Story 1000 is here

This is story number 1000 on this site. The authors each have a little something to say. If you have any specific requests for what you want us to do in the future, this is probably the best place to ask for them.

First, Dave has a few words to say:

I borrowed the name from my friend George (who invented the “Bureau 42
Enterprises Multinational” moniker in high school), and bought the domain
name, not really knowing what to do with it. Meanwhile, Jay Badenhoop’s
SF-NEWS mailing list, which had been around since the late 80s, was slowly
dying… the original site (http://www.technopagan.org/sf-news/), which
had been set up as a list archive, was seeing little traffic. “If it ain’t
new, it ain’t news,” as they say.

In a half-hour of boredom, I wrote up a simple, quick interface for
posting “news” stories. It was just a glorified linkbot: each “article”
was about one paragraph, with a (mandatory) link to some external site. No
detail, no reviews, no comments, no nothin’ really. I tried to put two or
three updates a day on that site, and sometimes even succeeded.

At some point, I had that sorry excuse for a site added to the Slashboxes
on Slashdot.

During the summer of 2000, I was semi-self-employed (legally, I was a
subcontractor, but basically I had a boss who said “do this”). One of my
first projects was to put together a discussion forum for another site
(which never went “live,” unfortunately). I worked a “if it’s not used,
the code returns to me” clause into my contract; when the company went
belly-up a few months later, I had this nice working set of code and
nothing to do with it. I also had a somewhat-neglected “Sci-Fi News” site,
and a nifty, unused “bureau42.com” domain name.

Put ’em in the Crock-Pot (TM), stir, let it stew for a few hours.

That’s about it really.

Now, Fiziko chimes in:

I first noticed the site during the summer of 2000, when I was
spending a few months in Switzerland. I desperately needed something
to read in the English language, so I turned on all of Slashdot’s
slashboxes hoping to spot something interesting. I did, in fact.
Just after Dave made the switch from Technopagan to Bureau 42, he put
out a call for assistance. I volunteered to write reviews for The
X-Files
when season eight began, and things just seemed to
snowball from there.

The story I remember the most would have to be the one about the “Star
Wars: Episode 2” trailer. I’d been trying to scoop major news sources
on something, and finding that trailer a few days early seemed to be
the thing I was looking for. Man, oh man, did that ever flop. As I’m
sure a number of you know, it was a fan fake. (Some things I should
have noticed, like the kilts on the Jedi in a scene pulled from
Braveheart, were masked by a terrible Quicktime viewer.) All we
really succeeded in doing was irritating hundreds of fans, as well as
the kind people who host the site. That was a day I’ll remember for a
long time.

theangrymob also has a few words:

220 articles and almost two years to the day I started here, I’d
have to say my memorable Bureau 42 moment was posting the finale for Voyager (which
is still the most read piece on the site I might add). Sure, the show
had lost it’s stride (some would argue it never had one), but it was
hard to see them go. It’s amazing how attached we can become to
fictional characters.

You all want to know a secret? The reason I keep writing these
reviews is because of you, the readers. It’s incredible fun to bounce
opinions off a broad audience and see the mixed reactions. Usually
intelligent and insightful, I’ve never seen the quality of Sci-Fi
discussion matched anywhere on the ‘net. From deep down, thank you
guys for making this fun to do.

Finally, hitch adds:

I really haven’t been part of this long enough to feel like I can
offer anything to the story… I don’t know what else to really say.
it’s a nifty site…I like reading it….it’s got a nice, if small,
community…heh. wouldn’t even know about it if it weren’t for
random browsing of slashboxes.

6 replies on “Story 1000 is here”

  1. Huh…I’ll Step Up To The Mike
    Much to my amazement, I checked the stats page once and realized I’m actually in the top 5 commenters, 3 of which are the Big Three (fiz, mob and dave) so I’ve got as much a stake as just about anybody in this site who is a casual-show-up user. I too have enjoyed the quality of the commentary here – even the brush-offs are eloquent (Technogirl, you know what I mean). I cut my teeth here commenting on Enterprise but somehow Firefly getting canceled has tarnished the fun so I guess I haven’t been around as much lately. I still read and love the site, think your reviews are great, and encourage you guys to keep up the GREAT work! It’s hard to stay motivated writing for a low-traffic community site, but reaching 1000 stories is something to be proud of and I hope it’s only the first step to 2000 and beyond. Good luck, guys!

    • Re: Huh…I’ll Step Up To The Mike

      Much to my amazement, I checked the stats page once and realized I’m actually in the top 5 commenters, 3 of which are the Big Three (fiz, mob and dave) so I’ve got as much a stake as just about anybody in this site who is a casual-show-up user.

      As The Other Non-Big-Three-Name, I Thought I’d Just Say How Much I Love This Site. I Only Hope I’ll Learn To Correctly Spell It’s Title Before the Next Landmark Story. (Buerau? Baeuro? Why Isn’t There An O?!) I Found the Site Through A Random Slashbox, And Have Loved It For The Intelligent Discussion Of All My Favorites, From Buffy, To Firefly, To Even The Comic Reviews. Thanks For Making such A Great Site, And Keep Up The Good work!

    • Re: Congrats

      Well, congrats on the 1000th article (and the shameless voyager-finale plug ;- )

      What can I say. I’m a shallow, shallow man.

  2. Suggestion

    I watch very little television and have been dismayed that many, if not most, of the posts are about TV series. I have enjoyed the comic reviews and would like to suggest that you consider adding more reviews of sci-fi books.

  3. Actually…
    I really enjoy the TV articles. I’m an avid Smallville watcher, and it’s always interesting to see the reviewer’s take on the show… often times, he’ll point out things I’ve missed. It’s a nice connection to other fans.
    And, I’d like to say that I’ve never watched a single entire episode of Enterprise, other than the pilot, but I feel like I know exactly what’s going on over there, because of the excellent reviews I find here. It’s actually an enjoyable way to partake in the trekkiness- none of the pain of actually watching a bad episode. Thanks for taking the bullet for me, guys.
    And, for that matter, thanks for continuing to write for this site.

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