I've Been on a Few Messageboards

Message Boards

A message board is an online community for like minded individuals pursuing a particular hobby.

With social media, joining a message board is less common, or at least less trafficked. I'm going to run through the various boards I joined, I think I have the order right. The first few I was active for a year then moved on. Interests change and time seems to keep speeding up.

Chevy Truck Phase
The first board I joined was fullsizechevy.com. This had to be around 2000. My brother had just gotten a GMT400, though back then it was just called an OBS (old body style), the prior gen were square bodies and the 1999 and new trucks were NBS (new body style). Now it's a GMT400.

This is the only logo I could find of the site.

I saw all kinds of trucks, and I had always been a fan of sport trucks since I knew what cars were. I saw audio installs out of fiberglass and interior components covered in vinyl. This led me to later attempt a few installs on my Nissan Hardbody I had. I used closed cell foam for pattern and had the headliner covered. I made a plywood center console covered in gray vinyl with a hinged fiberglass lid. I even built speaker boxes that fit into the jump seat compartments, though they were never finished. These were my first attempts at any kind of DIY. I later fiberglassed the entire dash, making aluminum vents.

I did create an underseat 10" sub box for my brother's GMT400 out of MDF and fiberglass, covered in carpet. It looked really good.

It was a small forum but they felt like a family. I never posted, I hardly ever do to any site, but you knew everybody and they constantly joked around. I learned the ins and outs of the truck like what years are the best, how to lower them, etc. I was mostly off the site after a year, but still visited on occasion. I still remember a lot of the trucks owned by regular posters. That site seems dead now.

300ZX Phase
Then I joined twinturbo.net. I wanted a second gen 300ZX. I STILL want a 300ZX. I look into that every couple of years. I spent a lot of time on the site and became knowledgeable about the cars and was able to answer a lot of general questions. It was also a small site where you knew everyone.
I joined this board in 2001, after The Fast and the Furious movie. I had always been into dropped trucks and hot rods, I had never considered import cars. They seemed more affordable than a hot rod.

Logo unchanged 20 years later.

I got to know all the regular players, though it was mostly by their cars.

Nissan Truck Phase
I got a Nissan Hardbody instead of a 300ZX. I still was on twinturbo, just not as much. I think the site was nissanhardbody.com, but it's now defunct and I can't determine if that was it. I'm not even sure if that's the name. I remember when for some reason it just ended. The site was gone. I was well known on that site, the best I've been known on any site. I had acquired a junkyard truck I sold parts off it. I had a great seller reputation and offered a lot of advice on how to dismantle the trucks. I also created my first GIF on that site, an avatar of a cartoon truck with wheels spinning. It was rudimentary at best.
I had a couple of people from the site I chatted with on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger).

I created a few image signatures for people with my photoshop skills. I think I won a contest with a signature for a mod. On message boards people used to have signatures with images and quotes, imagine that.

It was a good truck until the transmission went out.

I also would visit a fiberglass forum on occasion just to see the crazy projects, but I never joined.

RX-7 Phase
And then, rx7forums.com. I got a FD3, a 1994 R2 instead of a 300ZX. It was silver, one of only 83 made that year in that color of that model. I remember JimLab's crazy LS1 RX-7 that may still not be finished. There was the advice guy with pages of him giving out advice. Where the 300ZX forum only did bolt on mods, the RX-7 crew went all out with custom programming for the computer.

I couldn't afford any of the mods, I barely could afford the car. Sometimes I miss that thing.

This forum introduced me to a lot of new music, tv, and video games. Because of this forum I discovered Fallout and Donnie Darko.

Car Club
I joined a message board for my collegiate car club. That was 12 people big. I was on that for a couple years before the club, or maybe I, moved on.

S10 Blazer Phase
I joined blazinlow.com in 2006, selling parts on that site too. I had a lot of big plans for the 1991 Blazer I got, but never got far. I remember this green blazer maybe the guy's name was PhatFarm. Lot of time into that project.

Logo unchanged 13 years later.

I removed moulding, it already had a 3/4 drop. I eventually painted it myself, bought another Blazer for parts.
I also joined s10forums.com, though wasn't very active. I would check out the 1st gen forum on occasion.

IMDB Message Boards
I'd visit the IMDB message boards here and there to read fan theories and to see what other people got out of movies. I remember reading predictions for The Shield episodes in it's last year.
I was disappointed when IMDB dropped the boards, I enjoyed diving deeper into a movie and seeing what others got out of it. I don't know of a place like that anymore.

Neogaf - Video Games & More
In 2007 I joined neogaf.com because I needed more info on GTA IV. I stayed on the gaming side for probably a year before venturing to off topic. It was a huge site and I didn't post much.
This may be the most impactful site I joined. It's what started me writing and introduced me to nanowrimo, which sadly is the only time I write at this point. It also inspired me to start creating pixel art. I've done some, not much. It takes a LONG time!
I stayed on neogaf until it imploded in 2017.  I didn't migrate to Restera either. I had quit playing video games as much by that point.

At some point I browsed a scale model forum for a bit. I always liked 1/24 plastic car models as a kid. I built and customized quite a few. I've always wanted to build a diorama with a car in it, but too many ideas, too little time.

Props
I joined therpf.com in 2013. I was a regular for under a year. I don't visit often, mainly if I want to research a prop or costume. I discovered that site through Instructables.com. I have no idea how I found Instructables but I know my first few visits were redirected from Google searches for building a racing lawnmower.

When I was building my Assassin's Creed costume, searching Instructables for tips I was reading a post that kept referencing terms I had to Google. The results kept turning up from therpf.com

I wish I made more props, I really just made one and now I make a costume for Halloween each year.

Reddit
I joined Reddit in 2015 to promote my podcast and stuck around. It's become my primary source of message board type stuff because you get all of these various and niche interests in one spot. While it has everything, the passion isn't always there. Sometimes a sub just doesn't have a lot of people.
I spend most of my time on the baseball sub keeping up with the latest news.

Conclusion
All of the early boards were related to the vehicle I had or wanted. Later it became more hobby based.

I suppose it's due to the message boards getting larger that I don't know anyone from the latest boards. That and it was always easier to associate an image to a poster than just a name. I miss signatures where you could see what vehicle(s) the person had, but with something like Reddit, you'd need sub specific signatures.

It's also easier to not post when there are just so many people. With Reddit, you just can't see posts like you can with smaller boards. More people also makes it less personal. I'm sure there's a sub on Reddit to talk about your daily life or meaningless topics, but on the baseball sub for instance, that doesn't have a place.

Looking back now, it's surprising how these boards either shaped my interests or were a part of my interests. I don't miss any of the boards, most of them I left on my own accord anyway. This is just a fun stroll down memory lane, recording the memories before I forget them forever. Now I don't have to remember, I've got a record here.