I was married to @TheHostess, running an IT business with @-tk. @TheSMJ, Deana the Greek, Tim, and Mikael worked for me. Icrontic, years before, was a resource for me that I used to help my clients. I was a lurker until a particular discussion about vegetarianism set me off (I was a vegetarian for a time). @BartWilliams (RIP), @Ghoosdum, @Tex, and a few others were involved in the heated discussion and I just had to put my two cents in, so I registered with the name I always used for forums and gaming. Little did I know I'd be inscribing a name in stone that could never change. Registering for Icrontic that day may as well have been creating my new birth certificate.
Once I had gotten over the registration hump, I was all in.
I spent a LOT of time on Icrontic. I remember one particular evening in 2001 when Tracey (my then-wife) looked over my shoulder as Perry sat on my lap, and she said, "What are you always doing on that site? It's like your job, you're on there so much". Heh.
I got to know @MediaMan really well. By 2003, sarcnet industries, inc. (my company), was a full-fledged managed hosting company. We had several servers in a data center run by @Rob, and I felt pretty confident that we could provide a better hosting solution than Icrontic was currently saddled with. The site was slow all the time. I contacted @Mortin (RIP), and he directed me to Mediaman (Doug).
I struck up a conversation with Doug. He loved the idea of my hosting the site, and I offered to do it for free as a gesture of support for the community I loved and the site I relied on so much. He thought it was a great idea. You can read the rest in the history, where @shorty, @lincoln, @kwitko, @park_7677 and others all helped rebuild the site that got wiped off the web.
I lived in a small house that I bought at 20 years old in south Warren, MI. Not a great neighborhood (especially now), but a good starter home for a small young family filled with hopes and dreams.
I could not have possibly conceived of the journey that life would take me on. Things today are incomprehensibly different than I would have imagined. I've got a phenomenal job with Shinola that I could only have gotten because of the skills I honed here. I met the love of my life, @troublebaker because of Twitter and I got involved with Twitter to promote Icrontic.
I have been destroyed and rebuilt a few times in the last ten years, but there have been a few absolutely precious constants in my life that I needed to anchor me. They've been my rock: My kids, @Lincoln, and Icrontic.
Ten years ago I was about to graduate from high school. I had been introduced to Icrontic a year or so before by @khan and had been asking and answering computer and OS-related questions among others... a particular deleted thread comes to mind. It was a month before I graduated that I went to Icrontic one day and it was a parking site with some political jihadist crap on it if I recall correctly.
I got re-introduced to Short-Media a year or two later by @TheBaron whom I also went to high school with. The rest is history.
1
Straight_ManGeeky, in my own wayNaples, FLIcrontian
I honestly cannot remember if I lurked sans ID on the original Icrontic or not, but joined Short-Media shortly after it went up under a different name than the current one. I was on dial-up working for a tiny computer building and repair company, before the first Pentium came out.
I finally revealed who I was to Brian a while after that, and am gonna live with the Icrontic records as to when I joined for reasons of my own. I owned my own company building and servicing computers for folks for a time and am now retired and disabled.
I was getting ready for high school. Spent all summer in marching band. Met people there that would eventually become some of my beat friends. Just started PC gaming. Played a lot starcraft and halo.
I wish I remembered more how I was introduced to the OG Icrontic by @BuddyJ. I think it was during freshman year 2000-2001. But 10 years ago, I was finishing up my junior year in college, and BuddyJ and I had a bunk bed. I feel off the top once and almost killed myself by falling headfirst right next to an open micro-ATX case. Icrontic taught me the joy of building computers, and I had parts strewn all over the place.
I went through my old pictures folders trying to find some relics of days gone by. I've got some old photos from my pre-Icrontic days, back when I was active in Clan Beowulf. The first image I've got from IC, sadly, is this attached one from 2006. I made a gallery of some sweet wallpapers from Short-Media, though (have to click download to get full res).
I wanted to say something about 10 more years!... and then I remembered how old I'll be in 10 years. Oh well. They'll be good years.
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
Let's see, I was age 10. Was unknowingly about to finish my last year at the Catholic school I had been in up till then (which would quickly change my personality in the opposite direction for reasons I'm not sure of.) I can't remember when I got my own computer. Maybe then or in the next year or two. However I had been a gamer since as far back as I can remember and had probably all the main systems of the time, and would always be playing something on one of those systems or the family computer. Gamer for LIFE! Hmm this is actually the first time I've looked back all that time since hitting 20 earlier this year. I'm glad for the most part on where I've been. I'm looking forward to where I'll go and how Icrontic will affect that.
10 years ago, I was finishing up my junior year of high school, getting ready to think about where I wanted to go to college, and applying for scholarships. I believe at that time I was working at The Teacher's Store (teaching supplies retail store) or Hobby Lobby. I drove a red '91 Ford Explorer (coined "Billy Bob"), played tennis, and was the only girl in the jazz band (this is the period of time in my life I became one of the guys, and my sense of humor made its way deeper into the gutter).
I was introduced to Icrontic in 2008, when @magic was finally ready to introduce this incredible group of people to me after dating for almost 2 years. We came out to celebrate Brian's birthday, and I brought him a homemade strawberry pie (first impressions are important!), and we chatted, went to dinner, danced, and listened to Reggie sing. The ICHQ clan made a good impression, and I attended ICOK '08, and lifelong friendships were made. I'm gracious to call many of the Icrontians some of my closest friends, and would do anything for them, as they've been there for me when I needed them the most.
10 years ago I was in social limbo. It was sophomore year of high school and I quit all sports I did (6 years of wrestling, 3 years of football, 1 year of track and field). I was in the best shape of my life, but I never felt more alone in my entire life. I sunk a ton of hours into Final Fantasy XI - I'd frequently get yelled at my mom because I would be up playing while she was going to work at 5:00am. I didn't give a shit at school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I was really just going through the motions.
It really wasn't until the summer after I graduated (3 years later) that I had social iterations with anyone from school outside of school. No parties, no hangouts, no movies - I'd go to stuff with my family, but that was about it.
I'd be hesitant to look, but my total play time for my main character in FFXI is... at minimum... 2 years. It is kind of mind boggling to me know that I could spend that much time playing 1 thing.
It sucked, but I've come a long way. Onward and upward~
0
BlackHawkBible music connoisseurThere's no place like 127.0.0.1Icrontian
10 years ago wasn't one of my best years. I was suicidal, I dropped out of high school and all I had in life was gaming and IC/SM.
This is a good time to reflect on where our community would be without Folding, and why Icrontic got into it in the first place.
In honor of our 10th anniversary, if you're not folding, please consider using your spare CPU cycles to kick Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson’s, and cancer's asses. It's easier than ever to get the latest Folding client to run. Super easy. Just download the installer here.
Our team number is 93. But for the month of May, I'll be changing my rigs to team 734, to thank the Folding Frogs that gave us our much needed temporary home ten years ago.
Ha, 'tis you gravite? Didn't you have a blue avatar back then? I remember the name from way back, didn't realise you'd changed it when I was looking back at old threads. Getting used to Lincoln instead of General Keebler was weird.
I was a praktikant in Germany on my Uni placement year, in Stuttgart. Testing CAD software from a company called CoCreate. Best year of my life that was, away on the continent in a foreign country for a year with no responsibilities. I met a lot of new friends that year, good times.
Anyway, I was sat at work in a new wing of the office doing something new, and I couldn't get on the site for what felt like ages. Eventually I found AMDmb and came back to a very teal (or was it light blue?) Short-Media. I remember trying to get on constantly so I could get a low user ID, oh the joys of youth!
I had written a guide for other students on how to get by in Germany, and I used the grey Icrontic theme with Fats was it? I still do two thumbs up to people and they look at me like I'm from Mars, but hey ho, private joke Sadly I neglected to do anything about the site's upkeep and as it was on a free hosting account eventually it was deleted when I didn't log in. It's now lost to the annals of history.
Big props to Brian, Shorty, and was it MediaMan? Forgive me if that's wrong, I am now an old git at 31 years of age and my memory is not what it once was. Anyway, I'm rambling now I could go on all night. Perhaps there's something in UPSLynx's life path idea.
One final thing, I had an avatar of a little donkey with a teal background for years. I thought I'd never change it, but I now have a 4 year old daughter who does the best lion roar's I've ever seen. She now takes pride of place as my avatar
Ten years ago I was graduating high school and headed off to college to room with norge and mmonnin (plus 1 more who was never really involved in iIrontic). My life has taken a lot of twists and turns since that point. Icrontic played a large part in my life starting when I was around 15 or 16 (very last 2000ish maybe) and built my first computer from scratch using an entire summer of lawn mowing money. I was actually confused at first because I had only found Apu's Hardware a couple of times and then it became Icrontic. There are still to this day many interactions I had with people from that start up until I really slowed down and kind of faded away around 2005 (edit I guess closer to early /mid 2007 the years kind of blend together). I can say without question that I’m a better person for the time I’ve spent here.
These type of thread always get me going to the way back machine for memories.
My hat is off and I'm truly grateful to all those who put in the time and effort to Icrontic alive. Those who are still active and those who have moved on to other adventures.
10 years ago: I had just finished my freshman year of college and was about to head off to a summer in London. I met @CB in 2004 but it took him until 2007 to convince me to actually sign up for this site tho I lurked a bit before then. Wow... 10 years has seen a lot of changes I went to London, met CB, finished college a year early, bought a house, started my MBA, married CB, joined Icrontic, finished my MBA, got pregnant, went to Rome, finally got promoted to manager, had a baby. I wonder if the next 10 years will have as many "milestones" or if life will settle into a routine. Either way I look forward to sharing the next 10 years with all of you
Ten years ago I was a junior in high school. I wasn't very active on any of the forums but I spent copious amounts of time on IRC as iEDC705 or gurrg11 as a handle before I started using Sonoroity and then later Sonorous as an online identity. I still have logs some where from the Addaboy and Icrontic channels. I had just started dating a girl named Allison and received my first electric guitar as an early birthday present. I was driving a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville that my dad had given to me and had just started working at Staples in the electronics department selling old people printers that they would never be able to operate.
I think at that point I has an Abit NF7s with a 2100+ that wouldn't over clock for shit. If I remember correctly those where the days when twinmos ram was all the rage and the 9700 pro just came out.
My earliests posts, as SM rose from the ashes, had to do with folding and overclocking. Looking back those 2 had a great synergy.
I was in high school then. I always thought I'd work on something computer-related, and sure enough I'm in the software industry 10 years later. On the way I have discovered and pursued more new interests and done some growing up (some).
I always say "impressed" but I'm trying to think of an emotion word. Yes. It's been inspiring to see the site evolve into a lot more than a site, from 10 years ago when it was a hive of unmet people trying to make better computers.
I keep waiting for the Day DJQuack and frink show up again.
1
KwitkoSheriff of Banning (Retired)By the thing near the stuffIcrontian
I can't remember how I originally found Icrontic, but it doesn't matter. It's not even about computers anymore for me, it's a great place to hang out. @Primesuspect is my daughter's godfather. I have welcomed many Icrontians into my home. I have laughed and cried with many of you. I've seen marriages, babies, and- unfortunately- breakups and deaths.
Ten years ago I was broke, unemployed, single, renting a tiny studio, barely scraping by. I was one day away from being classified as a hoarder. Now I am happily married with 2 children, gainfully employed, and a homeowner. The constant has been this great group of friends from Icrontic.
Ten years ago I was (and still am) Buddy J's mom with the super slow dial up. Mertsen had not yet met and married my daughter PurpleMonkeyGirl. I had no idea what an on-line community was but did know that somehow BuddyJ had our computer doing some crazy thing called Folding At Home. Why he wanted to spend time talking to strangers, building computers and playing some "fake game" online was beyond me. Who'd have thought this still very tech illiterate mom would still not understand the "geeky" stuff but care very deeply about all the "kids" who've grown up on Icrontic. You've been through so much joy, laughter, tears and adventures and created friendships that span distance and time. You support each other, love each other and put your time, money and sweat equity into the lives of your friends. It's probably safe to say that from the ashes of SM rose something far greater than a tech site called Icrontic. It grew a Community.
Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
Back in 2000 I had moved to Texas from Alaska and the only online comunities I was involved with were all hunting, shooting or vetrans groups. On one of the hunting sites I met Tex who invited me to visit Icrontic as I had just built my first computer. I was a bit skeptical at first as I had never considered myself a geek. After a while and building a few more rigs, getting the overclocking bug and attending my first LAN at the ripe age of 51 where I got to meet, Brian, Lincoln, many guys named Rob and a whole bunch of new people (can't forget the lost swede and shorty) I realized that I have been a geek my whole life. With my newfound zest for tech I put in countless hours learning in earnest all I could to get into it for a profession. Now I am sitting in an airport posting a reply on my phone while waiting for a corporate jet to pick me up after attending a weeks worth of meetings for the company I have now been working for the past 3 years.
I have also learned the way a group of great people whom I had never met 10 years ago were able to rally support when my daughter Heather was struck by a car and eventually succumbed to her injuries. And that happened right in the middle of this community's rebirth and the chaos that ensued. So the fact that everyone pulled together and gave their support when Icrontic was having its own difficulties still has me in awe. And for that I want to thank everyone again!
Comments
And this:
And this:
I was married to @TheHostess, running an IT business with @-tk. @TheSMJ, Deana the Greek, Tim, and Mikael worked for me. Icrontic, years before, was a resource for me that I used to help my clients. I was a lurker until a particular discussion about vegetarianism set me off (I was a vegetarian for a time). @BartWilliams (RIP), @Ghoosdum, @Tex, and a few others were involved in the heated discussion and I just had to put my two cents in, so I registered with the name I always used for forums and gaming. Little did I know I'd be inscribing a name in stone that could never change. Registering for Icrontic that day may as well have been creating my new birth certificate.
Once I had gotten over the registration hump, I was all in.
I spent a LOT of time on Icrontic. I remember one particular evening in 2001 when Tracey (my then-wife) looked over my shoulder as Perry sat on my lap, and she said, "What are you always doing on that site? It's like your job, you're on there so much". Heh.
I got to know @MediaMan really well. By 2003, sarcnet industries, inc. (my company), was a full-fledged managed hosting company. We had several servers in a data center run by @Rob, and I felt pretty confident that we could provide a better hosting solution than Icrontic was currently saddled with. The site was slow all the time. I contacted @Mortin (RIP), and he directed me to Mediaman (Doug).
I struck up a conversation with Doug. He loved the idea of my hosting the site, and I offered to do it for free as a gesture of support for the community I loved and the site I relied on so much. He thought it was a great idea. You can read the rest in the history, where @shorty, @lincoln, @kwitko, @park_7677 and others all helped rebuild the site that got wiped off the web.
I lived in a small house that I bought at 20 years old in south Warren, MI. Not a great neighborhood (especially now), but a good starter home for a small young family filled with hopes and dreams.
I could not have possibly conceived of the journey that life would take me on. Things today are incomprehensibly different than I would have imagined. I've got a phenomenal job with Shinola that I could only have gotten because of the skills I honed here. I met the love of my life, @troublebaker because of Twitter and I got involved with Twitter to promote Icrontic.
I have been destroyed and rebuilt a few times in the last ten years, but there have been a few absolutely precious constants in my life that I needed to anchor me. They've been my rock: My kids, @Lincoln, and Icrontic.
I got re-introduced to Short-Media a year or two later by @TheBaron whom I also went to high school with. The rest is history.
I finally revealed who I was to Brian a while after that, and am gonna live with the Icrontic records as to when I joined for reasons of my own. I owned my own company building and servicing computers for folks for a time and am now retired and disabled.
John.
I went through my old pictures folders trying to find some relics of days gone by. I've got some old photos from my pre-Icrontic days, back when I was active in Clan Beowulf. The first image I've got from IC, sadly, is this attached one from 2006. I made a gallery of some sweet wallpapers from Short-Media, though (have to click download to get full res).
I wanted to say something about 10 more years!... and then I remembered how old I'll be in 10 years. Oh well. They'll be good years.
Hmm this is actually the first time I've looked back all that time since hitting 20 earlier this year. I'm glad for the most part on where I've been. I'm looking forward to where I'll go and how Icrontic will affect that.
I was introduced to Icrontic in 2008, when @magic was finally ready to introduce this incredible group of people to me after dating for almost 2 years. We came out to celebrate Brian's birthday, and I brought him a homemade strawberry pie (first impressions are important!), and we chatted, went to dinner, danced, and listened to Reggie sing. The ICHQ clan made a good impression, and I attended ICOK '08, and lifelong friendships were made. I'm gracious to call many of the Icrontians some of my closest friends, and would do anything for them, as they've been there for me when I needed them the most.
It really wasn't until the summer after I graduated (3 years later) that I had social iterations with anyone from school outside of school. No parties, no hangouts, no movies - I'd go to stuff with my family, but that was about it.
I'd be hesitant to look, but my total play time for my main character in FFXI is... at minimum... 2 years. It is kind of mind boggling to me know that I could spend that much time playing 1 thing.
It sucked, but I've come a long way. Onward and upward~
In honor of our 10th anniversary, if you're not folding, please consider using your spare CPU cycles to kick Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson’s, and cancer's asses. It's easier than ever to get the latest Folding client to run. Super easy. Just download the installer here.
Our team number is 93.
But for the month of May, I'll be changing my rigs to team 734, to thank the Folding Frogs that gave us our much needed temporary home ten years ago.
Anyway, I was sat at work in a new wing of the office doing something new, and I couldn't get on the site for what felt like ages. Eventually I found AMDmb and came back to a very teal (or was it light blue?) Short-Media. I remember trying to get on constantly so I could get a low user ID, oh the joys of youth!
I had written a guide for other students on how to get by in Germany, and I used the grey Icrontic theme with Fats was it? I still do two thumbs up to people and they look at me like I'm from Mars, but hey ho, private joke Sadly I neglected to do anything about the site's upkeep and as it was on a free hosting account eventually it was deleted when I didn't log in. It's now lost to the annals of history.
Big props to Brian, Shorty, and was it MediaMan? Forgive me if that's wrong, I am now an old git at 31 years of age and my memory is not what it once was. Anyway, I'm rambling now I could go on all night. Perhaps there's something in UPSLynx's life path idea.
One final thing, I had an avatar of a little donkey with a teal background for years. I thought I'd never change it, but I now have a 4 year old daughter who does the best lion roar's I've ever seen. She now takes pride of place as my avatar
~Cyrix
These type of thread always get me going to the way back machine for memories.
My hat is off and I'm truly grateful to all those who put in the time and effort to Icrontic alive. Those who are still active and those who have moved on to other adventures.
I think at that point I has an Abit NF7s with a 2100+ that wouldn't over clock for shit. If I remember correctly those where the days when twinmos ram was all the rage and the 9700 pro just came out.
All in all it was a very weird time in my life.
I was in high school then. I always thought I'd work on something computer-related, and sure enough I'm in the software industry 10 years later. On the way I have discovered and pursued more new interests and done some growing up (some).
I always say "impressed" but I'm trying to think of an emotion word. Yes. It's been inspiring to see the site evolve into a lot more than a site, from 10 years ago when it was a hive of unmet people trying to make better computers.
Ten years ago I was broke, unemployed, single, renting a tiny studio, barely scraping by. I was one day away from being classified as a hoarder. Now I am happily married with 2 children, gainfully employed, and a homeowner. The constant has been this great group of friends from Icrontic.
I have also learned the way a group of great people whom I had never met 10 years ago were able to rally support when my daughter Heather was struck by a car and eventually succumbed to her injuries. And that happened right in the middle of this community's rebirth and the chaos that ensued. So the fact that everyone pulled together and gave their support when Icrontic was having its own difficulties still has me in awe. And for that I want to thank everyone again!