who were the original 1st 50 hammock forum members

[Dutch]

Me too... 865th to join, 12th in postings...

That Dutch fellow is a cool guy, always serious, you can take his word to the bank... except for that Grizz Kettle thing. Oh, yeah, and he has threatened to make a Molly Mac Pack clone!

I have a new rule about cloning gear. If I can't improve on the original I am just going to buy it. I spent 8 hours and $25 making a Grizz beak that I could have bought for $40. So I would say your Molly Mac pack is safe.

[MacEntyre]

If I can't improve on the original I am just going to buy it.

Great! I can make it first thing next week! PM me with you color choices and waist size.

[LosUno]

who were the original 1st 50 hammock forum membersneo

surly not this kid....but still great forum...

[gRaFFiX]

I would love to post more, but I'm the type of person that wont say something if they aren't pretty **** sure of what they're talking about. I don't have much info to contribute related to hammocks as most of you have vast amounts of info that I know I can't add to. So right now I'm a HF Moocher big time. Thanks to all of you for the info you guys provide and the great trip reports. Not everyone is a "Shug" but even the generic vids and posts are interesting to me.

[stoikurt]

Number 89 here. I've enjoyed every minute of it and learned a tremendous amount thank to the vast knowledge of our members and their willingness to share and promote the finer art of hammocking.

[Just Jeff]

Top 75 in posts as of today (500 or more posts)
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/m...t=posts&pp=100

Interesting...I still have ~300 more posts on WB than on here. That's b/c I had so much free time in Monterey, and we started HF only three months before I moved to NC.

I am shocked, really shocked, to see I am only #9 in total posts! But is there a way to count total words posted? yoy know I am #1 in that!

Haha - I think you're on to something there, BB!

There are a few threads here where we talk about the history of HF. Basically, we had the hammock subforum on WB and it got A LOT of traffic. Some ground dwellers got a little irritated at all the hammock threads, and at all the hammockers invading the threads where folks asked about good tents...kinda like here when someone asks about a good bag and everyone responds with suggestions for top quilts. So there was a WB thread where folks suggested making a hammock specific forum...Attroll (owner of WB and now HF) and I started working on HF. We went live in Oct '06 and haven't stopped growing yet. That growth meant we needed another mod, so slowhike started helping out, and then we added angrysparrow and headchange4u.

Once I moved to NC my job kept me from a lot of the moderating duties, and angrysparrow and headchange4u have taken on the burden of all the technical aspects...huge kudos to them.

Since the beginning, we've added a robust video section, tag-based searching, lots of articles, thousands of gallery pics, the HF store, reorganized the forums into a more logical/searchable format, etc...not to mention all the hammock hangs folks have thrown together. It's really a grassroots community where the membership is the true value, and we're grateful to all the vendors who are active on our forum, and happy to have helped many DIYers start their own cottage businesses.

Attroll hosts the domains and servers for both WB and HF, so it's not always clear that "this money" is going for "that upgrade" - some of it is easy to keep separate and some of it's not. Whenever the issue has come up, Attroll has said that we're doing pretty well with the donations and that money isn't an issue yet. So the member contributions (less than a monthly magazine subscription), donations from companies like JRB's Mt Rogers raffles and Grand Trunk's 1% donation, etc...we have a great community and since we're not in this for a big profit, neo's big donation drives are good enough!

I'm sure I've left out some important parts along the way, but that's the basic idea. We're committed to keeping the forum focused on hammocks even though we've added a few non-hammock related forums...there are a lot of hiking forums that also discuss hammocks, but there's only one dedicated hammock forum. We're gonna stay true to our roots and keep it that way!

[gRaFFiX]

It's really interesting to hear the HF history from a newer member.

(by that I mean myself)

[optimator]

I just want to thank the folks that got all this started. And especially the ones that keep it going! I swear, getting off the ground added 20 years to my hiking life. The people, the camaraderie, the sheer sense of community here absolutely blows me away. I really am proud to be a member here with you all.

[SoundWitness]

Just Jeff;

Appreciate this forum, hence why I donate. I joined WB after lurking for a half a year, and was a regular lurker on the Hammock subs. Alot of early experimentation/posts that beefed up my interest on becoming a hanger. But being on WB and seeing the banter (although sometimes really funny, I admit), got old after awhile. I was thrilled when this site came into existance, because it was centered on what I liked and was interested in. The knowledge on this site is immense, without the attitudes. (enough said on that).

I appreciate the dedication you all have put into this site! Now I believe its time to hug a mod!!

[Just Jeff]

Well, that's exactly why we started it, so I'm glad you like it! These days my WB shortcut goes straight to the hammock subforum and I rarely read any other posts over there. I hear the banter has gotten a little better, but I just don't have time to read it all!