History of the Forum - a short retrospective

[goodNumber10]

Right then, had an interesting conversation with one of the MODs and it got me thinking that I actually know sod all about the forum and how it got started and became the gargantuan TRF it is now. I've only been here since February but i think the forums been going a good decade or so?

I always presumed it was a Rugby League forum that had slowly mutated into the Hybrid forum it is now, but i know the site ownership has changed hands a few times, and that there used to be a blog attached to it (I think but can't seem to find now).

So can someone do a kind of short history of the forum, how it started, how it became what it is now, the biggest moments in the forum and so on... not looking for dirt, just kind of curious.

Others feel free to post how long you've been using the forum (some people might have changed accounts or only lurked).

cheers

 

[Draggs]

We celebrated our 10th anniversary/birthday last year; 2003 RWC helped boost TRF in the first year. Partnerships with various gaming companies has been part of the TRF fabric (Swordfish, HB, now the managers).

I've only been on since 2010, brought in because of Rugby 08 mods (thanks Intercept King!). RWC2011 saw a huge draw, and a good chunko of our current membership is from the 2010/12 period surrounding it.

 

[Saints1]

The site went live in early May 2003 (I was member number 27) and was a MASSIVE success during the 2003 RUWC. However, Dom, the founder was a kid and he didn't plan ahead. Basically he ran out of money, the forum experienced a huge number of server issues that didn't get resolved and the domain was allowed to expire. With help (he e-mailed members and we had a whipround) he renewed it in the September of 2004 and that's when TRF really got going permanently. Dom grew up quickly and in 2006 he was heading off to uni. I wanted to buy, he wanted to sell but only to me. I brought Charlie (getofmeland) on board when he expressed an interest because whilst I had so many grand ideas, I had no technical know how as to how to do them! Funny how things never change!

Whilst we've had bumps in the road me and Charlie worked together very closely and instinctively trust each other to do the right thing. For 12 months the only accord we had was the fact he had transferred money into my PayPal account! We sorted it out properly when he came up to see a Liverpool game (which was a horrific 0-0 draw) and we've been friends ever since, which is massive testament to how much you can trust someone even if you've only ever met them a handful of times, we live at opposite ends of the country. Teh Mite was also a huge part of the forum, he did a lot of work for us and he's a fantastic bloke.

We've always had a core of members. There was an absolutely brilliant meet up in 2007 when four of us went to Cardiff for the inaugural Super League Millennium Magic. To this day that's still the best weekend I've ever had, it was absolutely brilliant and made league interest for life in three people, and I met Rob in 2008 (how quick has that gone Rob?) for the same event but it was just me on that occasion, our host with the most had decided to travel to New Zealand.

Charlie organised world cup meet ups in London but that was a long time ago now, not been anything like that in a long time.

It took until 2008 before it became very busy again when we poured every resource into getting it ready for the 2007 RUWC and that's when we became big in rugby terms. Rugby gaming has always been a thing we've been known for; the hosting was paid for by Swordfish Studios from 2004 - 2007. HB Studios gave us plenty of exposure in 2011 with the tie in for RWC2011 game.

And now we're here. A year away from the next big event.

 

[dasNdanger]

The only history I know is this...

I came, I saw, I derailed threads.

:blush:


das

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

i Joined the forum the same way Draggs did (well kinda) i was brought here looking for an updated version of rugby 08, then i did some rugby 08 modding i just merged to the rest off the section.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I found the forum in 2006 when I started playing EA Rugby 06 and wanted to update the roster.

 

[squirrel]

I think I found the forum in 04 but I had a different username and got banned but re-joined in 06 to access some gaming info.

 

[LittleGuy]

Do you know whatever happened to Dom, Saints? Did he vanish entirely or did he poke around here from time to time before fading away? Cant recall ever seeing a Dom on here during my time on the forum as a member or occasional lurker.

Edit: Think the blogging slowly faded away GN10, with the ease of starting a blog these days we simply lost a lot of those users over to their own pages. Some of our last few left over fights with members in around 2011-12ish(some justified, others just because they couldn't handle the slightest criticism of their pieces). Current members published a few but most seemed to not generate much traffic and people realized they were better off just to stick with normal forum usage.

 

[nickdnz]

I lurked around during the 2007 RWC but it took me eventually buying rugby 08 on PC (in 2009) before I joined for all the goodies (there was a brief moment between the RWC and 2008 June tours that I wanted nothing to do with rugby for a while )..

 

[jonny24]

Fascinating stuff guys! I apparently joined in August 2012, which I don't recall at all. Maybe I'll go look up whatever I was doing then. Found my way back last year looking for kit info or something.

 

[goodNumber10]

cheers guys, fascinating stuff. Really amazed about the games companies backing it.

Is it expensive to run a forum? i have been involved in a few, non-rugby, but never in the hosting side of one.

Also, a bit off topic, but noticed the facebook stream hasn't been updated since february, why not link it into the twitter stream so one message posts to both - let the couple of thousand people know the forum is alive and well

 

[Peat]

Gotta say, the computer game angle was what drew me here as well. Needed some stuff for EA Rugby. Was perfectly happy just being on Rugby Rebels until that point. Now I probably use here more than there, although that's as much due to RR going through a bunch of changes and the Ulster community on that site having got a little splintered.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I joined as a gaming dick too! How times have changed, now I'm just a dick.

 

[big ginger 8]

I was at cmac's house one day when he was talking about this rugby website he joined, he showed me an argument he was having with someone and I decided **** that mother****er and joined to fight the good fight as superrprop...or something before getting banned and coming out of the ashes as BG8.

 

[Groundhog]

Yeah except you got banned like 13 times, not once and then pretended you were someone else when you created BG8, fooling no one. You were a thundering disgrace of a 15 year old.
I was a gaming section newb, quickly started posting in the general section. The fact that I knew cmac in real life was a mere coincidence.

 

[big ginger 8]

Yeah except you got banned like 13 times, not once and then pretended you were someone else when you created BG8, fooling no one. You were a thundering disgrace of a 15 year old.
I was a gaming section newb, quickly started posting in the general section. The fact that I knew cmac in real life was a mere coincidence.

Hush now. I'm better than tadgniator and that's a slightly exaggerated number.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Tadginator is one of my favorite posters whenever he appears, what a rediculous person.

Edit: Just look at this, best thread/pre drinks of all time. http://www.therugbyforum.com/threads/33587-Quitting-The-TRF/page3

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Gotta say, the computer game angle was what drew me here as well. Needed some stuff for EA Rugby. Was perfectly happy just being on Rugby Rebels until that point. Now I probably use here more than there, although that's as much due to RR going through a bunch of changes and the Ulster community on that site having got a little splintered.

Maybe just my perception but a lot of people on Rugby Rebels seem to be quite one eyed... in fact their opinions are not very 'rebellious' at all.

Agree with BG8's reason for joining - generally you're happy just lurking most of the time until you see something you massively disagree with, and then you make an account just so you can tell that person how much of a tool they are!

I lurked from about 2008 during international seasons until finally making an account in 2010.

 

[Peat]

No rugby forum is free from the curse of the Cyclops tbh. I learned an awful lot about the game from there and made some good friends too. Would never have picked up one of Jim Greenwood's books without that place, and I can recommend them to everyone with half an interest in rugby.

 

[Rich Taff]

Personally, I got fed up with the cellar dwellers and keyboard warriors on Yahoo Eurosports news. Became impossible to have a proper discussion without some halfwit in their parents basement interrupting threads with (pick a)phobic comments.
Did a search for 'rugby forums' and surprisingly enough, found this place.