I thought it might be interesting for many of our new members to hear about how our group came to be.
I joined chnlove in early October 2008. I spent a lot of time reading the official forums, but got frustrated with how slow things operated over there. Sometimes questions would not get posted, while other times, it would take a couple of days to get the question posted. By the time I would get an answer, I either had my answer, or just didn't care anymore. Out of boredom, and out of a need to try to get faster answers, I decided to start a group on
Facebook. This was sometime in November.
Getting people to join was a little slow. If I recall, I believe froseman and Joshua were the first members to join. After a short while, we were up to around 35 guys. Most I did not know, although a few names were recognized from the official forum. Most notably, was Arnold. Maxx, and China Shark.
Lots of questions were being posted in the early days, and answers were quick to come in from the other guys. But at this point, we were still just a facebook group. We did not quite see ourselves as a brotherhood yet. All of this changed, when Irishman went to China. I can't remember when he went, but it was a memorable trip for everyone in the group. This was the first time we were able to get daily updates from a member, and at the same time, offer a brother some much needed advice and support. The final ingredient in becoming The Brotherhood had been added...someone who needed help.
After Irishman's trip, our group started to grow faster. We soon realized that we were outgrowing facebook. Chong was trying to keep things organized, by creating a Library of Topics. We felt that for all new members coming in, it might be confusing to try to read through hundreds of posts, trying to research information. Some of us mods started talking about moving to another venue, when Ronan approached us about the same thing. It was obvious now that we had to move. Ronan took it upon himself to start creating the forum you currently see. With the help of Vince as our resident graphics guy, the new forum started to take shape.
In late March of 2009, we officially opened up this forum for use. As of this post, we have 163 registered users. The brotherhood is getting stronger and stronger. Sadly, we have had some friends leave us for whatever reason, but at the same time, we have gained many new friends.
So here we are...partners, brothers and friends. Welcome all.
