A History Lesson, Please

UPGRADER · 09-05-2011, 08:14 AM

I have been a member of this forum for about 2 months. We are awaiting our 2012 233S Roo delivery in October. Having spent the last 41 years camping (30 years tenting/11 years in a PUP with kingsize beds!), we will take the grandchildren with us in the Roo. I have spent alot of time researching the purchase and seeking advice regarding "issues" with hybrids. THIS SITE IS THE MOST ORGANIZED, THOUGHT OUT, HELPFUL site I have found. The "attitude/helpfulness" of the participants is amazing. That is not to "dis" the other sites (RV.net, Hybridexplorer, etc.), but the overall look and feel to this site surpasses them all. As a retired teacher, I can see a great deal of thought went into this site establishment. I am new to the internet and need easy to navigate, easy to acess websites. I learned here how to upload pictures (seen my dog "Barklee"?). So, I am curious as to how this all began. The fact that Forest River reps monitor this site, shows how it is "respected" by those impacted by "issues" discussed here. Is FR behind this site and do not advertise the fact? I'm an English/history teacher, so in proper English with proper punctuation and syntax (just kidding -- I'm a smart *ss, too), please a history lesson. REMEMBER -- There were two presidents who camped alot: Teddy and Franklin ROOsevelt. Stories about my camper that are not true -- ROOmurs. My camper will have wicker furniture in it -- ROOtan sytle. Leaking bed areas lead to a ROOd awakening...sorry, this is getting ROOdiculous. Tell me the "forum" story, please. Also, you can add to the "roo" words definitions -- there are no ROOls.

**Herk7769** · 09-05-2011, 08:32 AM

This totally needed its own thread!

Goomph · 09-05-2011, 08:46 AM

OMG !!! And I was in a very pissy mood this morning, and this made laugh really loud

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

This totally needed its own thread!

UPGRADER · 09-05-2011, 08:56 AM

I'd like to learn..How does one start a "new thread"? I"m sure I have enough "material" to start.

**Herk7769** · 09-05-2011, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UPGRADER

I'd like to learn..How does one start a "new thread"? I"m sure I have enough "material" to start.

Forest River Forums - Forest River Owners Community

Is the Forum and Sub Forum list. When I want to post a new thread I click on the forum or sub forum I want to post in.

There is a "New Thread" button where the "reply" button is located on an existing thread.

Janet H is our admin and one reason I started a new thread for you was so I could also learn some of the history of the site. As far as I know, there is NO association with FR at all. Although I do know for a fact that some reps do "lurk" here. Janet will have some info and I will "report this thread" to her for her comments.

Welcome to our community. We are all campers here regardless of affiliation and want to help you as best we can.

kalik282 · 09-05-2011, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

Welcome to our community. We are all campers here regardless of affiliation and want to help you as best we can.

Well said, Lou. Help and be helped...that's what a community like this is all about!

John

**Janet H** · 09-06-2011, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

Janet H is our admin and one reason I started a new thread for you was so I could also learn some of the history of the site. As far as I know, there is NO association with FR at all. Although I do know for a fact that some reps do "lurk" here. Janet will have some info and I will "report this thread" to her for her comments.

Welcome to our community. We are all campers here regardless of affiliation and want to help you as best we can.

The forum was started by private individuals a few years ago, is privately owned and is not affiliated with Forest River Inc. The basic idea of the forum is Forest River RV owners helping each other - sharing info.

The forum is operated by a tiny company called Social Knowledge. Social Knowledge was started a few years ago by a camping enthusiast and now has become a network for forums, most on recreational topics. The very first Social Knowledge forum was about Airstreams. The owner of SK (before it became a company) bought a vintage Airstream and needed to know how to fix it. He was systems administrator for a megacorp at the time and after looking for some restoration help and finding none, put up a website asking for help. It turned out that there were many folks looking for the same help and that forum (Airstream Trailer & Motorhome Owners Community) has grown to over 50,000 members. I was a moderator at that forum and joined for the very same reasons - I needed help fixing my old Airstream.

Many forums are begun by a single individual with a passion but it often happens that they lose interest or the forum grows and becomes too difficult to manage. Even a small forum has technical challenges; servers, programmers, software problems, etc and sometimes the original forum owner will decide they can no longer manage. They either abandon the board or sell it, leaving members who have established acquaintances in the lurch. Social knowledge (over the years) has adopted some of these forums and you can see a list of them at the bottom of the page. There are several RV forums, some auto and motorcycle forums, a cooking forum, sailing forums, etc. We have gone from one forum in 2002 to a large handful now. All these forums are member managed and we work to keep the forum friendly and spam free. The ads that you see in the side bars help cover the costs of keeping the site online.

It is true that many Forest River reps monitor the board and some post. We are delighted to have them here and believe that they can be a huge asset to members who have questions or concerns. That said, we also have rules about soliciting and so commercial content in discussion threads is limited.

The Forum has grown enormously in the last few years and it's very exciting to see so many enthusiastic owners. Forum members are now organizing get togethers and rallies and the online forum has been the catalyst for many friendships and great events.

Looking towards the future we anticipate that the board will continue to grow. As more and more Forest River owners use the internet to find camping resources, they will find us. Please make them feel welcome and thanks for continuing to make this a great community.

UPGRADER · 09-06-2011, 11:46 AM

Thank you, so much, for the in-depth history lesson. Couldn't help but be curious as to how this started. Being a "group member" of a group you nothing about, might prove to be "risky". ROOling out the risk is greatly appreciated. Thanks

F and E Damp · 09-07-2011, 11:06 AM

Upgrader:

There's another RV forum you might want to look at, irv2.com. It is a lot bigger than this one but has similarly helpful and pleasant people (many are the same people!).

**Herk7769** · 09-07-2011, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

Upgrader:

There's another RV forum you might want to look at, irv2.com. It is a lot bigger than this one but has similarly helpful and pleasant people (many are the same people!).

Frank,

How about not advertising someone elses board on our board!
It like putting up a Chevy Truck billboard at a Ford Dealer.

**Janet H** · 09-07-2011, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

Upgrader:

There's another RV forum you might want to look at, irv2.com. It is a lot bigger than this one but has similarly helpful and pleasant people (many are the same people!).

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

Frank,

How about not advertising someone elses board on our board!
It like putting up a Chevy Truck billboard at a Ford Dealer.

Well - maybe it's not soooo bad.....
iRV2.com is a sister site really, as it is another Social Knowledge forum. They have the same friendly feel, although members aren't all fortunate enough to have a Forest River RV.

**Herk7769** · 09-07-2011, 12:51 PM

I still feel very protective of our community.
However, if Janet says it is OK; it is OK, I guess.

Rugged Brown · 09-07-2011, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet H

Well - maybe it's not soooo bad.....
iRV2.com is a sister site really, as it is another Social Knowledge forum. They have the same friendly feel, although members aren't all fortunate enough to have a Forest River RV.

Is it possible to have the same login. If not, can it be?

**Janet H** · 09-07-2011, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rugged Brown

Is it possible to have the same login. If not, can it be?

Unfortunately, this is not possible, although I suppose you could register there with the same username you have here.

**Andy R** · 09-07-2011, 01:01 PM

As Janet mentioned, it all started when I was working on restoring my old 1961 Airstream. The only resource available at the time was a Yahoo Group which lacked a way to organize all the discussions. I setup Airstream Forums to share information and I started to learn about forums and what makes them tick. Through a random set of events I ended up adopting a couple forums that were going to be closed by their owners because of the cost to run them. All of a sudden I had a small network of forum communities and over the years I adopted many more.

This community was founded by Mike Rimmer who unfortunately got cancer a few years ago. He needed to focus on his health and family but wanted to make sure this community continued to thrive. Our paths crossed at the right time and Forest River Forums became part of the Social Knowledge network of sites.

iRV2.com is also one of our communities and operates with a similar management structure as this community. Each community is managed (mods/admins) by a group of peers who are active within the community and serve as leaders helping determine where to draw the line when there are issues. We have an amazing team here and they have done a wonderful job fostering Forest River Forums into the fine community it is today.

UPGRADER · 09-07-2011, 01:49 PM

Thanks very much for the history lessons. As a retired history teacher, it is always fascinating to read about the "beginnings" of things. This is a well organized, simple to use site. In the few months I've been a member, I have learned so much as I've moved from popup (PUP) to hybrid. Who knew a"TV" was not a "television"?

**bikendan** · 09-07-2011, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UPGRADER

Who knew a"TV" was not a "television"?[/B]

but smaller case "tv" is a television.

F and E Damp · 09-08-2011, 10:03 PM

I sure wasn't trying to turn a Ford into a Chevy, Lou. It's just that, IMO, the more forums you expose yourself to, the better the info you gather. I regularly visit three RV forums (should it really be "fora"? - my HS Latin kicking in there!).

There was just one I got into that was un-moderated. It's a long time ago and I can't remember the name, but it was "alt.rec" something. The amount of flaming and troll visitations was unbelievable. About a month was all I could handle.

**Herk7769** · 09-08-2011, 11:00 PM

Also no offense intended.

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