[AT] [External] Re: How had the group changed

[Gunnells, Brad R]

Oh the memories that everyone has brought up. I don’t recall when I joined but I do remember the Forsyth county days. Getting some IH 46 baler parts from Brice (I still have the parts and baler BTW). Found Alan Nagel on the list and that he actually worked at the U of Iowa as well. Met another list member (drawing a blank on the name) to exchange the central ATIS box. Had a nice visit with him and took some time in Moline going through the JD headquarters and JD Pavilion displays. He was a big IH guy and in fact may have worked as an engineer for them.

Got to meet Spencer when he came to Iowa City with his wife as she was doing some work here. He took a few pictures for his book. He was like a kid in a candy store as he was piloting the old Allis WC around the place. I’ve yet to make it to Portland but I really should move that up on my bucket list.

Sadly we have lost a few very special people. But their memory lives on within us. The camaraderie here has been second to none. I always enjoy the posts regardless of whether they are on or off topic. Farmer always tells great stories and I have shared a few of them with my dad as well.

As other have said, Thank You Spencer. You’ve been the glue that’s held this place together for all these years.

Brad

From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> on behalf of Spencer Yost <spencer at rdfarms.com>
Reply-To: Antique group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Date: Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 7:33 PM
To: Antique group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: [External] Re: [AT] How had the group changed

The list started in 1993 as an offshoot of misc.rural Usenet group.   Just too many homesteaders and chicken folks there on misc.rural to get anything good about antique tractors.   A gopher server followed in early 1994 with the web site in late 1994.

In 1994, Brice started the engine list at Indiana University.   It folded into ATIS a few years later.    Both lists got kicked off the Forsyth county government servers in 1997 and we’ve been on own since then.

I was the first member obviously but about 125 people signed up within the first several weeks so there is probably 126 people who rightfully can call themselves the oldest.  I’ll bet a dozen or two of them are still with us.   Brice Adams and Steve Sewell come to mind.  Herb Metz, Farmer, Steve Offlier, John Thompson, Richard walker, and one or more of the Dotson brothers (“wagon master” Gene is still here).  The Waugh brothers were pretty early too and Gene Waugh is still with us.

In August 1994 we had 25-30 people at the first ATIS gathering.   Considering a participation rate of only a few percent we had already become quite large by then.

I use to have backups that could answer this question  but about 2002 I realized I’d never have a tape drive again and had to chuck them (-;  Even then, I’m not sure analytics could help. Many of those earliest members have switched ISPs three or four times and I’m not sure we could trace addresses.

There are still 250-350 list members.  I use pretty aggressive bounce processing rules so they are all good addresses receiving mail.  Even if a third of them forward our mail to the trash folder instead of actually unsubscribing  I’ll bet at least 150-200 folks read our posts fairly regularly.

Spencer
Sent from my iPhone



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