14 Years of Zoochat: A Retrospective

In just over a week, the forum we all know and love will be turning 14 years old (Feeling old yet?). In honor of this exciting occasion, I will be document the history and the present of the best bits of the zoological forum in a multi part thread, so let us begin. Shall we?

Part 1: How It all Began

On October 18, 2003, An idea of a worldwide zoo discussion forum came to life. An Australian zoo fanatic, who had experience in running forums just like these, wanted to create a site were people of all ages could share news, experiences and information from your favorite zoo(s). Hence, zoochat was... not born, yet. The site was originally known as zoobeat for the first few years of its life. Within the first year, zoobeat gained 17 members, 23 threads and 37 posts. Just like starting a business, you have to begin somewhere.

And so he did, A few days after starting the forum, he got his hands on PhotoPost, which is what he used for the gallery. Now members could post their favorite pictures from their zoo visits. Over the next few years, more and more members joined. By the end 2007, there were a grand total 174 members. Some notable newbies from that year, include the Canadian father of 4 @snowleopard who became well known for his massive road trips across the US, and @Chlidonias who became the first of the now moderators to join the site. Also new that year, @robmv who currently holds a record 1654 zoos visited. There are plenty of other members from that year that I could go on and on about, but it was it was the following year, 2008, where the forums went under a major change...

Thank you all for reading the first part into the history of zoochat, if there is any major events I missed, please comment them, or have a moderator add them to this post.

Part 2: Out With The Old

Part 3: Another Step Forward

 

Yeah that makes more sense, still pretty impressive in its own right.

 

Great idea for a thread! I look forward to reading future installments.

 

14 years huh? I've been on it eight years so more than half of its existence.

 

I would just like to say a thankyou to some of the original members who are no longet here. Nigel patrick glyn zooboy zukipah and mark

 

Are any of the 17 members from the first year still active posters? I was in it very early on but not sure if that was during the first year, I think that is unlikely as looking it up my earliest posts(as Grantsmb) seem to be from around 2006/7.

As well as myself (firstly as Grantsmb), I know that Kifaru Bwana (who posted formerly as Jelle) was another early poster, probably even before myself, who is still very active.

 

Since only one other ZooChatter (excluding myself) has been to Welt der Gifte, there's still room for Improvement. ^^

 

Of course, @Simon Hampel obviously .

 

That is too obvious to mention really...

 

*Sarcasm*

 

At least two of those early members are still here - albeit under different names.

 

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I happened to stumble across this thread, which may be of interest from a historical perspective. I would also like to draw attention to the lack of social media mentioned.

Closed - History of Zoobeat?

 

How could they forget bingo rob?!

 

Its easy to forget someone who doesn't exist...

 

Ahh yes my mistake, I typed it on my phone so of course, autocorrect

 

It’s fasinating how much this site has grown and evolved over 14 years. From just 17 members to the like-minded, knowledgeable and ever growing community it is today. Even though I haven’t even had an account on here for two years yet, I feel like I have known ZooChat for much longer!

 

I have a blank post above, post number 14. No idea how I did it.