What is the history of Physics Forums

[Hypercase]

Pf?

I'm curious, 'bout the history of PF. when did it start? who started it? who owns it? whose idea was it? who created it?
Perhaps Greg or the mentors would care to answer??

 

[Adam]

Al Gore invented Physicsforums.

 

[recon]

I'm curious, 'bout the history of PF. when did it start? who started it? who owns it? whose idea was it? who created it?
Perhaps Greg or the mentors would care to answer??

I'll add another question: Why was it started?

 

[Moonbear]

I guess I just assumed it was Greg's baby.

 

[Chrono]

I guess I just assumed it was Greg's baby.

So did I. Of course, it's probably more like an adolescent now.

 

[Monique]

I'm curious, 'bout the history of PF. when did it start? who started it? who owns it? whose idea was it? who created it?
Perhaps Greg or the mentors would care to answer??

This all is Greg's brainchild, I'm sure other people own programming credit too.. like Chroot. We've had this question a few times before, so let me explain the basics

Greg was the first person to ever sign up (ofcourse) and that was on Dec 24th 2000, after just a month the first members started signing up and now we are in the third version of the website and have over 10,000 members signed up and have high traffic, which is pretty cool.

As I've understood it, the creation was for a school project. Here's the baby still in diapers http://web.archive.org/web/20010306054610/https://www.physicsforums.com/

 

[Chrono]

As I've understood it, the creation was for a school project.

Perhaps Greg just wanted to make sure he wasn't the only one out there who enjoyed this stuff as much as he did.

 

[devious_]

Al Gore invented Physicsforums.

Haha..

 

[jimmy p]

So it's Greg's and Al Gore's e-lovechild??

 

[Chrono]

So it's Greg's and Al Gore's e-lovechild??

I'd hate to see yours.

 

[Janitor]

How did Dr. Kaku come into the picture?

 

[Chrono]

How did Dr. Kaku come into the picture?

I didn't realize he did.

 

[Janitor]

His is said to be a "hosted forum."

 

[Chrono]

Oh, I see. I thought he ment in this thread Dr. Kaku had come in. I didn't realize he meant the forum.

 

[Phobos]

We'll need Greg to give the full details of PF history, but as Monique said, Greg created PF back in Dec 2000. It may have taken him 7 days (or not). Monique likes to mention the first members who signed up because she was one of them. Me too. In between college courses and hiding in the woods surrounding the Great Lakes (searching for Bigfoot, I believe), it became Greg's passion to constantly improve PF. At first, he funded the site out of his own pocket and hit up his friends and family for donations. I suspect he even sold blood to fund this. As PF grew, we switched to member donations, ads, and now the "PF contributor" system. The forums were updated a couple times since its beginning (obliterating post counts, mind you!) not only in format but in the server location/bandwidth capacity. This latest version of PF exploded into a flurry of subforums, but the main categories have always been more or less the same. Chroot was recently promoted to co-admin as he contributed a lot of programming and management to the site. It is Greg's intention not only to keep PF going, but to make it one of the premier science-based forums on the internet. To this end, Greg started hosting Dr. Kaku's forums and created the spin-off sites PhysicsPost, PhysicsChat, and that other one. Kudos.

 

[Monique]

The forums were updated a couple times since its beginning (obliterating post counts, mind you!) not only in format but in the server location/bandwidth capacity.

Not only did the post count get reset in between upgrades, but so did the registered memberslist.. as Greg once jokingly put it: "It's a good test to see who the true PF members are " so we have over 10,500 registered right now, but that is just since the last upgrade.

 

[Chrono]

I remember that the reason I signed up was because of Dr. Kaku's forums.

 

[jimmy p]

How did Dr. Kaku come into the picture?

Dr. Kaku delievered Al Gore's and Greg's e-lovechild.

 

[zoobyshoe]

In between college courses and hiding in the woods surrounding the Great Lakes (searching for Bigfoot, I believe), it became Greg's passion to constantly improve PF.

Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't find bigfoot start forums?

 

[Phobos]

No wonder there are so many forums! ;)

 

[Kerrie]

thanks for that link monique...the webpage sure brings back memories :) i wonder how many members now were members then? i signed up in July 2001.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Those who can't do, teach.

Those who can't teach, teach PE.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

After searching the internet high and low I found what I consider to be the best science forum on the net - PF.

The high quality of the membership and most discussions were a welcome treat. All of the great Mentors here are the key; IMO.

This is funny really. When I landed here I was starting a long and much needed vacation. At the time, having not had much time for anything but work for about the last two years I was chocked full of arguments of all kinds. But to test the waters I made a fairly simple first post. Within minutes - this is at 1 AM - I received a wonderful reply from somewhere in Europe I think... I was amazed! That and a few more posts started a flood of perhaps ten very long essays and debates a day for the next two or three weeks. I hardly slept at all! What a vacation! Talk about venting!

IIRC, one day I received over 200 email notifications. :surprise: :surprise: :surprise: