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GreaseSpot Cafe

Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Little Pieces


likeaneagle
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Paw- I found Greaspot in 2000..I dont know who you are or anything.

Can you just share a little about you.I realize you might have to stay anonymous because of the exposure that happens here. why you started GS??..I can figure out the obvious..it take alot of heart.

:wub: :wub:

Edited by pawtucket
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What little I know...

The first ex-way discussion board was, what, transchat? trancechat? Something likethat. It was a free for all.

Then came the CES message board and, at roughly the same time, the Waydale message board. CES' board was strictly Christian; Waydale's was not. Many of the GSers were on Waydale, including Paw. If memory serves, he started Greasespot as a Christian board, then went more general when it was learned that Waydale was going to shut down. When Waydale did close, most folks signed up for Greasespot. And here we are. (The CES message board didn't last long. When it shut down, I started a thread to discuss it on Waydale, but something went wrong, some kind of glitch. We now know that glitch as THE).

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What Raf FAILS to mention is that his infamous mistake started THE about an hour after I opened the doors of Greasespot Cafe.

I was not a happy camper that night. Although I came to appreciate THE, I was unsure that GS's grand opening was timed properly. It consisted of a forum board only. It would take a lot of time to get any where near the information available on Waydale.

The light usage of the site for a few months allowed me to think about what I wanted to do.

Originally I wanted to have professional counselors on board, to give direction. I spoke with a good friend, an ex-way clergyman, who was a counselor. There were too many variables to do something effective on a forum board.

All news still happened at Waydale. I wanted to let people tell their stories. The first to do so was our own Groucho. I set the front page up like a newspaper. "The After Midnight Gazette" Groucho had the first feature story.

I'll dig up the code for it and put it up for your enjoyment.

And a note on the Christian/NonChristian site. I decided early on that I could not have any affiliations. I felt that the process would be hindered with ties.

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Paw,

Waydale truly helped me release from my pain and I miss many of the posters we have lost along the way. People who truly cared and helped put those of us newly coming out out of TWI back on track. When the lawsuit was over and I heard Waydale was not going to be available any longer, I was crushed. I needed that help.

Pawtucketeer ........... This is where you stepped in and saved my day. In fact, I realized that you had been working on the original GreaseSpot site for awhile. You gave me what I indeed still had a need and desire for. A place to call home with my fellow Posters who had made the Exodus from TWI.

Your deciding to provide and allow us to utilize GreaseSpotCafe was definately a need and refreshing for those of us who desired the fellowship of our fellow comrades. I was thankful for GreaseSpots way back then and I am thankful for it today.

I am thankful for all you have given us, which I am sure is much more than what we see visually here in the forums. Thankful for your kind and considerate heart when it comes to those whom post at your forum. Thankful for the opportunities you have made available.

I know I come and go ......... sometimes I don't post for months and then show back again. This forum will always hold a piece of my heart and my mind.

Digi

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this is a awesome site,

As i have just joined i have not read all the posts, seems like it would take me a lifetime lol

being in E ngland we had no one to help us when we came out of twi, we were just left to get on with it,, and we have.

myself and powerfilled (hubby) have been away from twi for about 10 years and have moved

on in our lives, some may think that it wouldnt of effected us as much being we were in england

but it did, we ran fellowships, we attended the roa, were advance class grads, so for us to it wasnt easy.

But we have never stopped loving GOD, We still have a fellowship here in our

home and we just hold forth the word to the best of our God given ability, and love people.

God first not a ministry, nor people........ I couldnt live without God in my life, We tend not to

look back at the past, we aim to be positive as looking back causes pain in my heart from twi

days, although a lot of good happened to... and i met some great people who are close to my heart.

So i hold on to the good and kick out the bad, adversary loves us to dwell on the crap.... This is

such a good site for people to talk, We are only human and we all make mistakes but in a world

with so much hatred, i believe to make a difference, and help in anyway i can.

this is the first site i have seen like this and no nothing of any other site, and i would like to thank the people that got all this together, it has helped many people and thats what it should be all about.

With the many different topics it meets the needs of all WELL DONE. May God continue to bless you guys for

your wonderful hearts.

love marypoppins

:wave::wave:

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Thanks Paw for talking alittle about your efforts to put together a place for counseling. I never knew that either. Im glad this place is here to help those still in need and a place were people can learn more about themselves. I think it helps to hash out problems, even in this cyber place. The intent of having a councelor is very thoughtful. It shows your heart..thank you.

I still dont know what ' THE' means.

Edited by likeaneagle
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Paw, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that if it weren't for GSpot and being able to share, learn, cry and laugh with people who had been in the same shoes I would be a basket case...okay, MORE of a basket case than I am today.

There are no words and surely not enough money in the world to truly express the appreciation for you and all the hard work you did and continue to do for us and to keep the doors open. :)

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Okay.

continuing.

That summer and fall there were reports that the trial was going forward. I'll have to look up the exact date, but TWI suddenly made an offer that settled the case. That was quickly followed by an announcement that Waydale would shut its doors.

Greasespot got its "baptism by fire" the day Waydale closed. Lots of people were angry that it was closing and wanted to vent about that. My posts per day went from a dozen to 5 and 6 hundred in a matter of hours. I didn't prepare for the TIME that it was going to take to manage the deluge.

And people wanted the documents and articles. I had downloaded the content, but had NO time to build a site. By Christmas, I was ready to throw the whole thing in. I managed to get a few people to help, but it was taking on a life of it's own. And there was no shortage of people "suggesting" how I manage it. Waydale was a tight ship. I don't think more than ten minutes went by with an offensive post and it was edited and made "good" I was NOT going to run GS like that. Nothing against the way that Waydale ran, I just could not see that being a long term solution.

Somewhere during this time our forums, which were hosted by EZBoard, were using ads -- pop up ads. So the experience at GS was becoming less enjoyable.

Somewhere in that time, my father had a stroke -- distracting me and I was trying to maintain a long distance relationship and work a very demanding job. And the holidays, too.

More later.... (someone stop me if I am putting you to sleep) -- blame likeaneagle.

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Paw ......... If I remember correctly there were often times that you were hooking in to the site somehow while driving in your car and checking things out at the first site. Or was it that you were just getting in very late. ......... and having a hard drive and then coming in to see how we were doing?

I remember you use to IM many of us during those days and I recall how tired you were. It truly was automatic take over of Waydale ..........

Yes Waydale was a tight ship ......... It was a great forum ......

Yes this forum is different and thats what makes it own place to be ........ unique ........ and it is also a great forum.

Still loving you after all these years

Digi

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Digi,

Someone would call me on my cell as I was driving home and would tell me what was going on in chat. I would respond through them. Those were fun times.

The holidays were tough that first year.

I had the forums going full steam and no website! So I started work on that. It was a long process with many pitfalls. I decided that I would try to have it up by the 1 year anniversary in April. A certain Pam in San Diego was instrumental in editing. I wanted to be distinct from Waydale so I had a section for the waydale docs and worked on original GS stuff.

In my spare time, I worked on a logo. I wanted a 50's feel. And I wanted a tag-line. I don't know if you ever get focused on something and can't let go? Well the tag line became that obsession. I finally came up with a logo that I liked, much like the current one. In fact some of the color combos are in rotation in the banners now.

I settled on the "despite Martindales...." under the banner. Until one day while on the phone with Pam, we were exchanging ideas and she said, "midnight has come and gone". THAT was IT!! With that out of the way, I could get back to the work of the site.

It was the end of March and the site was close to finished, just some editing and writing copy. And only a few knew anything about the new site. I started a countdown on the forums, committing me to a timeline. Then on the 2nd week of April, my house burned down. The house had to be gutted and rebuilt that took up whatever spare brain cells that I had to work on the site!!!

I knew that the information that the site contained needed to get up. It was about 5 months that the info hadn't been on a public site. So I decided that the site HAD to go up on schedule. I had taken care of just about all within my power with my house, now the insurance company was taking care of everything. I was on assignment out of town for an extended period of time so I had most of my belongings with me.

More on the grand opening next.

Here is one of the early logos.

greasespots.gif

GSnewsmini.gif

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Holy Cow, Paw! I had no idea all that was going on! Bless your heart!! I think I probably would have given up on trying to get the site up. I didn't think it was possible to care about you and respect you any more than I do, but - geeze! - I'm shocked and even more thankful for what you've done for us!

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