[TheForge] theforge history who knows it?

[David E. Smucker]

A little more history and I may not have the "facts" quite right but for a 
while in the early days George Dixon helped on the list then he was followed 
by Clay Spencer.  As I remember it they worked on problems of subscription 
and unsubscribing etc.  All of this was in the Washington University time 
frame.  George even used to republish parts of theforge in ABANA's Hammers 
Blow.  Those where the days of some very hot flame wars.

Dave
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Williams" <williamsiron at comcast.net>
To: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>; "Sponsored by ABANA" 
<theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: <williamsiron at comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, November 26, 2004 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] theforge history who knows it?


> theforge started at the St Louis ABANA conference in 1994. Enrique Vega 
> organized a small group of folk, no more than 30, at an unscheduled 
> gathering to discuss ways of using the internet to improve blacksmithing. 
> The artmetal listserver hosted by Washington University was one result. 
> The on-line supplier's list was another. A formal request for support was 
> made to the ABANA board at the November 1994 meeting. However, the ABANA 
> board was leery of this new medium and took a wait and see attitude. After 
> several years, during which time the number on the list and in the 
> supplier's list grew, the ABANA board decided that the ArtMetal list had 
> too many non-blacksmiths and, so, started theforge as educational outreach 
> for both the blacksmithing community and for the public. At first, the 
> host was Washington University. They did this as a public service and 
> charged zero for it. A graduate student used theforge as a research 
> project. Problems arose as no one was responsible for maintenence of 
> theforge after the student graduated. At that time(1998 I think), I was 
> working at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. One of my coworkers, Al Waller, 
> hosted listservers for a large group of ham radio operators. Upon hearing 
> of the problems theforge was having, he said he could host theforge on his 
> system for $100 per year. The ABANA board accepted and we've been with Al 
> ever since.
>
> I hope this helps with the history of theforge and answers Terry's 
> questions. I don't remember all the names of other folk involved. Perhaps 
> Dave Brown could add to this description.
>
> Mark Williams
> Snow Hill, Maryland
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>
> To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, November 26, 2004 12:39 AM
> Subject: [TheForge] theforge history who knows it?
>
>
>> hello;
>>
>> while working on the searchable theforge archives and theforge faq it
>> dawned on me that a brief history of theforge would be nice to have in
>> the faq. so my question:
>>
>> who knows the history of theforge mailing?
>> when did theforge mailing list start?
>> how many members where there when it started?
>>
>> -- 
>> terry l. ridder ><>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
>> theforge mail list group photo site is
>> http://www.photoaccess.com
>> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
>> password:  anvil
>> ___________
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>