TUG turns 27 this month!

[overthehill]

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.

 

[Arusso]

27 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, over 48 million in the past few years alone!

On top of that, literally millions of dollars worth of money saved just from folks finding TUG in time to discover the resale market.... over 15 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 Wimbleton
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.

The Happiest of Birthdays to TUG !!!! This forum would not have been possible had it not been for the incredible foresight and vision of Brian Rodgers, Sr. who foresaw a need for current TS owners (and others) to share and exchange information about an an obscure industry and the products - without commercialization or monetizing any of it. At the time of TUGBBS's birth, there was essentially no easily obtainable information for non-insiders and consumers to garner any relevant information. We were sitting ducks for an industry that sold products for which the average consumer could verify any of the claims made by aggressive sales tactics and that had very weak or non-existent consumer protection laws. TUGBBS allowed some very savvy and generous consumer pioneers to share their learned-wisdom with the rest of us. Some of these remarkable people have regrettably passes but TUG continues on its mission. It developed into the relevant platform - likely the most relevant one. Thank you Brian for linking all of us together and allowing our personal experiences and allow experts among us to let us know what the industry does not want us to know.

 

[Arusso]

....sorry, Brian, I meant to write your late dad, Bill.....

 

[TUGBrian]

Hes still alive, just no longer involved in TUG and enjoying his retirement...currently at the wyndham clearwater actually!

 

[tropical1]

Happy Birthday TUG!!
I have learned so much here and continue to learn more all the time.

 

[KDaley]

Happy Birthday!!!!

 

[LMD]

I was in my early 20’s when I found TUG...twenty years later I can say this has been one of the most useful web sites! I have done way more traveling then most of my friends and saved tons of money along the way!

 

[WEW]

My first encounter with TUG was back in 1994 (?) at St. James Place in Beaver Creek, Colorado. We were staying in our fixed week in September, celebrating our anniversary. Judy, my wife, was on the HOA BoD. We met Bill Rogers, who was there to present the resort with a "Top Ten" certificate, based on members reviews. We joined TUG shortly afterwards. Congratulations for such high quality content and endurance!

 

[tonyg]

Too bad the date joined doesn't show those who were here before that June,2005 date. There sure are a lot of the old crew that are no longer with us - tho several have posted in this topic.

 

[Arusso]

27 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, over 48 million in the past few years alone!

On top of that, literally millions of dollars worth of money saved just from folks finding TUG in time to discover the resale market.... over 15 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 Wimbleton
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.

It's hard to believe that TUG has been around for 27 years. Come to think of it, It is likely that most of us discovered TUG quite by accident after purchasing a TS product. In fact, I can't clearly even recall the events that led me to read Fern Modena's informational messages. Yeah - the dial-up bulletin board on Prodigy was quite an experience! back then in the mid-90s very few non-insiders knew anything about how time-sharing worked and there was very little in the way of non-industry information available. Yet, everyone had a personal experience - and an accompanying story regarding sales, ownership, exchanging etc. but there was no easy forum to share this information and to get objective advice.

Tug made it possible more than any other source because it is peer-to-peer forum. In fact, I might describe it as an information orgy! There is almost too much information to absorb on certain topics - all of which was made possible by the wisdom Brian Rogers Sr. I might even say that this forum is more useful than virtually every other social media platform because the information garnered by the average person can save you real money. But that's my opinion.

And to the younger Brian, kudos to you for making sure the discussions stay focused and that the site is free from self-serving commercialism.

And a special thanks to all my fellow TUGGERS who share knowledge openly and without reservation with people they don't even know. This, my friends, is at the core of this community because it set a value for itself.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy Holiday season to all. Staying safe is not an aspiration it is absolutely required.

 

[Makai Guy]

Point of clarification: Brian Rogers' Dad is Bill Rogers, not Brian Sr.