fa.jpg)
Back then, Furtopia had a lot of cool features, like a Sketch-a-chat (don't know what that is):
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/4_zps929f233d.jpg)
...a "Furtopia Dice Rollem'":
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/5_zps028a6c07.jpg)
...and Furry E-Cards:
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/6_zps6430f774.jpg)
Here is Furtopia's homepage after a modification:
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/7_zps93bdf988.jpg)
...and here are the beloved Furtopia Forums!
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/1_zps4705e83d.jpg)
...and after a modification:
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/9_zps0d05a122.jpg)
It's amazing to see how this place evolved over the years. :D
Check out the history of Furtopia using the Internet Archive. (http://web.archive.org/web/20021124013033/http://www.furtopia.org/)
Post by: Mylo on August 01, 2013, 11:27:28 am
Did you know that at one time Furtopia had a sister site?
Meet...Dragon City
(http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u621/arcticmylo1/8_zps4568954c.jpg)
Post by: SkyFire on August 01, 2013, 11:43:50 am
Post by: Kobuk on August 01, 2013, 07:46:52 pm
Last but not least....
Did you know that at one time Furtopia had a sister site?
There was a third site too. Though not quite related to Furtopia in any way. It was called (I believe?) Artistsworld.org, and the site was mostly related to artwork.