roniheels Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 This has to be one of the most fun, enjoyable, fact-sharing, entertaining, and interesting websites in existence. Later this month, I'll have been a member here for our years and have enjoyed every moment. I know there have been many members who have been members here longer than I have been who still contribute on a regular basis. I was just wondering if any of the current website team, Tech, Dr. Shoe, jmc, were involved with the creation of High Heel Place. I was just curious as to the origin and inspiration that led to the start up of this wonderful website. If this has been discussed in a previous post, please disregard this thread.
hoverfly Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 Oh good grief I have forgotten! I think it was fire fox? It's a good question. Hello, my name is Hoverfly. I’m a high heel addict…. Weeeeeeeeeee! 👠1998 to 2022!
Tom-NL Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 Jeff (from The Netherlands), Firefox and Xaphod.
Dr. Shoe Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 It was indeed. We were originally members of a high heel site that was aimed primarily at women and run by a girl in Hong Kong called Debbie who still pops in here from time to time. Firefox then suggested that some of us male wearers got together for a drink etc. and so I met him at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex. This was the first ever heelmeet, he, me and my then partner Ruth. The second heelmeet included Xaphod, Calvin, Firefox, me, Ruth and another guy (whose name I can't remember). Shortly after that there was a little bit of an issue which led us to believe that guys weren't really welcome on Debbie's site (though she was always accommodating) and so we decided to form a breakaway site, HHPlace which was founded by Jeff. I stayed with the other site for a couple of weeks hoping that the member who had posted so vehemently against guys posting on the site might be banned or apologise for her outbursts. She didn't and so like all the other guys I left too and joined this site in January 2002. 10 years and counting! You can see who the founder members are by clicking on the members' list and then selecting time of joining. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects.
dww Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 First heel meet I went on was in May (I think) 2002 and it was in Cambridge. life is not a rehearsal
xaphod Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 Hi, All, Before that was Jenny's site in the late 90s. There were 4 forums: Women wearing heels as women; men wearing heels as women; men wearing heels as men (the one which, in our context, took off); and women wearing heels as men (unsurprisingly, rarely used). Using Jenny's forum, we organised the first heelmeet at Highluc's in Belgium in late 2001. I met Tech from Guildford railway station then drove up to Firefox where Calv joined us. Cue one late-night drive to Dover to catch the car ferry where we met up with Jagman. We then drove to Highluc's where Jeff (who hosted hhplace on his server soon after) Lion and GJ made up the Belgian/Dutch contingent. Cue lots of shopping and eating (Luc loved his food, despite the fact he had heart problems) and mountains of 'fritten' ..... Belgians love their chips/french fries. I educated the Belgians in the taste of fritten with vinegar which had never entered their thoughts. At least it is better than their choice, ie mayonnaise! There you go, there's a bit of history for you. If you dig around in the posts from 2002 when the board was formed, you will find out more of what we were up to in those days. Best wishes, Xa
Dr. Shoe Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 I think it was FF and I on the first Heelmeet in 1999 or 2000 or so? Xaphod joined us for the next one a month or so later. The trip to HiLuc's was well after the Heelmeets were established because I was going to come but had to pull out. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects.
Gudulitooo Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 Well I thank all the people involved in the creation of this much appreciated forum. I remember I had a look a Firefox's site every now and then back in the early 2000'. By the way I suggest that the links on this site http://freespace.virgin.net/firey.fox/index.htm are erased and replaced by a link or an automatic redirection here. As the galleries and texts are still very usefull, I propose a link to it on hhplace in a sticky thread ? There used to be a forum on this site, but I was not used to browse the internet at the time, much less to register on any forum, and much much less on this very one in which I was not able to sort the posts by date Regards
ilikekicks Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 .. I was going to come but had to pull out. I guess your not as old as gary0618 believes you are? REPEATEDLY ARGUMENTATIVE, INSULTING AND RUDE. BANNED FOR LIFE.
danielp6406 Posted February 7, 2012 Posted February 7, 2012 Glad to learn how and why HH Place was created. I must say that this forum changed my life forever. Well done !
xaphod Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 I did a bit of digging and found that the relic of Jenny's board is still being hosted. Here's the url of the discussion bit, now unfortunately spammed somewhat, but there are still entries going back to 2006 and earlier. There were only 4 pages of entries on the discussion board, so old stuff fell off the bottom into cyber-nirvana. http://members3.boardhost.com/firefoxheels/index.html?1328696672#t_8353 Firefox now administers this part, but it hasn't been changed for a long time. http://freespace.virgin.net/firey.fox/index.htm Fox and I met a Vietnamese (if memory serves) heel fan in London sometime in 2001. For a time he hosted the old boards on his server. Xa
Tacchi Alti Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 Where did the Aesthetic High Heels Men's Fashion site come in this history? I remember being on that site and this 'new' site being touted. Lots went over to HHP although many lingered, including Highluc, preferring the format of the old site. 'Come, and trip it as ye go On the light fantastic toe.' John Milton
Tom-NL Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 At first, there was Jenny's High Stiletto Heels Page (JHSHP), that started at netdump/nettrash (in september/october 1998 ). Later it moved on to several other free website providers, and was often shut down by the providers because of the high bandwith use (it was too successful, than that they could allow it as a free website). The final version that Jenny administrated was hosted on a computer in France (Pheels) with no bandwidth limitations. When Jenny stopped in 2001, she handed her website over to Firefox and Laurieheels. They hosted it with a commercial provider, partly paid for by voluntary contributions, but eventually had to stop after (I think) 2 years. JHSHP also attracted male visitors, so in 1999 or 2000 (I think) Jenny eventually set up a website specifically for them: the Aesthetic High Heel Men's Fashion site (the second link in Xaphod's post), and later handed it over to Firefox. Both websites (JHSHP and HHMF) also had a discussion board/forum associated with them, that where hosted externally, and also changed providers several times. The latest incarnations are still hosted at Boardhost, and are (like Xaphod already mentioned) spammed a lot: http://members3.boardhost.com/jennyheels and http://members3.boardhost.com/firefoxheels On of the disadvantages of both boards is, that they only have a limited storage capacity from the provider, so that eventually new posts made the older posts disappear (there was no archive). This point was also a consideration in the creation of hhplace.org: use your own server (originally one from Jeff fromThe Netherlands, partly sponsored by Silhouette in Rotterdam) and get rid of capacity problems (december 2001). After several years Jeff stopped somewhere 2005/2006 (I think), and hhplace.org was taken over by someone who is now known as Tech. I did a bit of digging and found that the relic of Jenny's board is still being hosted. Here's the url of the discussion bit, now unfortunately spammed somewhat, but there are still entries going back to 2006 and earlier. There were only 4 pages of entries on the discussion board, so old stuff fell off the bottom into cyber-nirvana. http://members3.boardhost.com/firefoxheels/index.html?1328696672#t_8353 Firefox now administers this part, but it hasn't been changed for a long time. http://freespace.virgin.net/firey.fox/index.htm Fox and I met a Vietnamese (if memory serves) heel fan in London sometime in 2001. For a time he hosted the old boards on his server. Xa
hhboots Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 Just a quick thanks to all the early members and founders for this site, and to those that maintain it currently. Also, thanks for the excellent question... it's nice to learn about the background of this site. It really is a very cool forum for some of us guys that don't quite fit into the mainstream of life
FreshinHeels Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 Just a quick thanks to all the early members and founders for this site, and to those that maintain it currently. Also, thanks for the excellent question... it's nice to learn about the background of this site. It really is a very cool forum for some of us guys that don't quite fit into the mainstream of life hear hear!! In the process of becoming the person I always was...but didn't dare to let her come out
Gudulitooo Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 It's amazing how a forum with so many users is relying on so few people. Good job
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