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

[Sasha]

@irichluck21 @JoseM

Maybe it's okay to confess now that I chose that name to irritate people. LOL

I bet it was effective!

 

[rlayt]

@irichluck21 @JoseM I totally forgot my user name was Gogean on OOBNess.

Maybe it's okay to confess now that I chose that name to irritate people. LOL

It really triggered some people.

 

[irichluck21]

Yes. GGMB even named their closed thread forum "Dead Gina".

 

[irichluck21]

I was on OOBN but have very little memory of specific users, aside from Skitch, a woman named Peridot who was really into Blaine Wilson and reminds me a bit of kitty from IGF, and Rick Perrozzi, whose son was Atler's webmaster (we exchanged VHS tapes). I don't even remember my own username.

I met Periodt at the 2000 Olympic Trials, I was second seats from the floor in the corner by beam and parallel bars. She was behind me with her mother. I was a budding photographer as at the time I was the Photo Lab Supervisor at my local CVS while I was starting college. I happened to grab a picture of Blaine shirtless. This was back before digital photography and I used a 35 mm film (which is making a comeback!!).
I traveled from Boston back to CT each night of trials because I had to work in the AM. I was able to get my film developed and brought the pictures back for women's finals. She was obsessed with the Blaine Wilson picture, so I gave her the copy I had.
LOL.
We exchanged emails but kinda lost touch after that. I wonder what happened to her.

 

[eanda]

Maybe it's okay to confess now that I chose that name to irritate people. LOL

I wouldn't say it irritated me, but I was always baffled that anyone would seem to like her enough to use her name.

This was back before digital photography and I used a 35 mm film (which is making a comeback!!).

I've been thinking about getting some film and pulling out my old camera. Even with the basics of composition, settings, etc. being the same, I feel like film after all of these years will just be a much more deliberate process for me.

 

[RedBirdie]

There is a user here by the name of Peridot.

 

[RichardL]

I attended every U.S. Nationals from 2000-2003, and I remember meeting a poster named danafan (OOBN I believe, then GGMB?) who I became friends with. Then @Denn and I met in NYC in adult gymnastics classes and attended at least one American Cup together (maybe two? lol what is memory) as well as the 2007 Nationals in San Jose. I haven't really attended meets in person since then, though... now I'm realizing I miss it as I think back.

 

[Sasha]

There is a user here by the name of Peridot.

I could be wrong, but they don't seem like the same person to me.

Re: danafan, I remember a danafan from a slightly later era - like 2010-2014ish? I assumed they were the same as the older danafan. To the best of my memory, he was Canadian, yes?

 

[RedBirdie]

I haven't thought of Danafan in years.

 

[RichardL]

yes, Canadian! I don't go on FB anymore but I just checked and he's still active there and still a fan of the sport. He finally came out and seems to be living his best life.

 

[RedBirdie]

I'm glad to hear that. I chatted with him fairly frequently in the early 2000s.

Do I remember correctly that he had one of the rare VHS copies of Olomouc? Or do I have him confused with a different knowledgeable, prolific male poster?

 

[eanda]

I'm glad to hear that. I chatted with him fairly frequently in the early 2000s.

Do I remember correctly that he had one of the rare VHS copies of Olomouc? Or do I have him confused with a different knowledgeable, prolific male poster?

It was danafan. He was the first one I know who shared it publicly.

 

[Big_rock_show]

Yes. GGMB even named their closed thread forum "Dead Gina".

I remember Dead Gina! I also remember the forum would autocorrect names so if you posted about Gina Gogean, it automatically posted it “DEADGINA” or if you posted about Carly Patterson (which was a sin), it corrected it to “PATTERBOT”.

 

[Big_rock_show]

Oh! And I remember getting a piece of hair yarn from Miki (sp?) at 2006 Nationals when I sat with the GGMB crew

 

[RedBirdie]

OMG, I had totally forgotten about the collective yarn obsession! I think I met Miki at 2006 American Cup. The details are a bit fuzzy; it was a long time ago, and the whole weekend I was like "these people are even more insane in person then they are online." A bunch of people came in from all over the country for it. One even lectured me on how I was so incredibly lame and reinforcing the patriarchy for having the audacity to be in a heterosexual marriage. I was a broke grad student at the time.

 

[Big_rock_show]

OMG, I had totally forgotten about the collective yarn obsession! I think I met Miki at 2006 American Cup. The details are a bit fuzzy; it was a long time ago, and the whole weekend I was like "these people are even more insane in person then they are online." A bunch of people came in from all over the country for it. One even lectured me on how I was so incredibly lame and reinforcing the patriarchy for having the audacity to be in a heterosexual marriage. I was a broke grad student at the time.

They definitely were crazy in person. They gave me a warm welcome because I had been doing all their graphic design work at the time, but I remember thinking that this can’t be what all gym fans are like, and wondering where the normal ones were.

 

[Sasha]

OMG, I had totally forgotten about the collective yarn obsession! I think I met Miki at 2006 American Cup. The details are a bit fuzzy; it was a long time ago, and the whole weekend I was like "these people are even more insane in person then they are online." A bunch of people came in from all over the country for it. One even lectured me on how I was so incredibly lame and reinforcing the patriarchy for having the audacity to be in a heterosexual marriage. I was a broke grad student at the time.

That's amazing. Sounds like they were chronically online before the term even existed.

 

[IratePanda]

It was danafan. He was the first one I know who shared it publicly.

If I remember correctly, the GGMB crew gave him a hard time because he didn't share it quickly enough to suit them.

 

[RedBirdie]

That's amazing. Sounds like they were chronically online before the term even existed.

That particular person was from Canada and was just so much better than the rest of us because while she was in a committed hetero relationship, she was not married. And I wanted to be like "the reality in the US is pretty different. Now shut up, enjoy your cradle to grave health insurance, and stop telling the rest of us how to live our lives."