Found the site through a yahoo search. Read the main page for one day and registered on the BBS the very next day. So, I wasn't one of these people who lurked for years - I started right away as soon as I registered.
I can relate to your entire post. I lurked the boards for years unregistered until Clutch required registration, then lurked another couple of years before making my first post. Now, I can't stop.
the thing is though that you could have found the site at a certain date and never visited the forums until a later date. For example, I first came onto this site in 1999 but never visited the forums until 2003. In 1999, I wasn't a regular visitor and only came to the site when I needed information on past players or current events (rarely). I started coming here daily in 2003. I remember the year 1999 because I found this site using my Sega Dreamcast. I don't think I even knew what a BBS was during that time. The only specific thing I remember about the site from back then was the retro flashback theme the site used to have on certain days.
and promptly had 5000 posts by the end of the month I dont remember exactly why I was doing a search for Rockets info...but I did, and the original site popped up(the 97 version) I checked the forum link since I had been active on Usenet prior to that, adn thought it might be similar. Never posted or even registered for quite some time.
I remember the days where I would hear about something, post it weeks later, and it would be news to everyone. For example I posted about Steve Francis being on the cover of an upcoming NBA game back in the day (99ish?). I posted the info about 2 weeks after I found a link confirming it! Today that same kind of info would be leaked in 4 seconds by 3-4 posters starting multiple threads. Its been fun watching this baby grow.
Back in '95 I started a Rockets website called The Launch Pad. There weren't any good Rockets websites back then that I recall, so I figured I would fill the void. Then shortly thereafter a cool website came along, Clutch City.....and I figured why compete when I can join the sensation that's sweeping the nation. My Rocket Science column on CC was short lived (got too busy)...but, its nice to contribute on the boards nowadays. Big ups to Clutch and ClutchFans!
Wow, memories...your post jarred my memory and I think I found cc.net through your site via the old "rockets web ring" thing. Anyone remember the web ring thing?
I can't remember when I first found the website (but not the forums)...maybe 2000-2001 or so. Around a year or so later, I started checking out the ESPN Rockets message boards and then started checking out the Clutch BBS after reading about it on those boards. I think I started doing that around early 2002. IIRC, Clutch required registration to view the board a few months later, so I registered, lurked for about a month, and then started posting.
started coming to the main site back in 96....one thing that stuck out in my mind about this site was back in april 97 i believe when they switched the site to a spurs site when mario elie was with SA. i was livid, only to realize it was april 1st started reading the forum a couple years ago and posted through a friend... obviously its an early post for me....
I was a wayward Texan living in another state jonesing for Rockets news. Found the site and lurked a few months before joining. This new fangled thing called a BBS scared me, but I did manage to throw out a few posts. I don't know how many months/years it was after that until I discovered Hangout/DD, but once I did, my post count went way up.
Lurked on the BBS from early 1999 to 2001. Think of all the embarrassing things ("Shandon Anderson molests collies!") I could have posted! What a dummy.
Too long ago, lurked for about 6 months to a year, then finally joined up. Heard about it through random rockets searches, and immense amounts of boredom & time. The perfect combination.
I LOVED RETRO FLASHBACK DAYS! Anyone else remember back when we were gonna switch jerseys and the immense amount of designs we came up with? I know I had a bunch myself. Those were the days.
I found the site in Fall '97 from a link on Marvin Shubert's Houston Rockets Page. Registered in Summer '98 when I got internet access at my house. Thank goodness that old board is long gone. My earlier posts on this one are embarassing enough...
I remember that! In like the fall of '95 I went to the university (after junior college) and by '96 we got a new computer lab... that site was bookmarked along with some others (for some reason I remember a KISS web page *kissasylum.com I think* on the first work station I logged into, and also Duece's site, the Launch Pad, seems like Rocket Zone & SpaceCity too)... anyway - it was in the college computer lab, and they had just hooked up the intranets... So the quest for a way to stay up on my hometown heroes latest news ensued... That Shubert page had tons of pictures... my "one page wonder" web site was in the Clutch Web Ring at one point too! Then I had one called "Ready2Rocket" around the Franchise draft.. now, if you find that html file at all... it points here - I believe that's literally all it has had on it since about '01... It was a tripod freebie... still is. yech! I was other names on the first BBS (which I'll not disclose right now, again) but let's just say I developed better behaviour, and less of an urge to bash people as time wore on. I liked my (current) username, so I took the warning (or 3) over the years seriously to keep active. I doubt I'd even visit the internet much at all without this place. I hate email really. I cut my teeth on html reading the source code on the web ring for goodness' sake! And the photoshop skills I began to learn in junior college pre-championship years has only really found a use here, for amusement. To answer the question: I figured out about ClutchFans when Clutch began posting the warnings about the upcoming change and how the Rockets owned the term "Clutch City." He instructed everyone on how to make the (now latest) switch. I'm glad I learned to read instructions.
A friend told me about it. I don't remember exactly how long I was around before the reset. I don't think it was very long. I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think I made a name before the board was reset. I think March of 99 was my first post. But I do seem to remember there was a reset.. maybe i was around a month or two before March.. not sure
Sorry.. I just read a few other posts... I was here for sure when they changed it to the spurs site.. what year was that??
