vbCity turned 10 years last week - pretty darn long time! I still pretty much refuse to admit I've been running it for THAT long :)
I posted this a week ago in the vbCity forums and also wanted to share via the blog.
Today,
June 25th, 2008
vbCity turns 10 years old!
It is hard to believe that this day 10 (!) years ago I have uploaded first page to host free PrettyCode.Print tool folks in the comp.lang.basic.visual newsgroup asked me to share with them.
A week later I decided to post few more pages with tips and trick, mostly the ones I kept answering in the newsgroup, so I could save time and send to the site.
I kept adding new tips and code, maintained list of free developer tools, VB sites and VB libraries available on the Net. That was very different time, different Internet, we were not as spoiled by the ease of Internet back then, and Google was known to very limited circle of people as Stanford University project under google.stanford.edu 
That was static HTML site hosted for free on Geocities, the site was called Free Visual Basic Resources from Serge Baranovsky (yes, I know, how very original of me ) and the URL used to be http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/9086/default.html (had to Google for this one )
I was surprised this is still up - http://www.vbwire.com/brief.asp?591 - dated 12/28/1998
Almost a year later, April 8th, 1999, the vbcity.com domain has become available again (it was previously registered but not used) and I registered it, moved the site to new (paid) hosting, migrated the whole site to ASP and moved it to vbcity.com
Later in 1999 I registered vbcity.net domain and few months later decided to offer a free host email service and give away @vbcity.net email addresses to the visitors. What a disaster that idea turned into! I had to shut down the service 2 years later.
Early in 2001 as number of the site visitors has grown fairly big, I figured that'd be enough to get some of the visitors to participate in the site activities. So I decided to add forum to vbCity (community they call it nowadays...)
I wasn't happy with a couple of very basic ASP based forum scripts available back then. I wanted better features that were only available in vBulletin, a PHP based forum software. And I, of course, wouldn't use PHP for the web site, no way, that wouldn't be cool, would it?
So, few months later, April 3rd, 2001, I finished writing the forum software integrated into the vbCity.com web site. Very first post the night I first uploaded forum scripts to the site - http://www.vbcity.com/forums/topic.asp?tid=62 - notice the "we" in my posts? I was trying to create an impression there is more than just "I" behind this
With the addition of the forum, new, community, era of vbCity has started, the happiest time for me. vbCity finally turned from one-way into two-way communication. I was able to talk to the visitors, and the visitors quicky were becoming members and were enjoying the opportunity to socialize with other members.
Summer 2001 - we introduced monthly Helper of the Month (HOTM) award - http://vbcity.com/forums/topic.asp?tid=531 - yes, it's been around for 7 years!
Interesting that Steven Sartain won the very first award and the second month too even though his "points" were reset after winning the first month. We had to adjust the contest rules to give others a chance of winning
October 2001 - Steven Sartain "motivated" me into launching VBCity.NET web site - a sister site that was dedicated to .NET - http://vbcity.com/forums/topic.asp?tid=974 - later changed its name to DevCity.NET. The VBCity.NET web site we launched was running on very first beta of ASP.NET (or was it an alpha?). Steve was all hyped up about the new coolest MS thing called .NET which wasn't even released yet and of which I was a bit skeptic. Still I had to learn it quickly as we decided the .NET site should run ... well ... on .NET... And I got to like the new platform pretty quickly.
First couple of months I was answering most questions in the forums to keep them going. With launch of DevCity.NET and adding new forum features each week I wouldn't be able to take care of all growing posts anymore. Luckily the new members were getting more and more involved into helping other community members, answering their questions. That wasn't good enough though.
From the very beginning of the forum I was working to make sure that every vbCity post is answered. With me concentrated on the site improvement other members would only post into threads that they knew how to help. So I had to challenge the whole community - http://vbcity.com/forums/topic.asp?tid=1342 - if within a week no one finds solution to the 4 most interesting and difficult unanswered threads I picked, I would answer them all and reduce points for all community members! My intent was to show that every question can be answered and even if one has to do a research it is great too as one learns something new. A confession time ... I only knew solution to 2 out of 4 threads, and I would've had to research on the other two, but I was certain I would've kept my promise and reduced the points... I was sure that the questions will be taken care of before the deadline - exactly what happened. The challenge worked out well - most every new thread since then would attract attention and that has grown into something that later got defined as part of the "vbCity spirit".
Few threads absolutely must be mentioned:
Beware - I am VB.Net Activated (Vernon Basil Dotnet's Diary) - http://www.vbcity.com/forums/topic.asp?tid=23712 - a 120+ post thread contributed by vbCity folks migrating to .NET experience diary early in 2003 The whole thread is a very entertaining reading but these by Ged are pearls - "goose workaround" classics - http://www.vbcity.com/forums/goto.asp?show=reply&rid=86891 and http://www.vbcity.com/forums/goto.asp?show=reply&rid=87150
Edward's "VBcityO BoxOffice presents ... Radiator" post on Ged's winning HOTM - http://www.vbcity.com/forums/goto.asp?show=reply&rid=114948
I could keep going for few more hours (days actually) with my vbCity memories of the first 10 years But I will stop right here and let you fill in the blanks with your memories...
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And today we are at 220,000+ members and 650,000+ posts...
Many great people came through vbCity, most stayed, some went and created they own sites or communities. I still remember names of most every active vbCity member and Leader.
Thank you all members, vbCity Leaders, those present and past, for the dedication and love!
These were the best 10 years of my life!
I love you all!
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See also
Memorable vbCity Threads
The 10th anniversary Giveaway - MSDN Premium w/ VSTS 2008 Team Suite Subscription
The Future of vbCity - we are moving to a new platform! (to be posted)