SP History?

Suggestions and comments about SummitPost's features, policies, and procedures. Post bugs here.
User Avatar
Matt Lemke

 
Posts: 734
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:34 am
Thanked: 163 times in 102 posts

SP History?

by Matt Lemke » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:04 am

Being a curious lad that I am, I was wondering how SP got started? Who are the founding fathers? Are they the two users with twice the power points than everyone else?

I noticed on the FAQ page a link to a history but it said the page was deleted.

Thanks for any info!

The following user would like to thank Matt Lemke for this post
Marmaduke

User Avatar
mrchad9

 
Posts: 4545
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:01 am
Thanked: 1338 times in 911 posts

Re: SP History?

by mrchad9 » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:13 am

Looks like Aaron deleted his articles. Unfortunate. There were 3 articles that laid out in a lot of detail the history from beginning until about 2005 or 2006.

It was started by users Josh and Ryle. Then they pretty much abandoned it, though they retained ownership. They gave Montana Matt part ownership in return for doing the current programming support.

User Avatar
Josh Lewis

 
Posts: 3412
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:12 pm
Thanked: 1108 times in 677 posts

Re: SP History?

by Josh Lewis » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:57 am

In person I told Matt a bit about the history. But there are many pieces of the puzzle missing. Aaron Johnson from what I understand was the guy who either suggested or implemented the trip report section of the site. SummitPost started out as SummitPost.com and swapped to SummitPost.org which I believe was in 2006. (I didn't know about SP then, so I'm not entirely sure). Back in the day I was a secret SP spy which I had all sorts of information that most do not even know about. Top Secret folks, can't give the info away. 8)

Image

User Avatar
lcarreau

 
Posts: 4226
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:27 pm
Thanked: 1898 times in 1415 posts

Re: SP History?

by lcarreau » Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:37 pm

Haven't been here very long, but from what I can tell ... it ALL began in KANSAS ... :D

"Come out, come out wherever you are ..
And meet the young lady who fell from a star.
She fell from the sky, she fell very far,
And Kansas she says is the name of the star."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KSiyaqnZYs[/youtube]
"Turkey Vultures always vomit when they get nervous."

The following user would like to thank lcarreau for this post
gabr1

User Avatar
Lolli

 
Posts: 810
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:56 pm
Thanked: 112 times in 71 posts

Re: SP History?

by Lolli » Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:15 am

Has Aaron deleted the articles??
Too bad. :(
It started in april, I think, 2001. It's not quite fair to say that they've abandoned the site, one can see Ryle being online now and then.

It started out with mainly American climbers, but grew quite quickly with European members. Since there still are many active from that first group of members, you ought to be able to get the story from any of them, if they have the energy to write it down. Bob Burd was the first elf, the uber-elf Gangolf was the first European elf. Dadndave the first Australian :-)

In the beginning there were areas, mountains, routes, images and trip reports. There was a lot of debates going on about keeping SP "pure", everything should be about mountains. If someone posted a pic of something else, they apologised for it being off topic. Voting for pics had the option "off topic".
When version 2 was implemented, everything under the caption "other" was added, and it changed the direction of the site.

(I have been a member a bit longer then it seems from my profile...)
Age is a matter of mind and if you don´t mind it does not matter!

User Avatar
mvs

 
Posts: 1054
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2001 7:44 pm
Thanked: 307 times in 123 posts

Re: SP History?

by mvs » Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:36 am

I can't believe those articles are gone!! They were awesome. I hate when people take good stuff away with them when they leave, especially if that stuff is a museum piece on the culture of SP...

The following user would like to thank mvs for this post
Holsti97, Josh Lewis

User Avatar
lcarreau

 
Posts: 4226
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:27 pm
Thanked: 1898 times in 1415 posts

Re: SP History?

by lcarreau » Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:43 pm

Aaron was all for keeping the site pure, as was mentioned.

Sorry, but I think trying to keep the site "pure" is an impossible task. You will always have some daisies and mushrooms popping up now and then ..

NOPE, don't have a picture to go along with this post.

(Do you have anymore TOP SECRET historical accounts to give to us, Josh ???)
"Turkey Vultures always vomit when they get nervous."

User Avatar
Holsti97

 
Posts: 914
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:37 pm
Thanked: 38 times in 23 posts

Re: SP History?

by Holsti97 » Tue Nov 08, 2011 1:01 pm

mvs wrote:I can't believe those articles are gone!! They were awesome. I hate when people take good stuff away with them when they leave, especially if that stuff is a museum piece on the culture of SP...


Could somebody who knows Aaron Johnson ask him to put those articles back on Summitpost? They were very informative.

User Avatar
mvs

 
Posts: 1054
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2001 7:44 pm
Thanked: 307 times in 123 posts

Re: SP History?

by mvs » Tue Nov 08, 2011 1:10 pm

I don't know him but exchanged mail a few times with him. I tried to write to the address I have from 2009, and it's invalid :(.

So...using the power of archive.org, I found them! Here is Part One, and Part Two and Part Three!.

Happy reading these excellent histories!

The following user would like to thank mvs for this post
Baarb, Dean, hansw, Holsti97, lcarreau, Marmaduke, rgg

User Avatar
Baarb

 
Posts: 408
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:42 pm
Thanked: 43 times in 30 posts

Re: SP History?

by Baarb » Tue Nov 08, 2011 2:24 pm

Amazing, thanks for those, are there any more pages in there that have been sorely missed and not recreated? Though one wonders if you have written something and then want to delete it, whether all copies should be deleted too. Are web pages copyrightable?

User Avatar
Marmaduke

 
Posts: 1541
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:08 am
Thanked: 729 times in 562 posts

Re: SP History?

by Marmaduke » Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:19 pm

That is some great stuff Michael, thanks for taking the time to dig it up. I am one that loves history and there is so much there it will take some time to get through it all but I think a follow up should be done. Maybe a "where are we now" type of article, still showing the history but updates on the long time members, new stats, new Q & A's etc. One thing I did notice and maybe it was mentioned on another thread but the complaining of the scoring system was an issue back in '06 a well.

Great Stuff!

User Avatar
Lolli

 
Posts: 810
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:56 pm
Thanked: 112 times in 71 posts

Re: SP History?

by Lolli » Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:40 pm

I just read the articles again, and to refer to another thread here, there were so many names from way back, now gone. Makes me sad. :-(

Edit: thanks mvs, for digging 'em up! Really fun to reread them!
Age is a matter of mind and if you don´t mind it does not matter!

The following user would like to thank Lolli for this post
KathyW

no avatar
KathyW

 
Posts: 1656
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2003 7:07 am
Thanked: 53 times in 39 posts

Re: SP History?

by KathyW » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:01 pm

It is sad what has happened to SP over the years. I also think it started to go downhill after Version 2 was implemented and has continued the downhill slide ever since.

User Avatar
mrchad9

 
Posts: 4545
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:01 am
Thanked: 1338 times in 911 posts

Re: SP History?

by mrchad9 » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:20 pm

Play us a song KathyW.

Image

User Avatar
Baarb

 
Posts: 408
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:42 pm
Thanked: 43 times in 30 posts

Re: SP History?

by Baarb » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:53 pm

KathyW wrote:It is sad what has happened to SP over the years. I also think it started to go downhill after Version 2 was implemented and has continued the downhill slide ever since.


It's a shame people leave, I've been around long enough to remember a lot of them too, but it's great that a lot of the original folk are still around and other great people have joined since, and will continue to join, so long as there's a positive attitude and direction from its members. At least that's my opinion.

mrchad9 wrote:Play us a song...

Paula Cole - Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? is a good listen.

The following user would like to thank Baarb for this post
Josh Lewis, lcarreau

Next

Return to Site Feedback

 


  • Related topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests