No. of Recommendations: 73
As for whether that would be a better forum, well, THIS is the better forum...our kindly host created it, I believe, in part at my own suggestion : )
Thank you mungofitch for your help.
But just to set the record straight, I should summarise the history.
Prior to posting the mere idea of programming a former TMF-like investment forum (having not started any work) at the present TMF boards, I had not even speculated about such an idea with anyone. Those posts are still there for all to see.
No-one had given me the idea of creating any forum, let alone a near-replica of the former TMF boards, prior to embarking on the programming. I didn't even discuss it with friends. I was literally amazed at the prospect of 20+ years of friendships vanishing, so I just announced the idea at the TMF boards, then didn't hesitate and went ahead and started programming the same day. The composition I was working on (Prelude No. 15) would have to wait.
With the exceedingly positive feedback from many (who are now here) definitely not slowing me down, I worked hard to do finish the programming as soon as possible. I worked 12-16 hours every day until it was completed on 14 December 2022. The reason for urgency was because I felt there was a critical period in which many were temporarily visiting the TMF board but trickling away and not returning. Consequently, if I waited longer, many people would not even be informed that a replacement board has been prepared.
I put real love into the details. After exhaustively completing the project, which frankly was enjoyable and exciting, there was of course no post here other than a few intro posts of my own.
Only then, upon the site completed, I announced to mungofitch that it was deployed, so he was the first person I announced the board to, and that was 14 December 2022.
I let a couple of others know soon after, then let the flood gates open. Before doing so, I planned to have a small group to use it first to make sure that everything was great. But, instead, I hardly waited, and announced just 2 days later (16 December, 2022) at the TMF boards.
I also asked everyone I knew who wrote at TMF to contact all of their friends via email lists to announce the new board.
On 16 December, 2022 there were already 50 posts in that one day! And over the next month, almost half of the present readers, here now, were already signed up.
(Quick announcement: If you remember *anyone* that you shared private emails with many years ago (with the private email feature at TMF), and might still have their email by searching for their name in your email archives, then please try to locate the email, and write to them now - it isn't too late to let them know this site exists).
Many made some suggestions, and one of mungofitch's was to allow a 'reply to' against individual posts (rather than only being able to reply to the whole thread) when reading a whole thread, which I implemented. Very early on after the flood gates were open, Said was also active in making a lot of suggestions, and I was adjusting font sizes between different devices (iPads, Android tablets, etc) which took some time. I was visiting the electronics shop at the Metropol shopping centre in Monaco checking through all the devices. And there is a long list of others also suggesting things.
I continued adding a few features and even continue to do so now (the 'Boards in the vanguard' feature last week, etc).
Thank you for all suggestions, for all Support Stars, and not to forget - thank you to everyone for coming together as that was the overwhelming primary goal. Oscar255414 has been the most wonderful.
As far as I'm concerned the project was very successful in bringing back part of many people's lives - as when you feel emptiness, like a strange void, after leaving truly close work colleagues, except that in this case all came back to life. You cannot imagine the letters with such strong emotions expressed. Some people had literally fallen into depression and were suddenly brought back to life.
I'm also happy to report that there are - even now - many accounts being created every month, with the continuing signups not slowing down over the last year (other than the surge over the first few months). The vast majority of accounts are people reading, and not posting articles (Dear reading Shrewds, please post at least occasionally even if just thanking an author).
- Manlobbi
