Carabelli and I started in '94 or '95.  Webby was here then too.
So was Tim.  Joel was not.  Not sure when others filtered in.

D

Since 1993, it's been pretty much one big soap opera!  Talk about
*drama*! TV has nothing on us!!! ;-)  We even had some art go missing
once upon a time ...

In our cast of characters, I was often thought of as:

villain
noun
1 a person guilty or capable of a crime or wickedness.
€ the person or thing responsible for specified trouble, harm, or damage

€ (in a play or novel) a character whose evil actions or motives are
important to the plot.

In the long run, I believe that out of all the many discussions of smd,
the ones that involved "the TMJ" ultimately led to new thinking... and I
trust the new thinking has paved the way to much less suffering for many
patients who fell into that care-package.  

And I thank all the contributors for whatever content offered because it
was and still is a matter that concerns all of humanity.

Sincerely,
Webby

I made a (very) brief pass in 1997 during my student years and came
back in 2004.
I'm probably the youngest professional in the group... but I'm getting
older every day :(

Regards,
George

Ten years after the publication of a book that came from Usenet's
sci.med.dentistry and alt.support.jaw-disorders ... it can't hurt to
revisit a couple of pages,

From "The TMJ Iatroepidemic", published 1997 (ten years ago).

First, from page 11:

"Something miraculous happened in early 1994.  I began to read more and
more about the coming of the Information Superhighway.  Of course, I had
no idea what that even was, but it sounded fascinating.  I had an
immediate sense of encouragement that this new computer information
resource would lead me where I needed to go.  That was three years ago.  
Three years is not very long in real time.  But in cyberspace, the
clocks tick differently.  Three years cybertime is like an eternity.  
Three years is like stepping back an entire century. Cybertime is our
new time.  The impact of the internet upon the development of medical
knowledge proved to be our newest unknown.  Cyberspace, the internet,
Usenet... what does this technology have to do with the cause of
iatroepidemics?"

Second, from page 31:

From: Webby & Chang
RE: Leaving Cyberspace, 1997
To: The public
Distribution:  Worldwide

There wasn't any way to prepare ourselves back in 1994 for the impact of
the journey we have just completed.  It was with deep hope for the good
of medicine, dentistry, and humanity that we ventured into the unknown
of the internet.  We went to observe, participate, and with the
committment [sic] to ultimately emerge with something that would provide
patients and professionals alike with a fresh look at the TMJ crisis.  
Whether or not the features of an iatroepidemic could be gleaned from
the content of thousands upon thousands of subject lines discussed
during the expedition was our final challenge.  Even though we had taken
responsibility for introducing most of the TMJ-related topics, we could
not control the natural course of the newsgroup.  Who would subscribe?  
Who would participate and with what attitudes was simply beyond our
ability to predict.  For nearly three years we took everything hour by
hour and one day at a time."

~~~~~

Only two people **know** the technical complexity that was the
undertaking of the project to put together "that book".  But a lot of
people appreciate that smd "grew" as a result of "the TMJ wars" ... and
as much as the medicine was bitter; the treatment was worth the agony.  

Many of us have learned what it means to be "a family" (thanks, Vaughn,
for the reminder) in a newsgroup.  For those who don't yet appreciate
what that means, all I can say is that you don't know what you're
missing...

(Who are those guys anyway???)   ;-)

Webby