Talossa went online in late 1995 or early 1996. Originally, our online presence was Ben Madison's old website.
This came a few years after the consumer internet had started to gain traction in this country and around the world, and at that time, it was still a huge novelty and not the hand-cuffing bane it is now becoming. Those were fun times.
By this time, discussion forums had been around in one form or another for decades, and as a part of Talossa's part in that, a name was needed. I imagine it was Ben who coined the name 'Wittenberg' for our discussion forum, and of course, the name has stuck.
If one counts the two forums exclusive to the Republic of Talossa, this is Talossa's fourteenth Wittenberg incarnation and the Kingdom's twelfth. Here is a listing for all of these, using the Roman numerals used since Witt's first incarnation:
Wittenberg I came online, presumably, in late 1995 or early 1996. It was followed in quick succession by II, III, and IV.
Wittenberg V: This is the Wittenberg that, I believe, saw the 1997-1998 drama. By the time I came along in 2000, it had been retired, but was still accessible in archive form.
Wittenberg VI: This was my first Witt, and UC was Wittmeister and also kept backups. The system was such everytime a backup was made, all posts had to be deleted from the live board so that the system would not crash. VI went offline ca. 2000-2001
Wittenberg VII: I believe MPF administered this one for at least part of its existence. It was around ca. 2000-2001 and did not last even a year, perhaps.
Wittenberg VIII: The most infamous of all Witt incarnations, a perfect storm of viruses and a failed backup caused the Great Wittenberg VIII Crash of 10 November 2001, which wiped out our records of 9-11.
Wittenberg IX: This was the first Witt that used the single-cascading thread format we use today. The internet was well into this forum format, but the vast majority of Talossa railed against this, and this Witt lasted literally about a week. No archive was made of this Witt, as there was nothing of any consequence that went on there. We went back to using Witt VIII.
IX was online ca. February 2003.
Wittenberg X: Wittenberg VIII was taken offline permanently on 21 February 2003. Wittenberg X went online on 20 February 2003 and was the Witt that saw us through Halloween and was the Witt 'commandeered' by the Republic in 2004 under circumstances so extenuating it is still a sore spot to many on both sides of the question, but for very different reasons. Beyond 1 June 2004, the preservation status of this Witt is unknown.
Wittenberg XI: On 1 or 2 June 2004, Pete H. came to the Kingdom's rescue, and this is the Witt which, as this writing has been an absolute champ of reliability. Unfortunately, it is on the proboards.com service, which does not allow for native archiving and could go kaput at any time imho.
Manually archiving this Wittenberg is still a work in progress.
Wittenberg XII: The first of the two Republic Wittenbergs, it went online ca. 2009-ish (MPF??) and lasted a year or two. The preservation status of this Witt is unknown.
Wittenberg XIIb: The last of the two exclusively-Republic Wittenbergs, it went online ca. 2009-10 and was taken offline at Reunision on or about 20 April 2012. The preservation status of this Witt is unknown.
Wittenberg XIV: You're looking at it. It went online, today, 3 December 2019.
This came a few years after the consumer internet had started to gain traction in this country and around the world, and at that time, it was still a huge novelty and not the hand-cuffing bane it is now becoming. Those were fun times.
By this time, discussion forums had been around in one form or another for decades, and as a part of Talossa's part in that, a name was needed. I imagine it was Ben who coined the name 'Wittenberg' for our discussion forum, and of course, the name has stuck.
If one counts the two forums exclusive to the Republic of Talossa, this is Talossa's fourteenth Wittenberg incarnation and the Kingdom's twelfth. Here is a listing for all of these, using the Roman numerals used since Witt's first incarnation:
Wittenberg I came online, presumably, in late 1995 or early 1996. It was followed in quick succession by II, III, and IV.
Wittenberg V: This is the Wittenberg that, I believe, saw the 1997-1998 drama. By the time I came along in 2000, it had been retired, but was still accessible in archive form.
Wittenberg VI: This was my first Witt, and UC was Wittmeister and also kept backups. The system was such everytime a backup was made, all posts had to be deleted from the live board so that the system would not crash. VI went offline ca. 2000-2001
Wittenberg VII: I believe MPF administered this one for at least part of its existence. It was around ca. 2000-2001 and did not last even a year, perhaps.
Wittenberg VIII: The most infamous of all Witt incarnations, a perfect storm of viruses and a failed backup caused the Great Wittenberg VIII Crash of 10 November 2001, which wiped out our records of 9-11.
Wittenberg IX: This was the first Witt that used the single-cascading thread format we use today. The internet was well into this forum format, but the vast majority of Talossa railed against this, and this Witt lasted literally about a week. No archive was made of this Witt, as there was nothing of any consequence that went on there. We went back to using Witt VIII.
IX was online ca. February 2003.
Wittenberg X: Wittenberg VIII was taken offline permanently on 21 February 2003. Wittenberg X went online on 20 February 2003 and was the Witt that saw us through Halloween and was the Witt 'commandeered' by the Republic in 2004 under circumstances so extenuating it is still a sore spot to many on both sides of the question, but for very different reasons. Beyond 1 June 2004, the preservation status of this Witt is unknown.
Wittenberg XI: On 1 or 2 June 2004, Pete H. came to the Kingdom's rescue, and this is the Witt which, as this writing has been an absolute champ of reliability. Unfortunately, it is on the proboards.com service, which does not allow for native archiving and could go kaput at any time imho.
Manually archiving this Wittenberg is still a work in progress.
Wittenberg XII: The first of the two Republic Wittenbergs, it went online ca. 2009-ish (MPF??) and lasted a year or two. The preservation status of this Witt is unknown.
Wittenberg XIIb: The last of the two exclusively-Republic Wittenbergs, it went online ca. 2009-10 and was taken offline at Reunision on or about 20 April 2012. The preservation status of this Witt is unknown.
Wittenberg XIV: You're looking at it. It went online, today, 3 December 2019.