Apologies for not giving you a proper answer before and taking several months to post this. Below is a hierarchical list for the anglophone forums, showing the lines of descent. Typically a group of people would get really ticked off and leave (or get banned) and form a new forum. The list does not have exact dates, but daughter forums will be less old than their parents. If anyone wants exact dates, you can add them. Please feel free to correct this list if you find any mistakes. This should provide a reasonably good idea of how the traditional shaving forum scene evolved from 2000 onward. Charles Roberts' MSN Group (late 1990s, see below) Straight Razor Place Yahoo group (Lynn Abrams, this group later moved to SRP forum) Straight Razor Place (Forum back online as of July 2019) Sharp Razor Palace (Hijacked SRP forum from Jan 2018, no longer affiliated with Lynn Abrams or Straight Razor Place) Straight Razor Place Facebook group (Lynn Abrams) MSN Wetshavers Group (defunct, many members moved to Shave My Face in 2004-2005) Shave My Face Badger & Blade Razor & Brush (defunct) The Shave Den Damn Fine Shave (original incarnation, defunct) Pogonotomy (defunct) The Shaving Cadre MSN The Wet Shavers Group (defunct, formed from remnants of Wet Shavers Group) The Shave Nook (owned by Bullgoose Shaving) Damn Fine Shave (second incarnation) The Original Safety (In archive mode, moved to The Original Safety Too) The Original Safety 2 The Shaving Room Against The Grain Reddit /r/wicked_edge Reddit /r/Wet_Shavers (closed) Reddit /r/Wetshaving Paste & Cut Since web-based forums gained popularity, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, various blogs, and especially YouTube have also become popular venues for learning and interaction. New wetshaving forums likely will not appear to nearly the extent they did over the past twenty years. That's OK, as we have at least fourteen now and something for everybody. Edit: The creator of Method Shaving, Charles Roberts, briefly had a MSN shaving group before MSN Wet Shavers came online. From the Sharpologist article at https://sharpologist.com/2016/01/charles-roberts.html: "Charles started a wet shaving forum on the old MSN system (long since defunct) in the late 90’s (at about the same time, Lynn Abrams started a Yahoo Group that eventually became Straight Razor Place. But I digress, that’s another story). The MSN group closed but it spawned two other MSN groups, which eventually begat the Shave My Face forum."
Thanks for this piece of history. I've asked on the other forums that I've listed(not all of the since I'm registered to 8 only) and it seems that the chronological order is: 1. Sharprazorplace forum(the old straightrazorplace forum) 2. Shavemyface forum 3. Badger and blade forum, 4. The shave den forum(was created in 2007) 5. Theshavingroom.co,uk forum(was created in 2009) 6. Subreddit wicked_edge(was created in 2010) 7. Romanian forum forum.barbieritdelux.ro(was created in 2011) I am Romanian, that's why I've listed it 8. Shavenook forum(was created in 2012) 9. Damnfineshave forum the second incarnation(was created in 2015) 10.Atgshaving forum(was created in 2016) 11. The facebook group straight razor place facebook(was created on 1 March 2018) 12. Theshavingcadre forum(was created on 14 March 2018) These are the one I know of so far.
Excellent list. You might want to add that The Shave Nook is owned and ran by Bullgoose. Interesting story... @Darkbulb got banned from TSN because he posted a link in a Bullgoose sale thread to an item available elsewhere for cheaper; not realizing that the lifetime ban-hammer was about to fall on him for his temerity. One of the pitfalls of a merchant controlling a forum. The community there is a bit insular too, imo. Leisureguy also got banned from the Nook. Similar circumstances. Link below. https://www.google.com/amp/s/leisur.../03/25/banned-again-shave-nook-this-time/amp/ Edit: Against the Grain was founded by people who were fed up with ONE mod. It sometimes only takes one person in the wrong spot at the right time to really mess up a forum.
Done. Thank you for that! I also updated the link for the real Straight Razor Place, which is now back online. A similar thing happened to me and another poster long before the TSN went sideways. We were posting about an aftershave on sale below the Bullgoose's price. Phil kept deleting the posts, although he did not PM me, or make any negative comments in the thread. The entire thread was eventually deleted, although nobody was sanctioned in any way. I was thoroughly annoyed at the censorship, however, and left a few weeks later. After "The Great Purge" several months later, the place went from good to full Gulag, so it is no surprise @Darkbulb was sent to wetshaving Siberia. Censorship on a forum means the content is suspect, so TSN shot itself in the foot. It also made Bullgoose Shaving look really bad, and is the reason why I stopped buying from them. Like you said, it is one of the pitfalls of a merchant controlling a forum. Leisureguy has been banned from many of the wetshaving forums, which I think is shameful. He has contributed a very great deal to wetshaving, and is always very civil and well mannered, even when dealing with prickly people. When he gets banned, I think it reflects badly on the banner, not on Leisureguy. When a reason is given, it is usually along the lines of "he was using information from our forum in his book". No kidding. Isn't the dissemination of information the reason why wetshaving forums exist? Those same forums don't seem to mind posts with information acquired elsewhere, yet they sanction someone else for doing the same. IMHO, the bannings are due to ego and control issues more than anything else. It only takes one turd in the punchbowl. That particular mod got way out of line, and was starting fights instead of moderating. At least something positive (Against The Grain) came out of it. Often it takes only a few people with a desire to improve things to start a great new forum, like The Shave Den and Against The Grain.
Largest exodus of United Kingdom residents seen since the 13 colonies rebelled. Both those UK forums are pretty good right now, and there's a lot of membership overlap. In fact, I'm a member on both forums...and B&B. I have yet to be banned from a shaving forum. Ironic, since I can't see a problem without poking it with a stick. Each forum has a unique identity, partly from it's individual members, and partly from the forum 'hive mind.' Others might call it a 'mentality.' It gives each place it's own feel and atmosphere. I like the relaxed easy going pace of TSD.
I also never got banned on any of the shave forums, not even B&B and TSN. At least I never got notified of any bans. I have not logged into B&B for 12 years or TSN for 4 or 5 years, and forget my username and password at those sites. I noticed both UK forums are thriving, and the problem mod stepped down. Good things to see, and I wish them well.
Regrettably ATG isn't currently working with Tapatalk so not thriving on my phone which reduces my use of it about 95 %. Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
TSR is a good UK forum, much like this place, it has an easy going management and decent mods. I find it a little slow and more of a marketplace than a forum as such. B&B is possible the worst run forum i have ever used. The moderation and management is, quite frankly, a bit alarming. It seems to be run by a bunch of old farts who sit on a pedestal of misguided privilege and power. I have had full blown threads just vanish because of a misspelled word. I have been threatened with a ban for not forumming like an obedient 5 yr old. I have been muted and thread banned for not being overly patriotic about the US (I am not a US citizen). Awful mods, just awful. SOme nice posters though and it is busy. This place is so much better than any other forum i have used. Great job.
You do realize that B&B is an advertising business, right? It might have the appearance of a hobby forum, and perhaps was one early on, but its raison d'etre is to generate revenue. Favorable mention of a paying vendor's product will get you a pat on the back. Doing the same for a paying vendor's non-paying competition can result in a warning or a ban. That can also happen if unfavorable mention is made about a paying vendor's product. As time goes on, additional restrictions are added, although they can be lifted for paying members. It is all about money and ego, so what you saw, however unwelcome, is to be expected. TSN is an advertising organ for Bullgoose Shaving, and also has conflict of interest and ethics problems. Badly behaved mods and members might well have alcohol, drug or psychiatric issues. Abusive behavior is not a trait found in normal, well-adjusted people. It makes no sense to participate in an abusive environment, as there are plenty of alternatives that are both busy and friendly. For example here, AGT, TSR, DFS and The Shaving Cadre. For those who like busy and fast paced, there is Reddit /r/wicked_edge. Also Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube and Pinterest, so something for everybody. It is not only wetshaving that is affected. Most hobbies and special interests with forums have the same problem, and the same solutions.
Updated list: 1.Sharprazorpalace forum(the old straightrazorplace forum) 2.Shavemyface forum 3.Badger and blade forum 4.The shave den forum(was created in 2007) 5.Theshavingroom.co,uk forum(was created in 2009) 6.Subreddit wicked_edge(was created in 2010) 7.Romanian forum forum.barbieritdelux.ro(was created in 2011) I am Romanian, that's why I've listed it 8.Shavenook forum(was created in 2012) 9.Damnfineshave forum the second incarnation(was created in 2015) 10.Atgshaving forum(was created in 2016) 11.The facebook group straight razor place facebook(was created on 1 March 2018) 12.Theshavingcadre forum(was created on 14 March 2018) 13. The new straightrazorplace.com forum(created July 2019).