So, I wrote up an article about the history of ATRL...
Absolute TRL is a web site where music and pop culture addicts come together to talk about MTV's Total Request Live, videos, songs, albums, bands, television, movies, celebrities, and news.
Originally dedicated to providing recap and other information for TRL, it is now a mildly popular destination for current and former fans of the show to discuss the entire world of music and pop culture. The site has existed since 1999 and is located at
http://www.absolutetrl.net.
The beginning of the site
Absolute TRL was started in 1999 by Joe Snyder. At the time, Absolute TRL was one of only three TRL fan sites; the other two were Unofficial TRL and TRL by Sarah. Neither site was very popular at this time. Unofficial TRL was listed primarily on the search engines but contained links to both Absolute TRL and TRL by Sarah, and most people found their way to any other TRL site through Unofficial TRL.
In 1999, TRL by Sarah was probably the most interesting of the TRL fan sites. In addition to the everyday recap, Sarah always added running commentary for each show. Eventually, her style would make her site extremely popular.
Taking the story back to Absolute TRL, in early 2000, the site was expanded with the addition of a 2nd staff member, Wendell, a co-webmaster signed on by Joe to help maintain the site. Around the same time, the Absolute TRL Forums officially started, one of the first online communities devoted to TRL. It should be noted that the first such community was a TRL fan group on Yahoo! which is no longer maintained today. Initially, the message board had very few members and also very few posts.
In August 2000, TRL by Sarah launched its own message board, powered by Bravenet. It also took some time for the message board to attract new posters, but ultimately a stronger community was created there. Sarah incorporated community-driven features into her site like Ideal Countdowns, encouraging people who visited her site to get to know each other better on the message board.
As the year 2001 began, Absolute TRL remained of minor popularity among the TRL fan site crowd as TRL by Sarah was quickly gaining acclaim and new visitors. Because of the site’s growing popularity, Sarah was nominated for the first (and only) TRL Fan Club President by MTV. In April 2001, she competed with two other girls for the position: Jennifer, who ran another fan site called Totally TRL 1515, and Tiffany, who lost a 2000 Backstreet Boys contest on TRL and threatened to kill Carson Daly.
During this time, TRL by Sarah was promoted live on TRL, bringing an amazing number of new visitors to her site. At the end of the week, Sarah won the contest and was elected as President of MTV’s TRL Fan Club, which ironically never existed. The title was nothing more than that—a title. However, she did have some limited creative input into the show for a short amount of time.
Merger with TRL by Sarah forums
Sarah’s success in becoming the TRL Fan Club President continued to draw new visitors to her site during the month of April and into the summer of 2001. TRL by Sarah’s message board quickly became too crowded and too popular for Bravenet’s limited forum, so Sarah began looking for new options. In July 2001, TRL by Sarah and Absolute TRL decided to combine their message boards, hosting the cooperative effort on Absolute TRL’s site and more sophisticated vBulletin software.
This move immediately created a growing community on the Absolute TRL/TRL by Sarah forums. Helping maintain the forums at this point were Absolute TRL’s Joe and Wendell, Sarah, and two forum moderators from TRL by Sarah’s message board, Rachael and TC.
By late summer 2001, an established community existed on the combined forums. In August 2001, the first annual SBAs (TRL by Sarah Message Board Awards, or Sarah Board Awards) took place, created and hosted by Monica, a new moderator. Specifically created to occur around the same time of the year as MTV's Video Music Awards, the SBAs invited all of the members of the forums to vote for their favorite members in a variety of categories. The first SBAs were one representation of how fast the forums grew in such a short period of time.
TRL by Sarah (along with Absolute TRL) received its second moment in the spotlight on November 14, 2001, when moderator TC won a contest in which TRL gave away an Xbox video game system live on the air. In order to win the contest, viewers were challenged to piece together clues about each of the ten videos on the countdown. Each clue was a one-digit number, and together, they formed a "mystery" ten-digit phone number that was linked to a phone in the studio. The first viewer to make the phone ring would win the Xbox. TC was able to win the contest by correctly figuring out the first nine numbers and guessing the last one before it appeared on the screen, calling in before anyone else. When speaking with host Carson Daly live on the air, TC gave a "shout-out" to TRL by Sarah and the forums. Before calling in, TC was talking with another member of the forums, Michele, attempting to figure out the clues. When he won the Xbox, she spread the news of the event to the rest of the site. It proved to be a popular, memorable moment among the site's members.
Fallout and post-merger
Unfortunately, the cooperative effort between Absolute TRL and TRL by Sarah could not last forever. Near the end of 2001, members of the forums noticed an increase in fighting, personal attacks, and other general message board nonsense.
As a result of the forums’ quickly deteriorating atmosphere, Sarah decided to disassociate her site from Absolute TRL’s forums. This created a rift between original members of Sarah’s message board and newer members who joined after the merge. During the month of December 2001, moderators Sarah and Rachael officially decided to leave, causing at least twenty other original members to leave with them for good.
Despite this fallout, the Absolute TRL forums still retained a strong community of surviving members. Both of the site’s original administrators, Joe and Wendell, as well as new administrators TC and Monica, also stayed with the site. Even though the Absolute TRL forums were no longer affiliated with TRL by Sarah, the recognition that Absolute TRL gained in the second half of 2001 was enough to keep new members coming in at a constant rate as 2002 began.
In early 2002, both TRL by Sarah and TC’s TRL MusicLink fan site stopped updating due to lack of interest in the show. This left Absolute TRL and Unofficial TRL as two of the only regularly updated fan sites, and also increased the amount of new members to Absolute TRL’s forums.
There were a few changes on Absolute TRL throughout 2002 and the beginning of 2003. In the summer of 2002, TC took over Absolute TRL’s main recap page, bringing a new design to the site as well. In the fall of 2002, another new logo was created to correspond with the new on-air appearance of TRL. Meanwhile on the forums, some moderators came and went. The site also welcomed many new members, bringing the total number of members from just over 1,000 to nearly 3,000.
New focus and direction
During the summer and fall of 2003, Absolute TRL’s main page stopped actively updating recap, mostly due to lack of interest from anyone to update the page anymore. Instead, visitors could check the forums or another new fan site, Edward’s TRL, for daily TRL recap. Around this time, the TRL forum was also branched out into its own section so the latest recap could be easily found there. Throughout the next year and a half, the main page would consist only of links and would be updated by no one.
After years of receiving no widespread recognition independently of TRL by Sarah or other TRL fan sites, Absolute TRL could finally claim its own 15 seconds of fame on October 8, 2003, when TRL host Damien Fahey mentioned the site live on the air. Near the end of the show, in acknowledgement of the site's Predictions sub-forum, Damien said, "Alright, real quick I want to shout out to Absolute TRL. We know you guys try to predict the countdown each and every day. If you got it today, you're damn good!" News of this "shout-out" quickly spread to the site itself, where one of the members, Victor, posted a thread about the event. Another member, Kelli, posted a video of the event taken from her digital camera. The moment proved to be a memorable part of Absolute TRL history.
In early 2004, the forums’ team of administrators changed again as TC left and was replaced by Kworb, a respected and highly-regarded member and moderator who joined in 2002. Kworb and Monica were the forums’ active administrators at the time. Joe still owned the site and Wendell was still an administrator, but both of them were rarely seen.
The fourth annual SBAs were held in August 2004. The event was created and hosted by Monica, just as it was for the previous three years. Although there were rumors about an upcoming fifth annual SBAs, the fourth edition proved to be the last. The most likely reason for the demise of the SBAs is the influx of new members who did not have much in common with or get along with older members.
The next major evolution happened in September 2004, when the site dropped its TRL-centric focus in favor of a new direction that centered around the entire world of music and pop culture. The site also gained a new name, Absolute TRL: pop+music. The main page of the site was overhauled to promote the new focus of the site, and it directed all of the site's visitors into the forums.
At this time, the only feature left on the main page was the TRL Archive. The forums took over all of the main functions of the site beyond the main page. For the rest of the year and the beginning of 2005, development and other changes on the site stagnated.
Upgrade and other changes
In March 2005, the webmaster of Absolute TRL, Joe, upgraded the site's forums to the next major version of vBulletin. This move allowed the entire site to be combined with the forums, eliminating the need for a separate main page. The site's TRL Archive was also incorporated in this upgrade. At this time, one of Absolute TRL's former administrators, TC, rejoined the site as administrator to assist Joe with upgrading and to create a new design for the site.
Later that year, some evolutionary changes took place. Two of the site's administrators, Wendell and Monica, were no longer active on the site and were removed. This left the site with Joe, TC, Kworb, and a new addition, Phoenix, as administrators. Some changes to the moderating team also took place throughout the year, in order to remove those who had become inactive on the site. The team of staff members established in 2005 remains in place to this day.
During the rest of 2005, the site's forums were rearranged in order to reflect changes to the most popular areas. Thousands of inactive members were also removed from the site, bringing the total number of members on the site from over 5,000 to a more realistic 2,500. Since then, approximately 600-700 members have signed in at Absolute TRL each month.
Current trends
As the year came to a close and 2006 began, Absolute TRL underwent a massive redesign that provided a fresh, new look for the site. After receiving mixed reactions from members, the design was updated again in the spring of 2006, allowing members to choose from a large number of ways to customize their site experience. As part of this redesign, the site dropped its "pop+music" slogan and officially returned to its original, simpler name of Absolute TRL. Regardless, the site's focus on the entire world of music and pop culture remained in effect.
Today, while Absolute TRL remains about as active as it ever was, some members reached a consensus that the site no longer seems the same. Many of the original members of the site, who are no longer interested in TRL at all, have left the site entirely. While many other original members remain on the site to discuss other topics, the community is increasingly becoming dominated by a new set of younger members who are still actively interested in TRL, creating a divide between these two sets of members. It is still unknown what will happen to the site if and when MTV ever decides to cancel TRL.
It'd be nice to add a ton of memories of the site that involve actual stuff that went on in the community, not just updates to the site itself. Probably most of the people who can remember stuff aren't around anymore, but it's worth a shot.
Here's an old thread to get you started:
http://host17.hrwebservices.net/~atr...126&perpage=50
Now since I've got you here, what you need to do is add your thoughts on the article, what you think should be added, and most importantly,
your favorite memories of ATRL!
These are mine, even though some are already in the article:
- Right before Sarah got elected as the TRL fan club president in 2001, everyone on the board was so pumped about seeing her on TV and finally getting some recognition for the site
- The first SBAs, when it was like the biggest event in the world to us ATRLers
- Winning the Xbox. What else is there to say about that one
- Sarah disowning ATRL and everyone getting pissed off
- Doing all those Yahoo! chats in 2003 and dealing with Roger Wilco set to destroy ATRL
- Various escapades with Jamie "going" to "award shows" and other "events" "live"
- Anything that Ike Bart, the hero of ATRL, has ever said or done in his life
- Chat quotes, back when the chat was interesting enough to quote
- Finally joining Fantasy Billboard for FB4 and watching it die in about 2 weeks