History of the Forum--how long have you been around the neighborhood?

[BW_Williams]

Feb.21, 2003, sure seems longer!  Can't remember if google or WW steered me this way.  Still don't think I have my tree in the right spot :D
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=2394.msg30829#msg30829

[Texas Ranger]

September 27, 2000, 11:04:43 PM

Jeff trolled us over from About.com.  Nix, Ron, Jeff and I were about it for a while, then the guys and girls started loosening up some, and began to talk.

Who was our first female poster?

[asy]

Well, Aparrently I joined on the 11th of March, 2005.

So I'm just a baby timewise...

I've got 363 posts up, about 7 of them serious :D :D :D

If you want to know who to blame, you can blame Andrew. He kept talking about this 'fantastic forum' he'd found, and sending me links to read to learn and laugh...  So I Joined.

My first post was this one:  https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=10973.msg150569#msg150569.
(well, my first actual post was a question on how to post an avatar, that one was my first proper post)

Well, even though I'm not a sawyer, am not a carpenter, am not a logger, I'm not even a roofer!...  I still feel welcome.

Must say, Thanks to Paschale for starting this thread, it's great! And thanks to Tom for his post, it's fantastic...  Oh, and.. DanG, you're a DanG Dill for losing your post, please have another try at it, I'd love to read it!...

The best thing I really like is the Family Focus of the forum. I like the way everyone cares about everyone else. It shows, not only in the answers to questions, but also in the obvious care given when someone's in trouble. Now, I may not believe in God, but I sure understand that when someone who does says 'I'll pray for you' it's a good thing. It means they CARE enough to be thinking about you. And that never hurts!   

I guess it's all in the person, and their attitude as to whether they'll fit in or not...  ;D

Anyhow, guys, thanks heaps for making us feel so welcome. 

asy :D

[KiwiCharlie]

Hey Guys,
Ive been in and out over the years, but was on board fairly early on - June 2001.  Sure is a little different these days!
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=242.msg2304#msg2304 was my first post.  Thats around 160,000 posts ago!
Dont make the mistake of equating the highest number of posts with the oldest members!!  :D ;)
Cheers
Charlie.

[Haytrader]

 :

Yes Tom, I do remember that post since you reminded me.
Seems like such a short time ago.

Noble,

Wish we had a copy of what we said over yonder that got us deleted. As I recall, I am pretty sure is was sumthin you said ashually.

;)

[sawguy21]

September 14 2004. I only entered the modern world and got net access last summer :D I was looking on Google for a  forum on chainsaws as I have been involved with them for over thirty years and found this one. I gradually started looking on the other forums and got involved. I have been moved to tears, laughed my butt off, bit my tongue, thought profound thoughts, and have learned a lot . Thanks to eveyone for making this fun.
I was also on another site but the moderator was so dictatorial and there was so much bickering, I lost interest. No names mentioned. :P
1.92 posts a day?? I really have to get a life :D

[Patty]

April 2, 2003........ah yes I remember it well! And Jeff has regretted it ever since!!  :D   I got hooked a while before that. Norm would be in his office laughing and having WAY too much fun reading the forum; so I would have to go in and calm him down and add all sorts of "helpful" hints to his posts.  :   It was about that time he INSISTED I sign in under my own name as to not embarrass him. I did sign in; but I keep forgetting the part about not embarrassing him.  ;D

Hey there!

Thanks for the welcome.

Jeff, you must be married...only a married guy would know to put the wife to the right of the hubby.  Wink

Linda, I've been reading this site for months while Norm did all the talking. But when Al posted the pic of your bicep, WELL, I just had to join. Sounds like you guys have alot of fun at the ol' sawmill. Norm & I really enjoy it also. Something about that fresh cut wood.... Smiley

Patty

I think this was close to my first post..

[tnlogger]

     January 28, 2005, 07:03:50 PM 
up until that day i had been lurking for about 3or4 months.

Untill then i have always worked to hard and to many long days so all i use the super highway for was research and to keep up with family. When i got sick i had nothing but time on my hands and was going crazy just sitting in the house. Well i found this web site that was i thaught was like that other site ya'll know witch one i mean. :D I started looking around and low and behold it wernt no where even close.
This one had the info but it also had stories, friendship, and it treated evryone and i mean everyone
like they were family.

well i just moved right in and joined this family called The Forestry Forum it is one of the best moves i have made since i married my lovley wife 32 years ago.

[Rockn H]

               February 21, 2005, 08:40:09
I had been at another site for a while.  Just watching mostly, didn't chime in very often, less it was a simple yes-no kind of thing.  Still got chastised sometimes. :(  I've never really chatted , always just surfed the web for info.  Well one day , in the archives, I saw a FF thread someone had left in their post, can't remember who left it.  I came over here and got to looking around and yall struck me as a bunch characters that enjoyed sharing your experiences with others.   I didn't lurk, but 3 or 4 days before I had to join.  While getting my wife to help me figure out how to post pics, she commented that I must really like this new forum I found.  Well that says it all.  ;D From my profile I see I've been posting 2.333 times a day,  I'd better be quite for a while. ;D

[Jeff]

The forum's roots go back to one day that I still remember quite clearly. It was a week or so before Christmas in 1999.

We had a visitor to the sawmill that day. A landowners whose timber that was cut by a logger that we buy from.  He was Irate, he thought he was being taken to the cleaners and the guy was not paying for what he hauled. His information had come from another logger that said "you better watch that guy". The land owner was looking for gate receipts and information to prove that more wood had been taken then paid for.  I was not part of the conversation but stood silently listening.

The logger that he was questioning's credentials are impeccable. That year he had EARNED the logger of the year award from the Michigan Association of Timbermen. He was know by us and others as probably the number one recommendation to someone wishing to have their timber harvested.  The Landowner was calmed down and set straight. He was asked who it was that told him to "watch this guy".  He told us and we all laughed. The guy doing the warning was what we considered the number one timber pimp (thief) that we knew.

Anyways, I came home thinking that day, How does a landowner know? What is to keep him from being taken? Where could he find information?

I sat down at the computer with the premise that I had 40 acres of timber and I wanted to find someone on the internet to help me manage it. I typed in "timber buyer".  Guess what I found right a way, and the ONLY thing I found?  That same Timber Pimp from our area who had bad mouthed the logger that was out there doing a good job.

I thought then and there, that someone needed to find a way to put good information out there, and somehow I felt that I was the one to do it. At the time I knew no one. My world was that of a head sawyer in a commercial mill. About 4 foot by 4 foot square.  I did know of a few organizations and I started calling them, telling them what I aimed to do and how I aimed to do it and that I needed resources for GOOD SOLID information that I could represent to landowners looking for information. To find a way to help educate them on how to manage their timber resources and at the same time protect them. I knew that the internet was probably where the younger people who were beginning to take over the timberlands from their fathers and grandfathers would look first. I knew that someone other then the timber pimps had to be there first.

Anyways, I guess it was a calling. The Timber Buyers Network was born. An informational site aimed at people on the internet looking for a "timber Buyer" or a "Michigan Logger".  (try these search terms in any search engine, I am proud to say that I was able to find a way to "be there first".

My idea was to give the landowner the tools to educate themselves, then armed with that information, have a list of companies that had very good reputations to help them out.  I also wanted to have some tools for these member companies to communicate, and help each other out. I thought a forum, where they could exchange ideas would be a good thing. So, a forum was created. It was simply a link on the www.timberbuyer.net site. So make a long story short, the forum took a different direction then I originally envisioned, but it was still good. Eventually it was clear that the Forum was much bigger then just a little Michigan thing and deserved to have an identity of its own. So, the Forestry Forum came to be.

Since that day in December 1999, and that evening when I sat down to the computer my little head sawyer world has expanded to take me down many roads.

[Patty]

Congratulations Jeff, you have done an excellant job. One you can be very proud of, indeed.  8)

[Ernie]

What Patty said.

How do you find the time and the expertise?

Ernie

[neslrite]

Feb 24 2004.
I sent Jeff an email begging to become a sponsor ;D

Hello Jeff,

  My name is Kevin Bantle and I had an opportunity to visit the forum for
sawmilling for the first time last night.
I was very pleased to read posting from fellow sawyers sharing the stories.
I have a woodmizer LT40HD and operate as New England Saw and Lumber, LLC. I
have recently started to manufacture forestry tools under the name LogRite
Tools.
I manufacture aluminum handled canthooks, peaveys, and log carriers and was
interested in advertising on your sawmill page. Could you let me know the cost
or who I should talk to.
  You can visit my website at www.logrite.com, any feedback or comments would
be appreciated.
   I plan to become a member shortly, and look forward to sharing my sawing
experiences.
Thank You
Kevin Bantle

Jeff called that night and chewed my ear off for over an hour and before I  hung up the phone he had the logo on the side and an introduction post started.

Thanks Jeff.

That night Captain IMed me that he traveled in my neck of the woods often, and thought we should meet. Two weeks later I met my first FF member.
Kevin

[thecfarm]

I joined Dec 2002.Haven't been too active until the last few months.I think I came over from WW too.I'm only a small time guy,with a manual mill for my own use.Have been cutting firewood all my life.I really like this forum,that's why I'm still here. Have some great stories here and everyone helps out everyone.

[Rod]

I think I found this place using goooogle.and I think I joined last year.and I have learned a bunch by hanging out here also.Thanks Jeff for this great place to hang out.

[sawguy21]

Jeff, are you now retired so you can devote so much time an effort here? ;D You, and the other admins are doing a heckuva job. Even asy knows where Michigan is now :D :D

[jjmk98k]

I joined up and it's been a great experience.... there was some downtime where I was not around much at all, but I am hooked now, especially since I know this is where all the GRIT eaters hang out


Date Registered:  January 08, 2004, 05:23:13 PM , and still consider myself a newbie here

[asy]

Jeff, are you now retired so you can devote so much time an effort here? ;D You, and the other admins are doing a heckuva job. Even asy knows where Michigan is now :D :D

I DO!!!

And I know what a Yooper is!

I'm learning so much!

We went out and bought our very own Map of USA!!!  Now we can put little dots on it whereI find somewhere I want to visit. A sort of trip planner for ??? years time!

asy :D

[Paschale]

This is fun!   8)

So was Logrite the first sponsor then?  I've seen some be added as I've been on the forum, but I wonder who the first corporate wiz figured out this was the place to be!!!   ;)

[Jeff]

Wood-Mizer came to me in 2002 wondering how I was funding the forum and offered thier assistance, specifically, Jeff Brown and Kevin Corder.


Sponsors In order of becoming involved with the Forestry Forum:
Wood-Mizer
TimberKing
Antlergrower.com
Peterson
Rust Reaper
Baker
Menominee Saw
LogRite Tools
D&L Double Cut
Nyle
Timberline
MATSIF
Baileys/Lucas

[Ed_K]

 I was cruising, looking for timber stand improvement info. I came across Doug of Utah's site with the largest site of links, I'd ever seen.
June 16 2002, I joined the FF, I was so nieve of forum's that I didn't even know I was suposed to introduce myself. I guess everyone forgave me at some point  ;). I look at 2 other forums, Maple trader & Aborist. But I live for the Forestry Forum  8).

[Wildflower]

September 10, 2000, 01:45:43 PM
My first post  Outdoor topics / Outdoor activities / Re: Woods walking

I guess I just had to see what was making Jeff so excited.  ;),  he would come home from work and find people were reading and posting. This site has been a wonderful thing, we get to meet lots of nice people and it seem like we have known them forever. I don't post to much but I sure enjoy reading.  8)

I am looking forward to meeting many more friends 

[fstedy]

I came aboard on October 9 th. 2004 I had been over at that other site for several months until I found a link to Timberbuyers and then found The Forrestry Forum. What a great place very helpful, caring and humorus folk. Thanks a lot Jeff and all the other Admins you do a GREAT job for all of us members.

[Don P]

September 10, 2000, 01:45:43 PM
My first post  Outdoor topics / Outdoor activities / Re: Woods walking

Hey, I remember pointing that post out to my wife, time flies ;D...now if I could just remember where I put the lumber list for today.

[whitey]

      I just joined yesterday so i'm new.  But i have been lurking for a year or two  I build  cabinets and furniture out of western juniper.   I have been logging. milling, my own lumber for two years now and you folks have been great. Thank  you all.