Reply With QuoteWell spotted Mr B, and many congratulations to the other top banana
Looking at Eddie's avatar, it would appear that TZ started in October 2002.
So happy birthday TZ, and congratulations to the proprietor for ten years of TZ.
I wonder how much watch tastes have changed over the decade? And who else still here was there at the beginning?
This thread is open to anyone who wants to reminisce and remind me I am still a relative newbie....
So clever my foot fell off.
Well spotted Mr B, and many congratulations to the other top banana
Here here....... for he's a jolly good fellow...repeat..repeat..... and so say all of us...
Ta Boss
Pitch
I'm still here, after all these years.
This version of the forum started on. Sat19th Oct. and I joined Mon 21st.
The main change is that back then, buying new from an AD was something other people (non tzers) did.
Last edited by chrisb; 15th October 2012 at 23:51.
Congratulations, Eddie! Thank you for keeping this going and for giving us one of the best sites on the internet.
Congrats, Eddie, and here's to ten more!
Happy Birthday, TZ-UK and I salute our founding father, a.k.a. the Great Glitcher.
Doesn't time fly? Happy Birthday TZ-UK - where's the party going to be held? And more importantly where's my invite?!
Congats - I lucked for years before joining. It's a great site.
Happy Anniversary to us all and Eddie in particular !
On to the next twentyfive years!
Marc
I remember when this was all fields...and my wallet occasionally had some cash in it.
Congratulations Eddie and thanks for ten years of great timepieces, here's to ten more!
Happy Anniversary Eddie & here's to another 10 years.
Happy birthday TZ.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Brithday to you,
Happy Birthday Dear Teeee Zeddddddddddd
Happy Birthday to you!
So if it all started on the 19th, it should be an extra special Friday thread, as the actual tenth birthday!!
Lets hope Eddie is feeling a little better by then and a little 'hot toddy' will help with the chest and to celebrate as well...
Best wishes TZ! Its a great place to spend our time...
Happy anniversary! Isn't it tradition to give away a free watch to all members with greater than 5000 posts?
Mark
I'll wait until Friday then...Originally Posted by chrisb
Great spot TFB...Happy Anniversary
Congrats indeed, and on to the next ten...............
Daddel.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Ten years of doing anything in this economy deserves a huge cheer; well done, Eddie, a good lesson on building and maintaining a business and client interest ( as well as a mountain of great watches!)
TZ-UK...wooo!
If I could make the sound of one of these I'd be making it right now!
Do you think Eddie will celebrate by realeasing the DN GMT!!
<Insert (in)famous Eddie 'NO' smiley>
Cheers,
Rob
Congratulations Eddie on building a fine forum and a great community! Here's to the next 10 years :)
Best Wishes
Aaron
Amen to that.
David
Hear, Hear !
Congrats to TZ-UK :-)
Happy birthday to TZ. Let's hire a boxing ring somewhere and have a GTG! Maybe we could invite some past members.
"A man of little significance"
Vicky, for instance!?
+1
Congratulations Eddie! Any memories of those early years that you would like to share? How has the horological landscape changed?
Here's to the next ten!
Here's to another 10! Congratulations Eddie.
Congratulations to Eddie and TZ, the old members, and the new members. You all make this a rather interesting place to browse away some time on occasions ;)
The style of this place has changed out of all recognition since the early days, a bloody sight more photo's for a start.
Far fewer people had a digital camera then and I can remember putting an IWC under the scanner, using Adobe (?) to convert it to jpeg and being thrilled that I could actually post a pic on the forum.
The lack of pics did actually make members write more though.
There is a lot more emphasis on very expensive watches nowadays possibly at the expense of enthusiastic discussion. It was definitely more of a vintage watch scene then.
Also a lot of very informed members have left over time which is a sad thing IMO.
Cheers,
Neil.
That's very interesting (to me as a relative newbie from 2009).
The loss of old members is always sad but I discovered[1] that in order for a community to prosper and remain healthy and lively it must gain new blood. And that process of gaining new blood inevitably involves a form of evolution and part of the evolutionary process is the loss of older members. Over time the nature and atmosphere of the community changes (and this has a certain element of sadness for longtime members) and yet change is absolutely key to the ongoing existence and sustainability of the community.
Footnote:-
1: Discovered from longtime involvement in another very, very old online community that did not evolve and gain new blood. It still exists, it's not dead yet, and there are attempts to rejuvenate it but it failed to gain new blood when it really needed it, while it was still more lively than it is now. I.e. In order to continue and to prosper, communities need new blood continuously, even before it seems necessary. The trick is not to allow too much change too quickly. It must be gradual. Eddie seems to have it right with TZ-UK.
Con grats
Best watch forum in the world :-)
When will we be getting a ltd tz watch ;-)
time flies... I had to post to see when i joined.
Thanks Eddie for putting up with us all!
Best regards,
james.
ooh now i've seen it... who's been here longer than me?
Where's Bob [Rfrazer] lately?
Yeah, maybe I have been around here too long.
All new members mean to me is the same old stuff that I have seen countless times rehashed over and over.
Cheers,
Neil.
Congratulations to Eddie and all of the surviving Old Boys.
Can I suggest Judie TZ-UKe for the entertainment at tonight's global GTG/jamboree
http://www.tzuke.com/history1.html
Thanks Crusader!
Ian
Well I joined the forum when it was 1 year old at the behest of (the much maligned by some people) Doug Darter. I thought that I knew very little about watches but would learn as I found them fascinating. Nine years later I have learned that I knew even less than I realised and now probably know what I thought I knew initially (if that makes sense). It has changed 'Thanks Crusader' is now a legendary response, some of the older 'faces' are no longer with us, some of those that sought to take advantage have been (been rumbled) and gone. In the main though the spirit of the forum remains strong, due in the main to Mr Flatts (sic) who must be the most patient Northerner in the world to put up with some of the cr@p that some people have put on here. Anyway, I for one have enjoyed the last 9 years of my membership, I dread to think how much I have spent but love to remember how many different watches - from so many manufacturers - I have experienced as a result. There are also people on here that I would now genuinely call friends, and everytime I have done a face to face I have never failed to get on with the other TZ'er.
All in all it's been a rollercoaster - long may it continue, and to wrap up my ramble again THANKS TO THE BIG GUY - EDDIE.
James
It's indeed ten years (formally) today and ten days after the initial day I joined as well.
I must be one of the most ancient members here with the lowest post count possible in a decade.
If together with Eddie some of us grew as well (I feel like I did) and also gained some friends - then this wonderful forum has exceeded its intentions and my expectations.
Bravo and thank You, Eddie!
I know exactly what you mean. I've been here less than two months and already I'm sick of the threads complaining about not having access to SC.
In fact, aren't we due another one about now?
Yup, this is a problem. Oldies see the same old questions being asked and it annoys them, understandably so.
But the newbies also bring less tangible benefits. They bring new opinions, new tastes, new information (not all newbies are non-experts, of course). Thus the newbies are critical to the continued existence of the forum and, in my opinion, are worth tolerating for the oldies.
Of course the problem of common questions being repeatedly asked can never be fully fixed because of human nature: It seems more... engaging, for want of a better word, for the newbies to ask the question. It's new to them; it is taking part; it is a demonstration of their enthusiasm and interest in the new community they have joined. However, it is also possible to at least partially address this problem through the clear provision of extensive (and, vitally, properly maintained) FAQs and other technical tools (e.g. Microsoft's in-house developed technical discussion forums dynamically analyse a new question being asked, as it is being typed, and actively suggest previous threads that might answer it).
Oddly, however, it is quite important not to eliminate all newbie question, no matter how common they are, since allowing newbies to become engagaed in the community is vital for them to remain. Oldies ultimately need to get used to it. ;-)
Last edited by markrlondon; 19th October 2012 at 23:12.
Everybody is new to a forum at some point - I do not ever recall a time when I brought any benefit to a forum I joined as a 'newbie' other than gradually asking stuff after doing searches and general research (I have recently joined a few Lotus forums and rest assured I am searching and looking rather than asking at the moment).
Stop defending and supporting in the name of forum existence and support - flawed in the extreme, and to suggest that others should 'tolerate' is a great principle but when fools jump in it becomes less than helpful IMO. Your comments suggest the fault lies in the forum owner, software and older members - when in Rome etc. springs to mind....
No different for all and any new member of any forum IMO.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I am not defending. To my mind in this context, nothing needs to be defended. I am merely observing based upon experience.
There is no "fault" as I see it. I am simply observing and describing what needs to happen (without application of emotion or opinion as to "nice" or "nasty") for a community[1] to sustain intself in the longer term.
You are right about the "when in Rome" principle but it must not be rigidly applied for long term community sustainability. Change is a necessrity but it does need to be gradual change. This is partly a natural process but community owners and moderators can also partly shape it. In the long term, new blood inevitably (and must, if the community is to surive) alter the community. This can result in oldies disliking what a community has become. This may be sad on a personal level but looked at on a system level it is simply the nature of evolution and sustainability. It is unavoidable if the community is to remain viable and healthy. The oldies can leave or tolerate it. I repeat: There is no "fault" implied here; simply unemotive observation.
Footnote:-
1: A "community" could be of the online or offline. The principles are the same.
^^^^
'What needs to happen' is an opinion.
'Unemotive' , yea, right.............
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Have to say I enjoy the forum a lot. I can't really contribute much as I have few watches (although twice as many as before I joined!) and not much experience of them either but I've had assistance with purchasing and repairs, and I've learned so much that I 'm nearly up to knowing almost nothing! I enjoy the pieces on spotting fakes, and just seeing what watches are out there (thanks to the Friday feature)
Not too many keyboard warriors, and most people seem to be generally affable, knowledgable and mostly patient with newbies.
Hopefully I'll be around for then 20th in whatever format that might take, anyway, thanks to Eddie and to the forum in general.
It is an opinion but one I stand by and is based on experience. The art and science of community maintenance and what makes communities (of the online sort) viable is of commercial interest to me.
Yes, right. It's a business to me. I am as objective as possible and do not assign 'nice' or 'nasty' to anything in this context. Only what actually works is of concern to me.'Unemotive' , yea, right.............
In order to find out what works, one must of course be concerned with the emotive values that individuals apply to what they are experiencing but one cannot get stuck with this: It is the sum total of those values that makes the difference.
For you to perceive that I was applying some kind of emotive values to what I was saying is a misunderstanding of what I was saying: I was merely observing what is, in my experience and opinion, necessary for communities to prosper in the longer run.
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