How'd it All Start?

W

Wcyeung123

5-Year Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2015
Messages
164
As a long time follower of this forum, I do appreciate the help that everyone gives me and other confused students who want to commission in the Armed Forces. Thank you all. I'd just like to know how this forum started answering the question of who, what, when, and how?

I'd just like to thank the person or people who created this forum because I learned a lot from here. A lot of students come here for answers about their careers, but I like to know the history of where it all started as well. Thanks.
 
Okay all you founding members.....here is your chance to reminisce about the days you walked barefoot through blizzards to build this forum. ;)
 
Last edited:
Capt MJ said:
In an era sometime after "Hidden Figures"...
emoji16.png
Click to expand...

I may (or may not) have spit some very fine bourbon on my screen after reading Capt MJ's post.
 
But before or after the first handheld TI calculators with scientific functions...hmmmm
 
^^^ Hah! Just yesterday I was thinking back to the days of slide rules in college... but then that's after the start of this forum, right? :D
 
Asked my youngest if she even knew what a slide Rule Was. Not a clue. Oldest graduate of USNA and son graduate of Maritime had heard of one but never seen one.
 
Capt MJ said:
But before or after the first handheld TI calculators with scientific functions...hmmmm
Click to expand...

HP > TI

upload_2017-8-10_9-52-54.jpeg
An HP 35 circa 1970 - First pocket sized scientific.
(and uses RPN logic).
 

Attachments

  • upload_2017-8-10_9-50-46.jpeg
    upload_2017-8-10_9-50-46.jpeg
    8.3 KB · Views: 31
  • upload_2017-8-10_9-52-0.jpeg
    upload_2017-8-10_9-52-0.jpeg
    7.8 KB · Views: 37
  • Like
Reactions: rkv
Kids these days will never know the struggle of demon tones...
Dial in bulletin boards...
Making your own fly website on Geocities (all HTML)...
And most of all getting 3/4 of the way through Oregon Trail just to die of dysentery.
 
Wcyeung123 said:
As a long time follower of this forum, I do appreciate the help that everyone gives me and other confused students who want to commission in the Armed Forces. Thank you all. I'd just like to know how this forum started answering the question of who, what, when, and how?

I'd just like to thank the person or people who created this forum because I learned a lot from here. A lot of students come here for answers about their careers, but I like to know the history of where it all started as well. Thanks.
Click to expand...

This forum started in June of 2006. At that time there was very little organized information found online about the service academies. The best source at that time was the College Confidential section dedicated to the service academies, but that was full of misinformation. Since nearly everyone could post whatever they wanted with no vetting or moderation, the information was often contradictory and outdated.

This site's founder, Tacticalnuke, saw a need and started these forums. Many of the original members here were from the CC site and it was a gradual transition to people realizing that Tacticalnuke ran a tight ship and that the quality of this site was high.

In the beginning there was a large presence from both West Point and USNA. The original moderators like Jamzmom, Just_A_Mom and WAMom68 were West Point, and Zaphod, USNA1985, and USNA69 were USNA. KP2001 was the mod for USMMA. There was not much activity with the Air Force. In fact, in the beginning there was not even a moderator for the USAFA forum. Over time all of the forums grew. Moderators were pretty constant for the first several years and membership grew a lot. The ROTC and other sub forums were added as we expanded and word spread. We found that the audience for the service academies was most of the same people applying to ROTC and the Military Colleges.

There have been several upgrades and changes to the site over the past 11 years. Each one is designed to give candidates the best experience here in finding advice about applying to the Academies and ROTC. Tacticalnuke is still the site owner and administrator and is involved daily in running the site and keeping it on the right track.

Stealth_81
 
Used to use one of these at the 13th USCG District Office. Thought we were really high tech.

Sorry, didn't know how to make the picture smaller.

Muirhead_fax_machine_-_MfK_Bern.jpg
 
WOW!!!! Did not know that this forum dates back a long time. A lot of wisdom shared and cherished from when it started to now. I just hope this forum will keep growing as others like me may have questions down the road.
 
Does anyone keep track of or know what ever happened to some of the original moderators; I know some of y'all had the chance to meet and get close in real life. Also, does anyone REALLY know who tacticalnuke REALLY is?
 
Of course people know who he really is, and of course some of us realize what you are getting at with that statement. About two minutes of research would reveal that. This place is an LLC run without a Registered Agent, a.k.a. totally public information.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top