Hi
I can't understand how I only found this board today! I was a long standing member of MacFixit - I can find evidence of my membership in 2004 when Cyn emailed me asking me if I was interested in being a tester for some changes being made. I had been a member for a long time by then.
I used my real name (Paul Dickinson) as my login back then.
Things went through a rough patch, with flame wars, thread hijacking etc. and I lost interest, letting my membership lapse.
However, on finding this, I am now quite nostalgic, so I'm giving it another go. There are certainly a lot of familiar names here!
I've had a bit of a look round, and the vibe feels good. I'm feeling very hopeful for a good time here.

Hello Paul, you may remember meeting some years ago by the Takanini testing station. I seem to remember also, your partner said something like it feels a bit like a meeting to exchange illicit substances.

Chris Way

Hello Chris

Yes, I remember. We also met at an Apple expo, I think in the Auckland town hall.

Hi, and welcome!

> I can't understand how I only found this board today!

It will be helpful if you let us know how you found FTM; getting the word out is important, but knowing what works is even more-so.

Thanks.

Ironically, I found a reference to it in the CNET mac forums! (My first visit there.)

Aha ... old (Kiwi) friends and faces. Nice to see you again. Mayhap more will return to the fold.

And, as Arte Johnson, in his persona as a WWII Wehrmacht soldier on Laugh In, used to say: Verrry interrresting.
A few hours ago I received a "GENERAL EMAIL ANNOUNCEMENT" qua invitation to "Visit the new MacFixIt on CNET!" (as I imagine most of you did.)
The URL given for the new MacFixIt site returned: 404 - PAGE NOT FOUND.
Does one laugh or cry or both?

Welcome!

I guess that answers the question that's been asked a few times (or maybe in my head): Does it pay to post links @ CNET? Answer: yes!

Welcome aboard, Paul

Enterprise Egg Without Peer Uncoils Kidnap Mixup!

I Googled this and came up dry. What does it mean?

Bless the kind soul who pointed to FineTuned from the cnet doppelganger, with the emphasis on ganger. I was pretty sure ya'll would be migrating somewhere, and that question, at least, was answered on my first and last visit. Had to laugh when I noticed their forums are powered by "Jive" software.

The worst thing about reinvented sites is the folks who are suddenly disappeared. I may be late to this party revolution, but I'm so relieved to find it. Didn't hurt to get a welcome message from (the automated) tacit, with whom I used to tangle as Judith in the early days, and as DeRerum after the Version Tracker take over, and will doubtless do so as JMH, assuming he actually has time to weigh in. Oddly enough, it was after years of posting at MFI, that I decided to go for a gender neutral screen name.

Bravo, tacit, if you're responsible for furnishing this new home! Bravo to all the fab mods who migrated with you, and hello to my old pals! I dare not name names, for fear of leaving someone out in what I will tentatively call a senior moment, but I suspect you know who you are, or will. I toss a pie in your general direction as I float up to the ceiling.

LadyJ, your pie is gratefully received (I managed to catch it straight in the middle of my face ), and thus properly adorned I welcome you among the disappeared!

PS, watch that ceiling: we haven't had time to finish every little bit yet.

Hello alternaut! You appear to be alternating between compact florescent and incandescent these days. Do I detect a certain ambivalence about switching? Delighted to see you!

Shoot, I suddenly wish I'd registered as LadyJ. MIght have saved a lot of 'splainin as I wander about. I know I'm recognizing people by their names -- except for grelber's cat, of course.

I also just found this place from a post on the new CNET forum. I'm glad I now know where everyone went. I first registered for MacFixIt Pro (TechTracker?) back in 2002. It's pretty ugly what they've done back on the old site. VersionTracker looks like it will slide downhill as well. I don't think I'll be going back there again soon unless they get all of the old content back up there for free.
I hope this new site works out well. It looks really good already. Thanks to all of you who are responsible for this. Now I need to go work on a signature and an avatar.

Finetunedmac.com is gradually garnering more results on Google.

Currently 731

Hope mine and some other posts to the CNet MacFixIt changeover announcement article will lead more people here (as it seems to).

Judith!

Welcome to our version of, um, chaoschaos. Ooooooh, I feel a word game coming on...

Well, it's a riddle bearing a superficial resemblance to a cryptic crossword clue—the devising and solving of which Paul is an expert. I say "superficial resemblance" because although I employ a couple of classic obfuscational techniques, I didn't follow the normal practice of making the clue (that is, the riddle) literally describe the meaning of the word(s) being sought. That's such a significant breach of protocol that my effort can't really be called a cryptic crossword clue at all.

All right - I've given it long enough.

Greetings to you too!

And, in honour (in New Zealand we use british spelling) of MacFixit's founder:

Ted came in fun, giggling, to new meeting place.

(a bit obvious, but not bad for 5 minutes)

Hi dk.

Word games? Me? Even if I weren't sooo out of practice, just reading the instructions for cryptic crossword clues would scare me off! I was relieved to discover that I don't appear in the archived thread though. Otherwise, I might have to start worrying about all those intervening birthdays. Hope you and Mrs. dk have had many happy returns!

The passing years do have some compensations. My wife and I now go to the movies for half price, as "Senior Citizens"!

Some misrecited memoir sonnets are sweet as roses!

Wow, Judith! How are you, Lady?

(No, that's not a word game...)

Where am i?

Seems to be a few familiar names here. Glad we all found a new home.
Who set up FTM? Thanks go to them (tacit? cyn? macmaniac? dk? alternaut?).

Good going people!!!

-HI-

Whoops, must be time to think about filling the oil tank!

It's good to see you back, um, home.

welcome back, Hal

Uh-oh ... some of these are approaching the character of The Surrealist Compliment Generator
http://www.madsci.org/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~lynn/jardin/SCG

Indeed! Did I hear some sighs of relief?

OW! I just bumped my head on the ceiling! Did you turn the GRAVITY on yet?

That must be wonderful; I have no idea what it means.

Hi crarko!

I'll know you're playing games when there is math involved! The Cyberiad appeared absolutely out of the blue last week -- do you suppose that would qualify as karma of some kind? So good to find you here too.

grelber:

Your Compliment Generator is a stitch. I'm not sure why, but the one I got seems really appropriate for FTM: "Your unexpected explosion entangles us in a web of premature umbrellas and precocious timepieces."

Maybe it's because it sounds like a dk word game.

Hi Paul. I remember you as a voice of reason. Nice to see you again.

Yeah, being an old-age-pensioner is not half bad, if it weren't for the attendant health problems. Half-price movies, free travel within the M25 and early retirement benefit from the good ol' US of A. How bad can that be?

Too much time to Lounge around, though.