Nine Years of HAIF

[Subdude]

Just noticed the banner for HAIF's 9th anniversary. Hard to believe it's been around that long! How many members are still around from the original HAIF?

[Subdude]

And a special shout out to Editor for hanging in with it all these years. Cheers!

[ricco67]

I don't know if I was there from the beginning, but definitely was here before the big crash.

[dbigtex56]

And a special shout out to Editor for hanging in with it all these years. Cheers!

I second that motion.

What's remarkable to me is that HAIF has maintained a loyal and growing membership. So many interactive websites start small, achieve wild popularity, then crash and burn. Web years are like dog years; to have survived for nine years is a real accomplishment.

I first joined in 2002 (or was it 2003?), then was Member #2 when HAIF rose from the ashes. As a former moderator I can attest that a great deal of thought and discussion go into the decisions which affect HAIF members.

Editor is like a good bartender - he allows people to have fun, but knows when it's time to cut them off, too. Here's hoping for another nine (or ninety) years of HAIF.

[Dan the Man]

I've been here since the original forum, but I don't remember exactly when I discovered the site and started following the discussions. It may have been as early as 2002. If that's the case, the last 9 years have really passed quickly.

It has been interesting to watch the changes over the years. The "atmosphere" seems to change every few years as new people discover the site, old ones lose interest, and economic conditions change.

All in all, HAIF is a great site, and I continue to visit almost every day. Many thanks to Editor and the moderators for all of their hard work in making this site work.

[editor]

One thing I've found interesting over the years is how major events and social trends in Houston shape HAIF.

In 2002, almost everyone who surfed HAIF did so on dial-up from their homes.

By 2006, the vast majority of HAIFers did so on high-speed connections from work.

Today, 63% of people who HAIF do so from high speed connections at home. Just 1.47% are on dial-up.

We used to filter out traffic from Russia and Africa because it was all fraudsters and hack attacks. But around 2006 we stopped doing so because of complaints from employees of Continental Airlines. As the airline expanded operations, more of its employees went overseas, and wanted to access HAIF. These days a lot of Houstonians living abroad use HAIF as a method of keeping up with what's going on at home. In 2002 I never would have imagined that we'd have regular visitors from eastern Russia, Kenya, Kazakhstan, even off-shore oil rigs. More telling, from a "HAIF as a reflection of society" standpoint, is the fact that we have regular HAIFers from Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq barely had internet access in 2002, and Afghanistan wasn't online at all. But as the world changed, so did the people of Houston, and they took HAIF with them around the world.

The weather also plays a big role in HAIF.

Tropical storm Allison boosted HAIF traffic immensely as people sought a central location for information on the storm.

Hurricane Katrina boosted HAIF traffic as people from around the world sought information about Houston.

Hurricane Ike destroyed HAIF traffic, as so many people lost their homes, power and jobs. HAIF never really recovered after that.

In fact, there have been four major devastating events in the history of HAIF:

• The 2004 hacker attack that erased 50,000+ messages.
  
• Hurricane Ike, which hit our readers very hard.
  
• The switch to the 3.0 software.
  
• The nine-month Russian hacker attack, that we only won a couple of weeks ago.
  

It's also funny to see how HAIF has changed in the media over time. It used to be that the local TV stations and newspapers would mention HAIF all the time. In 2002, the internet was common, but still a curiosity to most businesses. Today, HAIF rarely gets mentioned by the broadcasters and publishers. I think the reason for this is three-fold. 1, The business of broadcasting has changed so much that there's little time for reporters and others to explore the internet for tidbits about what people "out there" are thinking. 2, The big media outlets are almost all very serious about their internet presence now, and the don't give off-site links like they used to. And 3, so much of what used to be "local" media is syndicated or run out of centralcasting, or another form of automation from another city.

Back in the early days of HAIF, there were far more media outlets in Houston than there are today. There used to be THREE 24-hour news channels serving Houston: TXCN, TXN, and News24Houston. Only TXCN survives. Today, the broadcast TV stations are doing more minutes of news programming, but filling it with less actual news. In 2002, Houston even had a 24-hours news radio station. HAIF has outlived a lot of things that should not have died.

Back when HAIF started, 99% of our visitors used Internet Exploder. Today, it's just 50%.

I'm going to throw a few interesting points at you, but I'm going to be as non-specific as possible, in keeping with HAIF's privacy policy:

• The place that HAIF gets most of its visitors from after the United States, isn't Mexico -- it's Canada. And specifically, the cities of Calgary and Edmonton. Again, this is a reflection of Houston's prominence in the oil industry.
  
• HAIF gets regular visitors from Sulaymaniyah Governorate in Iraq. It's my understanding that this was one of the Coalition staging areas in Kurdistan during the war. I don't know what it's status is today, but we have several HAIFers there who visit regularly.
  
• There is one lone HAIFer left in Kabul, Afghanistan. But he visits regularly. There used to be more.
  
• We get more visitors from Dubai than from Russia.
  
• We get more visitors from Saudi Arabia than from Dubai.
  
• HAIFers read an average of four threads in each visit. This includes people who arrive from a search engine directly at the thread they want, and then leave.
  
• HAIF has almost always had 50% regular visitors and 50% new visitors each day.
  
• The first mobile device used to surf HAIF was a Sony Clie UX-60, back in 2003.
  
• Until the release of the iPhone, the most popular mobile device used to HAIF was the Danger Hiptop/T-Mobile Sidekick.
  
• Most popular first languages spoken by HAIFers: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese.
  
• Just 50.51% of our visitors in the last month use Internet Explorer.
  
• We still have people visiting with Netscape Navigator. These appear to be people using embedded computers on oil rigs.
  

Most popular browsers:

1. Internet Explorer
   
2. Firefox
   
3. Safari
   
4. Chrome
   
5. Opera
   

Fastest growing browser in the last month: Google TV.

Most popular types of devices people use to HAIF in 2008:

1. Windows
   
2. Mac
   
3. Linux
   
4. SunOS
   
5. Blackberry
   
6. PSP
   
7. OS/2
   

Most popular types of devices people use to HAIF so far in 2011:

1. Windows
   
2. Mac
   
3. iPad
   
4. iPhone
   
5. Android
   
6. Linux
   
7. GoogleTV
   
8. Blackberry
   
9. iPod Touch
   
10. SunOS
    
11. Playstation 3
    
12. UNIX
    

Most popular screen size for HAIFers in 2002: 800x600, followed by 640x480, and 1024x768.

Most popular screen size for HAIFers in 2011:

1. 1280x800
   
2. 1024x768
   
3. 1280x1024
   
4. 1440x900
   

For those HAIFing from home, here are the most popular ISPs:

1. Comcast
   
2. AT&T
   
3. Verizon
   
4. PSINet
   
5. Earthlink
   
6. Clear
   
7. Suddenlink
   

Twice as many HAIFers are on cable as DSL. But the DSL visitors tend to have faster connection speeds and HAIF longer.

We still have a surprising number of people using ISDN.

Most popular mobile devices for HAIFing:

1. iPad
   
2. iPhone
   
3. Android devices
   
4. Blackberry
   
5. iPod Touch
   
6. Windows Mobile/Windows 7 phone 7
   
7. Danger
   
8. Samsung
   
9. Symbian devices
   
10. Nokia
    

Most popular wireless connection to HAIF:

1. Clear
   
2. AT&T
   
3. T-Mobile
   
4. Verizon
   
5. Sprint
   
6. RIM
   

Most popular search engines for finding HAIF:

1. Google
   
2. Yahoo!
   
3. Bing
   

Web sites that people following links from to HAIF most often (wha?)

1. Google
   
2. Yahoo!
   
3. Bing
   
4. Facebook
   
5. Swamplot
   
6. AOL
   
7. City-Data
   
8. Ask
   
9. Twitter
   
10. Towrs.com
    
11. Houston Chronicle
    
12. Wikipedia
    

[Highway6]

That's a very fascinating write-up, editor.

"The nine-month Russian hacker attack, that we only won a couple of weeks ago"

Don't think I've seen anyone mention this... Do we get to hear any more juicy details ?

I also didn't realize that IKE was so detrimental to HAIF. I assumed the general decline the past few years was more related to the recession and people losing jobs.

[Simbha]

Wow! Nine years!

I only registered on HAIF about 3 1/2 years ago, but I had been following some of the subforums for years before that.

I'm not a professional in the field of architecture or anything related, but I'm a Houstonian who likes to learn and HAIF gives me the opportunity to do that from the comfort of my chair.

My thanks to all who are involved.

[ricco67]

One thing I've found interesting over the years is how major events and social trends in Houston shape HAIF.

In 2002, almost everyone who surfed HAIF did so on dial-up from their homes.

By 2006, the vast majority of HAIFers did so on high-speed connections from work.

Today, 63% of people who HAIF do so from high speed connections at home. Just 1.47% are on dial-up.

We used to filter out traffic from Russia and Africa because it was all fraudsters and hack attacks. But around 2006 we stopped doing so because of complaints from employees of Continental Airlines. As the airline expanded operations, more of its employees went overseas, and wanted to access HAIF. These days a lot of Houstonians living abroad use HAIF as a method of keeping up with what's going on at home. In 2002 I never would have imagined that we'd have regular visitors from eastern Russia, Kenya, Kazakhstan, even off-shore oil rigs. More telling, from a "HAIF as a reflection of society" standpoint, is the fact that we have regular HAIFers from Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq barely had internet access in 2002, and Afghanistan wasn't online at all. But as the world changed, so did the people of Houston, and they took HAIF with them around the world.

The weather also plays a big role in HAIF.

Tropical storm Allison boosted HAIF traffic immensely as people sought a central location for information on the storm.

Hurricane Katrina boosted HAIF traffic as people from around the world sought information about Houston.

Hurricane Ike destroyed HAIF traffic, as so many people lost their homes, power and jobs. HAIF never really recovered after that.

In fact, there have been four major devastating events in the history of HAIF:

• The 2004 hacker attack that erased 50,000+ messages.
• Hurricane Ike, which hit our readers very hard.
• The switch to the 3.0 software.
• The nine-month Russian hacker attack, that we only won a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah, I was extremely saddened by the great crash, there were many good threads that died a sudden death that were, for whatever reason, never picked up again.

The one that surprised me was the hacker attack.

I do have to acknowledge that it is the guidance and no small amount sacrifice that Ed put in to make this thing grow.

While I'm always aware of "new members" that is displayed on the main page below, I was always curious as to what percentage become regular users. Of those, I'm sure an even smaller amount become regular posters.

[Highway6]

Is there a way to quantify through join dates or google search terms what were the top trends/conversations ( Rail, Developments) that introduced people to Haif ?

[lockmat]

One thing I've found interesting over the years is how major events and social trends in Houston shape HAIF.

1. I'd also be interested to hear about the Russian attack

2. Do you have any links to articles that mentioned HAIF or was it mostly TV media? I'd like to read them!

3. I remember in the past you published the most popular work places that use HAIF. Would you be able to post them again. I remember number one was some place in Maryland, or some place up there.

[dbigtex56]

Web sites that people following links from to HAIF most often (wha?)

wha?, indeed.

Me no understand.

[editor]

That's a very fascinating write-up, editor.

"The nine-month Russian hacker attack, that we only won a couple of weeks ago"

Don't think I've seen anyone mention this... Do we get to hear any more juicy details ?

You may have seen a couple of complaints posted around here about people who clicked on links to us from Google, but ended up somewhere else. That was the Russians. It took a long time to fix, and then a longer time to prevent a recurrance. They are effectively locked out now, but they do occasionally knock on the door.

The problem is that it got HAIF banned from Google for a long time. Remember how people used to joke that you couldn't search for anything in Houston without HAIF being the first result? That's no longer true, because of the Russians.

I also didn't realize that IKE was so detrimental to HAIF. I assumed the general decline the past few years was more related to the recession and people losing jobs.

There was an immediate downturn during Ike, then a gradual increase that never came back to its previous levels. I think it was a one-two punch of both Ike and the economy.

[editor]

Is there a way to quantify through join dates or google search terms what were the top trends/conversations ( Rail, Developments) that introduced people to Haif ?

Yes. But I didn't post them, because I didn't think people would like the answers.

[Highway6]

Yes. But I didn't post them, because I didn't think people would like the answers.

Well, in case you put it to a vote... I vote Aye for sharing.

[editor]

2. Do you have any links to articles that mentioned HAIF or was it mostly TV media? I'd like to read them!

I supposed I could dig up a few, but I'm not on my computer right now. Lots of Chron, and a few very nice mentions in 002. Also, the Dallas Morning News was infaturated with HAIF briefly, but maybe about 10 months ago I went looking for the articles again, and the links I had were invalid.

Then, of course, there was the time that KHOU plagarized an entire page from us, including a photograph. I complained, but nothing was done about it. KHOU's parent company ignores DMCA complaints, which is a violation of federal law. Last time I checked it was still there.

3. I remember in the past you published the most popular work places that use HAIF. Would you be able to post them again. I remember number one was some place in Maryland, or some place up there.

The people who worked at some of those places asked me to stop publishing that list. They worried that it would lead to HAIF being filtered at their jobs. I have access to the list. It updates daily. But I don't share it anymore.

[bachanon]

it's been great fun witnessing the ebb and flow of haif. thanks again for all of your efforts editor.

[lockmat]

it's been great fun witnessing the ebb and flow of haif. thanks again for all of your efforts editor.

I prefer the flow. Hopefully it gets back there someday.

[editor]

I prefer the flow. Hopefully it gets back there someday.

The most powerful advertising in the world is word-of-mouth. If you like HAIF, tell someone you know about it.

If there's a discussion you're really into, use the "Share this" links at the bottom of the thread to let other people know about it via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and other means.

The word is "HAIF." Spread the word.

[bachanon]

"haif is the word, is the word, that you heard........"

[ricco67]

"haif is the word, is the word, that you heard........"

...and hope it takes wing on the internet like a bird.

[Highway6]

The word is "HAIF." Spread the word.

Send me a dozen bumper stickers and I'll put them up on stop signs and utility poles in Montrose all guerrilla-like

[lockmat]

The most powerful advertising in the world is word-of-mouth. If you like HAIF, tell someone you know about it.

If there's a discussion you're really into, use the "Share this" links at the bottom of the thread to let other people know about it via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and other means.

The word is "HAIF." Spread the word.

People ask me what I like to do outside of work and I tell them I normally come here. Except I have the same problem now that I did growing up. As a kid I was a sports fanatic but I've never had friends who were big sports fans too. I'd always want to do athletic things or watch games but nobody else, not even in my family like to do it, too.

Nobody I know is really interested in this kind of stuff At least not to the point of logging on here

[C2H]

I first discovered this site in like late 2003/early 2004 when the old site was up and running. I think i joined in like Jan 2004 before the old site crashed in august of that same year. My name was ComingtoHouston. I rejoined under C2H which is basically the acronym or abreviation for ComingtoHouston. That got tiring signing in under that name all the time.

[Trae]

Seems like activity is picking up at HAIF.

[editor]

Seems like activity is picking up at HAIF.

Up 32% from this time last year.

Up 6% from this time last month.

Heaviest traffic since October, 2009.

[Subdude]

Up 32% from this time last year.

Up 6% from this time last month.

Heaviest traffic since October, 2009.

I would say that it's just not more activity, but we seem to be getting posts from a broader range of members. If all of the activity is just a small group of three or four people flooding the board with posts it could get boring pretty quickly.

[editor]

I would say that it's just not more activity, but we seem to be getting posts from a broader range of members. If all of the activity is just a small group of three or four people flooding the board with posts it could get boring pretty quickly.

I should have been more clear. The increases I mentioned are in unique visitors per week, so if the same four people post replies to dozens or hundreds of threads, it doesn't skew the numbers I listed above.