Happy 7th Birthday RWO

[desredandwhite]

Des, Anni.

Where does 'Swans Flying High' fit into the equation?

From memory, SFH started up a little bit before the Rivals.net site. But the forum software (ezboards???? possibly) was not quite as sophisticated as the rivals one, and certainly far less fully featured than the vBulletin version that followed. It was prone to being spammed and trolled unfortunately, but you get that with a lot of the free messageboard providers of the day.

A bunch of people from SFH went onto the rivals RWO board along with a bunch of people from the mailing list. The rest is history I guess.

[Legs Akimbo]

I'd have read a whole lot of books I've always wanted to read but haven't gotten around to if I had not found this damned site.

...and the site is poorer for the absence of Connolly. I hope he comes back.

Perhaps someone should crank up an anniversary 'favourite'thread / post' thread.

What are they doing now (Lord of the Rings) thread and various Nick Davis threads would be right up there. Hey who needs Chekhov anyway...

[hammo]

The place is a lot duller without Sanecow that's for sure.

I think I joined in 03, so that's a lot of wasted time at work, home as well as logging on from some far flung adventures in Europe.

[ugg]

For those interested in what RWO looked like in its previous incarnations:

Internet Archive Wayback Machine

Most of the links still work (the big exception being the messageboards) and make for some very intriguing reading.

[Mike_B]

You mean Snitz forums Jeff? The first forum after the rivals.net incarnarnation which was more about the stories and opinions was Snitz before Des dug deep and bought vB software that is still here now...

[ScottH]

Wow. Time flies.
And to think people didn't think this interweb thingy would take off.

Whilst a lot of work has been done to keep this place going, it is the hundreds of members that make it, what it is!!

Look out for new changes coming REAL soon!!

[Bas]

It has brought back a few memories for me.

I started back when Ann had her yahoo site. Then slowly progressed to RWO.

Major run in with Steve Daley over the booing Greg Stafford issue.

Reading as some posters progressed through puberty whilst posting on this site. Only to be lost to Big Footy. Well you can only have so many control freaks on one site and they seem to be doing that happily on BF now.

There was the regular Thursday night chats online there for a while.

Mrs Daffy where are you now?

My fondest memory was the first game at Homebush when quite a few RWO posters met on the field after the game. I still have pictures somewhere saved.

I really haven't seen any fellow posters for eons because of life circumstances but can still catch up here.

Lots of fun ribbing ROK over the years and watching Peter Hatley's girth expand annually. I used to worry so much at games when he would hop on his seat to rev up the Brewongle crowd. One slip and we may have had a crushed supporter. We still might have a crushed supporter if he ever catches up with me !! But he is in Melbourne now.

Big thanks again to Ann, Des and Steve for their monumental effort to get this site started all those years ago.

I'm really looking forward to this year on the field and RWO will be right there again.

Happy Birthday RWO.

[desredandwhite]

You mean Snitz forums Jeff? The first forum after the rivals.net incarnarnation which was more about the stories and opinions was Snitz before Des dug deep and bought vB software that is still here now...

Ahhh yes, I knew I forgot a step somewhere.

Yes, we had a snitz forum back in the day. Probably for about a year. I do recall I managed to export to vB though, so there wasn't anything much lost there in the changeover. Couldn't do it from the rivals one though.

[j s]

Reading as some posters progressed through puberty whilst posting on this site.

Remember Charlie? Des christened him the "Wonderdog".

[j s]

Not a bad effort, this little community.

Do we need a BRWOAE perhaps Des?

[anniswan]

Isn't nostalgia great, I even manage to forget most of the history myself. Glad others can. LOL.

No JS we don't need another silly acronym that no one can understand.

Just keep on being friendly and nice to each other, agree to disagree etc.

What ever happened to Steve D?

[anniswan]

Des, Anni.

Where does 'Swans Flying High' fit into the equation?

Was that Ruths site?

[desredandwhite]

Was that Ruths site?

I believe you're thinking of "Watch 'em Fly", Ann

[Steve]

I'm still around Ann - just happy to sit in the background and observe more than post these days.

One thing about RWO, through its whole evolution, has been the sense of involvement and ownership so many people have had. From Ann and others whose mailing lists or smaller sites were the precursors to RWO, to those who contributed articles and joined the chats in the Rivals days, through to current day where posters and moderators make the messageboard what it is.

For me RWO itself is the site Des and I created those many years ago to bring together everything in the one place, and take advantage of the improved technology of the time.

The early days were quite different to now, with a core group of people who mostly knew each other, met regularly and had really good footy discussions. That has been lost somewhat, but the aim was always to 'grow the family' and be the one place for all Swans fans to come together and share their thoughts, so I'm still very pleased to see what the site has become.

I'm only now remembering some of the many 'debates' I seem to have been involved in with various people - I must say Des was always a great mediator.

[Pace To Burn]

I'm still around Ann - just happy to sit in the background and observe more than post these days.

One thing about RWO, through its whole evolution, has been the sense of involvement and ownership so many people have had. From Ann and others whose mailing lists or smaller sites were the precursors to RWO, to those who contributed articles and joined the chats in the Rivals days, through to current day where posters and moderators make the messageboard what it is.

For me RWO itself is the site Des and I created those many years ago to bring together everything in the one place, and take advantage of the improved technology of the time.

The early days were quite different to now, with a core group of people who mostly knew each other, met regularly and had really good footy discussions. That has been lost somewhat, but the aim was always to 'grow the family' and be the one place for all Swans fans to come together and share their thoughts, so I'm still very pleased to see what the site has become.
I'm only now remembering some of the many 'debates' I seem to have been involved in with various people - I must say Des was always a great mediator.

Well why dont we organise one game this year where we all meet up either before or after the game. If its nominated before the season starts then no-one has an excuse for missing it