February 21, 20251 yr @SirFishFan Here you go, pal.I'd like to thank @Das Texan for his assistance with this. I was unable to reach the founder for help, so our resident Texan really came in clutch. Or he lied to me and this will be full of lies.Way back in 1993, the founder and former administrator of this website created a simple page known as "Marlin Online". It was very basic but he was 11 years old at the time and the internet was still pretty new in general.Before this site was a place for message boards, it was more directed towards news and information. A forum section was added in the late 90's and I'll try to include as many screenshots as possible of that, after we cover the main website screenshots.This is how it originally looked:Yes, that was the entire first version of this website.Eventually, he progressed and purchased the domain marlinbaseball.com, before adding marlinsbaseball.com soon after. .The earliest version of MarlinsBaseball that is available on archive.org is from May 10, 2000 so that is all we can show you. There were some designs prior to this but they have been lost unfortunately.Here's how the site looked in 2000:2001 saw the site get a fresh coat of paint, but our founder used Flash for the header so it was not archived properly. I assure you all there was a header above the content and I'm told it was quite "splashy" for the time.2002 saw yet another refresh to the look of the site, as well as the first time the content was sponsored I am told.Here's a look at how things appeared in February 2003 including what appears to be a season preview from the site founder2004 brought a world championship banner to the header and some other changes2005 saw the first version of the site's more professional graphics:Following this, the site became more focused on the message boards and less on the main content. I am unable to confirm why this change was made, but @Das Texan tells me it was because the founder was a "lazy asshole slacker".So rather than post some ugly archived screenshots of forum content being basically placed into feeds for the main site, lets pivot and check out how these forums looked over the years...@Das Texan told me that the forums were also on the official Marlins website for a brief period of time. He said the founder merged this website into the official site and the MB was essentially the Marlins official forum. He said soon after MLB ditched the forum idea entirely so that came to an end and things switched back to self hosting. He does not recall the exact time period this happened.I grabbed as many screenshots as I could get but I hope this gave you all a tiny bit of information of the 30+ years of this site's existence.Sorry for the long wait @SirFishFan Thanks again to @Das Texan for the help with putting this together.
February 21, 20251 yr Lol.....I did actually find that interesting though. Thanks for working on that! I didn't realize it started as more of an "all things Marlins" sort of page with news, etc.
February 21, 20251 yr Wow! I didn’t think it would ever happen but was so surprised today to see this!Well, thanks @Admin ! I actually really do appreciate the time you took to type all this out!It was actually interesting to learn about how this site came about. I was especially surprised about the fact that this site was merged at one point with the Marlins official website. I wonder when that was. Must have been the late 90s I’m guessing. Because I do remember around ‘03-‘07 being a member of the mlb.com forums and the fan forum on the Marlins official website. But I’m guessing that was separate from MB.com.Anyways, Thanks again @Admin and @Das Texan for this! Edited February 21, 20251 yr by SirFishFan
February 21, 20251 yr Author 20 minutes ago, rmc523 said:Honestly, this post was more interesting/exciting than the Marlins’ offseasonSays it all!
February 22, 20251 yr Hey @Admin when was this site affiliated with the Stands?I enjoyed that place for a while and enjoyed their forum software at the time if I recall.Or I could be dreaming that I didnt hate it. Both are equally likely.
February 22, 20251 yr This post was recognized by Admin! Das Texan was awarded the badge 'Asshole of the Day' @Admin If any blast from the past section of the boards is brought back, the RWF should most defnitely be at the top of the list.Or the Humor zone.Maybe even the cook book, but to add in reviews of cooking devices. Which reminds me, I'm looking for the best quality cutting board and steak knives. Ok maybe not best quality, but one step below quality. I'm not Dodger rich.
February 22, 20251 yr Author I'll be bringing back "Fish of the Week" polls this season every Monday morning for the past week of games.I see the site dabbled in "Dead Fish of the Week" which appears to be for the worst performing player. I don't see a need to bring that back unless there's a demand for it?
February 22, 20251 yr This post was recognized by Admin! Das Texan was awarded the badge 'Asshole of the Day' 1 hour ago, Admin said:I'll be bringing back "Fish of the Week" polls this season every Monday morning for the past week of games.I see the site dabbled in "Dead Fish of the Week" which appears to be for the worst performing player. I don't see a need to bring that back unless there's a demand for it?Can Bruce Sherman be eligible for 'Dead Fish of the Week'?
February 24, 20251 yr On 2/22/2025 at 9:29 AM, Admin said:I'll be bringing back "Fish of the Week" polls this season every Monday morning for the past week of games.I see the site dabbled in "Dead Fish of the Week" which appears to be for the worst performing player. I don't see a need to bring that back unless there's a demand for it?Bendix and/or Bruce would win that every week.
February 24, 20251 yr Author 1 minute ago, rmc523 said:Bendix and/or Bruce would win that every week.
February 24, 20251 yr How come there's no mention of when I joined this place? That should be considered a significant milestone in history.
February 24, 20251 yr On 2/21/2025 at 11:00 AM, Admin said:the 30+ years of this site's existence.This site is older than everyone on the Marlins roster.
February 24, 20251 yr Author Just now, SilverBullet said:This site is older than everyone on the Marlins roster.
March 2, 20251 yr Interesting to see the changes in the 20+ years since I first joined. Sadly, the site has gotten better as the Marlins have gotten worse.
March 4, 20251 yr 12 hours ago, pollythewog said:How come I wasn’t mentioned?!That’s for “Chapter 2: The Members”It will cover topics such as who is Larry, The villain story arc of Das texan. The selection of the moderators and the love triangle of Admin, Polly and SonOfJack.😮
March 4, 20251 yr 45 minutes ago, SirFishFan said:That’s for “Chapter 2: The Members”It will cover topics such as who is Larry, The villain story arc of Das texan. The selection of the moderators and the love triangle of Admin, Polly and SonOfJack.😮
March 4, 20251 yr Author 2 hours ago, SirFishFan said:That’s for “Chapter 2: The Members”Sorry, you only get 1 blog request. I'm just one man.I have stories to write for the main blog that nobody will read instead.
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