[3deroticer]

I was looking for a date when BEA was conceptualized, It dawn on me that its been awhile.

[berkovw]

Quote:
I was looking for a date when BEA was conceptualized, It dawn on me that its been awhile.

I think it depends on what you mean by conceptualized.  The BEA has been around for a shorter time in name than in conception.  There were ftps and other sites and things out there that kind of coalesced into the BEA.  I know I first found BEA type material on Acotto's FTP site and through the mailing list of the Louvre.  Those were the BEA's early formative years, and I think they go back a little before that.

[g0ddmode]

I also recall a BEA in the form of a mailing list. And that goes waaaay back.

Heck I even remember going to MelonieCharms.com website and downloading the "boobscrush" video. That was back in 97 I think.

[turtle21]

I think BEA started within all of us, from our very first breast moment until our very last... *sniff*  

[MunchWolf]

Ok, time out ....  The BEA, and BE are two different things .... the BEA only happens to be the latest and strongest focus of the collection of people interested in BE ...

R&D was the newsletter .. and the BE Buddies was the mailing list (which is still around today .. and independant of the BEA) ...

there is also the BE-Loft, which was the IRC chatroom .. also independant of the BEA ...

-Munch "someday there won't be a BEA .. but there still will be a BE movement" Wolf

[The Warlock]

The Buddies list is still around??  Damn.

The Warlock

[Tsunami2k]

started in the late 90s' early millennium

[SHADY]

im only 20 and have been coming here since 97 or so, it was primarily the story archive ... its been a few years.

TEAM BEfAithful

[RDaneel]

If memory serves, I remember a time when BEA was soliciting donations to buy new server gear. They made it (obviously) and in return donators got months free access. Now, of course, its _the_ spot to gravitate to. Maybe one of the sysops knows the exact date (and it would be nice to see a look at the original home page). Either way it's a great site, well worth the money, and hopefully a source of pride for the owners/sysops.

Good question...

RD

[3deroticer]

if they save the original home page it would be very kewl to just look at it and pay homage to it.
It would even be nice to know what the actual first date for the BEA and make it into a national holiday and celebrate!

[mrgp]

The earliest the Wayback Machine has the BEA is April 16th, 1998.  An archive of it can be found here:  http://web.archive.org/web/19980416080102/http://www.bearchive.com/

[MaxBigfoot]

Huh, I must have found the BEA earlier than I remembered I had, because I remember that page!  

[doggo]

The R&D Contents page in that archived (Easter 1998) issue provides a clue: it is Number 39. So assuming roughly one a month, R&D must have been around in some form since at least 1995. I'd guess October 1994. There was no BEA at that time but the BEA must have been very well established by 1998.

[mrgp]

The Wayback Machine claims to have archives back to 1996.  They also say that there is currently a 6-12 month lag between crawling a site and posting it.  So figure the same lag back then (smaller internet, but slower machines) and that would place the foundation of the BEA at some point in '97.

[ninkasi]

Wow, I remember that page too.  I recall finding the BEA and Pixelust in '97, but my memory could be wrong.  14.4K modem, and lucky to hit 4800.  ACK!  that was the hard part.