14 April 2002: Out with the Old, in with the New!
Hardyboy
Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
It's the fifth anniversary of a crucial day in AJB history. On the fourteenth of April, Anno Domini 2002, the website Bond20.com closed shop and many of its members--including Willie Garvin, the apparently-on-sabbatical MBE_, and Yours-Never-So-Humbly--made the great migration to the newly renovated Absolutely James Bond. Here's to five great years, and here's hoping for many, many more!
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Vox clamantis in deserto
Comments
It's been a gas! {[]
-Roger Moore
Man, I do remember them days, there were 20 odd members, and all were discussing some place I was unfamiliar with called Bond20.com
(Hardyboy was the man responsible for opening the literature forum, and I read Colonel Sun for the first time)
Good times! -{
So 5 years huh? Older, greyer, poorer, but I'm not sure about wiser
You give me waaaaay too much credit here, Alex! Back in the day there were a few of us asking for a lit forum (I wasn't even a mod then), and eventually SiCo started one. The forum didn't see a lot of activity--it would go days without a single post--and so I wrote a couple of long posts on the Live and Let Die and Moonraker novels (gone forever, alas) just to get people going to the lit forum and talking. . .but that had limited success.
To my mind, what really made the lit forum a stable and vibrant part of AJB was scaramanga1's starting the first fanfic novel, Never Say Dead. When it first appeared I thought it was so much clutter in our highbrow literature discussion, which shows what I know. The person to credit here, hands down, is scaramanga1! -{
~Pen -{
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
From memory, the set up was not all that different from what it is now. One thing I do miss is the old Fun Forum. Lazenby's Bond film elimination game reminds me of it. A game that is simple, yet very popular and fun to be part of. The Trivia Forum is generally dull by comparison and barely ticks over.
It's been a real privilege for me to be a very small part of AJB these last four plus years. Whether I remain a very small part or not, I hope AJB continues to prosper for many many years to come.
This truly is the most diverse and knowledgable group of James Bond afficionados/experts anywhere, IMRO---a vast, extended circle of friends. I'm very happy to be allowed to hang around and make the occasional meager contribution
Salutations to all! {[]
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Anyway, congrats to all those oldies who were here from day one. {[]
The first topic I started on my own though concerned May Day's accent, and when I saw the mockery that ensued about the film, it's when I went on my self-ordained quest... to DEFEND AVTAK!
One thing led to another and happily (or sadly to others) I am still here and proud of it. This truly is the best Bond forum around.
Still, over stumbling blocks like the one mentioned, i have found AJB a wonderful place to share in the love of Bond, and it was my introduction to both fan fiction and fan art - both hobbies which I now enjoy very much. Thanks to AJB! :007)
It's not so much my anniversary: it's the anniversary of the day AJB became what it is! The site had been around before April '02, but SiCo had just put it on a new server and the old site was completely wiped out, down to the members list and the number of posts. The re-launch of AJB coincided with the collapse of Bond20 on 14 April, so old AJBers and old B20ers came to the new AJB, creating one happy, harmonious site!*
*OK, "happy and harmonious" may be a bit of a stretch, but I prefer to remember the good times over the bad. . .
I meant the royal "your," of course
Until JFF came to town.
Cheers everybody. :x
Shame the movie sucked so much.
Strangely, this really is the best Bond site around, I mean mi6 is better for news and features, but without getting into a slanging match, the posts are often just one or two lines, and don't seem to dip down the list if not responded to.
Well done, all at ajb! {[]
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I joined AJB on a bit of a whim during a particularly cold January in 2003. I was away for a while but did keep abreast of developments and I have to say that this is a great place to discuss that secret agent we all enjoy watching and reading about. There will always be disagreements and disputes, sometimes heated ones, but ultimately we are all here for the same reason: 007.
I have enjoyed my time here and I should think that others have too. A lot has changed in five years, in Bond generally as well as in this site, but the enthusiasm is still evident in bags. Cheers everyone, and here's to another five years.
I'm not around much anymore, but I do pop by every few days to catch up. It pleases me to be able to say that, while AJB has changed a lot, it still has everything that made me glad to be a part of it in the first place. I think five years is a real achievement, and I hope it continues on for another five years at the very least.
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