the-spot.net

Tonight, in my unpacking from originally moving into this location, and repacking it so we can move to the next location, I found a cache of CDs and DVDs tucked away in a box of otherwise mostly empty CD cases I was saving - because optical medium was the medium of choice 5 years ago.

In opening and verifying the disc contents (to move them to their respective purpose binders) I came across one labeled "etbustudents.cc backup." On it is the entire contents of the server that held the etbustudents.cc website - all the forums, all the databases, all the images, all the files - everything.



I thought I lost that all when my harddrive crashed in 2001.

I dug a little deeper into the contents of the drive, and discovered not only did it have etbustudents.cc, but it had its short-lived successor, and the direct predecessor to the-spot.net, which we called "etbuers.com"



And there were even profile pictures of the admin...

Neo, aka "DQ" on etbustudents.cc and "Neo" on etbuers.com


Punix-GT, aka "The Pianodevil" on etbustudents.cc and "ForcedRush" on etbuers.com


Bethnangel, aka "Bethnangel" on etbustudents.cc


IBJay, aka "I.B.Jay" on etbustudents.cc and etbuers.com


"TXFirefighter" on etbustudents.cc


I've created a digital version of the disk, zipped it, and backed it up to the harddrive of my computer, and dropbox. I'll stand up the old etbustudents.cc site some day and see what is still there...and what can be done with it. Hopefully it's still intact.

I just ran across the entire paper cache of the first days of the-spot.net and the flyers for etbustudents.cc, and the initial drawings of both sites. There is even a printout of tons of code (which I tossed) for the forums, and printouts of what tsnIII looked like. I'll get some of this stuff scanned and made available online (probably in the Blue Journal and ths tsnBlog) so it can be digitized.

There is even a "Possible Names" list for when I was naming the site, including "Chilly Willy's Wacky World" and "The Spotted Dot." The first rendition of the site was going to be about my life (it was in chaos at the time) and the ability for others to share about their life, and have an outlet for expressing what otherwise couldn't be expressed.

I guess I didn't land too far off the target in the end.

Lol, true, but in the end, I think TSN made the better choice.

Geez, I look like a kid in that picture. I don't think I ever met TXFireFighter, even though I knew she was part of it.

I agree, tsn ended up better in the end. The original idea for the-spot.net was drawn up while sitting at a computerless desk between the time I left ETBU and the time I put the site together. I wasn't allowed to use a computer, or the internet, but I fully intended to one day...and when that time came, it would be to chronicle everything that happened since the last time I was on the internet with etbustudents.cc.

I like where we ended up - it became less about me and more about everyone else...and a way to meet new people, which was the original intent all along.

I think I only met TXFireFighter a couple times, but she didn't make the crossover to etbuers.com - her spot was replaced by Nimrook and BCJammer (who probably went by a different name at the time). I think she was only an admin in name - there wasn't really a lot of "business" to handle (as her title on the org sheet for etbu was labeled "secretary of business management").