Long Time members, not "seen" for a while...

[opus]

For example:
Megatron ,haven't him for while, does anybody have news on him?

[wossname]

He was frozen in the Arctic for several hundred years.

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

What a dolt..

[timeshifter]

NoteMe needs to come back...

[mendhak]

BeachBum
Cafeenman
barrk
DragonFly
Jesus4u
simonm vs kedaman

[Atheist]

I saw a thread by jesus4u recently...
NoteMe could come back, but note that there can only be one scandinavian king around here...!

[si_the_geek]

For example:
Megatron ,haven't him for while, does anybody have news on him?

I can't remember the details, but I'm fairly sure he changed careers, and moved away from programming.

[BillGeek]

Zaza, Mendhak, VisualAd and Wossname will hate me for this, but I really do miss Kregg.

Technically speaking he is not a member anymore, but I'd still love for him to return with his useless posts.

[si_the_geek]

He is only temporarily not a member - he intends to come back later in the year (June/July?).

[mendhak]

Zaza, Mendhak, VisualAd and Wossname will hate me for this, but I really do miss Kregg.

Technically speaking he is not a member anymore, but I'd still love for him to return with his useless posts.

On behalf of zaza, myself, visualad and wossname:

[BillGeek]

[opus]

I can't remember the details, but I'm fairly sure he changed careers, and moved away from programming.

Thanks for the information.

Is it really possible, living without doing any IF..THEN..ELSE?

[mendhak]

If humanity were to suddenly degenerate into a neanderthal-like existence, where we all live in caves/tribes and only the fittest survive, all of the programmers would die out in about 2 weeks as we are unfit to do anything else.

[opus]

Didn't you give yourself the UNDESTROYABLE-Bit?

[opus]

To bad, my wife saw that picture,
the next shoppingtour is already booked

[Foxer]

Last I heard Cander was working in Area 51 and hasn't been seen since.

[KGComputers]

Haven't seen dee-u for a while...He's technically good in the database forum...
Hope to see his replies in the forums this year...

Greg

[KGComputers]

Also dkenny/declan in the office development

Greg

[Megatron]

For example:
Megatron ,haven't him for while, does anybody have news on him?

Ha, didn't know people still remembered me around here

Well, I'd like to tell you guys something extravagant, like I'm a motorcycle daredevil, but the truth is I'm still the same guy. Just a bit older. And more buff. And with a slick new leather jacket. No really, I just sorta lost touch with leisure programming over the years. It's unfortunate, but you can only devote so much time to a hobby, and in order to open the doors to new things in life, you have to give up some things.

I have to say though, it's crazy coming back here, as I rememeber I used to literally spend my life on these forums 6-8 years ago. Really. I'd live here. It's funny to think back and realize the incident that first brought me to these forums was during a great quest to find an ultimate OCX control that did what MSWord did (text editor w/ all the fancy highlighting, double underlining etc.). I don't even know why. So while waiting around for one of those I started answering posts. This greatly helped accelerate my learning, and I strongly recommend it to any newbie programmers, or even the advanced if only for the sheer diverseness you're exposed to. I never did read any books or take any classes. Everything I learned was taught by these very forums, which is why it's neat to look back on them. It was a personal journey.

It's also amazing to see how much the forums have changed since, too. From the original 4 forums to the 50+ we have now. Crazy! As we started to grow I still remember when I first pitched the idea to John/James about becoming a moderator. I guess this was the second turning point for me here. They both agreed the site was getting larger and couldn't commit as much time (their own Jelsoft was growing rapidly), and also asked me to pick a team of other dedicated members. The original candidates were: Aaron Young, Serge, MartinLiss, Yonatan, and Clunietp. Bonus points for anyone who knows why I chose these 5 And I bet nobody remembers that last guy (Tom). I don't even think he replied to our offer. Why did Tom leave? Now that's the real question. Yoni just declined. Anyway, these were the guys I used to look up to when I was first learning this stuff (you'll even notice a lot of my older posts & signature resemble Aaron's style). How many of them are still around btw? I know Marty is, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for his efforts being able to the hold the fort down for so long. Wow. Do something nice for him.

Um, sorry. Trip down memory lane. So to answer the 25-dollar question: Why did I leave? Well, there wasn't any one single reason. Not even a career switch. Not even being stuck in the arctic. I still program (but not for much longer shhhhh). Like I said, there were just other things that came up in life that required time commitments such that I couldn't be around the forums anymore (hint hint). That was Nov 2002. Coincidently, this also happened around the same time I had a major epiphany that the stuff I was most interested in programming was not practical. It only mattered to a few people in the world. Probably just me. I was a serious Win32 API junkie, and the stuff I liked playing with was just borderline eerie. Like messing around with the IAT of system DLLs to intercept API calls. Who the hell does that? It just wasn't practical career-wise. This was sorta the third turning point for me. I decided it was time to leave. I made a few visits back thereafter, though none persisted, as I couldn't maintain the same level of dedication I used to.

Really, I think it was just one of those things that ran its course. I stumbled upon here. Learned a few things. Had fun along the way. Time to move on. And by the way, I'm not placing negative spin on staying here. On the contrary, I think it's great to see some of the old-school guys still around, and I have nothing but props to their dedication. Part of the reason I liked the site so much was the community. So many great people. Most other forums at the time were strictly professional and lacked the fun factor.

Anyway, there's more than anyone's ever wanted to know about me.

So is it time for comeback? Not likely. Even if I could, I probably wouldn't be much help anymore as there are already a lot of bright people here, most of whom are much sharper and more skilled than I am (and they've got cooler names). Maybe I'll dominate chit chat. Where's Sam Finch and Kedaman? No really, all I can say is that I hope in the time I was active here, that my posts provided value to people, and maybe helped motivate them to some degree. Or at least got them emotionally riled up. I'll settle for that.

Anyway, this should put some closure to the 2 or 3 people who were wondering what happened to me.

Thanks for the interest, and keep on postin'

[mendhak]

Well, that was a trip down memory lane. Partially. Good to know though, I get PMd occasionally from people who want to know where you are. I usually tell them that Megatron has been annihilated by Optimus Prime; unfortunately most of them don't know who the Transformers are, so the humor is completely lost on them.

*sigh*

[kleinma]

J4U was spotted not too long ago asking a question.. I am pretty sure of it anyway

[kleinma]

I usually tell them that Megatron has been annihilated by Optimus Prime; unfortunately most of them don't know who the Transformers are, so the humor is completely lost on them.

*sigh*

Can that really be true now that all our childhood cartoon/toys are being made into hollywood over budgeted movies??

[techgnome]

I'm holding out for the live-action Voltron .... or Starblazers.... or RoboTech...

-tg

[Shaggy Hiker]

Well, that was a trip down memory lane. Partially. Good to know though, I get PMd occasionally from people who want to know where you are. I usually tell them that Megatron has been annihilated by Optimus Prime; unfortunately most of them don't know who the Transformers are, so the humor is completely lost on them.

*sigh*

I've got bad news for you: It's not just the Transformer humor.

[kleinma]

I'm holding out for the live-action Voltron .... or Starblazers.... or RoboTech...

-tg

there is already a live action GI Joe in the works

[techgnome]

But will he have the "Action Kung-Fu Grip"..... yeeeaaah.... I can wait...

-tg

PS: Don't forget.... knowing is half the battle.

[BillGeek]

I usually tell them that Megatron has been annihilated by Optimus Prime; unfortunately most of them don't know who the Transformers are, so the humor is completely lost on them.

*sigh*

Um... what is "transformers"?




*run

[lintz]

Jumps inside Bumblebee and soon catches up with BillGeek ..... who will soon learn about transformers.

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

Lol.. Bumblebee, the gay transformer..

[BillGeek]

Bumblebee, the gay transformer..

[MartinLiss]

Aaron Young
Serge

[Hack]

It is really good to hear from you again Megatron. You were one of the many people I looked up to, and was in awe of, when I first joined. Oddly enough, this applys to me as well.

It's funny to think back and realize the incident that first brought me to these forums was during a great quest to find an ultimate OCX control that did what MSWord did (text editor w/ all the fancy highlighting, double underlining etc.). I don't even know why. So while waiting around for one of those I started answering posts. This greatly helped accelerate my learning, and I strongly recommend it to any newbie programmers, or even the advanced if only for the sheer diverseness you're exposed to. I never did read any books or take any classes. Everything I learned was taught by these very forums, which is why it's neat to look back on them. It was a personal journey.

Unlike you, I honestly don't remember why I came here for the first time, but I do know I was looking for the answer to some kind of question that I had.

Although he does pop round from time to time, I miss pete.

I just know what kind of reaction this is going to generate.

How many folks remember filbert? *ducks behind chair to avoid flying objects flung in his general direction* - in a very odd ball kind of way, he was entertaining.

[Hack]

If humanity were to suddenly degenerate into a neanderthal-like existence, where we all live in caves/tribes and only the fittest survive, all of the programmers would die out in about 2 weeks as we are unfit to do anything else.

What makes you think we would last 2 whole weeks?

[kleinma]

How many folks remember filbert? *ducks behind chair to avoid flying objects flung in his general direction* - in a very odd ball kind of way, he was entertaining.

oh man... yeah hard to forget him if you have been around here long enough. November will be 7 years on this forum for me.

There have been a number of "interesting" members over the years

[Shaggy Hiker]

I haver been here for several years, yet I know filburt only as the punchline to lots of jokes that I didn't understand.

[kleinma]

I haver been here for several years, yet I know filburt only as the punchline to lots of jokes that I didn't understand.

I think he was banned somewhere between me joining and you joining. I know he was gone soon after I became a member here

[techgnome]

had to have been sometime between may and aug of that year (02) was when filbert was booted... I remember the name, not very well, but well enough to recognize it.

Oddly enough, I remember how I found this place and why I came here -- sadly, I haven't a clue as to why I keep coming back -- pure accident. I had just found a forums called "DBForums" and wondered if there was a VB Forums.... punched it into the ol' web browser, and there it was... VBF in all its glory at the time. That was back when Karl was still around. Wow....

-tg

[crptcblade]

filburt was never banned. He left to start his own nazi regime after it became apparent to him that everyone thought he was a tool. Credit to plenderj for speeding up that process.

[kleinma]

plenderj is another one who is no longer around these forums, although I do have infrequent emails with him from time to time..

I consider anyone on here to be a "long time" member if they remember the horrible "VB Forums Crash" where things got majorly screwed up for a while... I had no where to get my VB help for that time..

[Hack]

I consider anyone on here to be a "long time" member if they remember the horrible "VB Forums Crash" where things got majorly screwed up for a while... I had no where to get my VB help for that time..

Oh yeah.....the one where a whole bunch of member losts posts, and Megatron lost all of his posts. I don't remember how he got his post count back, but I definately remember that crash.