How old is this site?

[cheerknithanson]

I completely agree.

What was that era?

 

[dorispulaski]

R.D. was Red Dog back then! But since everyone kept calling him R.D., he made it official.

Before I became a moderator, which I didn't do until after I retired, my username was all in caps. When I picked it, I had my very first laptop, which had a cursor I found very hard to see, and it was very easy to get the cap lock on without knowing it, too, since the keyboard was different from my desktop.

And I lived in the back of beyond on Stormville Mountain, and was on a dialup connection, where the phone lines were not on regular phone poles, just strung over trees, so there was always static on the line. So I picked a username all caps so that I could be sure when I got to typing my password, that I wouldn't screw up typing it in, and have to wait all over again signing in. My connection was soooooo slooow.

My avatar was, as it has always been, Snow White's Wicked Queen.

However, over time people decided that caps meant you were shouting. When gsk8 asked if I would like to be a moderator, I asked to have my username changed to all small letters. Moderators should not be shouting, I thought

 

[R.D.]

R.D. was Red Dog back then! But since everyone kept calling him R.D., he made it official.

Secret's out I suppose Actually I was RED DOG45 in the very beginning, back in the ezboard days. With GS's move to vbulletin, being one of the first members of the new board I was able to go by the original name I wanted (Red Dog). Even before that, though, most referred to me as "Red Dog" (and the associated "RD" abbreviation).

But Doris's explanation of why I went to R.D. is only half right. I simply did not want to be called "Red Dog" any more - but at the same time I wanted a recognizable post name. So I decided to shorten to RD (most called me that anyway). But GS would not let me take a post name containing just two characters, so in came the periods (R.D.).

So although there are periods in there, R.D. does not stand for anything any more. It's just my new shortened post name.

Also, the timing felt right especially since my overall views on skating shifted quite dramatically by that point - we're talking post 2006 here - I used to be the "non-fan" and prided myself on the fact that I seemed to be one of the few active members not actively attached to a skater(s). This often had dedicated skater fans throwing things at me because they couldn't stand to hear less than perfect things about their favorite

But due to the U.S. medal drought and lack of excitement overall, I slowly went from non-fan to US skate fan who began caring less and less about the international ladies. That is not more true than today with the Russian rule...

 

[Antilles]

I joined in either 2001 or 2002. I used to be more active. Life got busier, and with more people, the board seemed to get meaner. There seem to be a lot more tantrums and insults in recent years (aimed at both skaters and other posters), so I've largely stayed away. I usually just check in for news.

 

[Antilles]

I see now my join date is listed as 2003, but I was here before the 2002 Olympics. The date may have changed when we moved boards.

 

[FSGMT]

Well, that's an interesting thread!! I'm reading it before going to bed and it really made my night (can you say that? )... It's really incredible to see how a thing as a website can have a "history" and so many people feeling "connected" to it in a special way. Our brave New world (btw, my username is in caps, does it mean that I'm always shouting? :hopelessness: )

 

[dorispulaski]

No it looks like initials.


DORISPULASKI looks like shouting :

It also takes up too much real estate in the user block to the left of posts.

 

[dorispulaski]

Jaana, who still drops in from time to time, was here in the old days

 

[dorispulaski]

JoeSitz was having health problems. I have not heard from him in some time

 

[R.D.]

JoeSitz was having health problems. I have not heard from him in some time

Although we somewhat butted heads toward the end of his posting days, I still miss his contributions. Hope he is OK.

 

[heyang]

I'm thinking I started out on the about.com site in 1999 - I remember it was before my nephew was born in feb 2000 and my then boyfriend showed me how to search for stuff online.

There's many members who dropped off over time - Rgal, RealtorGirl, etc.... I haven't posted much myself since I'm not as interested as much as when I originally joined. Kinda co-incides with the ratings dip in the US. I do think the US has some promising skaters if they can grow as performers and become consistent before the next Olympics.... So, I continue to watch ...

 

[R.D.]

Wow, I remember them...good ol' days indeed. GS was actually quite intimate in those days due to the relatively few active posters around. That was a big reason I was drawn here, as opposed to a few of the other forums that had that "small fish in big pond" feeling...things have obviously changed quite a bit since then.

I was also a good bit more active then, too...if you look at my post count, I think more than 1/2 of those posts were made in the first 4 or 5 years. By the start of 2010 I think I was well into the 5-figure range. I was always a ladies-only skate fan, but in recent years, I have been much more selective about which threads I participate in. Also, I don't come here during competitions any more - I prefer Twitter for that. I typically will pop in to see the aftermath, though, particularly if the result is controversial...

 

[Skategmt]

I joined GS in August 2014.

I have been a Figure Skater for the last 12 years and have been a fan for about the same time. During the Sochi Olympics, I really started to follow international skating more closely. At that time, a lot of changes started happening to me (my FS club where I skated for 11 years folded, my "friends" changed, school was stressful ect), so I really clung to figure skating and really pushed myself into it. I found GS while trying to find the GP competitors, and soon after joined.

Even though I've been a part of GS for a short time, being on it and being connected to the skating world and people who follow it really helped me.

 

[Mrs. P]

I joined in the dead of night in Dec. 2009 while refreshing the live results at Japanese nationals. In fact I got banned because my first post had a link to the results, LOL. (I think it was Doris who actually bailed me out!)

At the time, I had started watching figure skating again. I pretty much missed the entire 2007-2010 quad (and really the last 10 years other than Olympics coverage). I basically started watching again when Yuna Kim won Worlds in 2009 on my friend's HDTV. Then for some reason I had Universal Sports on my broadcast tv (I didn't have cable) so I ended up watching a bunch of the GP on TV too.

I stumbled onto GS while looking up skating stuff and lurked on the site for many months. I think I joined because someone asked for the link to Japanese Nationals live results and I wanted to give it to them. (Even then I wanted to provide info, LOL).

I've met so many great people through here and got to meet some of them in person. Mr. P got to meet a bunch of them also! He remembers talking to Doris about Rohene Ward at a Irish Pub in Boston after the Men's Free Skate at U.S. Nationals at the free skate. So when he was like "Is that Prince?" when seeing him in the K&C this year, I mentioned that was Rohene and he totally recalled every fact that Doris told him. (Lol Doris, you would be proud!)

So even though I wasn't part of the original crew, I really feel at home here.

 

[dorispulaski]

Rgirl had health problems, too. I often miss her, wonder about her, and hope she is ok. She used to be very involved with The Rusty.Hanger Awards, given to really bad costumes, with wonderfully well written commentary.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I joined in the dead of night in Dec. 2009 while refreshing the live results at Japanese nationals. In fact I got banned because my first post had a link to the results, LOL. (I think it was Doris who actually bailed me out!)

Exact same thing happened with me! Except the link wasn't in my comment, but rather was in the comment by mikiandorocks that I was quoting.

Eurosport was getting criticised for showing snooker at the time they said that they were scheduled to show skating. So, nothing strange there then. Except, this time the criticism was unfounded as the snooker had actually finished early, so to fill in the time, Eurosport showed more extensive highlights of the skating than they had planned. Then they put highlights of the snooker on at the time they had been planning on showing the shorter highlights of the skating.

Anybody who had put on the TV at the scheduled time wouldn't have realised this. So, I felt compelled to defend Eurosport.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...rica-streaming&p=670061&viewfull=1#post670061

They haven't really given me much opportunity to do that too often since, though!

I stumbled onto GS while looking up skating stuff and lurked on the site for many months. I think I joined because someone asked for the link to Japanese Nationals live results and I wanted to give it to them. (Even then I wanted to provide info, LOL).

Nah, I didn't really bother lurking. I joined the site a few days after I found it, and posted my first comment the day after I joined.

So even though I wasn't part of the original crew, I really feel at home here.

Same here. Yes, there is a lot of arguing. But, there is also a lot of camaraderie.

The previous forum I was a member of was like a big happy family, but it closed down (the music group it was dedicated to left the European market to build a fanbase at home in Japan). So, I couldn't have beared it if it was just constant bickering here. Which is why I didn't join FSU when I came across it - there wasn't the same friendly atmosphere there as there was here.

Rgirl had health problems, too. I often miss her, wonder about her, and hope she is ok. She used to be very involved with The Rusty.Hanger Awards, given to really bad costumes, with wonderfully well written commentary.

Yeah, when there are members that normally post regularly and you don't see them posting for a while, you do start wondering how they are and if they are well.

The other day, I was thinking about the thread where people were wondering where Olympia and BusyMom were. Unfortunately, we subsequently found out that Olympia had passed away, and that obviously took over the discussion.

But the other member mentioned in that thread, BusyMom, hasn't posted since around the same time. And I have often been wondering about her. I just looked up her profile, and saw that her account had been logged into at the end of January. So, hopefully that is a good sign that she is just too busy to post.

"The Rusty Hanger Awards". That sounds fun! I just did a search on Google, and it seems like the last time this was discussed was in 2007. Perhaps we should revive them...

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Mathman]

Rgirl was very cool indeed. She was a dancer and later she wrote an influential book on nutrition for dancers, which is still in print. Her posts were always well-written, long , thoughtful, provocative and full of humor.

 

[Tonichelle]

I joined in 1998, and there are still a few active posters from the original version on about.com before that. Golden Slate moved to its current vbulletinboard format (from ezboard) in 2003.

not to make you feel old (but you know I can't resist), but I joined the board in 01 or 02... I was still in high school! I just turned 30! (wait, now I think I'm supposed to feel old!)

I personally miss Dr. Watson.

 

[beebee51]

JoeSitz was having health problems. I have not heard from him in some time

I was a personal friend of Joesitz and he didn't live too far from me in NYC. I knew he was in failing health. We saw each other periodically and were in touch quite often, then one day he stopped responding to my calls. I fear he may have passed on, but don't know for sure. He was quite a figure skating fan and a great guy.

 

[dorispulaski]

He was.