- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
- Messages
- 76,013
- Reaction score
- 63,411
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Undisclosed
I do hope it is kosher to talk about another forum for this one time.
Capitol Hill Blue and its forum, the Reader Rant, went live back in 1994, which technically makes it older than large parts of what we now call the modern internet.
AOL hadn't even reached a million subscribers yet.
It is recognized by most as the oldest online political discussion forum on the internet.
It was started by Doug Thompson, who previously occupied offices near Capitol Hill as a member of a real estate lobby group.
He was also a decades long reporter before that eventually winding up at The Roanoke Times and The Alton Herald.
He has made numerous appearances on MSNBC and CNN, mostly during the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.
And on August 20, about a week from now, Doug Thompson will be pulling the plug on this labor of love.
Health and age compel him to and the layout and structure of the forum recalls a much earlier time, and yet it still managed to swell its ranks to almost seven thousand members today, and with a record
several times larger in its heyday.
I wrote to say farewell to The Rant, and it is worth noting that Debate Politics counts somewhere near a dozen Ranters, including myself.
Doug Thompson is a classy individual, and I owe him a lot.
Capitol Hill Blue and its forum, the Reader Rant, went live back in 1994, which technically makes it older than large parts of what we now call the modern internet.
AOL hadn't even reached a million subscribers yet.
It is recognized by most as the oldest online political discussion forum on the internet.
It was started by Doug Thompson, who previously occupied offices near Capitol Hill as a member of a real estate lobby group.
He was also a decades long reporter before that eventually winding up at The Roanoke Times and The Alton Herald.
He has made numerous appearances on MSNBC and CNN, mostly during the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.
And on August 20, about a week from now, Doug Thompson will be pulling the plug on this labor of love.
Health and age compel him to and the layout and structure of the forum recalls a much earlier time, and yet it still managed to swell its ranks to almost seven thousand members today, and with a record
several times larger in its heyday.
I wrote to say farewell to The Rant, and it is worth noting that Debate Politics counts somewhere near a dozen Ranters, including myself.
Doug Thompson is a classy individual, and I owe him a lot.