AS3 HISTORY

First off, this history is not complete and I do welcome corrections and additions.  I personally first found AS3 in the summer of 1996.  The group was active and vibrant then and there was a lot of posting and sharing by all.  I do remember this:  The AS3 webpage then was maintained by Barry Pekilis and the keeper of the FAQs was Ian Fraigun.  The QuitList was maintained by Lorraine DP then and other names of note were Bob Munzenider, the founder of AS3 and Liorah Golomb who originally set up the QuitList and the FAQs.  I can tell you that AS3 in 1996 was a warm supportive place although we did have a bit of trouble at times with Spam and Trolls.  But mostly we just support each other and keep the focus on gaining Smobriety.

There have been many affinity groups throughout the years and this list is just a partial listing of some of them.  The New Years Babies [of 1997] was a large group of quitters going in and there are still 2 with us today.  The Hallowe’eners of 1998 was a group of folk who quit on Hallowe’en 1998 and supported each other as well as posting to the larger group.  The Rockers kicked it off in January 2004 and there have been others other the years.

Many folk have posted over the years who are no longer with us, but are remembered by many of us.  The list is long and very incomplete, but one of our early and ardent posters was Bud Ellis whose memory has been kept alive online for years after his demise.  The list certainly includes Joyce Harrington (Kestrel), Julie Robberson (Edna Pearl) and Dawn Bryden, (Black Sheep).  They all three gave hope and inspiration in their unique way.  Meet them here. There are many others who have shared over the years and certainly need to be remembered in any updates to this History.

Over the years we have used other spaces besides AS3 to hang out in CyberSpace.  The Chat Room has gone back and forth in popularity over time.  At one time we even relied on IRC for chat!

The Group really developed more of a cyber presence when Jef. set up his website www.quitbuddies.org.  Originally it was used only to maintain the Photo Gallery and the FAQs but over time has bloomed to include photos of many AS3 real time gatherings, as well as a ton of other useful tools for getting smober and some of the best humour this side of Mercury.

There have been many real-time gatherings over the years.  From what I can determine, they started in 1997 in NYC when Mike Weyand [Smoberman then and FlatironMike now] organized several dinners that were well attended.  Wolfgang from Vienna, Austria was a early visitor to one of the NYC dinners and he still meets with folk when he is in NYC these days. But NYC is not the only place AS3 has met and the webpage at http://www.quitbuddies.org/Meetings.html will give you a much fuller history of our activities.

Overall, AS3 has been a place of Hope and Perseverance and Support and we welcome you to help us to continue into the 21st Century with this goal in mind.

-- FlatironMike  12 January, 2012