For those who may not know how ASPD got started (keeping in mind there would be no ECCIE without it), here is some history directly from Amber back in 2001:
The History and Evolution of ASPD
i am often asked when/how i got the idea for ASPD, and so, when reading the thread today for how people found the site, i decided that i might as well tell the story for those who have never heard it.
Originally, i was mainly hanging out on USENET. In that group, users add ASP to the subject line of actual messages to help filter the spam from actual content. When i hit the group, i began asking some WAY different questions from what the guys were used to seeing...such as what music, lingerie, fragrances, etc. the clients preferred. At that time, the ladies usually only posted ads and such, so this was a little unusual. The guys loved it, however, and many long discussion threads began to pop up. One of the ladies from the NorthWest coast took offense to how many of these discussions were being had, and began flaming each time we posted these threads, and claimed if we were not posting ads or reviews, we should not use ASP in the header...so i came up with a compromise. I called a truce, offering to use ASPD (d standing for discussion) to prevent others from being offended.
Then came the first ASPD gathering place...a chat room i created on IRC EFnet. Most people that visited loved the chat room, and eventually, i set up a server machine with NNTP so that we had our own news server as well. Finally, the site was put up to help guide others into setting up their news client. After a few months, we had a hard drive crash and lost most of the News content we had. At that time, we lost many of the visitors to the News server, since it took me a little too long to figure out how to fix it.
In the interim, i set up the ASPD discussion boards. Those were QUITE active for some time...until i added RAPS.
Many seem to think RAPS was created due to the closing of Delphi. Actually, this was not the case. RAPS was created when a group of guys who were members of JAG got upset over the overnight change of JAG from a free to a paid site. They asked me to design them a new system they could use. I did so, and turned over total control of the boards to them. However, some of the things they changed upon assuming possession upset the webmaster of JAG greatly, and i went through a few weeks of threats and such over it. Instead of closing the boards, i simply resumed ADMIN control of the boards, and put things back the way i had originally had them.
A few days later, Delphi closed down, and when the uproar ensued from the guys who were upset at their playground being gone, i invited them to use RAPS.
During the course of all of this, other features were constantly being added: Classifieds, Directory, Opinion Polls, Free email service, Free web hosting for one page provider sites, our own IRC server, Members areas, and of course, the client primers.
Each addition to ASPD has occured when i found a new script that i thought would be fun for us to have, and we have gone through many stages of trial and error.
On the Discussion boards as an example we once had a "UserImage" hack which allowed a small avatar photo which would accompany each post from a user. This proved not to be such a great idea, since the photos ate up a LOT of bandwidth as our users increased. (Those of you who are web savy will understand how much it bogged the loading of pages with 25 posts per page, and the images for all 25 loading)
We have also tried other things that didn't pan out, and so we always revert to the original way.
We will continue to grow and expand as time goes on, although these days the time i can commit to ASPD is quite a bit less, due to the time i spend on tech support etc. in addition to my own clientele, and personal responsibilities.
So now, you all know how things came to exist. This site was designed to be a community, and if you research some of the earliest posts you will find many threads in which i used to ask the users to help make decisions. Unfortunately, few of these posts were ever answered, and the most typical answer was usually: "Do what You want Amber, you are doing great so far". I finally realized that no matter how many times i asked, few were going to help make the decisions, and thus, i had to make the calls myself.
I have long since thought of forming an email list for brainstorming and decision making, but alas, that has not yet occured.
Maybe one day.....
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Amber
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"i am always a good girl....even when i am bad...i am VERY good at it!! "
Originally Posted by chicagoboy
