# TUG celebrates 21 years this month (October 2014)!



## TUGBrian

21 years ago this month my father and a group of other Timeshare Owners began to organize what was originally a Prodigy Bulletin Board System (where TUGBBS came from) composed of a handful of Timeshare owners discussion resorts and Timesharing, into what we now call TUG.

side note: TUG was/is actually one of the very first commercial sites on the Internet! not sure how many of you remember back to 1993, but the internet wasnt nearly as popular as it is now. The TUG website is older than these companies that may surprise you!:

Google - 1998
Mozilla (company that designed firefox browser) - 2002
Internet Explorer didnt even come out until 1995!!
RCI.com (while the company was founded in the 70s, they didnt create a website till 1998)
Intervalworld.com - (founded in 70s, website in 98)
ARDA - (founded in 70s, website in 96)


in fact, id be willing to bet that TUG was the very first website relating to timeshares period.


Over the last twenty+ years, TUG has helped tens of thousands of timeshare owners, many to this day remain to pass on the gift of knowledge they likely received themselves many moons ago through the various websites and TUGBBS forum installations we have had over the years.

Many Millions of dollars worth of Timeshares sold and rented by TUGGERS.
Many Millions of dollars worth of money saved just from folks finding TUG in time to discover the resale market.

More than that though is the unimaginable value of information passed on and learned year after year through nothing more than Timeshare owners helping each other understand and best use this product that comes with no instruction manual. I have even heard in the past TUG is the "handbook" for Timeshares, and believe it to be true to this day.

Happy Birthday TUG, and everyone who had a part in making this community what it is today over the past 21 years has my (and likely every timeshare owner whos come across tug looking for help) eternal gratitude.


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## rhonda

Happy Birthday/Anniversary, TUG!  Thanks to your founders and dedicated Mods for creating the continuity, the community and the greatly helpful information.


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## Sandy VDH

I think I am on the 3rd version of the TUG board now. At least I think it is 3.   I have been here since 1998.  So you were about 5 at the time.  I already owned 2 timeshares, and purchased a third but rescinded.  Thanks to discovering TUG.

I have not purchased retail and only resales since, with an exception. I have purchased only my Tradewinds Cruise Club retail since then.  It is my kind of trip, I could not work around the 1 in 4 year rule.  So I had to purchase, sadly. 

Happy birthday, finally able to drink now that your turning 21.


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## SueDonJ

Happy Birthday!


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## Fern Modena

*Some History*

 I was here! I was on Prodigy, and when Bill (Rogers) wanted to start a BBS (we had talked about it), I met with Laurence Chan to discuss it. Laurence was the one who then developed the first BBS. I was the first BBS Manager, and John Cummings helped me.

Mark Perry was around then, too, and if Doug W (Makaiguy)wasn't then, he was shortly afterwards.

I remember going to lunch a few times down in San Jose with Mark, Paul Troutman, John C., and (somebody else, who?). It was the beginning of the NorCal TUGgers lunches.

Can't keep track of everybody. How many of you were here at the beginning?

Fern


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## 1Kflyerguy

Happy Birthday TUG!!  

While i am relatively new to TUG, i remember some other old Prodigy BBS sites.

TUG has been a great way to learn about timeshares!

Chris


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## pedro47

Happy Birthday Tug.


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## Magic1962

from one of the newer Tug members.... Happy Birthday... A day doesn't go by without some time on Tug..... Dave:whoopie::whoopie:


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## jackio

Happy birthday TUG - you are legal now.
I joined in 1997 and still check in at least once a day.  I have received so much valuable information here.


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## icydog

Happy Birthday Tug! Happy Birthday To You!


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## taffy19

Fern Modena said:


> I was here! I was on Prodigy, and when Bill (Rogers) wanted to start a BBS (we had talked about it), I met with Laurence Chan to discuss it. Laurence was the one who then developed the first BBS. I was the first BBS Manager, and John Cummings helped me.
> 
> Mark Perry was around then, too, and if Doug W (Makaiguy)wasn't then, he was shortly afterwards.
> 
> I remember going to lunch a few times down in San Jose with Mark, Paul Troutman, John C., and (somebody else, who?). It was the beginning of the NorCal TUGgers lunches.
> 
> Can't keep track of everybody. How many of you were here at the beginning?
> 
> Fern


I was on Prodigy too but then stopped reading it for a few years but came back after we bought in Mexico.

Didn't we use to have get-togethers online?  I forgot what they were called but I remember that they were on Sundays.  It was fun.

I also did a TUG cruise once to Alaska in 2006 and still have a link to the official picture of the group on Smugmug.  I can send it to you, if you lost your photo.

Happy Birthday TUG and I wish you many more.  It is a great BBS with many helpful members.


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## susieq

rhonda said:


> Happy Birthday/Anniversary, TUG!  Thanks to your founders and dedicated Mods for creating the continuity, the community and the greatly helpful information.



What she said!!  Not a day goes by without checking TUG, at least once, and learning something new. Thank you to all contributors for sharing your knowledge and experience! And thank you TUG for bringing us all together!! :whoopie:


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## kjsgrammy

*Happy Birthday TUG!*

I also need my daily "fix" of TUG!  Thanks to all for their input, maintenance, etc. of this wonderful site!!!


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## travs2

*Anniversary*

Hi there:

Happy Anniversary TUG!  Thanks for all the advise and interesting tips and informative advise.


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## theo

*Belated thanks, congratulations and kudos...*

I am a bit late to the party in doing so, for which I apologize, but I'd like to add my own (sadly, never brief ) words of congratulations and heartfelt thanks!

The timeshare industry is, unfortunately, widely (and deservedly) known for being a world of lies, distortions and gross misrepresentations, largely due to deceitful developer sales personnel who will say virtually *anything* to make a overpriced sale and a commission. Most are just hungry predators seeking out some easy prey.

TUG, on the other hand, is actually one of only a *very* few places existing on Planet Earth where truthful and objective factual information and experience regarding timeshares can be found  --- then studied and digested and processed at the reader's leisure in the comfort of their own surroundings, *without* the pressure cooker atmosphere and endless oral drivel and nonsense spouted forth by boisterous, lying sales weasels advancing their own financial-gain-motivated agenda. 

I am very grateful for TUG's existence. I enjoy (...most of) this community and I am always glad and grateful to learn from others. I hope that my own small contributions to the discussion forums are of at least occasional help to others who visit here for objective information, insights and experience on the topic of timeshares. 
As has (...albeit maybe too often) been said, "It takes a village."

Well done, Bill and now Brian Rogers and TUGGERS! Keep up the good work! Thanks too to the moderators who donate their time and computer skills to maintain TUG web site functionality and discussion forum civility --- and ferret out (...and then boot out)  the occasional spammers and scammers and shills. Kudos to *all* of you. 
Collectively, you have made (and continue to make) TUG a truly *great* resource of which all of you can and should be very proud.


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## LLW

Happy Birthday, TUG! The name "....User's Group" tells of the times when TUG was born - there were a lot of "User's Groups" back then. But I think there is not many, if any, of those left now. It's an indication of the need for an impartial, cutting edge point of view regarding many timeshare-related issues. I don't know how it was decided to be an User's Group instead of an Owner's Group, but that discussion must have been interesting. 

I joined in 2002, and even then, I had not been a user of the Internet. TUG was actually one of the first uses for me. It was my timeshare ownership that brought me to the Worldwide Web! I remember in the mid-1990s we were still debating at the regional utility company where I worked about the need for a web site for  the company.  With technology the way it is right now (smartphones,  WhatsApp, etc.), I think I am once again behind.  

Happy Birthday to TUG, a pioneer!


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## Laurie

Happy 21!

I'm a newcomer, didn't join until 1996 or '97!  I found it using some search engine like altavista or lycos, something like that.  

We had fallen for a developer purchase (Fairfield points) where after hooking me with that RCI wish book, they assured us that values and resale prices only went up, like regular real estate.  I don't think I had ever searched for anything on the internet before this, but I was nervous and skeptical about this big investment, and that specific claim. So that night, I learned about search engines, and actually found ONE reseller online, who was selling Fairfield points at half of the amount we had just signed up for. He had a phone number listed, so I called him and confirmed this was true - in time to rescind. Whew. 

In those same searches, I found TUG, and also Fern's timeshare resource website. 

We decided to find something cheaper on the resale market to test the timesharing concept, and in 1997, made our first purchase for $500 instead of 20x that. We traded 2 years worth of this 1 timeshare into 2 2-BR gold crown resorts in Spain in 1998, plus got a bonus week, on the far-off island of Lanzarote (had never heard of that before, but I was like a kid in a candy store of discovery). It was the trip of a lifetime - the first of about 30 or 40 trips of a lifetime we have taken since. How lucky are we??

So thank you to all the pioneers, affordable timesharing has been truly life-changing.


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## Dori

I started  out with Fern's "Timeshare Guru" and then jumped in on the ground floor of TUG. Fern's Café was one of my very favourite daily stops!

Happy Birthday!   

Dori


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## pittle

I cannot remember exactly when I joined, but had been a member for a while before we all had to change to the new BBS in June 2005.  I also found TUG from Fern's Timeshare Guru.  We bought our first timeshare in April 2001 - Imperial Hawaii - and Fern was also an owner there at the time and I found her when searching for Timeshares and Imperial Hawaii. 

I check TUG first thing each morning and several times each day.  I have learned so much from it and found friends.  We have met a lot of TUGGER's while on vacation.  I just met Pam in person last week!  What a joy to meet her!!


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