History of the Archive

[Bboy]

In another recent post, Krister asked if I would write up a brief history of the Archive. His request was in response to a discussion about when/where the Archive began.

Honestly, I am going to be the most useless person to ask!

I say this because as it was happening, it never seemed that important to me. Not that the Archive wasn't important mind you, but as I was doing it I never thought 'I'd better remember this for when the Archive is an important community'

I never expected the Archive to grow into what it has become. Basically when I started the Archive it was because I found out what really floated my boat, story speaking, and it was castration and penectomy stories. When I first started, there was hardly anything out there along those lines at all. The one story "Penectomy" predates the opening of the Archive, as do a number of transgender themed stories where the characer(s) have 'the operation'.

Being rather stubborn and optimistic about my abilities I figured that there MUST be other people out there that were as interested in the topic as I was, so I 'created' the Archive as a way to kind of bootstrap myself into some stories. Honestly, when it started is was really quite a selfish endevor. :-\

Krister, regarding your discussion on the other thread, my recollection has always been that the very first Archive was on the Netcom account, but I guess it's hard to argue with the evidence.

I would really love to here everyone's recollection of the early days of the Archive and what the Archive has meant to you ... or means to you now if you are a recent member.

Post away guys with your own 'History of the Archive' and I will throw my two cents in where applicable.

(Thanks Krister!)

[sag111 (imported)]

Well i guess the i have been coming here for the past 4 or 5 years and never thought it would mean so much to me in the beginning.I first came for the stories but i also relised that i needed help with what i thought was just an over active libido.But as time pased and i learned more i knew i needed some kind of castration weather self done or whatever.But i am now on chemical castration and this is a direct reasult of what i have learned from others here.

Bboy this place is a God send to me and others for we learn from others and help others that are where i was 5 years ago.And i feel this is a good time to thank you my friend for your insight and thought .I just hope others that need help and guidence will benifit as much as i have.

Thank you Bboy

[talula]

Before the "eunuch.org" name we were part of bmeworld. Us and all of bmeworld were on a little 166mhz box.

[Riverwind (imported)]

As I remember, I got on the internet about Feburary of 95, first thing I did was surch on eunuch. I found alt.eunuch.org, I read some of the posts and then contacted our own Charlie. It was not to long after that that the story board started and if I remember it also had a message board of a sort. Between BME and the EA I finally found people like me. I was no longer alone. I read the stories for years then started posting and finally got into the chat room. I dont read the stories anymore, I still post and the chat room is my home. I have met some really great people in here and have made several close personal friends. All of the EA staff.

I dont think anybody would have guessed what started so long ago would become what we have today.

River

[talula]

There really isn't any doubt that the Archive is a ".com" organization that has really succeeded.

In the early days there was a small index and a list of stories that were not in alphabetical order. There was a chat room based on java and hosted for free in Europe as a way for the author to advertise for his services. There was a personal section, but that didn't work very well.

For history buffs, the front page really hasn't changed that much and the bme advertisement has never changed.

I contacted bboy for some reason, I don't remember ( think it was because I forgot my personals password). After a while he replied and gave me the impression he lived in the same area I did. This excited me as, gentle reader, there were few folks talking about castration and penectomy and to have another living so close really made me happy. Repeated emails brought no replies from B.

However, one day he advertised for a programmer that knew Perl. Well, I actually didn't know Perl, but I had toyed with it and knew that there was only one way to learn so I applied for the job as Perl programmer for the Archive (I had gotten books on programming Perl as a gift from mom).

Of course this is when the archive was running as part of bmeworld. And this is where I came into the picture and the Archive got it's first facelift.

Well, the story goes from there, and it starts much earlier than the time I came in.

tal

[Bboy]

LoL I really DID snub talula for a looooooooooooooong time. I wasn't about to meet some stranger from over the internet!

But, talula kept doing this and he DID claim to know perl, so eventually I relented.

It's worked out well for both of us, would you say talula?

[talula]

Absolutly, and if it wern't for shear fate with Shannon giving us the PHP box we would not be in as good a shape as we are in now.

Lord that seems so long ago.

B. Remember how we got the whole Archive written in Perl then had to re-write it in PHP a month later after those initial months of testing, backing up, testing again?.

I still think it is amazing we didn't lose even one single story during that fricken-fracken data converstion.

Of course, that is how we met and began to be the fast friends we are today.

Seems to me though, you still owe me 2, maybe 3 steak dinners from that time that we haven't caught up on. Corse, I owe you an geek blimp so lets call it even.

Heheheheheheh

tal

[Christina (imported)]

It wasn't until the mid `90's that I really started getting into the internet scene. I had soon after begun my search about the feelings I had about my gender issues. I spent many years and long hours seeking any information I could get on the subject. Time and time again, the subject of castration came up on these sites. It was an alternative to having full surgery, but could offer the hormonal changes I was seeking to gain. I wanted to know more about this. It had sounded very promising as I gained more and more information.

One of the first web sites I found was Dr. Spector in Philadelphia and a site written about sex offenders by a Mr. Channey (sp). I had contacted both and started asking questions. About this time I thought to myself there has to be more on this than just these two people. It was about that time I found a link somewhere to this site. Although there is many stories here about fantasy, that wasn't what I was here for. I wanted real information that I could use in my quest for castration.

I found the message board a great place to ask questions and get real answers from the folks that already had castration. Many of you may remember that I did not alway use the name I have now. It wasn't until the system crash of `02 that I changed my name to my current one.

It has taken many years of research and much reading, but this place has become home for me. I think if it were not for this site, I would not be where I am today.

I plan to stick around for a long time. This site has helped me accomplish some of my desires and goals and I feel the need to help those that are curious and in a position that once was.

[Bboy]

Christina ... I am afraid I don't remember you under your other name :-\ ... must be my bad memory.

We are certainly glad you found the Archive and found a home here. Unfortunately it seems like many in the TS/TG community shun the idea of castration and/or penectomy as it relates to non-approved SRS. Kind of a closed minded view for people in a traditionally liberal community, IMHO but to each his own.

If you have contacts with other trans sisters, let them know that they are of course welcome here.

[Christina (imported)]

Christina ... I am afraid I don't remember you under your other name :-\ ... must be my bad memory.

Ok, for those of you that don't remember, I used to go by the nickname "CT212".