- Joined
- Jun 10, 2005
- Messages
- 89
- Reaction score
- 54
- Points
- 328
- Location
- Seattle WA USA
- Resorts Owned
- WorldMark since 1998 - Stayed at WM 61 resorts so far, but slowing down
I joined in 1999. I first found the site in July 1999 when we were staying at the Marriott in Kauai, and we sat through our first timeshare sales presentation, and signed up to buy 2 one-bedroom units. That evening I took out my laptop computer, hooked up to the phone in the room, and went on line to do research.
In reviewing the history, we need to also give a shout-out to the late Fern Modena. She played a big role in getting the BBS part of TUG going, along with Doug Wilson and some others. The orginal BBS software code was written by a TUG member - commercial software for BBS didn't exist at the time. Bill Rogers, Brian's Dad, then focused on getting the other parts of the site, particularly resort reviews and Help Topics put together.
If I recall correctly the stories from those days, the impetus for Bill to put together what became TUG happened after having made a trade into a resort that was in poor condition. So Bill's vision was to create a place where timeshare owners could post and share resort reviews, so that people would be better informed when making trades. So he fell naturally to that side of the site. Then somehow Fern got connected, and I think she had been hosting AOL chats for timeshare owners, and became the genesis of the bulletin board.
In 1999 when I joined there were still weekly Sunday evening chats going on that were hosted by Fern.
Thanks for remembering Fern Modena, a positive force benefiting all members with her insight and knowledge. Thanks, too, to Bill for getting TUG going and Brian for continuing in his dad's footsteps. TUG continues to be the best source for anything regarding Timeshares.