DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements '24 I => Topic started by: Mysterious Benefactor on November 22, 2019, 06:56:39 PM
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Midnite's Dark Shadows Website (https://www.oocities.org/televisioncity/4429/fran/fran.htm)
Interestingly, I received an alert for this archived version that has been mirrored from Geocities, which has long been defunct. This particular site dates back to 1998. And Tim did mention on the forum that he has recently been uploading these sites again, so we may see a recreated version one of these days. But until then, this mirrored version is well worth checking out again because it contains some fantastic photos from the '98 Fest and photos of Alexandra (Moltke) Isles and Kate Jackson from the 2001 Paley Center event.
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That sounds quite cool! I don't even remember this site. I look forward to having a look!
G.
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Is this 'our' Midnite's site?
Cuz I KNOW before VantageNet, there were a few of us posting; Midnite, Sheenasma, Nancy, Castlebee (I think), Bobubus, et al.
Patti
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It is indeed our Midnite - and the site was created during the forum's VantageNet days...
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Those were fun to see. Too bad the links to the hoDS and Patrick Macnee event photos no longer work, but I guess one can't expect miracles.
I have no memory at all of the pre-VantageNet days. I remember all of us chatting on some Sci Fi channel message boards, and then I remember a version of this site but even those memories, alas, are distressingly vague!
I'm starting to feel sympathy for Lara claiming she has no memory at all of playing Cassandra!
Best, G.
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The discussions on the Sci-Fi boards were all prior to October of 1997 because that's when we started the VantageNet board. In its halcyon days the Sci-Fi DS board was a fantastic place to discuss any and every DS topic - that was until it was inundated with trolls who were basically the ruination of the board. The only upside was that it got to such a bad point that the police got involved and certain trolls were actually not only charged but convicted of crimes. Anyone who was around online DS fandom back in the mid-to-late '90s certainly understands why the VantageNet board had and subsequently this forum has the rules that it does because they can be directly traced back to what happened on the Sci-Fi board...
As for Midnite's hoDS and Patrick Macnee sites, as I mentioned earlier, Tim has said he hopes to upload all that as well as so much more material that was on GeoCities and Fortunecity (another place that has long been defunct). So, hopefully, we'll get to see it all again one day...
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This discussion is reminding me of the old GEnie online service, where I was introduced to DS fandom-at-large through their discussion groups. In the DS group(s?) I learned about the DS Festivals, and went to the 1991 one in LA (where I got lots of autographs and pictures, bought all 4 volumes of the music CDs, got a HoDS "three-sheet" poster at auction which I still haven't displayed because that monster's 6 frigging feet high, rode in the elevator with Robert Rodan and Roger Davis, and had an overall wonderful time). Still my only festival, alas...
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OMG, I forgot all about the GEnie's service. I think that might have been the very first DS outlet that I ever checked out online. For those who don't know, it was completely text-based because there was no such thing as graphics-based services. When we wanted to share photos on the service, we had to use a program called uuencode to translate scans (usually gifs) into text that was pretty much gibberish, and upload that text to the service. Then people would download the text to their computers and use a program called uudecode to translate the gibberish back into photo scans. It was actually more fun than it sounds. [hall2_wink]
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I didn't get online until much later, so a lot of this is totally new to me.
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Yep I remember that site.
Anne
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Gothick, I remember the Bewitched episode reviews you did on Sci Fi. They were very thorough and good - sorry they are lost.
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I reviewed Bewitched? Are you sure that wasn't Wickednick? He's a huge Bewitched fan.
I mean, it's possible that I wrote some... it's amazing how little I remember now about the nineties. And I can't even blame it on dissipation, alas.
cheers, G.
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It's interesting what I do remember from the Sci Fi boards. I started a section I called something like Gothick's Gallery of Goddesses and wrote about actresses I felt deserved more recognition, such as Martita Hunt, Margaret Johnston, and of course Grayson Hall. And I remember a very popular contributor on the DS board whose handle was Ashenrider and who was writing a novel. He had a thing for the old 70s film SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS.
They were fun times!
G.
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Gothick, you're probably right. Going down memory lane, sometimes memories get misremembered..lol.
I started posting on the SciFi Dominion Board on Halloween 96 and pretty much stayed with it til they purged the last DS Boards in 2006, then came on board here after membership reopened. The great thing about SciFi was posters were allowed to create their own boards, even it was for a show not carried by SciFi like Bewitched. That board was created later on and was purged not long after the entire series was written up. Had to be very frustrating. Over time, there were a bunch of DS Boards... as soon as 1 would get crowded with posts, another one would start. I don't even remember who did all that. The older boards would remain accessible, a marvelous archive. Another fun board which MB adopted was the captions. Sci-fi would run screen grabs in real time for each show on Sci-fi. Because we didn't have Sci-fi for nearly the entire run of DS, it was my way of staying up with the show and the daily postings.
My best memory is organizing a boardster meet up at the 98 Fest in Vegas. It was really cool matching up the faces with their handles in person. I still have a group photo in our club photo album. I do remember but never met Ashenrider... he really had a thing for KLS lol. And on the trolling and hostilities. I wasn't affected directly and not privey to all the specific ugliness but know it got bad enough to involve the police. Looking back, maybe I should have bailed on the Sci-fi dominion too but it's where I first started online and felt an attachment there. It did split off the DS fans into 2 separate online camps and I wasn't able to replicate the meetups at later fests. But the dominion is long gone and the forums board is still here and going strong. Repeating what I said after the big crash and downage a huge thank you to MB and Midnite for everything they have done and continuous to do for over 20 years. Wow.
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I'm quite sure that wasn't me writing reviews of Bewitched episodes. I like that show but just as something to watch occasionally, rather like my enjoyment of The Addams Family, The Munsters, or Star Trek. None of them are shows I have ever devoted serious time to researching or discussing.
Some friends of mine did visit Ashenrider once. I don't think he was able to attend any Festivals or fan gatherings because of his job. He was a minister at a church somewhere, and I think the only time he got a weekend off involved travel to visit family or in-laws.
Fun to remember those old times.
G.
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Wow - I'd completely forgotten that Ashenrider was a minister. But I haven't forgotten that I loved to read his posts because he always had something interesting to say and often made fascinating points about our show...
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He wrote this one really outrageous one about one of the 1967 episodes that was headlined something like "Grayson Hall--Hormel has nothing on her ham!" Even though I'm such a big fan of Grayson, I thought that was pretty funny.
G.
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Gotta say, I never was on any of the boards mentioned in this post. Probably just before my internet time, and really my introduction to DS. I remember being on many Yahoo Groups about DS, and other shows as well, and boy there were plenty of trolls to go around on there. It always amazes me that no matter where you go there is always something going on with trolls, breaking of policy, etc that happens.
Currently I belong to a couple DS groups on Facebook, and on at least one of them there seems to be posting of reminders pertaining to rules/regulations of the group just about every week. Too much for me to keep track of, which is often why I remain an observer rather than a participant in many of the discussions. Especially because the discussions can devolve into out and out fights a majority of the time.
For this board, I remember being quite active around here in the early 2000s sometime when I first discovered it, and since then I've popped in an out as I've reengaged with the show several times over the years.
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Like Brandon, I'm in several Facebook DS groups and, while I enjoy looking at the rare photos that continue to surface, I tend to avoid a lot of the discussions. One in particular came from some idiot who claimed that Grayson Hall is a dead ringer for Michael Jackson. And she was completely serious.
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Ashenrider had a thing for Satan's Cheerleaders??!
Ashenrider/Pastor Jim did attend a Fest-- could have been the '99 in NYC, which would be why you haven't met him, patrickm. We didn't have time to really talk until I got a call while dressing to attend a pre-banquet party... he and his lovely wife had checked out but were interested in dropping by the room before leaving the city. So I had to choose between saying goodbye to them or making the party and I chose the former, which I don't regret because I never saw Jim again, though the fan throwing the party hasn't spoken to me since. [hall2_sad]
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The Satan's cheerleaders thing was one of Ashenrider's running gags. He had a great sense of humor.
I can't recall if we ever found out why we stopped hearing from him. There were a number of people who would suddenly just drop out of sight and never show up again. I figured out at some point that that's just what happens on "teh interwebs."
Best, G.