# TUG Turns 28 this month!



## TUGBrian (Oct 16, 2021)

28 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.

TUG was/is actually one of the very first commercial sites on the Internet and the very first website period relating to Timeshares! 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 any other Timeshare related website (and the vast majority of all websites period!)


Over the last Twenty Seven 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.

With Millions of dollars worth of Timeshares sold and rented by TUGGERS, nearly $53 million!!!

On top of that, millions more dollars worth of money saved just from folks finding TUG in time to discover the resale market.... currently over 17 million recorded in just this version of the forum!

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.

This community is truly one of a Kind, providing Timeshare owners a place they can truly get help and advice without having to worry about being scammed or ripped off!


other minor historical events that ALSO happened in 1993!

Politics: Apartheid finally ended in South Africa.
The Top Song was Dreamlover by Mariah Carey
The Big Movies included Jurassic Park, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Fugitive
Price of Bayer Aspirin in 1993: $3.84/100
Sony (radio) Walkman: $29.98
The World Population was ~ 5,477,000,000
US Life Expectancy: Males: 72.2 years, Females: 78.8 years
The Pentium Processer was invented in 1993.
The 1993 VHS release of Aladdin sold 10.6 million copies in its first week.
Toronto won the world series
Dallas won the Superbowl
Florida State won the National Title in Football beating Nebraska
Pete Sampras / Steffie Graf won Wimbledon
In 1993, total Internet traffic amounted to approximately 100 TB for the year. As of June 2008, Cisco Systems estimated Internet traffic at 160 TB/s. In other words, the amount of Internet used per second in 2008 exceeded all of the Internet used in 1993.


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## Passepartout (Oct 16, 2021)

You're making me feel old, Brian. I was one of those people who actually PAID your dad to become a member of that Prodigy BBS. I didn't own a TS, and was just researching resales. I didn't re-up when life took one of it's twists. Then a few years later, the TS bug bit again and I found my first resale week in Sedona that was in RCI Points for sale through Holiday Timeshare Resales. I still own that week.

Jim


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## pedro47 (Oct 16, 2021)

Passepartout said:


> You're making me feel old, Brian. I was one of those people who actually PAID your dad to become a member of that Prodigy BBS. I didn't own a TS, and was just researching resales. I didn't re-up when life took one of it's twists. Then a few years later, the TS bug bit again and I found my first resale week in Sedona that was in RCI Points for sale through Holiday Timeshare Resales. I still own that week.
> 
> Jim


That was a little unknown TUG History Fact. Passepartout you are NOT OLD; you are liked a TUG REVIEW EXPERT WITH TRUE TIMESHARE KNOWLEDGE. IMHO.Thanks you for all your posts and threads topic.


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## Passepartout (Oct 16, 2021)

pedro47 said:


> That was a little unknown TUG History Fact. Passepartout you are NOT OLD; you are liked a TUG REVIEW EXPERT WITH TRUE TIMESHARE KNOWLEDGE. IMHO.


Thanks, Pedro47. I know some of your secrets too. Like '47 was a good year.


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## Sandy VDH (Oct 16, 2021)

I missed the first 3 years, but I have been a member since 1997.  I remember the trip that prompted discovering TUG and rescinding on the Sunterra (thank goodness) in Sedona.  Love Sedona, so happy about not being in Sunterra. 

Oddly enough I own Hilton, Wyndham and Holiday Inn point systems, but I never initially purchased any of these, they all bought up the smaller timeshares I had purchased resale and then became the big players they are today.


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## susieq (Oct 17, 2021)

Happy Birthday TUG!!! And thanks for all you do and share!


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## KimmieM (Oct 17, 2021)

TUGBrian said:


> 28 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.
> 
> TUG was/is actually one of the very first commercial sites on the Internet and the very first website period relating to Timeshares! 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 any other Timeshare related website (and the vast majority of all websites period!)
> 
> ...


One important fact you left out.  What was the average cost of a timeshare in 1993?


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## silentg (Oct 17, 2021)

I was in original TUG too. I took a few years off, then came back in mid 90’s. I had a timeshare since 1981 one week only for a long time. After coming back on TUG I got into the resale purchasing with the guidance of many original TUG members. Congratulations on 28 years! Best timeshare site !
Silentg


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## dioxide45 (Oct 17, 2021)

Happy birthday to TUG!



TUGBrian said:


> TUG was/is actually one of the very first commercial sites on the Internet and the very first website period relating to Timeshares! not sure how many of you remember back to 1993, but the internet wasn't nearly as popular as it is now. The TUG website is older than any other Timeshare related website (and the vast majority of all websites period!)


That long ago and still TUG.com was taken already? what is the reasoning behind the current domain name of TUG2.net?


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## pedro47 (Oct 17, 2021)

Happy Birthday to TUG. Wishing you many, many more birthdays.


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## TUGBrian (Oct 17, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> Happy birthday to TUG!
> 
> 
> That long ago and still TUG.com was taken already? what is the reasoning behind the current domain name of TUG2.net?



same gentleman still owns tug.com...its a site for kites!

I am pretty sure I send an email to the owner every year offering to buy the domain and host his site for free forever...but the offer is always declined or goes unanswered.


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## slip (Oct 17, 2021)

Happy Anniversary TUG. My favorite website.


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## dioxide45 (Oct 17, 2021)

TUGBrian said:


> same gentleman still owns tug.com...its a site for kites!
> 
> I am pretty sure I send an email to the owner every year offering to buy the domain and host his site for free forever...but the offer is always declined or goes unanswered.


Has anyone tried selling you timeshareusersgroup.com? I see it is just a parked domain that was registered in 2002. They would really only have one target buyer, so not sure why they continue to renew it year after year.


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## zentraveler (Oct 17, 2021)

Wow I remember Prodigy and the wine tasting bbs I was on after moving to San Francisco. It would take another 10 years to buy a TS and more to find TUG. Thank you Brian for pulling all of us and this incredible amount of knowledge together.


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## amycurl (Oct 17, 2021)

Brian, I would highly recommend the tv show Halt and Catch Fire, a fictionalized series about the early days of computing and the web. Originally on AMC, I think it’s still on Netflix. As someone whose spouse got his first web job in 1996, I think you’ll like it as much as we did.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## pedro47 (Oct 18, 2021)

TUGBrian said:


> same gentleman still owns tug.com...its a site for kites!
> 
> I am pretty sure I send an email to the owner every year offering to buy the domain and host his site for free forever...but the offer is always declined or goes unanswered.


Good luck and never stop trying, that gentleman may cave in one day. This is another unknown history fact about this website name.


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## nerodog (Oct 18, 2021)

Congrats and Happy Birthday  TUG!! I have enjoyed  and learned  so much from all the contributors.  Great dialogues, questions, categories...its really the Go to site for ant timeshare owners. I'm so glad I was told about it. I looked it up and never looked back. It's become part of my routine for trip/ts planning.   To many years ahead.


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## MrockStar (Oct 18, 2021)

Congrats  Brian, well done.


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## TUGBrian (Oct 18, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> Has anyone tried selling you timeshareusersgroup.com? I see it is just a parked domain that was registered in 2002. They would really only have one target buyer, so not sure why they continue to renew it year after year.


id guess its a competitor tbh...  cant really do anything with it due to the name etc other than keep us from having it.


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## TUGBrian (Oct 18, 2021)

amycurl said:


> Brian, I would highly recommend the tv show Halt and Catch Fire, a fictionalized series about the early days of computing and the web. Originally on AMC, I think it’s still on Netflix. As someone whose spouse got his first web job in 1996, I think you’ll like it as much as we did.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk



I actually graduated FSU in 1997 and my first job was with America online in reston virginia!  never in a million years thought id end up in IT at the time, I did NOT enjoy the computer science track at FSU although it probably takes a special soul to enjoy learning C at 18!


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## pedro47 (Oct 18, 2021)

C = Cobal was strange LOL


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