Just to give a little history on OKCTalk. OKCTalk was started on April 25th, 2004, by then owner Todd Reagor, from Edmond. Todd was a district manager for the Oklahoman, and ran a webhosting business on the side, called urljet, which he later sold. He still owns RivalHost. He created OKCTalk originally as EdmondTalk in 2002, but later changed it to OKCTalk due to OKC being a larger market. okcpulse, AKA, Chris, was one of our first members, along with Karrie D, whose husband owned an auto repair place on Main Street. I originally came to the site in May 2004. I was under a previous reincarnation of my name. I left for awhile after the change in ownership (I asked that my username be deleted), and came back and created my current username, so my current username doesn't reflect my original join date. The original moderators were myself, Keith S., Karried, and DarlingDiva (who ran "Boardroom to Bedroom", a sexual discussion forum on this site). Martin and Malibusooner (AKA Pete) were later added as additional moderators.

Many of the original posters were brought over by Todd from a previous message board which was on City Hall's website, known as Talkback. It was run by city webmaster Bruce Gilmore. The city opted not to continue their message board, and Todd created OKCTalk as a replacement. Of note, we all also participated on a forum board on the Oklahoman's website, called MAPS Forum. We later moved over to Oklahoma's Own, which was owned by Brian Bates. We then moved over to OKCTalk when Todd created it, and the site exists today. Some of the originals from the city hall site were myself, Kerry Decker (AKA JustTheFacts, from Tampa), Hot Rod (from Seattle), Keith S., Mr. Anderson, floater, metro, Luke, Laramie, and okcpulse. Steve Lackmeyer was also part of the crew. In 2002, we all formed OCART, which was a lobbying group to bring better metro transit to OKC.

Pete purchased the site in 2007. The reasons that Todd sold the site were because his heart really wasn't in it (he created it more as a side investment, and never really had a love for OKC development like the rest of us), he was losing tons of money on the site (it had little in the way of revenue streams and had hefty price tags for operation), and the offer Pete made looked pretty good in the eyes of heavy financial bleeding. Pete basically came to the site's rescue, because Todd was ready to get out and lick his financial wounds. Had Pete not purchased it, Todd likely would've shut the site down to avoid further financial losses. Since I was pretty close to Todd, I opted to step away after the sale of the site. My love for OKC ultimately led me back to the site in due time. I think I was only away for a few months, and ended up rejoining in Jan 2008. I'm not near as active as I once was. When I started here I was in college and had plenty of free time. Now I have a busy career and a family, so I'm not on here near as much as I used to be. I mainly lurk now though. I will say that the site has tremendously grown and expanded since Pete purchased it. Much praise should be given to Pete for making this site into what it is today. But it is fun to look back on and reminisce about the founding of this site.

Very cool, thanks for the extensive back story. I find these history lessons very compelling. There are so many interesting stories from the early 2000's and the rise of the Internet.

Just to give a little history on OKCTalk. OKCTalk was started on April 25th, 2004, by then owner Todd Reagor, from Edmond. Todd was a district manager for the Oklahoman, and ran a webhosting business on the side, called urljet, which he later sold. He still owns RivalHost. He created OKCTalk originally as EdmondTalk in 2002, but later changed it to OKCTalk due to OKC being a larger market. okcpulse, AKA, Chris, was one of our first members, along with Karrie D, whose husband owned an auto repair place on Main Street. I originally came to the site in May 2004. I was under a previous reincarnation of my name. I left for awhile after the change in ownership (I asked that my username be deleted), and came back and created my current username, so my current username doesn't reflect my original join date. The original moderators were myself, Keith S., Karried, and DarlingDiva (who ran "Boardroom to Bedroom", a sexual discussion forum on this site). Martin and Malibusooner (AKA Pete) were later added as additional moderators.

Many of the original posters were brought over by Todd from a previous message board which was on City Hall's website, known as Talkback. It was run by city webmaster Bruce Gilmore. The city opted not to continue their message board, and Todd created OKCTalk as a replacement. Of note, we all also participated on a forum board on the Oklahoman's website, called MAPS Forum. We later moved over to Oklahoma's Own, which was owned by Brian Bates. We then moved over to OKCTalk when Todd created it, and the site exists today. Some of the originals from the city hall site were myself, Kerry Decker (AKA JustTheFacts, from Tampa), Hot Rod (from Seattle), Keith S., Mr. Anderson, floater, metro, Luke, Laramie, and okcpulse. Steve Lackmeyer was also part of the crew. In 2002, we all formed OCART, which was a lobbying group to bring better metro transit to OKC.

Pete purchased the site in 2007. The reasons that Todd sold the site were because his heart really wasn't in it (he created it more as a side investment, and never really had a love for OKC development like the rest of us), he was losing tons of money on the site (it had little in the way of revenue streams and had hefty price tags for operation), and the offer Pete made looked pretty good in the eyes of heavy financial bleeding. Pete basically came to the site's rescue, because Todd was ready to get out and lick his financial wounds. Had Pete not purchased it, Todd likely would've shut the site down to avoid further financial losses. Since I was pretty close to Todd, I opted to step away after the sale of the site. My love for OKC ultimately led me back to the site in due time. I think I was only away for a few months, and ended up rejoining in Jan 2008. I'm not near as active as I once was. When I started here I was in college and had plenty of free time. Now I have a busy career and a family, so I'm not on here near as much as I used to be. I mainly lurk now though. I will say that the site has tremendously grown and expanded since Pete purchased it. Much praise should be given to Pete for making this site into what it is today. But it is fun to look back on and reminisce about the founding of this site.

Mr. Anderson was quite a character.

Just to give a little history on OKCTalk. OKCTalk was started on April 25th, 2004, ...
Thanks Patrick. That was very interesting. I don't even recall what led me to this site, but I'm glad its around. I don't recall my original join date. Back in 2013 something inadvertently happened with my account and it had to be recreated, but I think is was around 2006 or 2007. Some of those names (Mr. Anderson in particular) ring a bell.

Looking through some of my old posts trying to figure out when I started, I came across this. Ah, memories!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Mad_Monk/DevonTower/IMG00134.jpg
http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=19439&p=283469#post283469

I can't believe its been nearly 7 years since then! And if you haven't been through that thread, its worth a look at the progression of the Devon tower project as documented here. If you were around during that time, its a great walk down memory lane!

He was very entertaining, though.

Yes he was. Had quite a few back and forths with him when I first joined.

Mr. Anderson was quite a character.

Ehh... he was a little unhinged. I recall that he took the whole Governor Hall conviction thing a bit too seriously.

Ehh... he was a little unhinged. I recall that he took the whole Governor Hall conviction thing a bit too seriously.

I do recall that he very oddly claimed over and over to have been allowed to overhear the phone conversation of the CEO of US Airways promising that Oklahoma City would be their next hub city.

a little unhinged ..... in oklahoma ..... sounds like a tuesday to me

I was drawn to OKC Talk via Doug Dawg's History Blog. I reckon that Doug Dawg's Blog was something akin to "Networking" or whatever. In any case, OKC Talk's accuracy and entertainment value is vastly superior to other "Civil Socialization Sites" . . . Why? Because people in here share the common sense and denomination of being Nice and Civil, without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, age, experience etc. ad infinitum.
The only exception to that rule of thumb, that I can recall, was Torea from KC who had something against train whistles . . . =~)

Did someone piss off that Steve L dude who used to write for what used to be The Daily Oklahoman? Or was it the closing of Coit's that was "the final straw" . . ? The only thing I vaguely recall is that somebody's feelings got hurt . . . and that would be filed under: "Personal Problem." =~)

. . . and when did the "Like" button disappear? . . . Was it a "cost cutting" gambit? =~)

^spec. ref. KevinP. quip.

Hi, RadMod! Glad you're still around. I hadn't seen any posts from you for a long time.

Hi, RadMod! Glad you're still around. I hadn't seen any posts from you for a long time.

Likewise, I was reading a thread and saw his username and had to check the date to see if I was reading an old thread that was revived.

@Pete would you mind sharing some of your OKCTalk site analytics with us?

I am most curious about how many unique clicks per day you get and what the average time a person stays on the site is.