The Old FFF
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switcher said:
Ransom is probably the resident expert on the various iterations, but my understanding is this:
Don (some preacher in Mississippi or Louisiana) had the original FFF, but after Hurricane Katrina, it got overrun with bots.
Andrew T (Teasdale?) "took over" (stole?) the name, and started his version of the FFF. He sold it several years ago to a group who owned a number of websites, including porn sites. The forum had no moderation and was quickly overrun by idiots like I Am Am Angel who spammed the forum with trash.
Fast forward to this forum (who knows who owns it? That's a closely guarded secret.) A slightly boring forum, but fewer kooks than Andrew's version.
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Web said:
Pretty much. More precisely, with Katrina destroying the church Don Elbourne pastored, as well as the entire town of Lakeshore, Mississippi where it was, obviously his priorities changed, and though he dropped in on the original FFF from time to time, as you point out, he didn't have the time or the inclination to moderate it effectively.
As a point of interest, Don is still active on the Net, and his blog is chronicling the rebuilding of his church and town. Their new church building is nearly complete, and the church continues to host mission trips of people and groups wanting to help out with the ongoing effort to clean up and rebuild Lakeshore.
And, to be super-duper precise, there were actually three or more incarnations of the FFF under Don's watch. He only moved the board onto a more advanced forum platform (PHPbb) shortly before Katrina hit. Before that, the FFF ran on a rather primitive scripting platform called MIVA. When things went wrong, he found that the simplest solution was just to blow away the whole thing and start fresh. (Ironically, if he hadn't made the switch, there likely wouldn't have been tons of porn spammers and so forth exploiting the flaws in PHPbb that Don hadn't patched up yet.)
Most significantly it was originally the "Jack Hyles Forum," for example, until one of the Hyles-bots took umbrage at his allowing people to take the name of Jack in vain by making posts critical of Hyles and FBCH, and began to mount a sustained attack against the board. Don compromised by reopening the board under the name "The Fightin' Fundamentalist Forum." Henceforth, even if the board owner has changed, and the exact form of those three words have changed, the "FFF" nickname has remained a constant.
"Teesdale." And to be fair to him, first, he did a fair job of running FFF 2.0 for awhile, in the same spirit as Don had. Also, when he assumed the Webby mantle, he did so, if not with Don's explicit approval, then at least with Don's tolerance. (Don actually posted from time to time there, and when he resurrected jackhyles.net a few years ago, at first he didn't include a forum because there already was one.)
And the ads - Hyles almighty, the ads! I recently came across a screenshot I had made back in 2011 when Andrew sold the site to Ezoic, who promptly let the roaches move in. I spent a couple minutes annotating it, just for fun:
The original owner of FFF 3.0 was anonymous. But after about a year, he turned over the entire site to the present owner, admin/FSSL. Barry went by "freesundayschoollessons" and posted regularly on the 2.0 forum, so he's not a slum lord like the clowns Andrew sold the fleabag forum to. He's one of us.
*sigh* I actually miss the kooks. They made the forum interesting. I've been toying with the idea of starting a "name your favourite kook" kind of thread just for nostalgia.
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switcher said:
I haven't seen anything posted by CNM on any forum in over 10 years. Too bad, as he was one of the best theological minds to ever grace the FFF.
I don't remember too much of marines son, but of course I remember Marine! Way back in the beginning, we started off on the wrong foot but got to like each other. Several years ago he sent me a nice print of a Charles Spurgeon picture, which I plan to have mounted and framed when I have a wall to hang it on.
Tiger Fan/Justified/Stephen didn't make the transition to this incarnation from the last, although there is a member named "Stephen" with a few posts, who sounds like he could be him. Nothing recent, though. Between him and a few women, we actually had a pretty active Louisiana contingent on the FFF for a long time - with many of whom I've since struck up a friendship on Facebook.
Other notables: Phil Johnson. Yes, the Phil Johnson. He was a heavy poster for a couple of years in the late 90s/early 2000s.
Coyote/Spurgeon, who left the ministry in the mid-2000s and dropped off the Net for awhile. His notable contribution to FFF lore was, of course, the "Tales from the Temple," chronicling his experiences at school in Longview. ("Grapes don't grow on trees.") Phil actually helped him edit them for publication, but I don't remember if that actually happened. I've still got a copy of his manuscript kicking around, that he sent me. (In MS Works format - is there anything that can still read that?) I remember him also doing an amazing exposition of Isaiah 53 once, which I wish I had saved.
When I first came on board in 1998, there was another astute theological mind named Sidney. As I recall, he spent most of his time defending Calvinism and debating with FundyNoMore. At the time, everyone's IP address was publicly visible - for some reason, FNM ran Sidneys and found out he was posting from ligonier.org - after which he had some fun pretending he was arguing with R. C. Sproul himself.
There were other good guys way back then, too, but my memory of the state of the forum in the late 90s is a bit weaker. As far as I know, I'm currently far and away the longest participant on the FFF, and a lot the above folks predated me (CNM, Sidney, Coyote, but not Phil). History has it that the "Jack Hyles Forum" (as it was known) was basically populated by mental-midget psycho-fundies who liked to argue over things like body piercing. CNM and the others came along and started discussing theology. They were probably the ones who really set the tone of the FFF as we know it.
Well, as near as I can figure I came on board near the end of Don's tenure, after he had switched to PhBB but before Katrina. I was never a fundamentalist or a Baptist, (unless you count the GARBC church I was saved in age 12), but came because I was invited by a member I knew and trusted from another forum. At the moment, I can't remember the name but he's a very educated Calvinist who runs his own Reformed board. I stayed because I made some good friends and had some interesting conversations.
I don't miss the ads; I never saw them because I use good anti-spam and ad blocking software.
I don't miss the kooks either. While they did stir things up, it wasn't in a productive way. It was all too Jerry Springer for me. To put it another way, the signal-to-noise ratio was bad.
I don't miss the ads; I never saw them because I use good anti-spam and ad blocking software.
I don't miss the kooks either. While they did stir things up, it wasn't in a productive way. It was all too Jerry Springer for me. To put it another way, the signal-to-noise ratio was bad.
Now I remember who invited me: it was Ask Mr. Religion aka AMR. 8)
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I stumbled onto the post Katrina Don>Andrew site after someone on Sharper Iron accused me of bringing FFF style tactics to their board. I had no idea what they were talking about so when I asked, a link was provided. The rest, as they say, is infamy.
Blessed Union/Shiloh were two interesting head cases.
The whole Marty soap opera and his man crush Guy were always around to make you feel a little green around the gills.
Frag was there defending all things indefensible.
Jeri Massi (Bassenco) could be counted on to lash out at even those who agreed with her.
I'm coming up with a blank on the name (rc3 maybe) but had some fun getting accused of being a government loving idolator for suggesting that God had used our national government to improve our health and well being through require immunization programs and that food safety inspections are by and large a good thing. He probably wouldn't approve of my view that the interstate highway system is a pretty good deal. He even sent me a sermon link explaining how taking SS benefits is stealing.
I am friends with Billy and Raised2Walk on FB.
Coming from a GARBC background, I have been accused of being a stark raving liberal and the worst of the worst IFB. I figure I must be just about right. ;-)
Blessed Union/Shiloh were two interesting head cases.
The whole Marty soap opera and his man crush Guy were always around to make you feel a little green around the gills.
Frag was there defending all things indefensible.
Jeri Massi (Bassenco) could be counted on to lash out at even those who agreed with her.
I'm coming up with a blank on the name (rc3 maybe) but had some fun getting accused of being a government loving idolator for suggesting that God had used our national government to improve our health and well being through require immunization programs and that food safety inspections are by and large a good thing. He probably wouldn't approve of my view that the interstate highway system is a pretty good deal. He even sent me a sermon link explaining how taking SS benefits is stealing.
I am friends with Billy and Raised2Walk on FB.
Coming from a GARBC background, I have been accused of being a stark raving liberal and the worst of the worst IFB. I figure I must be just about right. ;-)
Ransom said:
That was an excellent summary, Scott. I actually lurked on the "Jack Hyles Forum" back in 1999. Someone told me that David Douglass and some of his sons were on it defending David Hyles and the rest is history. I didn't sign up with an account until it was called the FFF. My history on here is marked by "active spurts". I want to say it was around 2001 that I signed on with the original screen name of Soldier. Came back with a vengeance in 2003 as Green Beret (to balance Tim Lee's "Marine") and have been on and off all the manifestations ever since.
Besides the ones you mentioned already, some of the people/accounts that I remember but haven't seen are:
Petersonalexw (of the famed Petersonic Institute), Buckwheat, Bassenco, Deepsix, Voyle Glover, Mrs. Soprano, Callilily, Grannylo, Been There (the original), Squirrel and the list goes on...
What was that guy's name that set up the Pensacola Christian College spoof site? I really enjoyed his work but can't remember his name.
But the ones that are still here are good to see (well, mostly).
"As a point of interest, Don is still active on the Net, and his blog is chronicling the rebuilding of his church and town. Their new church building is nearly complete, and the church continues to host mission trips of people and groups wanting to help out with the ongoing effort to clean up and rebuild Lakeshore."
Yes, great work he is doing down there.
Yes, great work he is doing down there.
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Maddog just emailed me to join him on linkedin and I did...someone needs to get him over here...
who was the lady from St Louis mo area...I've met her and her husband but my mind is blank. please forgive me I'm terrible with names.....
who was the lady from St Louis mo area...I've met her and her husband but my mind is blank. please forgive me I'm terrible with names.....