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Old timers !
- Thread starter StayWhatYouAre
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My first laptop was the 800MHz ibook !
- bondi blue G3 imac would have been my early macrumors days though
July 2002 here, spent soo much of my school career hanging around the forums. Sadly work has gotten in the way of that the last few years.
Still love the site and checking out the forums.
Still love the site and checking out the forums.
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Ah the days of the G5 powerbook rumours / dreams !! Thanks all , nice to see so many of you reply.
Here's to plenty more years !
Here's to plenty more years !
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January 2003 here! Right around when I got a flat screen iMac with the movable neck. I still think that was the best form factor...
I remember Macrumors filling the void of As the Apple Turns as it became less active.
I remember Macrumors filling the void of As the Apple Turns as it became less active.
Mostly lurker. Aug 17, 2003 join date. So it’s been a little bit of time.
Lurked for a few years before joining in January 2005. Back to lurking a few years after that and now I check in from time to time.
Aside from Ars, it’s about the only forum from early 00’s that hasn’t died on me. Glad to see that it’s still going strong!
Aside from Ars, it’s about the only forum from early 00’s that hasn’t died on me. Glad to see that it’s still going strong!
Yes, it was very abrupt. I went there one day and it was just gone. Never did learn why.
Ah, I had an iMac DV SE (graphite), but I think that was gone by the time I joined this forum.My first laptop was the 800MHz ibook !
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Amazing, my account is from 2004 but I’ve posted so little that i’m a “macrumors newbie”
2014 here! I think I used to follow a few sites for Apple/tech news for a few years before making an account. Nothing beats this site for the forums & comments on articles, though (I enjoy reading other people’s opinions on things). I check here first for Apple/tech news. This community is a strong one.
4 May, 2006 -- I guess that makes me an old timer. I have a teenager now!
Thinking about that time frame: poor uni student... daily ride was my eMac... so - ahh yes - I believe I joined MacRumors after experiencing the eMac "bad cap" issue, which I read about here (amongst other sites). Apple refused to cover the $900+ repair for an 18-month old computer. Had to email Steve for a favourable resolution, and then spent 6 months hanging around telling everyone - hassle Apple til they fix your eMac for free! Even after they finally announced a Repair Program - the description of the fault didn't really match the reality, so people still didn't know Apple would actually repair their eMacs... (I like to think I helped a lot of people... and cost Apple a lot of money...)
Thinking about that time frame: poor uni student... daily ride was my eMac... so - ahh yes - I believe I joined MacRumors after experiencing the eMac "bad cap" issue, which I read about here (amongst other sites). Apple refused to cover the $900+ repair for an 18-month old computer. Had to email Steve for a favourable resolution, and then spent 6 months hanging around telling everyone - hassle Apple til they fix your eMac for free! Even after they finally announced a Repair Program - the description of the fault didn't really match the reality, so people still didn't know Apple would actually repair their eMacs... (I like to think I helped a lot of people... and cost Apple a lot of money...)
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Hey, @arn, I remember the state of Apple rumors in the late 90s and early 2000s. It was the wild west and mostly seemed—with a few exceptions—like people were making things up or guessing. If you're up for sharing or repeating a bit of history, I'd love to hear what prompted you to start the site as its own thing rather than through the WELL, Usenet, or another online community. I think Kottke had launched right around the same time and blogging/forums were just starting to separate themselves a bit from other online communities. It's crazy to remember the position Apple was in almost 21 years ago and I know I was happy to find Macrumors and have a community of folks who appreciated Macs and were excited to talk about MacWorld Expo announcements and the like. And I still am!
This is a good one too. Why did people join the site? I can't really remember. It was probably when I finally got an iPhone since it was about a decade ago
I may have written this before. I'll have to dig through my old posts. But I was an Apple fan. Started with an Apple //c, then an Apple //gs. Switched to a Mac IIsi for college. Even was a big Newton fan. As the web got more popular there was a strong Apple web ecosystem in late 90s. Macworld, Macuser, MacSurfer, MacWeek. There were forums too. I think MacNN forums at the time maybe? Arstechnica forums. There may have been other smaller forums I don't remember anymore.
Anyway, I'd go read through all those sites on a daily basis. I'd also read and participate in the forums. The main Apple news sites at the time were relatively serious, having come from traditional publishers. There was definitely a "no rumors" vibe at most of them. So, much of the rumor / speculation / hints would be discussed in the forums. There was also some dedicated rumor columns / sites. Mac The Knife was at MacWeek which would publish rumors at times. MacOSRumors was around then too -- but they were seen as pretty unreliable. ThinkSecret started in 1998 so it was around too. They didn't publish as frequently though.
Anyway, so I was following all of this pretty religiously already. I was dabbling in web development around that time, and came across MacRumors as an expired domain -- so without giving it too much thought, I grabbed it and set up a site that was inspired by Slashdot for Mac news. Definitely going for a more community vibe than the existing sites.
This was before "blogging" was a thing, before wordpress was a thing. Slashdot was pretty big at that time, and they had open sourced their software, so we started on a PHP port of Slashcode. So hobby turned into career.
Some old screenshots from 2002, I ran across:
source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/which-browser-is-best.4314/page-2?post=56155#post-56155
source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/jaguar-desktop-pics.10011/?post=134872#post-134872
funny how life gets in the way ! I’ve had various bits of time away over the years . A little easier now my kids are getting a little older and more self sufficient .
2004 for me. Lurked for awhile before I signed up. Was active for quite a while and then inactive for quite a bit too.
July 2004. Came here looking for rumors on the PowerBook G5. I heard it might be on Tuesday.
I love it! Thanks for the refresh on the history lesson. I know I've read some of that before, but great to read through it again—and especially great to see those old screenshots.I may have written this before. I'll have to dig through my old posts. But I was an Apple fan. Started with an Apple //c, then an Apple //gs. Switched to a Mac IIsi for college. Even was a big Newton fan. As the web got more popular there was a strong Apple web ecosystem in late 90s. Macworld, Macuser, MacSurfer, MacWeek. There were forums too. I think MacNN forums at the time maybe? Arstechnica forums. There may have been other smaller forums I don't remember anymore.
Anyway, I'd go read through all those sites on a daily basis. I'd also read and participate in the forums. The main Apple news sites at the time were relatively serious, having come from traditional publishers. There was definitely a "no rumors" vibe at most of them. So, much of the rumor / speculation / hints would be discussed in the forums. There was also some dedicated rumor columns / sites. Mac The Knife was at MacWeek which would publish rumors at times. MacOSRumors was around then too -- but they were seen as pretty unreliable. ThinkSecret started in 1998 so it was around too. They didn't publish as frequently though.
Anyway, so I was following all of this pretty religiously already. I was dabbling in web development around that time, and came across MacRumors as an expired domain -- so without giving it too much thought, I grabbed it and set up a site that was inspired by Slashdot for Mac news. Definitely going for a more community vibe than the existing sites.
This was before "blogging" was a thing, before wordpress was a thing. Slashdot was pretty big at that time, and they had open sourced their software, so we started on a PHP port of Slashcode. So hobby turned into career.
Some old screenshots from 2002, I ran across:
source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/which-browser-is-best.4314/page-2?post=56155#post-56155
source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/jaguar-desktop-pics.10011/?post=134872#post-134872
I was thinking about all those former sites like Think Secret, MacOSRumors, and (later, I think) SpyMac. Even guys like Maury at RailHead sometimes had sourced info or talked about rumors. But it's not like you just outlasted all those sites, you—and your colleagues—managed to make the discussion feel more substantive. And for nearly 20 years, I've looked at the front page almost every day as part of my morning news roundup. Thank you for that. A lot.
on here since 2002, signed up in 2008 and 12 years later still a newbie.