Longest ongoing Mudcat

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: gnu
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 04:52 PM

B D.... what's MY number?

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 04:48 PM

May I assume the numbers were 'assigned' in some automatic manner according to the order members posted after memberships were created?

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 04:45 PM

ah...I found a way to see my #...I am #114.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: gnu
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 04:43 PM

I was not gnu before I was gnu neither.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Alice
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 04:39 PM

In the begining... we did not need to log in with our names, so searching on a name does not take you back to
the first people on the forum necessarily. But, as Max made Mudcat, he and Dick and Susan and the others
as previously described were here at first. I found Mudcat in 1997. Old searches will bring me up as Alice or
Alice in Montana, but I know my first posts were earlier than the ones recorded.

Alice

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 04:34 PM

??Membership number? Do I have one? How did you find them, Jeri?

(and you see, Amos? Even the renowned poet, Aberdeen Mc Fuzian, couldn't get the name right. It ain't Ferr-er-a neither!)

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Amos
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 04:00 PM

Mr Happy:

"From the get-go" is a Yankee expression meaning from the very start, derived from the old race-starting chant "Get ready, Get set, Go!". "From the gitgo" is a vernacular version.


A

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: gnu
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 03:56 PM

Ya can't go by the name clicky rigginfriggin... since the great crash, thingamajigs are gone hellwestandcrooked.

I been here a while, I think. But, that don't make no nevermind a me. I am just glad I am still here.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Leadfingers
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 03:47 PM

makes us newcomers feel REALLY new , a thread like this one ! LOL

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 03:26 PM

Mick, remember you're old now and must take care of yourself.

Posts don't necessarily demonstrate who's been a member the longest. Peter T has the lowest membership number (58) in this thread. Bert's is 90, Dick Greenhaus is 80, dwditty is 83. Max is actually 49, but I don't believe he counts because 1) he's the host and 2) he doesn't really post any more.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 02:58 PM

Can't believe I did that, Bill!! The only excuse I have is that I am pretty beat up from playing one high energy gig after another. I could barely move this morning, and am only just now starting to limber up. Fortunatley we only have one gig today for a couple of hours, but tomorrow...............Oy!!

Mick

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Amos
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 02:51 PM

I think Ferrara is an ancient Italian name, Bill, which originally meant "The lady blacksmith".


Beneath the spreading olive trees
The town Ferrera stands.
The local smith, a mighty lass
With strong and work-worn hands.
And the muscles on her dainty arms
Stand out like soft-shelled clams.

Aberdeen Mc Fuzian
In Praise of Ladies
Edinburgh, 1886

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 02:37 PM

Mick...I'll have you know, my wife NEVER ran for VP! Nor was she a member of an Italian car building family! (durn it!)

(never mind..*grin*..it's an ongoing, never-ending process separating the Ferraros from the Ferraris and the **Ferraras**) You should have heared the telemarketers asking to speak with "Ms. Ferra")

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Peter T.
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 02:34 PM

I was here bright and early. The part that stunned me the most was a little later when we had a first gathering in Toronto, and all these people came from all over. It was the first time I really got a sense of the power of this kind of Internet community.

I have these incredibly close friends I have never met, even 10 years later (catspaw, katlaughing and others). And others I have. I still think it is weird.

What a place.

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 02:21 PM

***chuckling over McGrath's comment**** How true that is,was, and ever shall be, Kevin.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 02:16 PM

I came in about the same time as Amos - October 16th 1999 to be exact. By which time there were lots of people lamenting the good old days that were no more...

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 02:00 PM

Yep, Barry was here when I got here, and started out kicking my big Irish behind right from the git go. hahahahahaha, I knew we would be friends right away.

Here's a memory for you, Barry. I had driven all night long to get to Getaway, got out of my car there at Prince William, and who is the first person to greet me, screw with me about my bodhran, and see to it I got checked into those god forsaken, filled with mold, sleeping cabins? Good old Barry. Remember the walk through the mud to the showers, and once all squeeky clean, having to walk through the mud to get back to the cabin??? hahahahahahahaha. Great stuff.

Mick

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 01:46 PM

Oh Mick, your memory is bad, even I remember when you first can in. You were late as usual.

Barry

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 01:41 PM

Wow, talk about a faulty memory. In reading the earlier thread, I see where I am off by a year. According to Allan C, my first post was October of 1996.

I don't know...... I just know that it was about 6 months old when I found the old place. Joe, Dick, Max, BillD, alison and many others were already here at that time.

Mick

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 01:34 PM

My first post as Big Mick came at the end of March in 1998. I had posted as a GUEST since the end of November of 1997. I have never been able to find my first post as a GUEST but I do remember it was a request for all the variations of the "old ladies stuck in a lavatory" song. I had been a lurker and was describing the site to a guy I played music with. He asked me to check out this song, because his Dad had loved it, but he didn't know the words. In those days we had a plethora of really interesting characters here, like Shula whom I remember fondly. I remember when Spaw joined and when kat joined. I especiallly remember when Spaw got sick the first time, and I started a thread on it. That was really the genesis of the community tradition of folks around the world interacting in this community in a way that has become legendary. The Mudcatters rallied around with prayer, healing thoughts, and assistance in whatever way possible. I remember the first time Mudcatters went to FSGW Getaway. It was wonderful, and that is where Jeri, Dani, Barry, Sandy & Caroline, Dan & Bonnie Milner, Joe Offer, Bill D & Ferraro, Dick Greenhaus, Kath Westra, lamarca, and so many others became friends.

Thanks for starting this one, it is nice to reflect on the early days.

Mick

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 11:49 AM

The earliest I could document was not posted as a member, but it was dated March 21, 1999, from [e-mail]. I had an idea that there was a somewhat earlier one dropped into a thread when I was just sampling Mudcat, but I can't find it after extensive search, so I'll assume March 21 '99 was my first.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 11:44 AM

"Gitgo"=the beginning, the very start

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Mr Happy
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 07:40 AM

What's 'gitgo' mean?

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 01:09 AM

Clicking on any of the threads listed above will get your even more answers, esp. the first posting by Joe in This One.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 12:36 AM

There were a bunch of us who came in near the end of '98. My gawd, it's almost ten years, Spaw!

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Amos
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 12:06 AM

Hell, I am but an egg -- I rolled into the Cat in late '99 and found all these Great SPirits already hard at play in the sandbox.


A

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Barry Finn
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 11:26 PM

I've been here since 2/97 & I'm not close to being one of the earliest, I seem to remember that there was quite a crowd already gathering here by then. But I'm glad to see all those early birds that are still here.

Barry

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 08:54 PM

Y'all need to re-read Bill's answer.........He was here pretty much at the gitgo as was Bert and course Dick and Max. Kinda' makes him the expert to me.

And I'm glad he's still here!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 08:39 PM

Further checkout of the "Messages by Date" function shows that it returns the individual posts made on one single date.

The earliest date that I found that returns anything is 01 October 1996:

Vivian Price        [m] Battle of Decata        01 Oct 96 - 09:47 AM
Larry        [m] Lyric Requests        01 Oct 96 - 12:02 AM
Max        [m] The Mudcat Café        01 Oct 96 - 12:00 AM

The listing appears in reverse time order, making the first recoverable post the one by Max at "midnight" on that date.

For unknown reasons, it's the first post of Thread #4, and is shown as post number 4.

Threads 4, 5, and 6 were started on that day.

Thread 2, was created the following day, 02 Oct 1996 08:35 AM by Vivien.

Thread number 1 pops up mysteriously on 07 October 1996 07:33 AM, created by PhillyBluesboy, who almost immediately after (12 minutes later) started another thread which is numbered as thread 21.

Thus far, I can account for threads numbered 1 through 21, except for number 3 and number 11, all appearing from 01 Oct through 07 October 1996.

Individual posts are numbered in chronological order, and the first one I've found is number 4, Max's first post (in thread 4). Numbers 15, 28, and 29 are also "missing" thus far.

From my search, the first retrieveable post was the one by Max, midnight morning (12:00 AM) 01 October 1969.

[Note that we've had debate about whether 12:00 AM is midnight or noon, but the posts listed in time order in the search result do indicate that it's midnight at the beginning of the day.]

John

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 07:53 PM

Currently, the posters from the 1st month (oct. 96) who are still about are Max, Bert (who once worked with Max), Dick Greenhaus, Susan of DT, 'occasionally' lamarca, and yours truly, me. Several others who are still here posted in late '96 or early '97.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 06:55 PM

Thanks John! - that's really neat. One of the things I love about the Mudcat is that there is always something new about it to learn and try out. It's a bit like playing the guitar in that respect.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 06:43 PM

At the top of the page, on the same line where it says "Mudcat" there's a little box that probably says "Quick Links" with an "arrow" and a "Go" button.

Click the arrow to roll down the menu.

On the menu there's a choice named "Messages by Date."

Click Messages by Date and then the Go button.

When you get the list, you'll find a place where you can change the dates you want to look for to get a new list.

Technical Quibble: You don't get "messages" in the sense of PMs - the common usage here - you get "Posts" and/or "Threads" as we normally speak of them. That's probably not something that should be a problem.

Technical Problem: The date in the list is apparently based on the last post in the thread that's listed, not on when the thread was started. I'm not really certain on this point, as I haven't used the function enough to poke into flavors, colors, spins, parities and other quantum characteristics of the experimental objects and data.

John

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 05:53 PM

Not sure about the "list-by-date function" either.

But if you go up to the address line remove everything after threadid= and type in 1, you get the first thread, 2 you get the second and so forth.

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 05:35 PM

the oldest post is not to be found in thread #1, paradoxical as that may seem.

the oldest post, dated 1st Oct 1996 is to be found in thread #6, but the poster is no longer an active Mudcat participant, which is what the original question was about.

I still think the answer is Max

I am sure there was a thread about this some time ago ...

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: pdq
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 04:39 PM

Here is "thread #1" :

PhillyBluesboy                     07 Oct 96 - 07:33 AM
GUEST,Lucille                     30 Sep 00 - 12:55 AM
WyoWoman                         30 Sep 00 - 01:13 AM
WyoWoman                         30 Sep 00 - 01:16 AM
Lonesome EJ                     30 Sep 00 - 01:21 AM
WyoWoman                         30 Sep 00 - 01:31 AM
Lonesome EJ                     30 Sep 00 - 01:34 AM
WyoWoman                         30 Sep 00 - 01:37 AM
GUEST,.gargoyle                17 Jan 03 - 11:54 PM
Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull         18 Jan 03 - 12:40 AM

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 04:31 PM

Amos, most people reading this are going to ask, how the hell do you use the "list-by-date function".

(including me, I have to say :-)

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Amos
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 04:19 PM

You can use the list-by-date function to trace it back.


A

Subject: RE: Longest ongoing Mudcat
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 04:12 PM

Max, I think ...

Subject: Longest ongoing Mudcatters
From: Leadbelly
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 04:06 PM

Obviously, that's not me.
But there must be someone or someones which took part in this forum from the early beginning till now.
Any proposals?