Many of the contributors to this forum have been around since the begining (my first year at UF).  Others have joined the VS over time and have often asked, "how did this place get to where it is today?"  In order to help those who are curious, I thought I'd try my best to summarize the history of the Virtual Swamp.

It was the mid-90's, and the Internet was booming.  Once a refuge solely for science nerds to share the latest information on star formation or the theory of evolution, sports geeks now gathered on a handful of message boards to discuss (and debate) the fortunes of their favorite team.  Gator fans followed the Orange and Blue on its way to the national championship on a message board run by the Gainesville Sun known as the GatorSports Message Board  or GSMB for short.  Although they were different then, many of the people who you now see on the VS today were regulars then.  Mud was there, although he had fewer gray hairs than he does today.  DJ was too, and he just had a few more hairs than he has today.  Albert's death clock had not yet expired, and GatorCane (posting under his first name of Steve) was just a young pup trying to impress the beautiful women of the University of Florida.

Although the year in which the VS was founded was great for the Gators, it was a dark time for its Internet faithful.  The GSMB was a lot like New Orelans, sure you enjoyed visiting, but you always felt like you needed a bath when you left.  As a group we cried out for a better place, where we could engage in civil discussions about the Gators or what we had for lunch.  In short, we declared our right to post in a place like the VS.  Fortunately for us the poster known as Mudlizard listenend, bought space on a server, and opened the VS to everyone who wished to visit.  Many came over from the GSMB and continue to post today.  Others committed Harry Derry shortly after the inception of the VS and have not been seen or heard from since.  Those who have been around since the begining have certainly experienced quite a bit.

There was the in the early years of the VS when Mud thought he had broken the VS. A board that was visited daily by thousands (if not millions) of loyal fans had not a single post on it for an entire day.  E-mails were sent by Mud to regulars asking what was going on, and we all told him that we could not post.  Mud made frantic calls to his computer savy friends to try and determine what was wrong.  If only he had checked his calendar and realized it was April 1, and he was the victim of the Great VS Post Out 

As the VS continued to grow the Gators made their first football visit to Mud's backyard in more than a decade following the 1998 season.  As an at-large team in the newly formed BCS the Gators obliterated Syracuse, champions of the Big East 31-10 in the Orange Bowl.  While the game may have lacked excitement, the party afterward at the DoubleTree was the stuff of legend.  To this day the DoubleTree holds a special place in the hearts of all who have visited the VS.

It has not always been fun and games on the VS, even for those who have been around since day one.  Controversy swirled after the Great Server Crash in which everyone posting history was lost forever.  It is rumored that SwampGas had over 3.5 million posts lost as a result of that crash, some of which were actually grammatically correct (we suspect his secretary typed those).  Nobody ever determined why the server crashed.  Some think it was belated revenge by Mud for the Great VS Post Out, yet others speculate that the whole ugly incident could have been averted had Wize checked his e-mail.

The VS has done more than just provide an outlet for people to discuss the Gators, the SEC, lunch or the latest hurricane advisory.  It has also provided a forum for a few lucky posters to lend their screen name to an action that is forever linked to them.  You can visit other message boards and say that the joke or picture that you're posting is Flea'd from elsewhere and everyone will know what you mean.  You can also accuse someone on another forum of NLMFing and everyone there will also know what you mean.  If not for the VS regular Migator, Snopes.com may have been shut down a long time ago.  And without the VS how would anyone in the world know who Cleetus loves.

As the VS nears its 10th Anniversary we all owe debt of gratitude to Mud and all of the other Admins for everything they have done to provide us with the form we have today.  Despite how much we all might disagree about the Gators, what was best for lunch, or even about politics in Lounge, I think if we were all individually asked whether the VS is a great place to spend a part of each day, we would all answer Yed.