# Official Intro for moi!



## TUGBrian (May 19, 2008)

It was suggested I do an official introduction and such since I am changing my name and I want to eliminate any confusion as well as explain a few things!

I am Brian Rogers....current owner of TUG.

Many of you know/knew my father Bill Rogers...the founder of TUG.  

Roughly 2 some odd years ago my father was interested in retiring officially and we began discussing me taking over this creation on a full time basis.

This of course required me to resign my job as a microsoft consultant and work full time on this.  I truly am proud to be able to take over my fathers (and many of you long timers) creation and continue to improve it for many many years to come.  My father now enjoyes his days volunteering at the local food bank and casting in random lakes around jacksonville (id call it fishing..but he never catches anything =) ) and is no longer involved with the day to day runnings of TUG.  

Before I took over originally there was a rather impressive change of pace for me going from an I.T. consultant traveling around the world...to managing such a vast timeshare website and the various responsibilities that go along with it...but I have to say I absolutely love what I do now and couldnt be happier.  I also dont miss traveling 40+ weeks a year for work either.  After many years, the inside of a hotel room always looks the same be it in Barcelona spain, or houston texas  Hence me registering the name "tug improvements!" before I officially took over to start the change in a gradual fashion...I guess I just never thought to change it after it was no longer applicable!

I have always been active in online forums and such and chose to take a different role here on the BBS vs my father who to be honest...really didnt care for the forums much at all.  It was always in his words "the only thing about TUG that ever causes problems" given the past history that caused the strict moderaton guidelines we have now.

I enjoy talking to people and getting opinions, since this site exists 100% for the timeshare community, I see no better way to find out what you all want than by interacting with you.

I just hope that you all are happy with the choices I make on bringing new ideas and features to TUG to make it a better place for all timeshare owners!

and as always...any comments (both good and bad...trust me ive heard it all  ) are always welcome via pm or email!

That said...if there is anything you dont like...I am going to blame it on my father since he isnt around anymore...and anything you do like...im going to take all the credit for :rofl: 

Sorry I didnt post something like this sooner...but better late than never! =)

-Brian


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## jesuis1837 (May 19, 2008)

Thank you Brian for that introduction. I'm sure your father is having a good laugh too!  I cant tell how much great info i found on this forum about TS and i'm so glad to be part of it! Thanks for everything and keep up the good work!


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## Dori (May 19, 2008)

Thanks, Brian.  I do enjoy being a member of this wonderful timeshare community.  I have gained so much knowledge and pleasure from reading the boards, and meeting many TUGgers in person. They  truly are a great bunch of people (and of course i am including you in "the bunch")!

Thank you Brian and also thanks to your dad, for enabling us all to be members of this very special "club".

Regards, 

Dori


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## pjrose (May 19, 2008)

Our TUG membership has been the best money we've ever spent!
It's already a great site.  Thanks so much for keeping it great and working on improvements.


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## GrayFal (May 19, 2008)

Well Brian, Welcome to TUG  

:hysterical: 

Glad u decided to stick around - does this mean your post count has to go down to "1"?
(remember how traumatized we all were when we had to 're-register' in '05?)

I enjoy your hands on approach and daily postings and participation on the boards.


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## AwayWeGo (May 19, 2008)

*MicroSoft, Shmye-Kro-Soft.*




TUGBrian said:


> This of course required me to resign my job as a microsoft consultant and work full time on this.


MicroSoft ? 

_Whoa !_ 

I hope you won't take it as a sign of disloyalty that today is the day this Windows computer is being replaced by a Mac-Mini. 

Goodbye Windows. 

Hello OS-10. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## DaveNV (May 19, 2008)

Brian, glad you've finally made a name for yourself.  After such an auspicious beginning, you should be very proud of your accomplishments here.  And I'm sure I join many others when I blame my entire TS addiction on this website.  It's all your fault.

And I couldn't be happier.  :hysterical: 

Dave


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## falmouth3 (May 19, 2008)

Thanks for everything you do, Brian.  I love it here.

Sue


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## roadsister (May 19, 2008)

Thanks for carrying on the site.  My friends think I am the smartest person alive dealing with timeshares and I owe it to TUG!


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## SDKath (May 19, 2008)

Thanks for the post. 

Can I ask you or someone here to write a brief "history" of this site?  I really enjoyed the glimpse of how TUG came about and your dad's successes.

I would love to read a little synopsis of how TUG came to be.  Anyone up for this task?

Katherine


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## DeniseM (May 20, 2008)

Kath - Have you seen this?  It has some history:  http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?p=205#post205


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## TUGBrian (May 20, 2008)

this was written by my father who knows how long ago...its on the "about tug" page...is this what you meant?



> Why was TUG formed?
> 
> Hi, I'm Bill Rogers. I initiated TUG because my wife and I traded our very nice (Gold Crown & 5 Star rating) resort for what can only be described as a run-down converted motel. To say that we were upset, is to put it mildly.
> 
> ...


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## TUGBrian (May 20, 2008)

and thank you for all the kind words =)


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## bobcat (May 20, 2008)

TUGBrian said:


> and thank you for all the kind words =)



Brian, good luck. Thanks for what you do. You are going to have to change you sign on to, TUGGER TWO. Your Dad was number one.


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## TUGBrian (May 20, 2008)

Just one thing to note...TUG started as a collaboration of timeshare owners who all wanted to start something like this.  Without those original owners and volunteers and participants to get TUG off the ground...it wouldnt exist.

So while my father combined everything and turned it into what it is today...without those original members and their years of thankless volunteer service TUG probably wouldnt exist!

I am sorry to say that I dont know of them all...but I do know a few (as do most of you)

Most of them if not all are labeled as "TUG Lifetime Members" here...so this thanks belongs to them as well!


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## topdog (May 20, 2008)

*Thank you Brian*

This is a great bulletin board and I along with everyone here appreciates your service.  

Jim


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## Born2Travel (May 20, 2008)

topdog said:


> This is a great bulletin board and I along with everyone here appreciates your service.
> 
> Jim


 
*Me too - Thank you Brian!!*


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## Fern Modena (May 20, 2008)

Brian,
What you've quoted is more about TUG's BBS than the original start of TUG.  Originally there was a group of people who "talked timeshare" on a service called Prodigy.  Many of them are here now.  Your father was one of them.  One of the things we did was write up reviews of places we'd been, to share.  A gentleman named Will Short (who I've lost track of), who was a computer wiz, archived them.  Your father decided that they could be shared and put to good use online, so he started TUG mainly as a dialup telnet service where you could get reviews.  There was even a paper newsletter or two if I remember correctly.

Later on Prodigy's bulletin board service was discontinued.  Bill and I had been in touch, and he wanted to know if I wanted to start such a thing on TUG.  By then he had the website, but no bulletin board.  He knew Laurence Chan, and that Laurence would most likely be able to do the coding.  I met Laurence, discussed it with him and he agreed.  Thus TUG's Bulletin Boards were born.  In the earliest years John Cummings and I were the moderators, and then Ron Donze and Doug (Makaiguy).  

Here's some of TUG from 1997.  You can actually click on some of the boards and see how different it was then.

Anybody want to help me fill in some more of the blanks?

Fern



TUGBrian said:


> Just one thing to note...TUG started as a collaboration of timeshare owners who all wanted to start something like this.  Without those original owners and volunteers and participants to get TUG off the ground...it wouldnt exist.


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## TUGBrian (May 20, 2008)

Thank you for that Fern...Id always known you were one of the founders as well...but I couldnt remember all of the details of how all this started in the beginning.


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## Passepartout (May 20, 2008)

Fern Modena said:


> Later on Prodigy's bulletin board service was discontinued.  Bill and I had been in touch, and he wanted to know if I wanted to start such a thing on TUG.   Thus TUG's Bulletin Boards were born.  In the earliest years John Cummings and I were the moderators, and then Ron Donze and Doug (Makaiguy).
> 
> Here's some of TUG from 1997.  You can actually click on some of the boards and see how different it was then.
> 
> ...



I have been wracking what little is left of my brain to come up with a time-frame. It isn't happening, but here's what I remember. I had been a member of Prodigy service from about 1991 or so until they stopped supporting MS-DOS. I had a 8088 PC and DOS was the best it could do. It's likely that I joined TUG sometime between 1994-96. I did not own a TS, but was doing research on it- TS seemed like the type of thing I might be interested in. What I don't remember is when I joined TUG. I paid my $15, mailed to Bill, but when the subscription ran out, I never renewed. I remember getting e-mails with nice reminders, and even updated passwords. 

Anyway, Thanks, Brian for taking over. The community here seems like family, and TUG is a very comfortable 'place' to be. This is due to the rules of conduct and the commitment of the moderators to keep the discussions civil. 

Best wishes to TUG and many many more years of success

Jim Ricks


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## icydog (May 21, 2008)

Fern Modena said:


> Brian,
> 1997.  You can actually click on some of the boards and see how different it was then.
> 
> Anybody want to help me fill in some more of the blanks?
> ...



Very interesting. I loved seeing the evolution of the tug website to what it is today. I guess the software got a lot better as well. 

Nice to meet you Brian. Hang around awhile and you may learn a thing or two!:ignore: 
(that was the advice I got when I first showed up on tug) 

NO kidding Brian, thanks for all your work on our behalf.


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## Fern Modena (May 21, 2008)

The software we use now is light years better.  Doug (Makaiguy) is responsible for bringing us into the 21st Century.  There's a lot of customizing done to make the boards work well.

Fern



icydog said:


> Very interesting. I loved seeing the evolution of the tug website to what it is today. I guess the software got a lot better as well.
> 
> Nice to meet you Brian. Hang around awhile and you may learn a thing or two!:ignore:
> (that was the advice I got when I first showed up on tug)
> ...


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## TUGBrian (May 21, 2008)

yessir...i can take no credit at all for the forums current level of function....thats all Makai Guy and Dave M and their hard work!


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## bookworm (May 21, 2008)

This is such great historic information. I am truly thankful for TUG. A few years ago, I heard some positive things about timeshares from a friend. I was curious and I did an online search. TUG came up and I proceeded to learn all I could. We made our first tentative purchase for $200 through a TUG classified ad (later sold it for $1500 - who knew? Learned how to do this here too.) We have had wonderful vacations that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Plus, I now have a hobby (my DH always said I needed one ). 

Thanks, Brian and others, for keeping TUG a collaborative community that is not about selling something, but about providing good information and creating a timesharing community.


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