Just wanted to acknowledge these first 5.
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These are the first users who signed up for the newest iteration of the forum running on more modern software. The GDF forum, however, has been around much longer than that — it predates my participation by over a decade. I’m not quite sure when it was first launched, but I’m thinking it was back in the early 2000s. Kool, PrintDriver or RKK might know.
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I wanna say maybe 2004? Kool would know. He was one of the First Ones.
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Kool has been here since it was created …
2002
We don’t call him the “Boss” for nothin’ 
PD wasn’t far behind in 2003. I came onboard in 2006. and Just-B in 2011.
How do I know … because I scrambled trying to save as many memories as possible from the old GDF
These are in order of post count … but you can see the join dates as well.
Some of these lovely folks are still here and some have moved on. Some we still talk to on other platforms and some have become dust in the wind
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Yup, I’ve been with GDF since 2004. Good find RKK, it’s nice to see some old names and avatars.
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That’s only a few screens … I saved a bunch
We had 1000’s of members but some were of the 1 post and done variety
These were the majority of our main posters. 
I’ve been here that long? Wow! I would have guessed six or seven. Sometimes I still think of myself as a newcomer. Time flies when we’re having fun, I suppose.
I still remember CraigB’s nice private message welcoming me to the forum. I’m sure he doesn’t remember it, but it helped convince me to stick around long enough to get hooked on the place.
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Indeed it does 
Hard to believe 10 years can go by so quick eh?
Kool is coming up on 20!!!
I mean nearly 20 years in “internet time” is substantial. I mean, heck Kool joining GDF was pre-Facebook (2004), pre-iPhone (2007), pre-YouTube (2005) and certainly pre-Twitter (2006), heck Google at that point was only roughly 4 years old.
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Ha. I vaguely remember sending you a message that was something along the lines of how I appreciated the thought and effort you put into your posts and how your posts were always helpful. Nearly a decade later I still stand by that.
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Yup, that’s the one. 
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I’m impressed. I am a mere kid in comparison.
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Yep, 20 years next October, I was member number 17.
I was into forums for a decade before that though. I loved the old Usenet news groups, same principal as forums but more primitive. There were groups to discuss and argue about pretty much anything. I find it amusing that one of the most popular sites on the internet today, Reddit, is an almost exact copy of Usenet LOL
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Yup — just a little sleeker in some ways. And worse in others.
Was the first GD forum just started up by an individual? When I got involved, it was owned by a corporation, but I always assumed it had been purchased and changed hands a couple of times.
About that same time, early 2000s, there was a graphic design forum here in Salt Lake called ampUTate. When it shut down, I managed to find GDF.
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Kool will have to give specifics on those really early days.
Kool, Allen Harkleroad and I think a guy named TallMike pretty much ran things. I think Allen may have been the very first originator … but I’m not sure. My brain is fuzzy all these years later lol 
When I came in it was under Jupiter Media and JPnyc was installed by them as he was a coding wizard He found me over on Virtual Doctor and Amazing Techs and brought me over here to help Mod. Been here ever since
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Allen Harkleroad, launched the forum on October 7th 2002. Tall Mike joined up a few days later and Allen made him the moderator. I joined a few days later. The forum was really dead for the first 6 months or so, mostly just a few members shootin the shit in the off topic forum. In the spring and summer of 2003 about a dozen regulars had joined including PrintDriver. That was all it took, activity attracts more activity and so on. Eventually at our peak we averaged over 2000 posts a day. Allen sold the forum to Jupitermedia in 2005 or 2006.
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That’s very interesting, and I’ve wondered about it from time to time. I vaguely remember Allen Harkleroad’s name being mentioned on the old green forum after I joined. Thanks for connecting the dots.
Two thousand posts per day, though. Wow! We could use a few of those posts on some days, but I wouldn’t wish for 2,000 of them.
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Thanks Kool … good to know a few of my wires are still connected upstairs lol
I have a feeling it was sold in 2005 because everything was well in place when I got here the next year.
Ahh … I love reminiscing
We would have some majorly fun times… The wacky posts that would take off and spin completely out of control … but in a good way.
Our PS Parties.
Boobie Island.
Special Avatar Days.
and our QOTW. It was always a badge of honor if you made the cut
I often wonder what happened to Bob. I made a mini poster outta one of his posts. It’s still on my bulletin board. And it’s still true. It features a Civil War Battlefield sketch where everyone is dead (n.b. part of my job is image acquisition and most often for the Civil War Era.)
The caption reads: “Production means that, by definition, you are the only one left standing to face the deadline.”
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I loved the PS parties but my favorites were the avatar days, especially the spontaneous ones like the day we all changed our avatars to naked mole rats or axolotls. There were some great April Fools tricks like the time we changed all the avatars to Captain Kirk and the time we just switched all the regulars avatars randomly so each had the avatar of a different member.
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