Creation of a Newsgroup

In the beginning was the Usenet, and it was empty and without form. And the users looked upon the face thereof and said let us go down and make a sandbox for there is space there. And even so it was done.

So, when did the Sandbox newsgroup actually come into being? In March of 1999, the question was asked and the digging for answers began. It wasn't long before it was uncovered that on Aug 27, 1995, a person by the name of Iggy Drogue from Stockholm, Sweden had proposed the charter for the newsgroup "alt.toys.gi-joe" otherwise known as "Yo Joe! The GI.Joe/Action Force action figures" (the "Sandbox" moniker was attached somewhat later.) It was therefore proposed that August 27 be considered the anniversary date of the newsgroup.

On the other hand, there were long-time members of the 'Box who were certain they had been posting to the newsgroup as early as May of 1994. So I went back into the pit, and dug some more. Down I went into the layers of the digital fossil record, back to the year 1993.

In 1993, the "alt.toys" newsgroup hierarchy had already branched out into more specific categories such as Legos and a new Transformers sub-hierarchy. There was also quite a bit of Joe talk on the rather eclectic "rec.collecting" group. Apparently, there were a few people from this and the fledgling Transformers lot who felt a need for a group focused on G.I Joes. A place where they could buy, sell, and trade their Joes, albeit the smaller 3-3/4" kind.

And so it was that on Sep 25, 1993, Corey D. Stinson posted the following proposal on the usenet:

"Subject: Proposed: alt.toys.gijoe

With the recent appearance of the newsgroup alt.toys.transformers I was inclined to consider proposing alt.toys.gijoe. Currently, most if not all talk concerning G.I. Joe (the toy, the comic, and collector info) is done in rec.collecting. I believe having our own group away from the broad 'rec.collecting' where such collection topics from stamps to bottlecaps are covered would be advantagous. This newsgroup's purpose would be to discuss the following:

-The original G.I. Joe figures
-Hasbro's current G.I. Joe line
(1982-present)
-The comic book series
-Collecting/announcements/forsale for
any of the above
-Anything else concerning G.I. Joe fans and collectors!

If this proposal is in some way too informal, I would be happy to prepare a more formal one. I would like to responses, esp. via email, on the need and/or desire for this newsgroup. Thank your for your time."

You'll notice that Corey's proposal above was for a "gijoe" sub-hierarchy, not the hyphenated "gi-joe" that exists today.

A second proposal followed on Feb 18, 1994, posted by "Psycho" Shawn Petren:

"Subject: Proposal: alt.toys.gi-joe

Subject line says it all. The traffic on alt.toys.transformers has
(thanks to me) come to include discussions of various GI Joe figures, vehicles,
and the comics.

I think a newsgroup for it would be worthwhile, as it would allow people the chance to discuss something that we all pretty much grew up with.

What do you think, sirs?"

It's not clear when exactly the "alt.toys.gi-joe" sub-hierarchy appeared on news servers, whether soon after Corey's proposal in '93 or after Shawn's in '94. Unfortunately, we may never know the exact date. The Google archives for the Sandbox show that the earliest posts occurred in October of 1995 and none earlier. This is not to say that there were no posts prior to 1995, but simply that if there were any, they are no longer retrievable.

What I find even more interesting though, is that a newsgroup focused primarily on the 12" G.I. Joe figures and the 1/6 hobby in general was in all likelihood created due to a proposal submitted by a collector who was mainly concerned with 3-3/4" figures! Both Shawn's and Corey's main focus were the little Joes. In fact, here is a link to Corey Stinson's website: http://smalljoes.com/

In any case, a hearty thanks goes out to both Corey and Shawn (wherever he is) for taking part in the creation of a great newsgroup and community. And to Iggy, as well, for whatever contribution he made to propagating the newsgroup.

Next up, I'll discuss the story behind how "alt.toys.gi-joe" came to be known as "The Sandbox".