Goodbye everyone and Merry Christmas

[billvon 2,990]

About 35 years ago I was a new skydiver, jumping at a tiny DZ on Long Island and dreaming about moving somewhere new.  I spent some of my free time at work posting on rec.skydiving - a Usenet group that catered to skydivers.  It was a different time back then.  To be able to get to Usenet at all means you needed a modem and a computer, both pricey purchases, and you needed to be able to get them to work together, which meant you needed some tech experience.  As a result, not many people were on Usenet - just me and a few other tech nerds.  And there was hardly any spam!

Slowly over the years more people figured it out and started joining.  I remember TooyT, Barry Brumitt (wrote the first skydiving FAQ!) Lance Kirwin, Kevin O'Connell, Dave Appel and Jerry Sobieski.  I also met Amy on there, which changed the course of my life in a big way.

I moved to California in '94 both to escape a bad relationship and to skydive.  And of course because I found a great company - Qualcomm - in San Diego.  By that point Usenet was becoming a cesspool of Viagra ads and foreign bride offers, and filters had not gotten good enough yet to remove all that, so browsing it was painful.  So when Willem announced he was starting DZ.com I felt a big sense of relief.  He got in touch with me to see if I wanted to moderate S+T and Incidents, which I said yes to.  We started with a complement of about a dozen moderators, some of which I got to know really well.  I spent a day in San Diego with Andrea watching whales swim by the gliderport, and I spent a few days with Chuck and Katie at Raeford jumping.  Derek once built me a tersh just because I was talking about how I needed one (thanks again Derek) and Remi, Karen and I would meet up whenever we were out at Eloy.  

Seven of us once got together at Eloy and did the now-infamous moderator jump, angled carefully so no one could see Willem's face on camera.  I think Eric and Scott were on that one as well.

I also met a bunch of other people from DZ.com in real life - Lisa, Keely, Gary, Winsor - and saw them at Perris and at boogies all the time.  It grew my circle of friends from Socal jumpers to jumpers all over the US.  And even the world; I met some people from the Irish Parachute Club and made a trip out there to jump with them.  I recall a lot of drinking.

Over time as moderators changed I took on moderation of a few more forums, but to me the S+T and Incidents forum were always the important ones.  I got some sort of award - a "skydivers hall of fame" or something from Parachutist for running that, and got on a few podcasts talking about safety and incidents. 

One of my proudest moments during that time was reading an incident by a newer jumper flying a too-small canopy.  He had read one of my many diatribes on "LEARN FLAT TURNS!" and had tried them once or twice.  Then one day he found himself flying downwind by accident, and he tried to turn into the wind at 50 feet.  He tried that flat turn he had heard about, but there was something off about it (he explained) because he landed hard, tore his jumpsuit and sprained his ankle.  The fact that he was complaining about a sprained ankle after a turn at 50 feet under a heavily loaded canopy made me think that maybe this forum was actually doing some good.

I learned a lot, too, mainly from the forums I wasn't moderating - forums like General and Gear and Rigging.  Based on what I learned about wingsuiting here, for example, I bought a small wingsuit, taught myself how to fly it, started moving up in wingsuit sizes - then met Jari and became one of the first Birdman wingsuit instructors in the US.

And over the years we lost people here too, of course.  In some ways this place served as a memorial; you could go back and read what Shannon or Taz had posted while they were still alive, and remember them that way.

Over the years traffic has started to fall off as people find more social-media options for skydiving, which is a natural evolution.  I'm sorry that it will be disappearing sooner rather than later, but nothing lasts forever.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the database; all these incident reports and threads on canopy flight have a lot of value (IMO) and I hope we can save some of it.

Thanks to everyone who participated on this site over the decades it has been running, and thanks especially to all the moderators who I've worked with - Wendy, Lisa, Andrea, Chuck, Eric, Remi, Meso and all the others.  And of course thanks to Willem for doing all the work to set up and maintain this site.  See you out there.

[skymama 37]

Hey Bill! 

That visit to San Diego is the only time I've ever visited the city, so you still get props for being the best tour guide in San Diego that I've ever had! And I'm trying to remember...was that Karl Strauss Brewing that you took me to? 

Moderating these forums were sometimes the biggest headache, but also the best fun that I've ever had. I'll never get over people looking for "skymama" at a dropzone or boogie, I hope you all weren't disappointed when you met the real Andrea who is a little boring and reserved in real life. 

I'll always be grateful to Sangiro for believing in me that I'd make a good Moderator, I hope I didn't disappoint. And, I can't leave out meeting Normiss on this site. Talk about a life changing experience via this website, we'll soon celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary! 

[JerryBaumchen 1,360]

18 minutes ago, skymama said:

Hey Bill! 

That visit to San Diego is the only time I've ever visited the city, so you still get props for being the best tour guide in San Diego that I've ever had! And I'm trying to remember...was that Karl Strauss Brewing that you took me to? 

Moderating these forums were sometimes the biggest headache, but also the best fun that I've ever had. I'll never get over people looking for "skymama" at a dropzone or boogie, I hope you all weren't disappointed when you met the real Andrea who is a little boring and reserved in real life. 

I'll always be grateful to Sangiro for believing in me that I'd make a good Moderator, I hope I didn't disappoint. And, I can't leave out meeting Normiss on this site. Talk about a life changing experience via this website, we'll soon celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary! 

Hi Andrea,

It was great meeting you a number of yrs ago.

Jerry Baumchen

[riggerrob 643]

On 12/24/2024 at 10:51 AM, billvon said:

About 35 years ago I was a new skydiver, jumping at a tiny DZ on Long Island ....

Was that Skydive Long Island at Spadero's air strip, Est Moriches, Long Island, New York?

I spent the summer of 1990 teaching static-line and tandem there.

[dgw 8]

On 12/24/2024 at 6:51 PM, billvon said:

About 35 years ago I was a new skydiver, jumping at a tiny DZ on Long Island and dreaming about moving somewhere new.  I spent some of my free time at work posting on rec.skydiving - a Usenet group that catered to skydivers.  It was a different time back then.  To be able to get to Usenet at all means you needed a modem and a computer, both pricey purchases, and you needed to be able to get them to work together, which meant you needed some tech experience.  As a result, not many people were on Usenet - just me and a few other tech nerds.  And there was hardly any spam!

Slowly over the years more people figured it out and started joining.  I remember TooyT, Barry Brumitt (wrote the first skydiving FAQ!) Lance Kirwin, Kevin O'Connell, Dave Appel and Jerry Sobieski.  I also met Amy on there, which changed the course of my life in a big way.

I moved to California in '94 both to escape a bad relationship and to skydive.  And of course because I found a great company - Qualcomm - in San Diego.  By that point Usenet was becoming a cesspool of Viagra ads and foreign bride offers, and filters had not gotten good enough yet to remove all that, so browsing it was painful.  So when Willem announced he was starting DZ.com I felt a big sense of relief.  He got in touch with me to see if I wanted to moderate S+T and Incidents, which I said yes to.  We started with a complement of about a dozen moderators, some of which I got to know really well.  I spent a day in San Diego with Andrea watching whales swim by the gliderport, and I spent a few days with Chuck and Katie at Raeford jumping.  Derek once built me a tersh just because I was talking about how I needed one (thanks again Derek) and Remi, Karen and I would meet up whenever we were out at Eloy.  

Seven of us once got together at Eloy and did the now-infamous moderator jump, angled carefully so no one could see Willem's face on camera.  I think Eric and Scott were on that one as well.

I also met a bunch of other people from DZ.com in real life - Lisa, Keely, Gary, Winsor - and saw them at Perris and at boogies all the time.  It grew my circle of friends from Socal jumpers to jumpers all over the US.  And even the world; I met some people from the Irish Parachute Club and made a trip out there to jump with them.  I recall a lot of drinking.

Over time as moderators changed I took on moderation of a few more forums, but to me the S+T and Incidents forum were always the important ones.  I got some sort of award - a "skydivers hall of fame" or something from Parachutist for running that, and got on a few podcasts talking about safety and incidents. 

One of my proudest moments during that time was reading an incident by a newer jumper flying a too-small canopy.  He had read one of my many diatribes on "LEARN FLAT TURNS!" and had tried them once or twice.  Then one day he found himself flying downwind by accident, and he tried to turn into the wind at 50 feet.  He tried that flat turn he had heard about, but there was something off about it (he explained) because he landed hard, tore his jumpsuit and sprained his ankle.  The fact that he was complaining about a sprained ankle after a turn at 50 feet under a heavily loaded canopy made me think that maybe this forum was actually doing some good.

I learned a lot, too, mainly from the forums I wasn't moderating - forums like General and Gear and Rigging.  Based on what I learned about wingsuiting here, for example, I bought a small wingsuit, taught myself how to fly it, started moving up in wingsuit sizes - then met Jari and became one of the first Birdman wingsuit instructors in the US.

And over the years we lost people here too, of course.  In some ways this place served as a memorial; you could go back and read what Shannon or Taz had posted while they were still alive, and remember them that way.

Over the years traffic has started to fall off as people find more social-media options for skydiving, which is a natural evolution.  I'm sorry that it will be disappearing sooner rather than later, but nothing lasts forever.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the database; all these incident reports and threads on canopy flight have a lot of value (IMO) and I hope we can save some of it.

Thanks to everyone who participated on this site over the decades it has been running, and thanks especially to all the moderators who I've worked with - Wendy, Lisa, Andrea, Chuck, Eric, Remi, Meso and all the others.  And of course thanks to Willem for doing all the work to set up and maintain this site.  See you out there.

Many thanks to all of the mods who worked for years.
 

I particularly wanted to thank you Billvon.  Your inputs in the technical forums were peerless, except for that one time you got one thing wrong. I can’t recall what it was, but I’ve long since concluded that it is overwhelmingly likely that I got it wrong, not you. 

Your forbearance and apparently tireless logic in the SC was a lesson in how to conduct oneself in discourse. Best wishes for the future. 

[TriGirl 318]

I'll never forget chatting with you at Eloy one year, Bill.  I was there judging a competition -- can't recall if it was Nationals or Collegiates.  Met Mark at a civilian demo my teammates were jumping, then met Andrea with him at Fitz.  They were kind enough to put me up for a night another time when I was taking the LSAT at Stetson.  Super awesome people.  

Robert (TheOnlySki) hooked me up with VPNs before they were easily available commercially for my times living abroad. Big thanks to David (Kasch) coming out to Turkey with his spirit of adventure. We did some great scuba diving and I gained some great ideas for where to take my family when they eventually came out as well.  If not for COVID, I believe Kasch would have found a way also to explore Papua New Guinea during my last post.

Though no longer jumping, I am still judging (and much more available for that since I retired from the Marine Corps), so competitors should keep an eye on the CF judge lists internationally, and both CF and FS/VFS (indoor and outdoor) judge lists within the US.  I would love to continue connecting.  Also, I plan to get my account going on Bluesky within the month.  My profile name likely will be different, but I still connect my actual name to my accounts.  Thanks everyone for the political (domestic and international) discourse and for giving me a way to stay even more connected to skydiving when I had to stop.

Tanya Murnock

[normiss 798]

1 hour ago, TriGirl said:

I'll never forget chatting with you at Eloy one year, Bill.  I was there judging a competition -- can't recall if it was Nationals or Collegiates.  Met Mark at a civilian demo my teammates were jumping, then met Andrea with him at Fitz.  They were kind enough to put me up for a night another time when I was taking the LSAT at Stetson.  Super awesome people.  

Robert (TheOnlySki) hooked me up with VPNs before they were easily available commercially for my times living abroad. Big thanks to David (Kasch) coming out to Turkey with his spirit of adventure. We did some great scuba diving and I gained some great ideas for where to take my family when they eventually came out as well.  If not for COVID, I believe Kasch would have found a way also to explore Papua New Guinea during my last post.

Though no longer jumping, I am still judging (and much more available for that since I retired from the Marine Corps), so competitors should keep an eye on the CF judge lists internationally, and both CF and FS/VFS (indoor and outdoor) judge lists within the US.  I would love to continue connecting.  Also, I plan to get my account going on Bluesky within the month.  My profile name likely will be different, but I still connect my actual name to my accounts.  Thanks everyone for the political (domestic and international) discourse and for giving me a way to stay even more connected to skydiving when I had to stop.

Tanya Murnock

T!!!!!!

I'll track you down on the other sites and addresses - look forward to crossing paths again - if you're ever in the Asheville area, hit us up!