History of GS

STA · October 16, 2011, 6:38am

Re: History of GS

BarbieCue:

This thread couldn’t have been complete without a few words from Ehsan uncle:

"I joined GS in 1999 when I was searching for Pakistani forums to read about and discuss the Kargil episode which was ongoing at the time. It was very interesting as we used to have some very lively debates with Indians on the issue. There was myself, Mr xtreme and a few others from Pakistan side and Queer, ZZ, bombay kid and a few from the Indian side. My main postings used to be in Pakistan affairs and KK. After about a year i disappeared from GS for a while and when I came back one of my threads got removed by the than director Sabah. i sent her a PM asking her what happened to the thread and in reply she asked me if I was interested in becoming a mod of PA. I turned down the offer and she came back and offered me KK, which I accepted. KK was virtually a dead forum in those days and had a total of less than 10k posts. over the next few years I worked very hard to promote it and it became one of the leading forum at GS. Sabah than asked me to join the admin team and from there I became the director of this site. My focus as director was that while we will tolerate all points of view the site will primarily reflect Pakistan, its culture and its religion. The site has come a long way from where it was when I joined it. However, I will be the first one to admit that it is not where it should have been. Yes we have made mistakes and yes we have fallen short of what was expected of us but we are constantly striving to improve it and make it better.

On a personal level I have had the chance to meet many people and interact with many and enrich my life by what I learned form them.

Before closing I would like to pay tribute to Sabah, my predecessor as director. She was one very intelligent and brilliant lady. The history of GS is not complete without her and no mention of her will be in an injustice to her and GS.

Lastly the site belongs not to the admins or the team but to you the posters, without whom there would be no GS. It is your site not anyone else’s, participate and enjoy your time here."

please add following link in GS History notes.

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Houston-based-Web-site-is-forum-for-U-S-2071785.php

CharmedOne · October 19, 2011, 5:56pm

Re: History of GS

Thanx for the history lesson...always wondered how GS came about but just didn't know who or where to ask.

Whenever I did a search for a Pakistan related topic GS would always figure in the results,so I guess I too was a lurker for several years until there was a thread I wanted to reply to and so joined up.Unfortunately,don't always get time to log on every day,but in a way it is so comforting to know GS is here.You know someone will be here to offer advice or a helping hand and will understand any cultural or religious issues you may have.Or indeed any problems....
So thank you for starting GS...and long may it last :D

Sohaib · October 19, 2011, 8:58pm

Re: History of GS

BarbieCue:

This thread couldn’t have been complete without a few words from Ehsan uncle:

"I joined GS in 1999 when I was searching for Pakistani forums to read about and discuss the Kargil episode which was ongoing at the time. It was very interesting as we used to have some very lively debates with Indians on the issue. There was myself, Mr xtreme and a few others from Pakistan side and Queer, ZZ, bombay kid and a few from the Indian side. My main postings used to be in Pakistan affairs and KK. After about a year i disappeared from GS for a while and when I came back one of my threads got removed by the than director Sabah. i sent her a PM asking her what happened to the thread and in reply she asked me if I was interested in becoming a mod of PA. I turned down the offer and she came back and offered me KK, which I accepted. KK was virtually a dead forum in those days and had a total of less than 10k posts. over the next few years I worked very hard to promote it and it became one of the leading forum at GS. Sabah than asked me to join the admin team and from there I became the director of this site. My focus as director was that while we will tolerate all points of view the site will primarily reflect Pakistan, its culture and its religion. The site has come a long way from where it was when I joined it. However, I will be the first one to admit that it is not where it should have been. Yes we have made mistakes and yes we have fallen short of what was expected of us but we are constantly striving to improve it and make it better.

On a personal level I have had the chance to meet many people and interact with many and enrich my life by what I learned form them.

Before closing I would like to pay tribute to Sabah, my predecessor as director. She was one very intelligent and brilliant lady. The history of GS is not complete without her and no mention of her will be in an injustice to her and GS.

Lastly the site belongs not to the admins or the team but to you the posters, without whom there would be no GS. It is your site not anyone else’s, participate and enjoy your time here."

Sabah was indeed a very intelligent person. She refused to make me a mod of kk initially :k: Thats how intelligent she was. She knew I was going to be a nuisance!

J/K: Well put ehsan bhai.

Sohaib · October 19, 2011, 9:01pm

Re: History of GS

Not every 32 year old is an uncle!

I have seen GS grow so much with time. Even though its the most diverse and mature pakistani forum out there yet it has not realised its full potential. InshaAllah it will.

funy · October 26, 2011, 9:26pm

Re: History of GS

I started using gupshup around 2000 I guess. Found it really interactive and interesting especially when they started voice chat. I logged in today after so many years and believe it or not I still remember my first weird password.

STA · October 27, 2011, 8:53pm

Re: History of GS

again.

Nightingale · November 9, 2011, 8:53am

Re: History of GS

omggg amazing facts about our admins and present mods. It's all very interesting

Umer · November 17, 2011, 1:10pm

Re: History of GS

I joined GS back in 1998 and honestly have no idea, ie can not remember, what I was looking for at that time. And even though I am not very active on GS anymore, the site has been the source of some great friendships with people from all over the world. I've met a lot of Guppies face-to-face and even though "internet friendships" have always had a dodgy image, it has always been a pleasure.

In my college/university years I used to spend a lot of time on GS and even was a Moderator for the Image Gallery at one point. And even though I am not a regular anymore, it is always a pleasure coming back. :)

Muzna · November 17, 2011, 3:08pm

Re: History of GS

good to see you Umer!!!

Kode · November 17, 2011, 3:31pm

Re: History of GS

injury and cardio

People often ask how GS came about so here’s some interesting bits on the history of GS.
**
In the words of Muzna:**

GS was not conceptualized by all three of us. Azkar was working on a project that required him to do some research on Pakistan. He found very little info on the web so decided to launch his own personal website (i.e. pak.org) that provided general info about the country. I happened upon the site in one of my own online searches and left some feeback in the comments section. Others visiting the site also left comments and some of these turned into threaded discussions.

Someone came along and criticized something… me being totally pro-Pakistan hammered them (what else is new?). Azkar noticed and sent me what looked like a “form letter” inviting me to moderate a discussion board that he would launch. I laughed it off with, “I’ll bet you say that to all the girls ” … (okay, okay…so there were no such smilies back then). He followed up with a less formal letter and explained his vision for the site/portal (yes Azkar was way ahead of the rest even then).

**X2 and azkar knew each other from IRC **(I was there but don’t recall interacting with them. I was a good girl on IRC unlike these two :D) so he showed up on the board and off we went.

And yes it was around '96 that we started. This year we will celebrate our 15th anniversary iA.

In the words of X2:

This is accurate.

Some additions- Azkar and I talked back when he was working on the pak.org idea, but while he was working on that I had been busy with err other stuff so did not help out except for some brainstorming.

Except that I was not member#3 or so, I was not active in 96 or 97, it was 98 when I joined. Initially the plan was to just mess around and pick on people, and I had not told Azkar who I was, I dont remember how but between Azkar and Muzna they figured out who I was, and the days of my ghunda gardee ended. I was also not one of the first people banned because I showed up after the site had been up and running, all that was done by Azkar and Muzna, I was not even around.

Muzna was the first director of GS, they asked me to take it over but being sust al wajood I said no, and recommended Sabah.

The folklore version in my mind is that when azkar set up GS and logged on the first time he saw a welcome post by me.

Lastly, Azkar and I did not get along on IRC, always clashed. His term for me was mufta admin, because I had no technical skills, did not even set up or host my bot or anything. however being the most sociable of the admin group I was usually doing the public stuff. I usually did not bother with him, he was one of the admins, we did not talk much

oh yes here is another factoid, Azkar and I went to the same school as kids, I was a few years ahead, and am fairly certain I had beaten him up back then. no thats folklore..we were in the same school, I was a few classes ahead but I was not a bully and never beat anyone. although i had even azkar believing that I was among the monitors at school that beat him

**
In the words of some of our oldest members:
**
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/all-views/304830-reunion-of-guppies-from-the-90s.html
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/all-views/437784-10-years-at-gupshup.html

**
Interesting tidbits:**
Phatima was our youngest ever mod (15 year old). She was appointed a Cafe moderator by Ehsan uncle who was the director back then.

TLK bhai used to moderate the religion forum. Apparently, he was “more fun” in his modless/directorless days. He even received an infraction from Phatima in Cafe.

Sweeftie has been our youngest CM so far.

Saby used to be a GS admin a few years back.

Muzna and X2 had connected in 1995 on something completely unrelated to IRC or GS, and realized much after joining GS that they had run into each other before.

This is how pak.com looked like in 1998 and
http://web.archive.org/web/19980627051844/http://www.pak.com/

This is how paklinks.com looked like in 2000
http://web.archive.org/web/20000301013057/http://www.paklinks.com/

This is how GS Looked like in 2005 first time:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050310022201/http://www.paklinks.com/

Feel free to share any other interesting stuff, everyone!

Nice To Know The History Of Gs !!!

How I Came To This Webpage !!! During 1999… First Time On Our Dalnet Channel Azkar And Some Of My Friends Were Having Chat About This Webpage !! I Was Regular On This Site From Those Days But Never Registered A Nick Or Took Much Interest Here !!

Even I Was Busy With My Architecture Studies … So I Was Not Much Interested Here !!!

I Hope Azkar Rem Those Days Of IRC !!!

@azkar

Sannan · November 18, 2011, 4:51am

Re: History of GS

I think i know your initial nick back in 1999

Kode · November 18, 2011, 5:37am

Re: History of GS

I Never Reg Any Nick Those Days Bro !!

Missing in action bombay kid and Zz !

ashykh · November 29, 2011, 1:40pm

Re: History of GS

wow nice to see such history
back in 2002 i had joined a forum called pakvibes (PV)....it was really good forum but for some reason it didnt last...=(
after that never really joined another forum till now...this history takes me back to my good ol forum days! lol..
cant believe its been around for that long

Ali_Syed · December 4, 2011, 2:20am

Re: History of GS

Hmmm...I started my discussion forum days in late 90's from a Bangladeshi forum (was attracted to the site mostly due to their anti Pakistan views and was one of the few Pakistanis defending Pakistan there). Later while surfing in some internet cafes in Islamabad I stumbled across a couple of Afghan forums (again filled with anti Pakistan sentiments), participated in them actively for the next few years.

I dont know how I came across Paklinks but at least from 2000 I have been coming to the site and occasionally posting while spending most of the time defending Pakistan on the Afghan forums. With the passage of time one Afghan forum closed and the other deteriorated to an extent where it became uninteresting/boring. The war on terror had started having its impact on Pakistan. This was the time I started posting more on Gupshup, as now more than ever we needed to present our views on this forum as people from around the world are interested to hear our views.

Monk · December 15, 2011, 3:44pm

Re: History of GS

GS was created...
Then I join....
nothing else... worth mentioning.

ninja_hattori · December 24, 2011, 9:20am

Re: History of GS

i used to visit gs from 2001 as guest.i created an id but never posted.
from 2001 i m regular to gs as guest.back then religious forum was very intresting.Gs is a site i always opened when ever i was online.i like the jokes forum,world affairs.It is a forum which serves to every person.

DeshPremi · January 11, 2012, 3:00am

Re: History of GS

Thanks for posting this, I first saw GS in 2009 but never made an account.

It's lovely too see the progress grow immensely throughout the years.

-DP

Aceones · January 11, 2012, 7:28am

Re: History of GS

back in 1999 i a small personal webpage on those free hosts, and submitted it on pakranks, and from there i reached pak.org, back then GS used to be www.pak.org/forum i had a different nick.got bz with some stuff for a couple of months and forgot my password, tried "forgot password" nothing worked, sent soooo many emails to admins and never got any reply, then i stopped using gs.

joined again in 2002 with new nick... started with posting in cafe, when we used to make fun of people posting in "general" forum for the boring posts and they used to make fun of cafe people for brainless posts.
attended several guppy meets in karachi and some in dubai, met awesome people... gradually shifted from cafe to poetry to religion to travel to PA forum. some great people i will always remember talking to are PG, JonyBr, Khanzada, Shikra/ SohailA, Lone Range (may ALLAH grant him jannah, he's no more), James Bhand, Umer, Pakora, Telephone, BlackMamba, SS, Lashpush, philanthropist and many more... met many of them in real life and talk to some on phone, all very nice people.

bao_bihari · January 11, 2012, 9:43am

Re: History of GS

Innalilah e Wainna Alihay Rijyon, sorry to hear that.

My Story

I made a new email address @ pakistanmail.com from there i jumped on this link to TOPP back in 2001. This was the time i was alone , Farigh with nothing to do.

Learned a lot , how to debate , shed misconceptions about many things , i owe many things to this website.Stopped visiting here for last few years, kabhi kabhi ana hota hay, these days am bohat he farigh at office so got trapped again by GS.

I dont have another nick, never met a guppy in real life, Faisal is in my linkedin connection but never exchanged anything with him either. Only chatted on phone once or twice with zulfiqar aka Lajawab , and exchange emails with Ibn Sadique brother.

Great Work bachoon

devilish_angel · March 1, 2012, 10:38pm

Re: History of GS

really nice to read all of it i joined in early 2008 like evet young getting married n surfing net for all latest trends n fashion so i thought to join it but after wedding i stopped using it then again for soem reasons i was feeling low thought to come bck here again but i forgot my password i was one of those members who every week asked for new password then again i became buzy wth my baby left it thn again this year i joined back thnk god i remmbered the password n i think its getting better day by day