Past Gymnastics Message Board Memories- Which was your first message board?

[ArnoldRimmer]

Quite a few people on here have met him. I haven’t, but we did email quite a bit during the quest for Olomouc days. He somehow knew that I was at Leatherhead with Vlad Aksenov although I’d never mentioned that publicly

Ew, bit creepy that.

 

[IratePanda]

Gymn-forum.net remains a treasure when it comes to look up results from old competitions!

Yes! I cross-reference YouTube vids and Gym-forum all the time.

 

[rlayt]

From some of the things he said I gather he’s an internet stalker. A friend of mine from way back who was on ggmb was given a new custom user name related to her presence on a completely different part of the internet. Something medical she did not ever talk about to random strangers.

 

[IratePanda]

From some of the things he said I gather he’s an internet stalker. A friend of mine from way back who was on ggmb was given a new custom user name related to her presence on a completely different part of the internet. Something medical she did not ever talk about to random strangers.

Yeah. Some of the GGMB ringleaders were definitely involved in cyber-bullying, stalking, and doxxing.

 

[Hatsumomo]

Abomb was here for a hot minute wasn't he? It was one of the major players from GGMB at least. Tendency to post every other word in all caps?

 

[Sasha]

Abomb was here for a hot minute wasn't he? It was one of the major players from GGMB at least. Tendency to post every other word in all caps?

Wasn't that Doc Martin?

 

[MaryClare]

no, that was Doc. She did have a certain style of communication

 

[Hatsumomo]

Ah, okay. RIP

 

[RedBirdie]

Abomb has never been on WWG or Gymnaverse, to my knowledge. He certainly wasn't going to be welcome at WWG.

 

[rlayt]

He might have been one of the early trolls when wwgym was getting started but never as himself.

 

[Hatsumomo]

I guess that might be partially why a lot of the vocal gymnternet disappeared - too many burnt bridges. Last forum standing has been WWGym/Gymnaverse and if a lot of them wouldn't end up welcome here, where are they going to go aside from Reddit and Gym Twitter?

 

[Big_rock_show]

Quite a few people on here have met him. I haven’t, but we did email quite a bit during the quest for Olomouc days. He somehow knew that I was at Leatherhead with Vlad Aksenov although I’d never mentioned that publicly

Given how involved that whole “in crowd” on GGMB, it’s strange that the majority have disappeared from the gymnternet. Or at least stay under the radar. Doc passed away a couple of years ago

I’ve met him too, but never learned his real name. Curious as to who he actually is behind the GGMB diva mask

 

[Passion]

I’ve met him too, but never learned his real name. Curious as to who he actually is behind the GGMB diva mask

Joe McGrath.

 

[MLSWAG]

I'm 48. Kind of surprised to see so many on here and the gymternet in general, that are older than me.

International Gymnast magazine had a forum and that was my first. Can't remember my handle; I was mostly a lurker. I love the sports world in my own way, but I contribute pretty quietly. I don't havE a brain for stats and all that. I'm a fan of Jade Carey these days, just because she seems like a charming person. Very drama free. And her gymnastics is good, but I don't know how to analyze sports, so I couldn't explain how.

Nowadays I'm on a FB for, and called, College Gymnastics Fans. I went to Sac State myself, and yes, I'm a fan. I have to be. I enjoyed my time there, including wgymn meets. As for big guns in the sport, I've liked Cal during recent years. I'm from that state anyways.

Also r/Gymnastics on Reddit.

 

[rlayt]

Met him. And Chalky. What a pair they were.

Alll this nostalgia made me think about Chocolate Starfish.

 

[Big_rock_show]

Joe McGrath.

That’s it!!!!!!

 

[PointedFeet]

Yeah. Some of the GGMB ringleaders were definitely involved in cyber-bullying, stalking, and doxxing.

People don't know the half of it. There actually was a situation where a fan k-worded and they were someone who had been bullied by these people. Now, I'm not saying anyone was directly responsible for this person's decision to end their life, but I think the behavior you speak of definitely contributed. These people never took any responsibility for the harm they caused to countless users, and I can hope they have all grown the hell up and realized how wrong it was to behave like they did. From what I've seen on recent posts elsewhere though, some of them are still at it which is super embarrassing and crazy considering they have to be in their 40s and 50s now. It's never acceptable to behave like this but I guess it's more forgivable when someone is a young adult than when they are middle aged.

The worst offenders were Abomb and Betty from what I remember. There were about ten other users who all chimed in as well. Some of them were mods, some of them were just friends with the mods.

Betty always puzzled me because I believe he had a terminally sick relative when all of this was going on. For someone who was was reliant on compassion, he chose to be hateful and petty towards others. He hurt people and I hope he recognizes how messed up his behavior was, especially when he was attempting to humiliate people on their personal social media profiles for their friends and family to see.

This post came up in Google when I was researching a related topic and I had to come and say my piece. I have kept it polite so I hope it will be kept up.

 

[flappergirl]

I was on ggmb and I worried that I may be blacklisted or attacked, but it never happened. I was so happy to be invited to the earlier version of this mb. My first mb was outOfBoundsness. But before that there was a listserve that came in emails.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

IIRC Abomb would be pushing 60 now. He wasn't that young in the 00s heyday.

 

[IratePanda]

IIRC Abomb would be pushing 60 now. He wasn't that young in the 00s heyday.

He's in his late 50s, for sure.

Honestly, I was so traumatized by my experience at GGMB that it took me several years to feel comfortable here. I'm glad it's a safe space where we can all discuss the sport that we love.