I got sent to Disney once on the Garden Party Forum. I was using some words common to the horticultural trade but also used in a totally different context in slang jargon. It happened so quick........I laughed to find myself there. There were certain trigger words he evidently wrote into the program. It didn't necessarily happen when you tried to log on, it happened instantaneously mid-sentence as you were posting too.

Calliope, I didn't realize it could happen that fast. That is so funny. You don't seem like a rabble-rouser and I would never have guessed you were one of the Disney Kids!

Kate

That is too funny! Do you think he could arrange for a "Real" trip to Disney???
Sue

Oh, sure, and usually it was because of words with a double meaning. Spike was a gardener and one of the reasons he sold the site was so he could get back to playing in the soil.

SharonG/FL

Yes, I was sent there briefly but pleaded my case and was reinstated. I have a friend that was permanently banned twice! She was banned under one name, came back under another and got banned again. She was 84 at the time.

I miss Spike!

Rebecca

I miss Spike too!

Spike was cool!

Back in the days of the annual get-together I got a chance to meet Spike and his lady, in person. They showed up for the whing-ding and traveled like most of the rest of us to the Chicago area for the event. He was a good webmaster, and a nice guy. He was extraordinarily fair in his proctoring of the activities on the site, and Lordy, he had the patience of Job.

Annual get-togethers in Chicago?!? That's definitely before my time on the forum. We've had several Florida gatherings for plant exchanges, but I don't remember Spike doing a national one. I'm sorry I missed that!

Everyone speaks of Spike in the past tense, did he pass away or just get tired of all the quilters? Jayne

Spike started and ran GardenWeb, then sold it to iVillage.

He sold the website to I-Village, the way I understand it. I can see why a site grown this large would be a tremendous undertaking for one webmaster. It certainly has stood the test of time. Literally back when I first started coming to Garden Web, one could read every forum in less than an hour.

I can't remember what year that was, but the MAJORITY of the forums now didn't exist then. New ones were added at user's request if it were thought enough users would frequent it. I remember pushing for the Professional Gardener forum and also suggesting the Master Gardener forum so they'd have a sight of their own not affiliated with the pros, since they aren't.

I don't think Spike was the one who did the tremendous amount of work it took to garner an annual get-together where users from just everywhere met. It was the brain-child of a small group of great gals in the Chicago area who did all the orchestrating involved. Why Illinois? Centrally located. There were folks there from as far away as California and the Eastern seaboard. Most of them were from the Garden Party forum but with a lot fewer forums, of course that meant any one of them from any forum was welcome and showed up.

I remember the last few years Spike ran it we had to pay $15 a year for some forums. We could read them but not post if we didn't pay.

I paid my $15 in those days, but don't remember that you couldn't post without it. Maybe I wasn't on one of those forums. What it did get me was an ad-free site and that was pretty neat.

I remember the last few years Spike ran it we had to pay $15 a year for some forums. We could read them but not post if we didn't pay.

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I remember that too and we didn't have any ads either