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| re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 07:38 am EDT 05/21/23 | |
| In reply to: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? - BroadwayTonyJ 08:10 am EDT 05/20/23 | |
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| My journey into theatre chat boards started in 1995 or so when the internet was in its infancy to the general public and we had just gotten AOL dial-up. LOL. I discovered Finishing the Chat, a Sondheim-themed discussion board with a layout much like ATC. In fact, the creater/moderator of that site, Mark Bakalor, even organized a trip for a group of us to see Follies at Paper Mill in 1998! We all got little buttons to wear with Sondheim's photo on them, and I still have mine somewhere. I don't remember the exact date, but it was through someone on that site that I was made aware of ATC. Probably late 90's. I started posting with more regularity after moving to NYC in 2002. |
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| re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 12:28 am EDT 05/22/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? - EvFoDr 07:38 am EDT 05/21/23 | |
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| Those AOL boards were something. They were my first real connection with theater fans outside my home town, and they were also where I engaged with deeply inappropriate, borderline abusive conversations with so horny dude who hit up all the underage gay kids and was rumored to have been Mr. Phone Thrower himself, a now-disgraced Broadway and film producer. | |
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| re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? | |
| Posted by: Ann 08:38 am EDT 05/21/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? - EvFoDr 07:38 am EDT 05/21/23 | |
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| Mark Bakalor designed the original Talkin' Broadway (in '97), and had the idea for (and named) All That Chat. I think Mark's Sondheim site start in '98. | |
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| re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? | |
| Last Edit: EvFoDr 03:06 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 03:02 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? - Ann 08:38 am EDT 05/21/23 | |
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| Wow, I didn't know that! That explains the similarity in the sites! He def had great instincts for the naming of both sites, IMHO. Also, what a pioneer. Seems like he was pretty young at the time, as was the web. As a theatre professional turned software engineer recently I cannot imagine what it must have been like envisioning the chat boards back then. I found the old site and the copywright is listed as 1994-2001. The landing page where the chat board would be/was now lists Sondheim's birth and death and features a smattering of lyrics. While I am thinking of it, if you know and are allowed to tell...lol...any idea who wrote the column "The Real A"?? This column was written anonymously on Mark's site from 1997 to 2000. He/she was fun and silly and we all speculated back then who it could be. Many thought Bruce Kimmel, but I don't think it was him. |
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| re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:29 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? - EvFoDr 03:02 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
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| If memory serves, it was indeed Kimmel. | |
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| re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 05:46 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? - AlanScott 04:29 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
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| ohhh. I am amazed he had the time. I went back and looked at some of them and they are LONG. I remember really enjoying them at the time. I think the reason people thought it was Kimmel is because he contributed a lot to the site, as himself, then once this "Real A" column started his contributions as himself seemed to diminish. Leaving some to speculate the he was the Real A. And he does have a history of contributing under a pseudonym as per the Guy Haines persona from his recordings :-) | |
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| re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? | |
| Posted by: Ann 04:09 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Have Any Others Here Been Posting on ATC Since 1997? Anyone Care to Mention the Year they Began Posting Here? - EvFoDr 03:02 pm EDT 05/21/23 | |
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| Yes, Mark was very young (still young, to me), especially if he started his site in 1994. I had forgotten what he had done before us. Super talented. | |
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