AFF Through The Years – A Blast From The Past

[jsd]

AFF Through The Years – A Blast From The Past

A few months ago (August, thanks to admin for clearing that up) AFF turned 12, this is a few months overdue but I was interested to see what AFF looked like back in the beginning and how it has developed over time, so here goes.

*Screenshots taken from the Web Archive are the latest update for the specified year, other changes to the site may have happened during that particular year

1998 – AFF Starts
Some of the images didn’t render properly and I’m not sure if it affected the site appearance at all but wow, then again that kind of layout/design was probably the thing back then



1999 – AFF Undergoes a Major Interface Update



2001 – AFF Undergoes Layout Changes, Logo and Theme Remain



2003 – More Layout Changes, Again Logo and Theme Remain



2004 – Introduction of the ‘What our Members Are Discussing’ on the Hompage




:!:Rest of the Years In Next Post:!:

 

[jsd]

2005 – No Major Changes, however a few more Advertisements Start to Appear



2006 – Major Interface/Layout Changes, Slight Logo Change



2008 – More features added to Homepage, introduction of the ‘AFF Arrows’ to Logo




Today – The Current AFF Homepage




Well there you have it folks, 12 years of AFF and still going strong, a big well done and thanks to admin and anyone else associated with the running of AFF

 

[Sprucegoose]

Who was around in 1998?

 

[admin]

Interesting! Thanks for putting this together jdevereux3.

For those who are interested, here is some additional info and key milestones.

The 1st version of AFF actually went live in August 1998. Back then there was no Forum/Discussion Board. The main function of the site was an "online calculator" which worked out how many points were required for various destinations with Qantas, Ansett (), and Flybuys. Believe it or not, but back in those days, you couldn't do this on the airline sites.

As an "after-thought" we added a really simple Discussion Board to the site in (about ) 1999.

The first edition of the Frequent Flyer Gazette (The Australian Frequent Flyer Gazette - February, 2000) was published in February 2000. Back then it was a monthly newsletter.

In June 2002 we replaced the simple Discussion Board with the more robust phpBB software. Unfortunately, all posting history on the old system was lost as it couldn't be loaded into the new software.

Over the following years, the Discussion Board became increasingly popular, eventually becoming the main function on the website.

In May 2006 phpBB was replaced with vBulletin (Version 3). This is commercial Discussion Board software, which at that time - and probably still - is the market leader.

In April 2010, we upgraded to vBulletin (Version 4). This provided the Content Management System, and Blog features.

The iPhone Application was introduced in May 2010.

The 1st official "Gathering" was held in August 2008.

The domain name changed to www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au in August 2010.

Over the years there have been various Design/ User Interface changes. Not all changes were popular :shock:, and many were forced upon us by the software we use.

We have changed/upgraded servers too many times to recall! Initially we used simple shared hosting, then a VPS (Virtual Private Server), then a leased dedicated server. The last major upgrade was in December 2009, when we moved to our own hardware located in a commercial Data Centre.

The initial team of 3 moderators came on board in mid 2006. There are now 5 moderators.

We only have member history from June 2002. I did a query for the 20 oldest members who are still active (ie. have logged in this month). They are admin, Lindsay Wilson, oz_mark, dajop, pleitnes, drron, infoworks, Myrna, Baysider, file51, kpc, straitman, moa999, Sprucegoose, ozstamps, GoldCoastGuy, Warks, aussiejohn, Deeruck, gaia. This screen is also useful for finding members activity over time.

Over the years AFF has grown into an active community with a friendly, welcoming, helpful and tolerant culture. It's a real part of real peoples lives. To me, this is most rewarding and I'm truly grateful to you all!

 

[Keith009]

Congrats AFF on the 12th anniv! And thank YOU admin for creating such a wonderful community that's at once informative and entertaining.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Congrats AFF on the 12th anniv! And thank YOU admin for creating such a wonderful community that's at once informative and entertaining.

+1 from me.AFF is certainly the leading internet forum for the many thousands of Australian frequent flyers,well done to admin and all the mods for their hard work,and also well done to the regular posters like QF009 without whose contributions the site would be the poorer for.

 

[Keith009]

...and also well done to the regular posters like QF009 without whose contributions the site would be the poorer for.

Ta for the compliment!

 

[Mwenenzi]

..We only have member history from June 2002. I did a query for the 20 oldest members who are still active (ie. have logged in this month). They are admin, Lindsay Wilson, oz_mark, dajop, pleitnes, drron, infoworks, Myrna, Baysider, file51, kpc, straitman, moa999, Sprucegoose, ozstamps, GoldCoastGuy, Warks, aussiejohn, Deeruck, gaia

I signed up on FT in April 2001 and remember getting a link to FT from AFF from a post by thadocata (who is still around). Seems many of the orignal posters are still active

Congrats AFF on the 12th anniv! And thank YOU admin for creating such a wonderful community that's at once informative and entertaining.

Agreed
What would we do without AFF !.

 

[Nigelinoz]

What would we do without AFF !.

Probably not spend anywhere as much time on the internet.:mrgreen:

 

[kpc]

We only have member history from June 2002. I did a query for the 20 oldest members who are still active (ie. have logged in this month). They are admin, Lindsay Wilson, oz_mark, dajop, pleitnes, drron, infoworks, Myrna, Baysider, file51, kpc, straitman, moa999, Sprucegoose, ozstamps, GoldCoastGuy, Warks, aussiejohn, Deeruck, gaia.

I was led astray by one, Lindsay Wilson. It was this thread of his that lead me here in March 2003 (and what a great promo it was too:idea:!!!):
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....wood-preferred-guest-promotion-50-a-4742.html

...and my first post on AFF on 25 March 2003: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....rred-guest-promotion-50-a-4742.html#post57721

I remember the early days; you post something, come back in 2 or 3 days, and still no one had replied to your post:shock:. What a long way we have come since...and I have met most of the senior, long-time posters here in person, and all the Moderators and admin as well to share / discuss our common love of travel, and how to get the "best bang for our buck":!:. Whenever I travel nowadays, I mainly rely on both AFF and FT for all my travel planning / enquiries:mrgreen:

 

[tuapekastar]

I'll add my thanks to admin for making this great resource and community available to us all. I was a QP member BA (Before AFF!) but knew squat about anything else.

Came here via a newspaper article in 2005 and haven't looked back.

I was going to correct admin about the date of the first AFF gathering, but he was (of course) right. We had two in one year (MEL and ADL in 2008).

Oh, and thanks to jdevereux3 for the guided tour through AFF history.

 

[Batesy]

I have to admit my stumble across AFF was a pure accident. I had joined QFF earlier that week in 2002 after moving from MEL to SYD and instead of going to the Qantas web site I typed into my browser "frequentflyer.com.au". Absolute pure accident and the rest is history. I hope I have made some valuable contributions as I know that I have learnt and benefited a great deal. Mrs Batesy calls me and the rest of us here on AFF "the nerds" but she readily admits that her travels are always more comfortable and easier due to the advice and things I have learnt here on AFF. I have made QF Plat for a while at least and travelled more comfortably than I would have had I not used the advice given and offered by all here including using lounges, getting exit rows and other better seats those sorts of things. Cheers!!
Batesy.

 

[samh004]

As an "after-thought" we added a really simple Discussion Board to the site in (about ) 1999.

We? Is it public knowledge who the founders are, or is that just a misprint

This screen is also useful for finding members activity over time.

Though it still doesn’t work for signed in Silver/Gold members

To think this place is 12! :-|

 

[Bundy Bear]

AFF Through The Years – A Blast From The Past

Thanks admin, used to read FT first but now rely on AFF for my travel fix. Also love the iPhone application.

Sent from my iPhone using AFF Mobile

 

[drron]

Congratulations Admin on 12 years and thanks Josh for the thread.
Imagining my being considered a senior member is amazing.

 

[medhead]

Wow.
I reckon I got the original points calculator site in saved bookmarks on a 3.5" floppy somewhere.

Got back here by reference from a Qantas CSR 3 years ago.

Thanks to everyone who has made AFF such a success.

 

[anat0l]

Thanks to admin for AFF.

Like some others, I found AFF by accident. I thought there had to be a group out there that likes frequent flying. Or flying on planes more rather - and not the kind where everyone is a pilot and has connections to go flying in a Cessna each weekend. I mean the kind where you go to a commercial airport and jump on an airline plane.

I mean, after all, there are people who collect stamps, collect antique cars, row in dragon boats, do base jumping.... and they probably all have their own communities. Why not frequent flying?

A Google search later revealed frequentflyer.com.au. Who would've thunk it?

As I started to read the posts, the first thing that washed over me were the numerous abbreviations. Thank goodness my resourcefulness found the abbreviations thread. Immediately, some of the abbreviations brought on a chuckle!

The first trip report I read from end to end was this one from Lindsay Wilson: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....and-trip-photos/bne-bne-hotels-b-bs-4842.html

Then I can't remember which TR I read next, but I learnt that some how it was possible to drink a bottle of champagne by one's self over the course of an entire flight without being killed. Oh wait, it wasn't just the bottle of champagne... it also was a couple of glasses of wine....... My jaw dropped.

Then I read up about what a mileage run was, i.e. flying lots of sectors in a short time. I was a changed person (for better or for worse).

Then I found people who were actually Platinums in the QFF program. I never knew anyone like that in my life before; I thought Platinums were only those who were CEOs, or had a travel budget of $10k++ per year, at least. In my world then, spending that much just on air fares was never heard of.

Then I found people who have travelled in J and F before. Before AFF, I'd only travelled J twice in my life, and F never before. Before AFF, I knew absolutely no one who had travelled in F before.

When I wrote my first TR ever, even though it was so elementary and basic, the response from the community was accepting. As an amateur amongst the experts, I thought I would get no comment, or simply condescension. How wrong I was - and how good I felt to be part of this community. This was the report: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....nd-trip-photos/bne-per-9-hours-ny07-8713.html

I found AFF before FT, but it was an FT Do (the AGM) that I met AFF members for the first time.

The rest is history (no pun intended). And I look back to the kind of flyer I was then and now....

 

[NM]

Then I read up about what a mileage run was, i.e. flying lots of sectors in a short time. I was a changed person (for better or for worse).

Then I found people who were actually Platinums in the QFF program. I never knew anyone like that in my life before; I thought Platinums were only those who were CEOs, or had a travel budget of $10k++ per year, at least. In my world then, spending that much just on air fares was never heard of.

Then I found people who have travelled in J and F before. Before AFF, I'd only travelled J twice in my life, and F never before. Before AFF, I knew absolutely no one who had travelled in F before.

Maybe Admin should start FFA (Frequent Flyers Anonymous) as an adjunct to AFF?

 

[Keith009]

Then I can't remember which TR I read next, but I learnt that some how it was possible to drink a bottle of champagne by one's self over the course of an entire flight without being killed. Oh wait, it wasn't just the bottle of champagne... it also was a couple of glasses of wine....... My jaw dropped.

Only 1 bottle...?

 

[samh004]

Maybe Admin should start FFA (Frequent Flyers Anonymous) as an adjunct to AFF?

I’m not sure I want to give up completely :shock: