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Topic Title: Did the forum used to be more popular?
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Created On: 05/24/2020 06:05 PM
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 05/24/2020 06:05 PM
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Woodhouse

Posts: 27
Joined Forum: 11/13/2016

Did the forum used to be more popular say 5-10 years ago or even before that? It seems like there was a lot more activity years ago. I know its been around a long time, I'm 40 now and remember it was going strong even back when I was in college.
 05/24/2020 06:40 PM
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Cole

Posts: 68183
Joined Forum: 07/22/2003

I imagine so, with the less popular and all, but the popularity of surfing has dropped considerably, so the two most likely go hand in hand.

In web years, this site is Mesozoic.

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I was right.
 05/24/2020 08:06 PM
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fishkller

Posts: 20566
Joined Forum: 11/13/2016


Facebook is what happened, and then Instagram.

Neither are a real substitute in my opinion, but it's what people use apparently..

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 05/25/2020 03:11 AM
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tom

Posts: 8013
Joined Forum: 07/25/2003

Wait, surfing isn't popular anymore?!? Dang. That's why I started...

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add a signature since I'm here in profile anyway
 05/25/2020 05:38 AM
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johnnyboy

Posts: 25071
Joined Forum: 07/22/2003

It's still tops with me when I'm not on my myspace.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

 05/25/2020 06:38 AM
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orlandork

Posts: 420
Joined Forum: 09/08/2003

Forums in general peaked in the mid to late 2000's and have slowly declined.
 05/25/2020 07:29 AM
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Riverman

Posts: 1677
Joined Forum: 07/24/2003

I joined when I was like 12 years old. I remember asking my dad if I could create an account and then I came up with my handle, "Riverman" which has stuck with me ever since. The first 6 years I spent on the forum were totally amazing. Made a bunch of great friends, learned so much about surfing, style, surfboard design, surfing history, etc. After that, I just got busy with life and stopped posting as frequently, then I got REAL busy with life and got married and had kids. Still check the forum a few times a week, but no longer posting much at all. Always appreciative of what Chuck and Dave created and maintained for all this time so we surfers could talk shop. The forum in its heyday sure was cosmic.
 05/25/2020 08:04 AM
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harrietdubman

Posts: 279
Joined Forum: 11/07/2015

i first made the trek to the space coast (to surf) with a friend and his family who eventually moved to melbourne and then back to the lowco when i was like 12 or 13--7th grade (2004 or 2005?). lo and behold i would eventually move to florida for grad school. love me some full circle and shredding over there a few times a year for the past 5 years has been a dream come true. it is truly a special place. hopefully these times have helped others to remember to not take anything for granted.

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sneedeker



Edited: 05/25/2020 at 08:08 AM by harrietdubman
 05/25/2020 08:20 AM
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Fordvacillateenr

Posts: 308
Joined Forum: 06/17/2010

Woodhouse Posts: 19 Joined Forum: 11/13/2016
 05/25/2020 08:22 AM
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wavearzt

Posts: 136
Joined Forum: 07/16/2010

I think we lost a lot of people when the site crashed whenever it was a year or two ago. I couldn't get on the site for over a year. One I was able to get back on my multiple requests to reset my password went unanswered. I finally found my old login info a few months back and started coming back on. I think that time caused a lot of prior regulars to drop off.
 05/25/2020 09:04 AM
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SAsurfer

Posts: 68
Joined Forum: 02/17/2013

The Surf Station website used to have a really active forum but it eventually was killed off from lack of activity. Toward the end the only section that got much response was one similar to the National Enquirer one here. I didn't understand then why people wanted to argue politics so much on a surfing forum when so many other places exist for that.
 05/25/2020 12:10 PM
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Cole

Posts: 68183
Joined Forum: 07/22/2003

16streets was the same. McLaren does some neat photography on the cover page, but I'm not sure the forum is even there anymore.

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I was right.
 05/25/2020 12:22 PM
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hurl

Posts: 5
Joined Forum: 10/06/2012

PLEEEASE DON"T DIE. mouth to mouth baby
 05/25/2020 12:42 PM
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Cole

Posts: 68183
Joined Forum: 07/22/2003

http://web.archive.org/web/2019*/2ndlight.com

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I was right.
 05/25/2020 03:22 PM
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paddleout

Posts: 11810
Joined Forum: 07/31/2003

Oh yeah the forum was WAYYY more popular back in the golden years of like '99-2004

Social media eroded alot of that away, but it was and still is a great way to communicate and find information, especially since threads on here will actually show up in Google, but anything you bother to write on Facebook just floats out into the abyss never to be seen again.

There were alot of people on the forum back in the early 2000s. The surf forum seemed like it updated every 30 seconds. There was little to no fighting back then I recall. Just on rare occasion.

Of particular note was the 2004 hurricanes. We are kindof used to them now, but back then it was the first real good smack in many years, and the first ones I ever went through. People were shocked they were coming right at us. I remember that Longboard House didn't even have shutters for their windows, so they boarded up with plywood boards and spraypainted "PITBULLS INSIDE" on them. That photo made its way to the forum and there were some funny jokes about it i recall.

It was a good source of hurricane information and all kinds of other things, since you could post a question and alot of people would chime in. Its still like that, but it was more active then.

I think around 2003 it crashed and everyone had to re-sign up. I was able to get the same username, but alot of them changed at that time.

Can you even join the forum still? I've had people tell me over the past few years that they tried to sign up, but it never worked. Maybe thats the problem?
 05/25/2020 04:37 PM
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daner

Posts: 7918
Joined Forum: 04/20/2004

I've been part of this forum for a long time. I think pretty much since it started. In its hey day there was ALOT more posts on the surfing forum. The first big decline in activity happened after the site was hacked and it took Chuck quite awhile, maybe weeks/months to get it back online. Not his fault this is a sideline (important Sideline!) but after that it never recovered and there have been one or two similar episodes since that put a couple more nails in the coffin. I'll always fondly remember the 2ndlight parties at Tables meeting people for real which lead to more respect online. I still enjoy the site and value all the friendships its lead to including Dave and Chuck. That's my take on it.


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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean



Edited: 05/25/2020 at 04:39 PM by daner
 05/25/2020 06:05 PM
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RobdaSlob

Posts: 245
Joined Forum: 07/24/2003

Times are a changing. When the site stood up getting reliable surf reports was a little more challenging. Now anyone can access magic seaweed or any number of other on line tools and any number of cameras. The on line relationships was all still growing. I still like to lurk around for a connection to the treasure coast.

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Even a blind hog finds an occasional acorn
 05/25/2020 07:32 PM
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foam ball

Posts: 1819
Joined Forum: 06/01/2005

Been around a long time, it's a shell of what it was. It crashed a while back as mentioned and lost a bunch of people. Use to have time to check daily to see what's going on when I was 16. Lucky now to look once every couple weeks. Willing to bet the demographic of what it started with has grown up and gotten busy with life.
 05/25/2020 07:35 PM
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foam ball

Posts: 1819
Joined Forum: 06/01/2005

I think the dates on people's profiles aren't accurate as well. Pretty sure I signed up way before 2005.
 05/25/2020 07:41 PM
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paddleout

Posts: 11810
Joined Forum: 07/31/2003


The dates must be accurate- because if you look at me, Cole, Riverman, Johnnyboy above- they all are from July 2003. That was the time of the big crash when everybody had to re-signup
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