History of JWFAN

[indy4 155]

The snippets of history I've heard about this place always interest me. I think it'd be cool to have a detailed timeline documenting the going ons of this place - the trends, the "eras," events, we could even document the arrival of important individuals that had a big impact on the MB. An example of something that could be documented: I heard that Sorcerer's Stone was not warmly recieved when it first came out on this Board. That, plus an explanation of why it was disliked and why it is so liked now (perhaps there was an influx of newbies who were more willing to accept Williams' newer style). Anybody want to give this a shot (of course it would be a collaborative effort)?

[Doo_liss 6,582]

surely the most importent "new" arrival would be Jason LeBlanc..........

[JoeinAR 1,953]

Sorcerer's Stone was warmly received Indy 4 on that you're incorrect. But it did garner many comparisons to Hook. There are still a handful of us from the late 90s here. The board has changed many times, but Stefancos, ChrisChrusherComix, and King Mark are the original Phantom Zone Trio, they were royalty. It's safe to say that Stefan Cosman is likely the all time poster king, but in the boards various entities, Morn, CCC, KM, myself, Stefan, and possibly IndySolo were all post champs at one time or another. In the early days Jurassic Park was much more loved than now, as was E.T.

It has evolved and yet remained the same.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

surely the most importent "new" arrival would be Jason LeBlanc..........

He's been here for a good 4 years. As long as I can remember...

[Datameister 2,290]

I started lurking in 2005 and joined shortly thereafter, so I can't comment on anything that happened before, but it hasn't changed too much since then. Posters come and go, but the culture is basically the same, as are many of the key players. Of course, in 2005, there was a lot of ROTS buzz, which was probably part of my reason for joining. That was back in the days when Henry Buck (then known as Cerrabore, if I remember correctly) was putting together all those editing instructions for the complete score, and there was the FTP where mp3s - yes, mp3s! - of the game files were hosted.

[Uni 306]

We'd have to do something similar to a three-hour behind-the-scenes DVD thing with interviews, reminiscences, and testimonials. Quotes from popular and controversial threads would be great, too.

I remember the days when these boards were in outline form. . . .

- Uni

[Doo_liss 6,582]

sort of like the people vs, george lucas?

[Andy 5,209]

Good idea for a thread. Love to hear about the old guard. Sorry I wasn't around in the early days, but enjoying the (dysfunctional) family feel of the place now.

[Datameister 2,290]

Yeah, this is definitely very different from the other forum I frequent, which is huge and growing huger. JWfan is more like a place for a relatively small number of dudes to hang out and put their bizarre senses of humor to work while talking about common interests. Stuff happens here that would NEVER be allowed on some other sites...stuff that shouldn't be allowed on those other sites. But because we're such a small group that mostly "gets" each other, it works, and I love it. Took me a while to understand that, though.

[Uni 306]

Good idea for a thread. Love to hear about the old guard. Sorry I wasn't around in the early days, but enjoying the (dysfunctional) family feel of the place now.

Heh . . . that's funny. As if the "old guard" wasn't in the least dysfunctional. Completely normal. Mm-hmm. . . .

- Uni

[Ollie 1,143]

Yeah, this is definitely very different from the other forum I frequent, which is huge and growing huger. JWfan is more like a place for a relatively small number of dudes to hang out and put their bizarre senses of humor to work while talking about common interests. Stuff happens here that would NEVER be allowed on some other sites...stuff that shouldn't be allowed on those other sites. But because we're such a small group that mostly "gets" each other, it works, and I love it. Took me a while to understand that, though.

Yes I've mentioned that many times to those who feel this site has too much moderation going on.

But I've been following the various versions of this site since the Groovy Yak days.

surely the most importent "new" arrival would be Jason LeBlanc..........

He's been here for a good 4 years. As long as I can remember...

All one has to do is look at Jason's profile to see how long he's been with this current version of the site. Everyone had to re-register in 2002.

[Morlock 11]

I remember arriving a month after the new site, hearing rumors and stories of the old board...the place felt lived in even then, with Neil and Steef and Joe and Chris and Ren and Hector and others.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Yeah, this is definitely very different from the other forum I frequent, which is huge and growing huger. JWfan is more like a place for a relatively small number of dudes to hang out and put their bizarre senses of humor to work while talking about common interests. Stuff happens here that would NEVER be allowed on some other sites...stuff that shouldn't be allowed on those other sites. But because we're such a small group that mostly "gets" each other, it works, and I love it. Took me a while to understand that, though.

It's a great, tight community. We know each other well, and that's why it works IMO. What's weird and something we have to realize, the whole world is watching us. It's like we're a weeknight sitcom. So, don't go posting information that truly should be private.

Just general advice.

[Datameister 2,290]

Well, yes and no. Anyone could be watching, but I don't get the sense that everyone is. There are other boards where I'm very, very careful about what I say. Here...not as much. I'm not going to be sharing my phone number or anything like that, but as far as I can tell, this board simply doesn't get a huge amount of outside traffic. And as you said, the resulting sense of familiarity helps keep the community that we do have to keep going.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Trust me, a lot of people read but don't post.

[Datameister 2,290]

Perhaps you're right. But I can't tell you how often I see this:

There are over 1100 users viewing the other site I frequent right now.

[King Mark 3,730]

Stuff happens here that would NEVER be allowed on some other sites...stuff that shouldn't be allowed on those other sites.

Not sure what you mean but were pretty civil to each other .Just go read the FSM board for 10 minutes. Or AICN

[Datameister 2,290]

Oh, don't get me wrong, there are sites that get downright nasty. That's generally not a problem here, which is why I frequent this board and not places like FSM. I just mean that some boards are a lot more restrictive in what can be posted because of the demographic, the size of the board, stuff like that. It wasn't a slight on JWfan, just an observation about how different sites do things.

[Mr. Breathmask 566]

People have come and gone, but the dynamic here mostly stays the same. I've been around since early 2002 and even back then you'd get banned to the Tree of Woe for not having heard Conan, the danger motif was a running joke on everything James Horner made and people were debating at regular intervals whether Jerry Goldsmith was better than John Williams or vice versa.

Since then though, we've been enriched with jokes about Santaolalla, Michael Giacchino infiltrating the boards and the invention of the word smnol.

Good times.

[Trent B 340]

Ya I too remember being around about 2002, was a lurker for I think a good half a year before I finally joined up. Back then this forum was a lot ....different.

[Quintus 5,461]

I didn't lurk at all, I joined right after getting online for the very first time. I was a newbie to this board as much as I was a newbie to the internet in general, it was great!

My earliest memories of this board are my first couple of posts (one in which I declared T-Rex Rescue and Finale to be superior to Desert Chase*) and numerous heated disputes with Joey over things which I can't even remember now.

Needless to say I fell in love with the place immediately.

*I'm still unsure which I prefer most.

[Thor 8,486]

Never really been a regular here (for a variety of reasons), but I'm probably the one who goes furthest back with the site's creator. I was there when Ricard decided to create his Williams page in the first place back in early 1998. We both had our separate Yahoo groups (he a Williams group, I one for general film music & one for Elfman & one for Spielberg - the latter two of which are still around!), and we often discussed in the Yahoo chatrooms on the prospects of going on to make our own pages. I wanted to do one on film music, he on Williams. So we tried to encourage each other. My own film music site is still around (www.celluloidtunes.net), but looks like shit. His Williams site, on the other hand, has continued to grow and blossom in all departments and is currently the No. 1 John Williams site on the net.

But I guess that qualifies as pre-messageboard history, so a little beside your point, perhaps.

[Naïve Old Fart 10,503]

My liking of film music goes back to when I was a wee nipper, watching my first film, "The Jungle Book", in 1967. I started to collect soundtrack-related material ("Theme From The Persuaders!", "Theme From Shaft", etc.) in the early 70s.

My liking of film music was converted into a love it, of when I acquired both "TTI", and "POTA", within weeks of each other. From then on, I was well and truly hooked.

In the early 80s, I "got in" with a small band of friends who, like me, enjoyed films. None of them, however, would have even considered buying "ET", or "Poltergeist" at import prices, back in 1982. Nor would they think about the idea of buying "The Story Of ET" box set, or "The Story Of SW/ESB/ROTLA" albums simply because they contained rare and unreleased music. Such was my devotion to my chosen cause, even then.

What I'm trying to say (by way of Jupiter) is that, until I started posting on this site, I was the ONLY person I knew who was passionate about J.W.'s music. Oh, sure there were, over time, the guys at Dress Circle, or 58 Dean St. Records, or even Movie Boulevard, but you can't really ring these guys up for a chat, can you?

That's why I'm grateful to JWfan; for allowing my thoughts and feelings about film music in general, and J.W. in particular, to be heard in such a nurturing place.

O.k., so "sometimes...we do disagree", but it is my hope that there is always respect between members, and that comments are never personal.

Who really cares if someone thinks "Hook" is better than "CE3K" (actually, I do!), or if Barry is better than Horner (he is!). What's important is the camaraderie that is shown between members.

I'm also grateful to this site in educating me to different composers (and fine German wines!). As a result, I have bought more soundtrack C.D.s in the last two years, than I had in the previous ten (I joined in late 2008)! My wallet may be a little under-nourished, but my ears are happy!

So thanks to ALL of you; it's nice knowing you, and long may this site continue.

[Thor 8,486]

Hey Richard, I thought I started early by telling of my pre-messageboard relation to the site, but you went back to your youth and how you became interested in film music in the first place.

I'm expecting the next contributor to start: "I was born in 1982, and we lived in a house on the prairie...".

[Ollie 1,143]

Stuff happens here that would NEVER be allowed on some other sites...stuff that shouldn't be allowed on those other sites.

Not sure what you mean but were pretty civil to each other .Just go read the FSM board for 10 minutes. Or AICN

I would say quite a few of the threads in the Other Topics section qualify. Plus the derailment and detours other threads take are usually a no no on other websites, not related to film music.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,081]

Stuff happens here that would NEVER be allowed on some other sites...stuff that shouldn't be allowed on those other sites.

Not sure what you mean but were pretty civil to each other .Just go read the FSM board for 10 minutes. Or AICN

I would say quite a few of the threads in the Other Topics section qualify. Plus the derailment and detours other threads take are usually a no no on other websites, not related to film music.

Why don't you mods and admins do something useful and rename that forum to the "The Bowels of The Digital Beast" instead of Other Topics already?

[Quintus 5,461]

I must have visited some of the most liberal forums on the web then, because this place has by far been the most finicky about what you can and can't do.

[Datameister 2,290]

There's certainly a wide range out there. Some are way more relaxed...some are way more uptight. Part of it is that we're simply not concerned with being "family friendly" here, and some sites are because they know they have a lot of young users.

[Ollie 1,143]

Anyhoo, Do any of the older members even remember that much?

I can recall various members, Figo, Holiday... , He Who Shall Not Be Named... and Romantic Strings, to name a few, and getting into arguments with Rogue Leader on the old site prior to 2001.

[Luke Skywalker 1,952]

i joined jan-feb 2002.

the boards changed the day aotc was released (so the site was down and nobody could comment on the score)

i cant remember how the old boards looked like

[Ollie 1,143]

Oh yeah, and who could forget.....

Weebo......

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I find it amusing that Luis Figo would post here.

[Ollie 1,143]

Actually he was one of the better members here during his time, if we are speaking about the same person.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Actually he was one of the better members here during his time, if we are speaking about the same person.

I don't think you are.

[Red 75]

It's hard to believe sometimes that I've been on this site for going on five years now... but then I look at people who have been here for almost ten. It's humbling.

[crocodile 8,577]

It's hard to believe sometimes that I've been on this site for going on five years now... but then I look at people who have been here for almost ten. It's humbling.

Yeah, it feels weird to me too.

I myself started to visit the site around the summer of 2001. I remember searching some information about this weird project John Williams was working at the moment. It was A.I.. But I started reading the forum regurarly just before the release of AOTC or something like that. I remember reading the first reaction to the brilliant treatment of the score in the film. I hoped. Over the next 4 years I read the forum. I think I even joined at certain point, but never got a confirmation e-mail or something. And then one day I simply decided to take more active part. Not that it caused any earthquake or tsunami. But then again I'm not the kind of person who causes stir.

What changed? Well, participating in a discussion always creates different possibilities, so you might say the whole experience broadened my tastes quite a bit. But not regarding JW's music though. That pretty much stayed the same.

And for some reason I'm still here. God knows why though.

Karol

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Actually he was one of the better members here during his time, if we are speaking about the same person.

I don't think you are.

Yeah, I was making a semi-humourous comment about international footballer and turncoat Luis Figo.

I have been here since 08 with KOTCS, although I lurked several times looking for unreleased SW bits, and trying to find a link to that damn FTP.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,081]

I lurked for a long time before I signed up and started posting.

I remember...Figo.....Roald....Ray Barnsbury.....Pieo....Sturgis Podmore....Ocelot?

[crocodile 8,577]

I remember a lot of letters, commas, and stuff like that.

And a very distracting pair of dancing boobs...

Karol

[Naïve Old Fart 10,503]

I remember a lot of letters, commas, and stuff like that.

And a very distracting pair of dancing boobs...

Karol

Dancing boobs are NEVER distracting!

[Melange 448]

The board has changed many times, but Stefancos, ChrisChrusherComix, and King Mark are the original Phantom Zone Trio, they were royalty.

i cant remember how the old boards looked like

I can't remember what my parents look like!

And I can't remember when I first registered (before the 2002 refresh). Maybe 2000 or 2001? :hap:

[Naïve Old Fart 10,503]

The board has changed many times, but Stefancos, ChrisChrusherComix, and King Mark are the original Phantom Zone Trio, they were royalty.

i cant remember how the old boards looked like

I can't remember what my parents look like!

And I can't remember when I first registered (before the 2002 refresh). Maybe 2000 or 2001? :hap:

You poor thing.

Try not to think to much. TRY NOT TO THINK TOO MUCH!

[Hitch 59]

Is that all ye've got to say? What about my performance these long dark years past?

[Naïve Old Fart 10,503]

Is that all ye've got to say? What about my performance these long dark years past?

I'm not a drama critic.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,081]

I remember your friend Hitch. He used to post here too. The fat guy, who was once thin? Lived in your shadow? Had an amazing voice?

Can't think of his name. Every time I see Pinky and the Brain I think of him though....

[Doo_liss 6,582]

Bernard Herrman? lol

[Dean1700 4]

It's amazing. I have been here 8 years to the day and still don't know how to add an image to the bottom of my signature.

[JoeinAR 1,953]

Ocelot, now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time, a long time. Wael was/is a great great guy. To bad Neil and He had a falling out.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

I remember a lot of letters, commas, and stuff like that.

And a very distracting pair of dancing boobs...

Karol

[Ollie 1,143]

They're not dancing.