Those We Have Known....

I hadn't thought of how many of these names I haven't seen in quite some time. Then again my attendance has been spotty as well.
 
I don't know if anyone else has noticed but going through some members on the sidebar some people that still come online here very often have not posted in years but still lurk which I found interesting.

Talking about years, it has been more than one since this thread was active :P
 
Are there still any charter members of Zoochat here? How long has this site been around?
 
There used to be a statistics page that showed the oldest members, but this version of the software doesn't appear to have it.

:p

Hix
 
See this post for list of members who have been around the longest: ZooChat is 16 years old!

@jay @boof @Zooish @Kifaru Bwana are the members who have been around the longest and still active.

@jay joined about 2.5 months after the site launched.
@boof was a year later - so about 14.5 months after launch.
 
elefante said:
Charter member-original members of the site that were here when it started. The first ones.
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Given the site was launched as a standalone (empty) site with no existing community - there aren't really any other than me. Don't forget that this site pre-dates the launch of Facebook and many other such social media platforms, so there wasn't an easy way to reach out to other people with similar interests. Indeed, which is why the site was started in the first place!

I did invite some people from another community I operated at the time (completely unrelated to zoos or animals) to come and join - but none of them were particularly active and most never posted.

I don't know how @jay discovered the site - if it wasn't from Somersoft, then he may well be the first genuine member of the community.
 
Simon Hampel said:
Given the site was launched as a standalone (empty) site with no existing community - there aren't really any other than me. Don't forget that this site pre-dates the launch of Facebook and many other such social media platforms, so there wasn't an easy way to reach out to other people with similar interests. Indeed, which is why the site was started in the first place!

I did invite some people from another community I operated at the time (completely unrelated to zoos or animals) to come and join - but none of them were particularly active and most never posted.

I don't know how @jay discovered the site - if it wasn't from Somersoft, then he may well be the first genuine member of the community.
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This seems like one of those sites you had to stumble upon. I did and I've been on this longer than I've been on Facebook.
 
If I remember correctly, I’ve also just stumbled upon this site (well, ZooBeat) while googling for information. Probably for either a zoo, or for a species.

I also believe both the Dutch and German zoofan-forums were up and running by then and the first forum-like version of zootierliste followed pretty soon after.

I still read up on ZooChat practically every day :)

I also remember the Rhino-cam at Cincinatti Zoo going ofline and coming back up when Andalas was born :)
 
I've been here for 15 years. It's changed so much. I remember reading every new thread when I first joined. Sometimes it would go days without any new posts. Now theres no way I can keep up. I look at the Australian threads, the birdwatching lists and I have a soft spot for Singapore so I regularly check out their threads.
 
I know at least one member (whom I will not name for discretion's sake) who was formerly quite active but after he or she got hired full time at a zoo they stopped posting because they feared it might compromise their new career. I wonder how many others have stopped posting for similar reasons? I also know at least one former zoo employee who had to change careers partly due to their posting here and one former zoo volunteer (whom I can name because it's me) who had to stop volunteering due to posts on here.
 
If you don't mind me asking, did the zoo dislike you posting anything on here or did you post something specifically about the zoo in which you volunteered that caused a problem?
 
I have heard anecdotally of quite a few members who have had to stop posting over the years due to starting roles at a zoo.

I also know (again, anecdotally) of a few who continue to post anonymously - but are very careful to avoid posting any confidential information.
 
Ned said:
Ah right, I wondered if they just had a general dislike for this sight but having a confidentiality policy for staff and volunteers is quite normal.
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Many zoos do just this actually, or at the very least heavily discourage employees being active on the site.

~Thylo
 
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