ABO in the Internet Archive

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Shiyonasan
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ABO in the Internet Archive

Postby Shiyonasan » 9 years ago

For those that don't know what the Wayback Machine is, it's a site that takes screenshots of web pages, saves them, and archives them. It's like a digital internet museum.

Well, it turns out that AstroBoy Online and the ABO forums are on there, and there's quite a few screenshots that have been taken over time of the forum. You can't access the sub-forum for the most part, but you can see screenshots of the main page dating back to April 10, 2003, which just barely after the forum began!

It's quite interesting to see how the main page of the forum has changed over time. It was originally only the Astro Boy Discussion and the General Discussion, and the page looked a little different! Even I learned a few things from looking through this, like how the Fan Creations sub-forum and the Games & Role Play sub-forum started just barely before I registered and how the "f" in Astro Forever's name used to not be capitalized, amongst other things.

While not too much has changed since 2003, it is certainly interesting to see the changes that have taken place over time. So, if you'd like to, take a look through and see what the AstroBoy Online Forums looked like back in the day:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030601000000*/http://www.astroboy-online.com/forums/
Last edited by Shiyonasan on Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Astro Forever
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Postby Astro Forever » 9 years ago

"Shiyonasan" wrote:Even I learned a few things from looking through this, like how the Fan Creations sub-forum and the Games & Role Play sub-forum started just barely before I registered and how the "f" in Astro Forever's name used to not be capitalized, amongst other things.

:o hmy:

I have absolutely no recollection of that 'f' not having been capitalized, but if the wayback machine says so, it must be true! :lol:

Indeed, I remember the other subforums being created at the end of January or in February 2011.

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Shiyonasan
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Postby Shiyonasan » 9 years ago

"Astro Forever" wrote: :o hmy:

I have absolutely no recollection of that 'f' not having been capitalized, but if the wayback machine says so, it must be true! :lol:


It is true! Take a look at this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20051210040003/http://www.astroboy-online.com/forums/

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Astro Forever
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Postby Astro Forever » 9 years ago

Yes, I believe it, but I still can't remember it! :p

I just suddenly decided I needed to register, and went with the first thing that came to mind. I had no idea I'd be active 10 years later...

I believe I saw it more as an idea that I'd love Astro "forever", rather that something that should be capitalized, but I guess in time, it made more sense that way.

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CommanderEVE
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Postby CommanderEVE » 9 years ago

Yes, I still remember it when I first joined back in 2006. In fact, I was lurking around in 2005.

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Postby Shiyonasan » 7 years ago

Bumping this thread because I found archived webpages of the predecessor to AstroBoy Online. For those who don't know, AstroBoy Online was created by site creator Mark in October 1998 as "AstroBoy's Homepage". He maintained that website until he launched AstroBoy Online on April 6, 2003 in anticipation for the 2003 Astro Boy anime's debut in Japan. Amazing that this site's been going for almost two decades now!

https://web.archive.org/web/19990315000000*/http://www.zip.com.au/~astroboy/

The earliest screen captures from the main site are from October 1999. Most of the links on the side column still work.

https://web.archive.org/web/19991018183844/http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eastroboy/

In addition, here's the original Astro Boy Online forum. Unfortunately, only a few of the links work on this screen capture.

https://web.archive.org/web/20040630041545/http://assembly.nerdworld.com/index.cgi?Assembly=ASTROBOY.ASSEMBLY
Last edited by Shiyonasan on Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:48 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Juanita
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Postby Juanita » 7 years ago

Boy those sure look old :p
Kinda interesting to see how this site's design remained relatively the same over time.

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Postby Astro Forever » 7 years ago

Great finding, Shiyonasan! :w00t: IIRC, I first saw this website in the fall of 1998.

I have no recollection of that early forum, although I perfectly remember this old forum style - that is what most forums looked like back then. I'm quite sure I never posted in that one. I wish I had, it would be amusing to read such an old post of mine, but I don't recall participating in forums before 1999! :p

There is something memorable missing from that wayback machine. :p On the main page, Mark had added a sound of Astro saying "Hi! My name is Astro!" (from the beginning of the 1980 episode The Crystal of the Desert).

Back in 1998, the vast majority of Internet surfers were still using the good old dial-up modem connection, which meant that you would have to wait quite a bit for pages including several images to load. That Astro file lasted about 3 seconds, but it was a .wav file, which was probably as big as en entire song on .mp3. Let's say it was super cute when you finally heard the voice, but it came way, way late, and you only heard it if you had not switched page already. :lol:

I don't think Mark went directly from that old site to this one, however. A whois says he registered this domain in January 2003, but I am very sure that old site was no longer online a few years before this one was available. I can't remember the year, but it may have ceased to exist around 2000 or 2001. Perhaps Mark did move it elsewhere in the meantime and I didn't look for it or found it.
Last edited by Astro Forever on Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Juanita
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Postby Juanita » 7 years ago

This Mark sounds like the illusive "god" of the forum. Any idea where he is now? I don't recall ever seeing him online since I joined, which is understandable but still.
Last edited by Juanita on Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Autocorrect strikes again

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Shiyonasan
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Postby Shiyonasan » 7 years ago

"Astro Forever" wrote:I don't think Mark went directly from that old site to this one, however. A whois says he registered this domain in January 2003, but I am very sure that old site was no longer online a few years before this one was available. I can't remember the year, but it may have ceased to exist around 2000 or 2001. Perhaps Mark did move it elsewhere in the meantime and I didn't look for it or found it.


Could be, though the Internet Archive did manage to grab a screen capture on February 21, 2003. Perhaps it was still available to some?

https://web.archive.org/web/20030221071648/http://www.zip.com.au/~astroboy/

"Juanita" wrote:This Mark sounds like the illusive "god" of the forum. Any idea where he is now? I don't recall ever seeing him online since I joined, which is understandable but still.


He comes around once in a blue moon. Let's just say he's frying bigger fish than AstroBoy Online right now.


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