Happy Anniversary!

[Pagurus]

Happy 10th anniversary everyone. Thank you all, with a special thanks to our "founding fathers." A job well done.

Here's an anniversary card with @Auspex in mind.

 

[RJB]

A great forum indeed.  Lots of thanks to the addministators and espesialy @Auspex, and am looking forward to another 10 years.

 

RB

[fossilized6s]

Thank you to everyone who has contributed their time, knowledge, generosity and friendliness to this priceless forum. It's truly been a college course for me and a great way to meet likeminded awesome individuals. 

 

Charlie 

[PFOOLEY]

On 8/15/2017 at 8:51 PM, DPS Ammonite said:

Do we have posted any story as to how we were created, and what our history was?

Might need some help from some of the Forum's pioneers to shed light on this...

 

@Gatorman, @jkfoam, @Uncle Siphuncle, @Harry Pristis, @worthy 55, @Mike Owens

 

[Ludwigia]

And here's to all who have and are working at continually making this wonderful forum the success that it is!

[FossilDAWG]

Ten years already?!  This forum has actually changed my life: it's so much fun to connect with other fossil fanatics, and the collective knowledge of this community is amazing.  I have made many friends here (or so I consider you all to be), and I have had the delight of meeting quite a few of you in person.  I hope the forum will continue to delight, inform, and entertain fossil freaks for many years to come.

 

Don C (member # 528)

[bcfossilcollector]

I am very proud to be a member of this great forum!  Many thanks!

[Auspex]

When we celebrate the Forum, what we are really celebrating is us. All the membership. We collectively ARE the Forum, and www.thefossilforum.com is but the nexus.
Because of all-of-us, we have the coolest 'clubhouse' in the world: a terrific library, a world-class museum, knowledgeable old-hands with priceless information, a steady flow of future old-hands to ask questions and stir the 'soup' (cycling old subjects back to the top), and a pinch of new, cutting-edge knowledge and theories added daily.

 

Do a Google Image search for any type of fossil, and many of the hits are here...

I am in awe of what our membership has accomplished. Rock on!

[old bones]

Yay us! This is my second home

[Ramo]

There used to be another "Fossil Forum" type place called something like "California Fossil Forum".    It was a long time ago, and didn't last too long if I remember correctly.  After that one crashed I found this one here as a tiny group of fossil hunters.  Dan was here back then,  so was Chris.  If I remember correctly Chris was the one who started this, but I could be wrong.  I remember when it started he made sure this place didn't fill up with advertisements.  I like it this way.  I also remember when it got too big, and admins had to be found.  Many are still on here that stepped up to the plate to help.   Back then it was not uncommon for almost every member to comment on every topic!

 I was member #40.  It has lost some of the closeness it had back when there were just a few of us on here, but it is still the best all-around fossil page on the web!!!

 

Ramo

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Further to Ramo's comments, I think it was Roz that brought the California forum to my attention, so I jumped on.  I distinctly remember Ron Bushell's ammonite restoration talents on display back then as well.  When the CA forum cratered, it was again Roz that tipped me off to this new fossil forum.  I jumped on and it was a good fit.  It was run by two young upstarts, Cris and Anson from Florida, and I still remember some of the light hearted field videos they posted at the time.  

 

It was the wild west in terms of structure and online humor back then, and it was really, really fun.  There were some crazy personalities including a guy named Tom Clark from Florida.  I wish some of these guys would jump back on.

 

A lot has happened over the years with our members.  Back in 2008 we had a group hunt at the Waco Pit open to Forum membership, with good turnout.  I had the pleasure of finally meeting Barry (Snakekeeper, later Creek Crawler), Lance, Roz, and Ramo.  It might be harder these days to find a site capable of supporting the endeavors of our burgeoning ranks.  On that note, most of my field outings that involve members these days tend to be one on one.

 

One of the key benefits of forum membership is forming friendships that evolve into high stakes reciprocal guided trips at long distance venues.  Nando (Paleonature) has been a steady friend over the years.  He has joined my wife and me many times in the Texas Outback along with his wife, Diana.  And he has sent us to many wonderful sites around Europe and introduced us to other European collectors.  This has greatly enriched collecting and vacations in general for me.  Why visit tourist traps overseas when you can instead enjoy customized adventures with friendly locals?  

 

So yes, 10 years of active Forum membership has fostered many wonderful friendships.  But the passage of time has been bittersweet.  Regrettably, some really cool people have drifted away from the Forum over time, and sadly, a handful of good collecting buddies have passed away as well.  

[DPS Ammonite]

I believe that the California fossil website was called “Collecting Fossils in California” at www.gtlsys.com (now no longer accessible). Fortunately the Wayback Machine has archived contents from the site. The posts from the Forum section probably were not saved. Check out lots of descriptions and maps of California fossil sites. Click on a date to see what was archived on that date.

 

See: https://web.archive.org/web/20040701000000*/http://gtlsys.com/

[Jeffrey P]

Congratulations to everyone, but especially those who put in the extra work and their expertise to keep this running. A heartfelt thanks. 

[Wrangellian]

June of 2007? Where does the time go.. As 4372 I guess I joined somewhere in the middle. Looking for opinions on IDs for some of my orphaned (label-less) fossils brought me here, and I kind of stuck around for some reason... (some of them were ID'd!)

 

 

[ashcraft]

In December, I will have been a member here for ten years.  Always an interesting read, and source of information.  Special thanks to the two individuals who started it.  I would post their names, but am not sure they participate any longer (and memory is a little fuzzy).  I am raising my favorite ammonite filled with my favorite adult beverage in your honor.

 

Brent Ashcraft

[Coco]

Hi again,

 

My message will be near Dan's one. I am there since 2009 and I read every day all the messages. That takes me a lot of time but TFF contains so much information and beautiful pics as I can't miss it. I just come back last monday of 11 holidays without internet and I haven't read everything the new messages yet (but I am on the right track !).

 

TFF is the forum where I feel better. I thought that it was more than 10 years old... Each is respectful others, the information is very interesting, the members don't hesitate to help or to welcome other members in their region. The administrators and the moderators are always tuned in and make a wonderful work.

 

I always have pleasure to welcome foreigner at my home to share my favourite sites, good wines and good French food (hasn't it Becky ? ).

 

I don't go out anymore on the ground because I don't know anymore about the evolution of my favourite sites and because to do the route asks for some money, but I always have some sediment to be sorted out at my home, and I am always delighted to make exchanges with the member TFF!

 

In brief, TFF is a member of my daily life !

 

Coco

[siteseer]

On 8/16/2017 at 6:47 PM, Ramo said:

There used to be another "Fossil Forum" type place called something like "California Fossil Forum".    It was a long time ago, and didn't last too long if I remember correctly.  After that one crashed I found this one here as a tiny group of fossil hunters.  Dan was here back then,  so was Chris.  If I remember correctly Chris was the one who started this, but I could be wrong.  I remember when it started he made sure this place didn't fill up with advertisements.  I like it this way.  I also remember when it got too big, and admins had to be found.  Many are still on here that stepped up to the plate to help.   Back then it was not uncommon for almost every member to comment on every topic!

 I was member #40.  It has lost some of the closeness it had back when there were just a few of us on here, but it is still the best all-around fossil page on the web!!!

 

Ramo

 

Ramo,

 

I wasn't here at the beginning but joined long enough ago that I remember the name you used to travel under.  Steve aka "Non-remanie" used to call himself something else too.  It seemed funny yet fitting to me back then that the Forum would be well-populated by people in Florida and Texas where it seems half the fossil collectors in the world have come from (all those rivers and eroded landscapes).  I knew some of you already from MAPS (Fossilselachian, the shark master who instructed me, Harry Pristis, Angus Stydens) and other shows.  It was Isurus90064 who told me about the Forum in late 2008 and said I needed to joim because people talked a lot about sharks.  I finally got around to joining a few months later.  It's been a lot of fun since except when I learned of a member's passing, a name I knew and had interacted with even if I never met the person..

 

I liked the guy who said he knew nothing about paleontology but he was absolutely certain he was showing us a fossil turtle egg.  I liked the several people who think they've found a fossil mushroom.  I really liked the thread that ended with two Texas guys talking about good barbecue.

 

It's been nice to pass on what others have taught me and great to learn something new and see other member's collections because I've seen mine many times.  Sometimes, I come here several days in a row; sometimes there's a week or two in between but it's been great.  Thank you to the admins, moderators, and other members who do extra work to keep this thing running.  Happy Anniversary Fossil Forum.  Okay, where's the cake?

 

Jess

[fossilselachian]

2 hours ago, siteseer said:

knew some of you already from MAPS (Fossilselachian, the shark master who instructed me

In this case it is a situation where the student has become the "Master".