Hey WBMUTBB!
I've been a stranger here in town for a long time....reading all the
comments but never joining in the conversation....so some of you may not
even know me.
I'm Allan Newsome and here's a bit of a history.
HISTORY REPORT
Back in April of 1990, a fellow named Bob Bravetti was on the Prodigy
computer network. He started what was called a "topic" on the Prodigy
bulletin board system with a subject header of "The Andy Griffith Show".
After a few replies and a little bit of chatter, the topic died off.
In the early fall of 1990, Allan Newsome signed up for the Prodigy network
and started a "topic" on the same bulletin board system Bob had originally
started his topic. The "topic" was called "Andy Griffith Show." After that
first message Allan was joined (over time) by more than 57 other fans of
The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS), including Bob who was the very first person
to reply to Allan's note, who enjoyed visiting online and talking about
Mayberry.
On the first anniversary of the posting of the "Andy Griffith Show" topic
by Allan, those original 57 or so Mayberry fans decided to make the group
of TAGS fans a "real" chapter of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club
(TAGSRWC). People sent in their suggestions for a chapter name and "Who's
Been Messin' Up the Bulletin Board?" (WBMUTBB) was born. A note requesting
the chapter name was sent to TAGSRWC HQ on November 4, 1991 and official
verification of our chapter's approval arrived by mail on November 29, 1991
in the form of our Chapter Charter from TAGSRWC Headquarters in Nashville
1991-1999
For another two and a half years things continued to grow. Friends were
made online that sprouted into "real world" friendships. Members shared
photos of one another by postal mail (we couldn't really do it online back
then) which allowed faces to be associated with those that until then had
only been names on a computer monitor. Times were wonderful.
Allan left Prodigy in early 1993 and for about 6 months he was out of touch
with all the Prodigy/online Mayberry friends. Then he saw in THE BULLET,
The official newsletter of TAGSRWC at that time, a note from Kevin Johnson
and Jack Fellenzer requesting that folks email them to talk about TAGS.
Allan emailed them right away because he missed the fun and fellowship he
had with fellow TAGS fans and the WBMUTBB Chapter folks. That note in THE
BULLET resulted in the WBMUTBB Chapter being expanded from just being on
Prodigy to being on the whole Internet. By August 1, 1994 (the oldest "New
Member Update" still accessible) the new Internet version of WBMUTBB had 25
members.
The "New Member Update" was emailed out manually on a regular basis to all
members of WBMUTBB so everyone could stay in touch. Back in those days,
there was no good way to create an automated email list so manually
emailing every member was the only way to stay in contact.
Kevin Johnson kept up with the member list for about 6 months then,
beginning with the "New Member Update" of December 21, 1994, the
responsibility was given over to Allan. We had 50 members on that update.
By the end of 1998 we had 608 members which grew to 1,356 by December 31,
1999.
10TH ANNIVERSARY - NOVEMBER 2001 - PRESENT
Chapter membership grew to a high of over 1,740 members in November 2001
(our 10th Anniversary year).
Since 2001 we have fallen in number, but not in spirit. We have continued
to have issues with people not getting the Digest in their Inbox and I've
tried hard to fix that problem. It's never ending and I don't know if I can
do any better than I currently do.
To EXPAND our online chapter, I have created a Facebook group called,
"WBMUTBB Chapter." It's a private group on Facebook and I'd like to invite
you there if you'd like to come. I'm not closing down the email Digest but
I wanted to provide a different way for you to stay in touch with one
another and share more Mayberry fun.
IF you're interested, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wbmutbb
and join. You'll have to agree to the "Rules" which are the same "rules"
we've lived by here on the email WBMUTBB Digest for 31 years so hopefully
nobody with have an issue with them.
I hope to see you there.
SIncerely,
Allan Newsome
iMayberry.com
wbmutbb.com
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