Jump to content

PNWMAS history?


SuncrestReef

Recommended Posts

On 1/7/2019 at 4:59 PM, Krux said:

Alice, it all started with Alice...

Our earlier events happened at Woody's old place.  I came on when I moved to Portland in 2001.  Most of the people who were around then are gone now.  We swelled to about 20 active members and outgrew BBQs at Woody's and branched out into other stores... Soutas, The OG waves when it was in LO, Upscales, R-2's old place down in Salem (forget the name of that shop).  Alice became inactive after a move up to Federal Way at this point and we fell to a loosely organized band of rabble rousers, I volunteered to steer things for a while, this was around 2003.

Our first really big meeting was at Steve Weast's place, we flew out Steve Tyree and the area got an infusion of cool corals.  A few of the group may remember me cooking filet skewers... Steve was a great host.  

 

Our first hosted website was set up by a guy named James, we spent some time trying to learn HTML and we got a forum going, but there weren't really any volunteers at that time that had the technical aptitude to push it further than a basic roboboard that we hosted on GoDaddy.  Chief came online as our dedicated admin and kept us all out of trouble.  This may be the same site we started... unsure, Jay may know if it migrated.  As Chief said, we went through the hoops of becoming a 401c (drafting a charter, creating a board of directors, writing a constitution... we took templates from MASNA as guidance) so we could accept donations from vendors and sell raffle tickets to fund tickets to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, speakers, and TFT.  At one point we had membership cards that could get you a discount at local shops if you flashed them... maybe I can dig one up some time.

 

Woody moved to Columbia Blvd, Souta's closed, Joel bought out Shaun in the new Waves location in Tualatin over this period (2003-2006).

 

I sold off my tank in 2005 and stepped down as President in late '05 or early '06, Weast broke down his tank around 2008-2009, Jim (Rainbowcorals) moved and broke down his tank around the same time, and I left the group for 10 years due to work, leaving the club in the capable hands of Chief, Lowman, and Jmanrow.  It took a while for the changeover, some hostility was floating around, but everything worked its way out in the end.  Chief was persistent! 

We had set up a solid foundation for TFT, had an active board, and were growing faster at that point than we could easily manage (tank tours and meetings grew to a size that your average home could no longer hold us).  A few of the older members are still around... Chewie, Chief, R-3, Wannareef and and a couple more are all still active that I see on the forums.  There are a couple more that I see on the users list but don't see post much.  

 

We had on the old forum a history thread posted, but I am sure that has been scrubbed from the web for almost a decade.

 

I still like to enjoy a beer from time to time with Steve and Jim,  think they have both lurked in the back of a meeting at one point in the current era.

 

Hope that helps?  Memory gets fuzzy as time passes.

 

R-1

 

*edit* just found this old post, probably from around '03:

 

This is a great find and a very nice club intro Ryan!

BTW - anyone recall the chat feature we had on the original platform?  I recall a few hardcore folk would get on there in the evening and exchange some banter.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, albertareef said:

This is a great find and a very nice club intro Ryan!

BTW - anyone recall the chat feature we had on the original platform?  I recall a few hardcore folk would get on there in the evening and exchange some banter.

I remember  the chat part of the old platform, I actually used it a few times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was called Flashchat.  It’s still around, but I don’t think it is an option for us.  We don’t own our server space anymore.  Since the migration to Invision Power Board, we trade amazing stability for limited customization.   There are some great add-ons out there.  I will do some digging and see if there is a chat add-on that could work for us. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Chief said:

It was called Flashchat.  It’s still around, but I don’t think it is an option for us.  We don’t own our server space anymore.  Since the migration to Invision Power Board, we trade amazing stability for limited customization.   There are some great add-ons out there.  I will do some digging and see if there is a chat add-on that could work for us. 

Thanks Jay!  I figured the current platform didn't support it plus "chat" tech has changed a lot over the years so not even sure what the current equivalent looks like (outside of the office app style ones).  Certainly the stability gain from the switch was well worth losing the chat feature - not to mention admins not having to maintain servers in their unpaid free time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Here is some early history prior to the beginning of PNWMAS. I am glad to see this thread again. I am also pleased with how the club has been kept going all these years. I will be always very thankful to Woody that he helped keep the club going when there were health problems in my family. It was then known as the Marine Study Group, as a special interest group in the greater Portland Aquarium Society. The MSG had its first meeting in 1996 at the home of Glen Behnke. We had monthly meetings and guest speakers. We had speakers such as Dana Riddle, Stanley Brown, and Ron Shimek. We also worked with Oregon Coast Aquarium to make it possible to have behind the scenes tours. During this time is when I first became friends with Bob Fenner. I was coordinator of the MSG until Woody started having some regular meetings at his place. Just before I was unable to attend meetings, the group had decided that we would break off from GPAS, and become a separate society of its own. I am grateful to Krux, Chief, and everyone else that have worked so hard with PNWMAS over the years. I understand that the covid pandemic has made meetings very difficult in the last couple of years, and I hope to see everyone again at a meeting. I hear there is one in October. I will try to make it, as I do not have a vehicle at this time. I live out in Sherwood, if there's anyone that lives nearby please contact me.Thanks! ☺️

 

Edited by JManrow
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't post much but I was "informed" of the club by Woody, had to been around 2004ish.  Never could  tell if woody liked me or not but he sure  was a huge step in me getting a real reef tank running. I wanted to thank All the Members who kept the club running through the years including people like  Chief and  Jmanrow.  This is a hobby that  demands breaks after you put in some years in my opinion and with the leadership through the early, mid and current years this site is just a amazing wealth of knowledge. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, wegotjs said:

I don't post much but I was "informed" of the club by Woody, had to been around 2004ish.  Never could  tell if woody liked me or not but he sure  was a huge step in me getting a real reef tank running. I wanted to thank All the Members who kept the club running through the years including people like  Chief and  Jmanrow.  This is a hobby that  demands breaks after you put in some years in my opinion and with the leadership through the early, mid and current years this site is just a amazing wealth of knowledge. 

Woody was a very likable guy, and treated people with respect, as long as they showed him respect. I am the same way. I hear it was was possible to get on his bad side, but if that happened, he would definitely le them know. 😂

 He was usually very soft-spoken and did not tend get emotional. I'm sure he liked you fine. He was a retired research chemist, and knew what he was talking about. We always enjoyed having meetings at his house. Whenever we had a visiting guest speaker, we always paid Woody a visit. I think the PNWMAS will get very busy once again, once we all get a handle on the covid pandemic. Portland was one of the first places to do coral fragging at retail stores and in hobbyist's homes. I am looking forward to attending meetings once again. Aquarium keeping is an obsession that you can end up having for a lifetime. I have enjoyed it for over 50 years now. I believe the meeting held at Steve Weast's home, when Steve Tyree gave his presentation, was around 2003. Lots of good memories.

Edited by JManrow
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good reading........ and yes another reefer who was brought into the hobby by Woody........... bought my first set up from him in 95 or so.......... a lot of livestock from Rick at  Soutas..........

 

And ah yes Flashchat :laugh: many a weekend night drinking beer on there........

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...