How RA got started?

[curtnrod19]

Just want to know how it got started. Care to share SHannon? how did you grow to get this many members? how long did it take you to do so? and so on.... just curious

CB*

[K.T.G.]

I copied this from Shannon's Profile.
"From 2001-2004 I served on the Arizona State Parks Off Highway Vehicle (OHV)Advisory Group, which focuses on OHV issues within the state of Arizona."

"I started Riding Arizona because I felt it was too difficult to find Arizona riding information. With over 15,000 members I guess others feel the same."

[gmoney]

Since you asked:

http://www.ridingarizona.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1772

1/10/2001 - Greg Burns buys 20+ topo maps from the Public Lands Information Center (PLIC) covering every nook and cranny of the state of Arizona.

1/16/2001 - Greg sits down with Shannon Wilson to study the maps to find legal places to ride.

1/28/2001 - Shannon and Greg become frustrated with the lack of specific OHV riding information in print or on the Internet for the state of Arizona. The decision is made to do something about it.

2/12/2001 - Shannon places calls into Arizona State Parks & Game and Fish to discuss legal riding opportunities in the state.

2/26/2001 - Conversations with State Parks become fruitful and a relationship is established with Terry Heslin, Senior Planner.

3/20/2001 - Shannon participates in the Arizona State Parks OHV marketing campaign at Cooley Advertising. He is one of two OHVers invited. The other is Tom Bickauskas, former Arizona Trail Riders officer. The outcome of the meeting is the: Nature Rules - Stay on the trails campaign.

4/18/2001 - The domain RidingArizona.com is purchased

4/28/2001 - RidingArizona.com is hosted with Adaptive.net and the development of the forum begins.

5/2/2001 - Shannon offers to host on the Riding Arizona web site an OHV EIS letter generator to facilitate feedback for the Arizona National Forest policy regarding unrestricted vehicle access. The letter generator goes live on 5/8/2001 and over 200 letters are generated by 5/16/2001.

5/16/2001 - Shannon shoots Arizona State Parks commercial for new Nature Rules - Stay on the trails campaign. He is the golfing partner for the main character.

6/26/2001 - Development of the Riding Arizona web site continues.

8/20/2001 - Web site development has progressed enough to start marketing the Riding Arizona site.

9/7/2001 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 50 members.

9/23/2001 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 100 members.

12/12/2001 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 500 members.

2/17/2002 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 1000 members!

4/29/2002 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 1500 members!

7/23/2002 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 2000 members!

4/14/2003 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 3000 members!

8/10/2003 - Riding Arizona deletes 400+ member accounts that are inactive and have invalid email addresses.

10/26/2003 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 4000 members!

03/08/2004 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 5000 members!

04/11/2006 - Riding Arizona membership reaches 10000 members! ROCKCRAWLER is the 10,000th member.

2.18.08 ....Shannon, take this one over :)

Look's like we're in need of some updating, but that is how it all began.

[K.T.G.]

VERY nice Greg. That was very informative.
Thanks for the post.

[curtnrod19]

Thanks Greg.... just curious.....

Kevin, shouldnt you be sleeping?

CB*

[K.T.G.]

quote:Originally posted by curtnrod19

Thanks Greg.... just curious.....

Kevin, shouldnt you be sleeping?

CB*

Yes, yes I should.............but the 360 was calling my name.
Duneflyer, Wedge, Drtrider145 & myself played some Call of Duty 4...........I'm tired today!!!

[curtnrod19]

must be nice to do nothing all day![:p]

CB*

[K.T.G.]

quote:Originally posted by curtnrod19

must be nice to do nothing all day![:p]

CB*

I still went to work yesterday AND i'm at work today.......Just really tired..[:p]

[curtnrod19]

good for you! ah ah......... almost readt to go play a game or what? i went out last sunday and the course was nice. got a tourny this saturday at sundance..... wanna go next weekend? might even get Brian to come with:)

CB*

[Shannon]

Wow. It has been a long time since I updated that post. We have continued to grow at a healthy pace and I have continued to purge old accounts that have invalid email addresses.

The one thing that is missing from all that information that has been posted is one of the other main reasons we started Riding Arizona. The reason was to find others, like ourselves, to ride with. We were (still are) married, with children, and wanted to find other riders who knew what it was like to take their wife and kids with them to ride. If we left them at home, it made for a short trip. If we bring them along, it made for a better trip. If we brought others who brought their families it made for a GREAT trip for us and the whole family.

That is the spirit behind RA. That is why I continue to insist on a family friendly site. If it weren't for my family RA would not exist. Now you know the rest of the story! I guess I better update that post about our history...it's looking a little old.

[curtnrod19]

what do you need to have to run a forum like this? as in computer wise? anything special?

CB*

[Shannon]

quote:Originally posted by curtnrod19

what do you need to have to run a forum like this? as in computer wise? anything special?

CB*


Two servers, one dedicated for the web server and one shared for the database.

[Arizona Griz]

Nice history lesson. :)