What's Your JoeUser History?

Did you know that JoeUser, as it stands right now, recently passed the four year mark?  Hard to believe the site has been around that long, giving many of us a digital home in the information wasteland that is what folks now call the "blogosphere". 

It was September 9th, 2003, JoeUser changed from just the personal blog page for Brad (Draginol/Frogboy) and became the community site you see before you now.  While visually and perhaps functionally the site hasn't changed a great deal in those four years, I know the community has.  Four years is quite a while in "Internet Time" and I'm sure a lot has changed for everyone here since they landed on the site.

I came to JoeUser in November of 2003, but didn't post anything until New Years Eve.  From there I started writing about my personal experiences as a fresh college graduate, trying to find a job, and moving away from the only home I had ever known as I ventured off into the wide world.  Quickly I strayed towards games, politics and current events, especially as the 2004 Presidental election approached.

JoeUser has seen me go from an unsure college grad desparately seeking a job, through my first post-college job at an insurance company in Connecticut, and eventually to a full-time job with Stardock.  In the time I've been here I've lived in 3 states at 7 different addresses, worked for three different jobs, visited two foreign countries, been in 3 relationships and acquired a cat.

What's your JoeUser history?

10,375 views 36 replies
Reply #1 Top
My oh time files! Wait I said that already!!

I've been at JU since June 2004 - 3 years! I discovered Joe while trying to find an outlet for personal reasons, my mom was ill. I was so green at blogging and my readership was nil...wait, at least two people!!

Who knew I would ever get to the Top 10 Site list not to mention the Top Ten Users! I've had the same job and lived at two addresses since being a member of JU. My kids have practically grown up here, me talking about them that is! My son was 9, my daughter (the first one) was 14 and my bay was 2 when I started! (I started before their birthdays that Year so...) Now they are 13, 18 and 6 - wow! I'm still married to the same person.

I've gotten more outspoken, and enjoy sharing my thoughts and opinions and varied interests with JU! Oh yeah, we have fishes now and new plants that haven't died!!

The big Plus is I can now count over thirty people who have become special acquaintances and friends, I would never have guessed that I would have on-line friends who I have never met! If I ever win the lotto (if I remember to play at all!!) the first thing I would do is have a JU celebration at Disney - all expenses paid!!
Reply #2 Top

Hmm, I came here April 19, 2004.  I started out writing this and that and then drifted to poetry, which has been my mainstay, actually a little less than half of my total.  I write about whatever I feel like writing about.  I tend to stay away from politics, but I'll jot down some interesting news, science, philosophy, and of course just odd writings-poetry being one of them. Actually, JU was my first blogging attempt and really the only site I keep coming back to and contributing to on a somewhat regular(okay, more irregular) basis.

When I started writing here, I was in high school...a junior, I believe.  Now I'm a sophomore in college...so yeah, it's been awhile.  If you're really interested in what I've written and some things that've happend, scroll through my archives.   223 articles as of right now, which is really nothing compared to some of the more prominent bloggers...I just run out of things to say from time to time. Apparently I'm a Power User now as well. Level 2, baby!

~Zoo

Reply #3 Top
I blogged about this recently, so I won't rehash that, but I only found JoeUser because I remembered it being Brad's personal blogsite and I came back to read what he had to say, and found all these people on here... At least he was still around! And the other guys are all right, too.

Actually, I kind of wondered if I had just made up all the Brad's personal blog stuff. Glad to know my memory isn't shot.
Reply #4 Top
In Dec, 2004 I found Joeuser through a search on Yahoo.  Basically I was looking for a public place to test the satire material in my book... yeah, the one I still haven't put out yet.  At first, I was determined to keep it light and stick with my disaster satires, but my love for politics wouldn't be denied.  Now I write about music, religion, post my photo satires, and return to my disaster dissing roots once in awhile. I haven't had the honor of meeting any JUers personally yet, but there are many I would love to meet... even among those I get into pissing contests with at times. :~D
Reply #5 Top
I came to JoeUser merely by accident and ended up staying. That was in October 2004. I was looking for another blog site I'd read about but couldn't remember the name. I googled 'blog' and JoeUser was one of the entries returned in response. At the same time as I joined JoeUser, I joined an Australian site simply called Blogs. But after reading a lot of the material on JoeUser and seeing there were people blogging from around the world, I don't think I have been back to Blogs since.
Reply #6 Top
I noticed something interesting...despite being one of the youngest members, I'm actually among the most senior members on the site.

~Zoo
Reply #7 Top

I found JU on Valentine's Day of 2004.  I was looking for a blog site to document my knitting, and came across JU.  The format was attractive and easy to use, and I liked the people here, so I started a blog and the rest, as they say, is history.

JU has seen me through one year long remote tour, deployments, house moves, surgeries, deaths, knitting, finding my birth mother and figuring out that I don't want anything to do with her, seeing my big brother and my mum for the first time in over a decade, heartaches, happiness, a Presidential election, jobs, finally figuring out what I'm good at and being given the opportunity to do it, knitting, yarn, more knitting, kittens and puppies and too many other things to mention.

It's been good here.  I've made some really good friends - it sounds strange (almost crazy, really), saying that I love people that I've never physically met, but it's true.  I DO love everyone I've become friends with here - some more than others, but I do love all of them. 

I've been here for amost 4 years.  Wow.  That's unreal, isn't it?

Reply #8 Top
Apparently I'm a Power User now as well.


How do you become a Power User? Do you get a battlecat to go with the title?
Reply #9 Top
How do you become a Power User? Do you get a battlecat to go with the title?


Luck, I suppose. Unfortunately I think my battlecat is still in the mail...poor kitty.

~Zoo
Reply #10 Top
There was an article in my local paper asking about peoples blogs. They wanted to know who had them and if they kept current. I didn't even know what a blog was so I googled it. JU was the first thing that came on so I joined. That was January 31, 2004. Wow, almost 4 years.

I think like most people there are times when I am here a lot and times when I not around at all. Like Donna, I have made some great friends and would never, ever had guessed that would have happened.

Thanks JU
Reply #11 Top

Once I subscribed to Wincustomize, I noticed that there was a link to set up a site here.  I had started a Blogger blog, but was pretty much bored by the lack of any interaction.  The crap I wrote just sat there, doing nothing.

Started blogging here the beginning of February, 2004 and have been going ever since.  I have waxed and waned in my participation (currently wanning), but have enjoyed my time here. 

Reply #12 Top
I've been here for a month! San Chonino introduced me to it. I'd been reading his articles and your responses for a couple of years now, once I got into college this past fall, he told me to get a site. I look forward to many happy memories and hopefully some future friends?
Reply #13 Top

Blog for me created: 11/18/2004 

Prior to that, I had been a participant in the forums for The Political Machine.  From participating there, I wound up finding JU and eventually started blogging fairly regularly there.

Reply #14 Top
Four years, a ton of referrals and 760 entries didn't amount to a hill of beans because of the meager number of comments.
Reply #15 Top
After I was done with the mine and actually found myself with some "free time", I wanted to start blogging to archive my writing online. I originally planned to blog primarily on religion, but I found little to no readership for those articles.

In that space of time, we've travelled from NV to Texas. I returned to school, have nearly completed my Associate Degree, I ran for State Representative, gaining 15% of the vote as a complete unknown with no money or name recognition, and have become a somewhat notorious activist in my region.

We've had two kids in that span of time, and I have gone from a plumber (the job I held when I started here) to a paper carrier to a support technician and head of PC Repair for a local ISP.
Reply #16 Top
I bought "The Political Machine" in early 2004, my senior year of highschool. The associated website had a Politics forum, and I cut my teeth reading the likes of Bakerstreet, Steven D, Myrrander, LW, etc. I eventually expanded into greater JU, and have read heavily and thoroughly most every dedicated poster on these boards, and probably only created three articles or so during that time (I don't even know how to check!). I don't think I even launched my blogsite until I was sitting in Tanzania last year bored off my gourd.

I read here on a daily basis, but usually choose not to comment, either because I don't have anything useful to say, don't especially care for the people talking , don't want to get wrapped up in the argument, or what have you. I prefer to read, learn, and enjoy.


Reply #17 Top
I was an OS/2 user back in the 1990s and knew Brad (Draginol) from the OS/2 newsgroups. We also had a common friend , in fact we probably still do.

I moved to Ireland from Germany in 1998 and stopped reading news for a while. At the same time almost everyone moved from Usenet to Web forums. I returned to Germany to study (but later studied in Ireland afterall) and that's when the blog scene started. I read the odd article on JoeUser when it was Brad's personal blog. I think he was mostly talking about his basement.

I stopped using OS/2 a year after Brad, used BeOS for half a year, then Linux for a year (on Macintosh hardware), then finally Mac OS X.

It was shortly after JoeUser became this big site for everyone that Brad replied to one of my emails asking me why I hadn't joined JoeUser. And join I did.

Compared to others here I write very little. And occasionally I don't comment for a long time, several months or a year even.

I moved back to Ireland and revided my personal blog. and have since used my JoeUser blog only for more or less non-personal only for postings that warrant commentary. "I bought new shoes yesterday." does not warrant commentary ("I disagree! You DIDN'T buy shoes! You are a liar!").

I only recently (2 weeks ago?) discovered that I am at an "Elite" level. I found that most funny since I wrote maybe a tenth of the articles of others at the level.

My first blog post is from 2/20/2004 titled G-d, the world, and other creations.

That's it I suppose. That is my story in a nutshell, and the shell fits.
Reply #18 Top
Oooooh, a chance to talk about myself!

Haha.

I don't remember when I joined JU. Summer of '04 I think. My husband was deployed and LobsterHunter (it's late, I'm not linking!) was visiting and insisted that I join.

Reply #19 Top
I joined Dec. 1 2004. One of my students was showing me her blog. It was a really cool blog with lots of pictures and funky backgrounds and stuff she drew. Talented girl (incidentally, she was also ranked #3 cosplay dresser in Tokyo in a magazine dedicated to that stuff). He blog was in Thai (she is Thai) and in Japanese.

I said, "Hey, I want to do that, too!" She said to google some free blog sites and I found a couple and I liked JU the best. This might have been because it was the easiest to figure out.

I now have two other blogs. One is for my clay character (www.estelloproject.blogspot.com) and the other is about writing and photography.

I wanted to blog because my family wanted to know what living in Tokyo was like so I thought I would keep a blog about adventures in Tokyo. This ended up being problematic for two reasons: I don't live an adventurous life; my folks can't really be bothered to click on the blog site. It ends up being one more chore for them. I guess I need to be a better writer or start being more adventurous.

Maybe I should change my blog title to: "Procastinatrix; blog of a Tokyo Stripper."

Hmmm... Yeah, right. I think I would be scared to see who would pay me money to strip. Yikers.

I haven't posted much recently. At one point, I felt I was spending too much time on JU, and lately, it's because I figure if I have time to write, I should be writing my book.

I like the community here so that's why I keep coming back.
Reply #20 Top
listen now and listen good..

hey you old schoolers - remember BAM! ha.

My blog was created in December 2003 - I was just a petulant Aussie kid (21) who thought I ws invincible and that I had amazingly pertinent and thought provoking things to say... the insolence of youth was never truer than in my case... I even locked horns with Brad many a time over subjects like history, and I just didn't know when I was wrong!

I was one of the people that has locked horns with Whip in the past... a formidible foe whom I have come to respect and actually admire (I am keeping my enemies close!!!) so I kind of toned down my JU time (probably becaues I was confined to my own blog as well!), and I was too busy snowboarding...

Since the beginning I have lived in Australia, Colorado and now London, been a project coordinator, snowboard instructor and account manager - 376 articles later (mostly absolute drivel not worth the bandwidth required to view them) I still enjoy coming back here to enhance my perspective on life - the greatest thing always has been and always will be the diversity of this website - some argue that it is predominately a right wing conservative haven - but there are definitely enough pot smoking liberals here to counter the balance...

LW - you may be interested to know that I have come across the bloke behind SPM whilst here in London, and people are actually paying him money for his unique brand of satire, I just think JU was probably not the appropriate vehicle for his humour...
Reply #21 Top
in hindsight it's actually quite funny... not the fact that people got hurt, but the fact that people took it so seriously... then again, my warped sense of humour is well documented, and I find many things that I probably shouldn't hilarious...

not to turn this into a love up or anything, but there is a definite sense of community here, and it is stronger for occurances like the moron wars...
Reply #22 Top
Well I don't have specifics as to what exact date I came. I did come here after hanging around at another small blog where people were really rude and the moderators were even worse, deleting replies they did not like because it contradicted what they said.

I, however, have been here for many years. By the sound of it, I could say I have been here almost since the beginning. It has been at least 3 years since I've been around and it has been some great years. I have had a lot of fun and have learn a thing or 2 about politics.
Reply #23 Top
I have come across the bloke behind SPM whilst here in London, and people are actually paying him money for his unique brand of satire


Hah! Really? Always wondered what happened to him.

~Zoo
Reply #24 Top
I was turned on to this site by poet extraordinaire and my pal Johnny Masuda. I started posting poems here, and was able to compile some of them into a book that has sold (so far ) 12 copies. Buy it here! --> Link or don't.

I have really enjoyed some of the talented writers here (especially Masuda, the late great ShovelHeat, Ms. Mitchell, KellyW and RoyLevosh). I try to steer clear of most of the politics on this site as I've seen so much ugliness and lack of civility in some of the disagreements.

In all, I'm grateful for this opportunity to share my writings with the world. Thanks, Brad.
A sincerely grateful Moskowitz

Reply #25 Top
I started my account in December 2005, after having followed my brother, BlueDev's blog for quite some time. I've been here almost two years now. Crazy . . . but I've loved (most) every minute of it. The fights have been long, the recriminations bitter, but the friendships strong and ultimately worthwhile.

So, yeah. That's me.