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Post by Lindsey on Jul 1, 2007 15:06:18 GMT -5
After the question of "who is ApoloKitty?" on the he's got legs thread arose, I thought we might have a history of Apolo on the Internet thread. I'll probably end up reminiscing, but it might be interesting to some, and I'm sure others can recall the former days, too!  I remember during the 2002 Olympics, I logged onto the internet (I'd just started making really low-quality fanpages at that point!) and found ONE site about Apolo, if you want to call it that, even. It was a message board on Yahoo, run by Jerzee. (I wonder if that board is still around.) One site for Apolo? I thought that was ridiculous, so I set out collecting pictures, information, and whatever I could find (which was very hard to find then) on Apolo and put up my website. Feb. 18, 2002 was the official "launch date." A few days later, I believe Todd started posting things on his blog about Apolo and within a couple of weeks the OhnoZone was born. I'm not exaggerating when I say that hundreds of fan sites popped up during and after the Olympics for Apolo. There was even a site that listed the sites--Apolo's Web. It was craziness! I couldn't even keep track of them. I can't remember a lot of the names of them, but there were some pretty good ones (I'm sure some of you remember). Many of them were simple fan tribute pages with a couple of pictures and a couple of quotes--I guess that was the trend then, like making tribute videos are, now. ApoloKitty was one of the sites--I don't think it was very big. I remember DefinitelyApolo--it had TONS of screencaps that I wish I'd saved, from all the Leno interviews and the Rosie interview and everything. ApoloGized was another... Anyone else want to pick up and talk about what they remember? I could keep going but I don't know if anyone is interested. |
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Post by callie on Jul 1, 2007 22:17:37 GMT -5
I am very interested in the history of Apolo fans on the internet. I am so happy that this sight is so good and still going. That is so awesome!! I looked on the internet to see if there was any other sights and I saw some but I don't think I found any (except for ohnozone.net and apolianne.com) that were still active. Isn't funny that the three sights have a completely different feel to them? I think that is great. What would we all do without this sight? I certainly hope it stays around for a very long time. Thanks again, Lindsey, for keeping it going.  |
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Post by ally on Jul 1, 2007 22:41:17 GMT -5
hey linds! thanx for posting this.. cause i also came across one site that yes is still around but nothing is ever posted on it at all.. it was when back in 2002 when people started to know who Apolo was.. its called Dark Blades.. i dont know if everyone has heard of it but theres a link to the site on this site.. its a weird site tho.. its for people 18 years or older and theres some pretty messed up stuff in there but nobody does anything with the site anymore  |
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Post by claire522 on Jul 2, 2007 1:05:17 GMT -5
i'm just glad this site stayed open. here's hoping for more years to come. |
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Post by lisam on Jul 2, 2007 10:26:08 GMT -5
I don't know a lot about Apolo or the history of short track, so thanks Lindsey for opening this thread. I would love to learn more about this. Also, thanks for answering the question about Apolokitty.
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Post by Lindsey on Jul 2, 2007 10:32:59 GMT -5
Ally--DarkBlades is very...*ahem* interesting--I've actually never looked at "all" they have to offer there. However, a lot of their fantasy pics are great! i.e.   ^^My personal fave! In fact, I think it was Velma from DarkBlades who was influential in getting the In Apolo's Name project going--which raised over $11,000 for a RMH in Seattle. You can still view the site for that here: www.geocities.com/inapolosname/ That was in 2002, as well. There was a lot of support for Apolo back then--I did an Apolo birthday card (http://geocities.com/apolobirthdaycard/) and almost 1000 people signed it. My site was way over it's bandwidth, so I had to create a separate site for that! I also had an Apolo Banner Hub, where people exchanged links for different sites... but that has died. I actually don't know where all those files are (probably on my defunct computer). My site was picking up in traffic, so I decided to have a message board for Apolo, too...Unfortunately, after just a few days, it was absolutely, completely inundated with posts from South Korean fans who absolutely HATED Apolo. I've never seen such nasty remarks towards anybody before. Back then, the setup was simple and there was no way to edit or even censor with a language filter. I tried to keep up with it and delete them all, but I couldn't. The people on the forum *yelled back* with force, but I couldn't take it anymore. My e-mail box was flooded with hate mail, etc. It was a sad time. I shut down the forum. But the site remained open. I went to several other message boards to chat with other fans. My favorite was The One and Only on MSN. That site is also inactive now, but you can still read a few things there. Jamie was the admin there and she was such a sweetie--but stepped out for family or health problems, I believe and now there's a lot of spam there. My site always stayed up but I was without a computer for two years ('03-'04) so there were not many updates, although it was a good *resource* page. Everyone was going to OZ for updates anyway. I think ApoloPortal.net was still active at this time? Anyone know? My internet adventures were very limited at this point... Things picked back up again for me in 2005, and then it seemed it was just me and OZ that were active then. I decided to try another forum at that point, even though I was pretty gunshy. Overall, things have gone well with it--I don't think the South Korean ST fans are as angry with Apolo anymore, thank goodness! After the Olympics, Ichiban and SimplyApolo got started, and I think SimplyApolo had a notice that they were on hiatus but I think it's down now... Ichiban is still up, but not updated anymore. I love the screencaps there--would hate to see them all slip into oblivion like some of the other sites. Of course, with Dancing with the Stars, there's a huge new fanbase. The DWTS boards were crazy busy during the show and after, before people migrated to other sites. Television Without Pity had a good number of Apolo fans, and I read there a lot during and after the show. Now we've got Apolianne.com, too! It's doing really well and I'm sure it'll stay around. And I'm sure there are other small message boards around and probably little fansites, too. Hehe--I found the original ApolosWeb I talked about before...I actually still had a link to it. www.angelfire.com/ct3/apolosweb/index.html |
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Post by lisam on Jul 2, 2007 14:21:58 GMT -5
Those pics are kinda funny. I like the cowboy one. I'm not familiar with any of those old fansites, I didn't start looking till DWTS. But very interesting info Lindsey, thanks for sharing.
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Post by ally on Jul 3, 2007 17:51:32 GMT -5
haha! yeah those pics are such a riot!!! couldnt stop laughing when i saw them  ha! oh man i cant believe the fanfics they have on there tho  if we posted those kinda stories on here we would get in big trouble! |
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Post by mellie on Jul 3, 2007 23:22:50 GMT -5
There's one fanfic on DarkBlades that I can't stand to read. It is um very, very, very lewd. I also used to go to Apolomania, and they had some great pics plus some very good fanfic. Unfortunately it is shut down now.
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Post by laura6 on Jul 3, 2007 23:28:52 GMT -5
There's one fanfic on DarkBlades that I can't stand to read. It is um very, very, very lewd. I also used to go to Apolomania, and they had some great pics plus some very good fanfic. Unfortunately it is shut down now. Mellie..I know which one that is....LOL..the other stories were pretty good.. |
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Post by mellie on Jul 3, 2007 23:32:34 GMT -5
Yup Laura, it's that one. I do like the other ones, but that particular one is um not my cup of tea.
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Post by laura6 on Jul 3, 2007 23:34:54 GMT -5
Yup Laura, it's that one. I do like the other ones, but that particular one is um not my cup of tea. LOL..no not my cup of tea either!!! LOL but the others I liked..I do not know if Darkblades is still active |
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Post by mellie on Jul 4, 2007 0:03:49 GMT -5
I think it is still active because I went there right before DWTS, and they put up something in honor of Apolo being on the show, but said that the site would no longer post new things about Apolo because Velma had outgrown Apolo or something like that.
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Post by tdav on Jul 4, 2007 1:15:06 GMT -5
I just couldn't believe anyone would write something like that. I mean, I never could. That's something I keep locked in my head, so to speak. I could barely read it.
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Post by ally on Jul 4, 2007 8:08:58 GMT -5
yeah exactly.. to write something like that would take alot of courage for me.. i can only think it haha.. but wow are those fics graphic and in detail.. just alittle too much |
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