Origin of PF: How It Started & Who Runs It

[Elektrotechniker]

How and when did these forums come into being? Are they run by a company, or individuals? Is it a hobby or business?

 

[Evo]

PF is owned by an individual. It was a high school project a few years ago, that took off.

Greg runs the forum and keeps everyone in line. I'd say it's an avocation.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

IIRC, PF began in 2001. One day while cleaning out old files, I found the email from Greg inviting people to join his new forum.

 

[Moonbear]

It started out as an extra-credit project to help Greg pass his high school physics class! Now it's helping countless others pass their high school and university classes in all the math and science subjects! I agree with Evo, I think avocation is a good way to describe it. It's certainly more than just a hobby, but it's also not a business.

 

[Mattara]

I seem to recall some hints that PF didn't were a vBulletin from the start? Or at least not in the shape it is currently in?

 

[neutrino]

Should we make a 'sticky' on the History of PF?

 

[Astronuc]

It started out as an extra-credit project to help Greg pass his high school physics class! Now it's helping countless others pass their high school and university classes in all the math and science subjects! I agree with Evo, I think avocation is a good way to describe it. It's certainly more than just a hobby, but it's also not a business.

I like the version which took place in a dark, seedy bar in a back alley, in a dangerous part of town, at 2 am. The fog had rolled in . . . There was a flash of lightning . . . . a howling in the mist . . .

Well, OK maybe it didn't happen that way, but it could have.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

11/19/2001

Hey there,

I thought you might be interested in visiting physicsforums.com which I have recently announced. You can find and discuss many subjects.

https://www.physicsforums.com

thanks,
Greg

What I have never understood is how he got my email address. :uhh:

 

[Lisa!]

When's PF birthday? And who were the 1st PFers?:shy: Is it something around 11/19/2001?

 

[Gokul43201]

When's PF birthday?

Feb 07, 2001, according to this: [link retracted]

 

[Ivan Seeking]

When's PF birthday? And who were the 1st PFers?:shy: Is it something around 11/19/2001?

Greg, Phobos, Kerrie, Integral, Zero, Janus, Monique, Tom, Enigma, and Hurkyl, were all some of the first mentors, I think.

 

[neutrino]

Edited so that Greg can be safe.

 

[Kalimaa23]

"A place for advanced teen physicists to discuss any topic of physics other science/math issues."

TEENS? I'm insulted!

 

[Rach3]

No one created PF, that's silly. It evolved from single-cellular protoforumoids over millions of years. Look at the HTML code, many genes are identical to those in other closely related vbulletins, some of which are still alive today. Others were fossilized.

 

[neutrino]

Is it advanced-teen physicists or advanced teen-physicists? :D

Btw, isn't that site giving away a little too much info. Like the add, phone# etc?

 

[Gokul43201]

Btw, isn't that site giving away a little too much info. Like the add, phone# etc?

To be safe, I retracted the link.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Also, there was Sting.

Until Integral said something, I didn't realize that Sting was one of the original Mentors.

 

[Lisa!]

Thanks for the inf!

You mean most of the mentors were the 1st PF'ers? Now the question is that when and how they found PF.

 

[Integral]

I stumbled on to the site in Dec of 01 (That seems about right??) Just after the advent of PF2. At that point the top posters only had a few hundred posts. After about a month of posting Greg sent me an invite to be a Mentor. At that point in time there were not many degreed members. If the forums were then, at the state they are now, I would never even have been noticed.

Tom, showed up in Jan or Feb of 02 (I may be off a year on all of this!) by Mar he was invited to be a mentor. After that it is a blur. We restarted post counts in Mar 03 when the forms transitioned to Vbulletin software.

Janus and Monique (She went by a different handle in those days) other early mentors were Zero, Kerrie, and Sting (as Ivan mentioned). I know that there were a couple more, but I cannot recall the names at this time.

 

[Moonbear]

You mean most of the mentors were the 1st PF'ers? Now the question is that when and how they found PF.

I don't know if that's true anymore. We'd have to do a head count to check. There's a group of us who are fairly new as mentors who have been invited to replace "retiring" mentors, or to provide additional support in active forums where more mentors were needed to keep up with the sheer volume of posts (or both). Those of us who are newest are Zz, Loseyourname, SpaceTiger, Vanesch and myself. I don't know when Evo joined up...something tells me she got assigned the GD and P&WA mentorship when everyone else took 2 steps backward as Greg asked for a volunteer to step forward after Zero just up and disappeared on us.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Janus and Monique (She went by a different handle in those days) .

owl or something like that was monique's user name, iirc.

 

[Mattara]

What were the difference between PF1, PF2 (and PF3(?))?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

What were the difference between PF1, PF2 (and PF3(?))?

It took me a few tries to find an adequate server and software. Each time we had to wipe the system. Ultimately it was for the best as the first year was not very productive.

 

[Mattara]

What software was used before vBulletin (if you do not mind me asking)?

 

[russ_watters]

I started posting weeks before the move to PF 2.0. I became a mentor when we opened up the engineering section, which I guess was at the start of PF 3.0, I'm guessing about a year later (anyone remember that date?). The number of mods made a big jump then.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You came in days after me. I think it was April of 2003.

 

[russ_watters]

Actually, it is in our profiles -
Me:#142, 03-17-2003
you:#689, 04-30-2003

sampling of others:
enigma:#6, 03-06-2003
Evo: #5155, 12-13-2003
Moonbear: #6344, 01-23-2004 (btw, isn't listed in the moderators list..)

So apparently, pf2.0 went live on 3/6/03. I really thought I had signed up before then - either I had and didn't post for a week and a half over the switch or I didn't actually sign up until then. Or perhaps there were some issues - 142 isn't a lot of members for a week and a half after the switch.

edit: or was that pf3.0 in 03? I must have become a moderator only a few months after joining because I remember getting a Christmas card from Greg in '03.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I was talking about when we were made mentors.

...looking, back that must have been in July or later.

 

[Evo]

I was made mentor 7-20-04. Just had my 2 year anniversary and NO ONE noticed. hmmpf! :grumpy:

 

[Astronuc]

I was made mentor 7-20-04. Just had my 2 year anniversary and NO ONE noticed.

Happy Mentor Anniversary, Evo!

 

[chroot]

I was made mentor 7-20-04. Just had my 2 year anniversary and NO ONE noticed. hmmpf! :grumpy:

I voted to make it a national holiday, Evo, but the Esteemed Leader of the Universe -- i.e. Ivan -- vetoed it.

- Warren

 

[Evo]

Awww, thanks Astronuc!

 

[Evo]

I voted to make it a national holiday, Evo, but the Esteemed Leader of the Universe -- i.e. Ivan -- vetoed it.

- Warren

Ivan vetoed it?

 

[chroot]

Ivan vetoed it?

Yeah, he's been so.. so... Terrible ever since I gave him that damned hand trowel.

- Warren

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear: #6344, 01-23-2004 (btw, isn't listed in the moderators list..)

All the better to sneak up on people. Maybe I haven't banned enough crackpots to earn my stripes yet. :rofl: