20 Years of HAIF: Share your memories

[editor]

OK, so it hasn't been 20 years of HAIF.  It's been 19 and change.  But the 20th anniversary is coming up, and because I need a job, I've been looking through what remains of the HAIF archives to fill in my LinkedIn profile.  So I thought I'd share some of my memories here.

The issue of how old HAIF is remains kind of vague.  HAIF started as a subsection of houstonarchitecture.info.  But that site didn't start on that domain.  It was on a different one before moving to ha.i, which happened in 2002.  So that's why if you base things on the site's content, it's been 20 years, but if you base it on the address, it's been 19ish.  Which you like to use is up to you.

There's not a lot left in the HAIF archives.  But what is there shows that HAIF was a pioneer in a lot of spaces.  Things that we did back in the early days of HAIF were cutting-edge, and considered normal today.  Unfortunately, back in 2002, the notion of a terabyte of cheap storage that fit in the palm of your hand was as science fiction as flying cars are today.  So over the years, I saved very little.  But here are some highlights, in no particular order.

HAIF Days

We used to have custom banners at the top of HAIF, celebrating different random days of the year.  Birthdays, holidays, and naturally HAIF anniversaries.  We don't do that anymore.  Back when HAIF started, it was a cute, fun, community-building exercise and people loved it.  Today, we don't do that anymore.  People on the internet are just looking for an excuse to complain and be "offended" on behalf of other people they don't even know.  The end came one year when someone moaned about a "HAIFy Christmas!" banner, and threatened to splatter their angst all over social media in a smear campaign.  I just gave up.  We can't have nice things anymore.  So here's a selection from years past:

I'm not sure what Duran Duran day is, but we marked it twice.

Bastille Day

One of many for Halloween.  I've always been a big Halloween guy.

One of many for when storms threatened.

This was for Memorial Day

The day the first iPhone came out.

Another Memorial Day one.

I have no memory of why @Pumapayamgot his own day.  Maybe he wrote us a check?

Again, I have no idea why @TheNichegot his own day, either.

 

Other days

We also had custom banners for non-holiday days.

This was on the day that I quit my job at the television station.

This was the day after I watched an Indiana Jones movie.

This was the day when I held a "Spot the Editor" contest and got scammed out of an iPod.  Oh, well. I tried.

This was when we released HAIF:book.  Yes, there was a companion book for HAIF.

This was the year we had M&M's custom-made in the HAIF name and colors.  Super expensive and a real ordeal to pull off back then.  Now you can just order them online.

Inspired by a flight into Hobby airport one morning.

From back when we used to sell ad-free HAIF.

I think this was supposed to be an optical illusion.  I don't think anyone ever noticed it.

I have a vague notion of the HAIF Finance Challenge.  But don't really remember anything about it.

This was when we had a photo contest.

This was making fun of all the local TV stations hyping the shift to HDTV.

We did manage to eventually give away an iPod.  I don't remember how, though.

This was the day we started paying our hosting provider to purchase carbon offset credits.  Today, it's hard to find a hosting provider that isn't green, or headed that way.

 

HAIF:cam

At one time, we had a small network of live webcams around town.  This is a picture from 2002, taken from the camera at Dakota Lofts.  Piece of crap, that thing was.  But I'm almost positive that we were the first web site to live stream a hurricane coming ashore, in Houston or anywhere else.

 

HAIF:weather

Everyone has a weather app with them all the time now.  This wasn't true way back when.  At one time, HAIF:weather was the only weather app you could get for your iPhone, other than the built-in one from Apple.  It had current conditions, a five-day forecast, weather radar updated every 15 minutes, and streaming audio forecasts from an actual real meteorologist: Keith Monahan over at KHCW (now KIAH).  This was in the days before Apple had an App Store, so all apps were "web apps," which is a trend to which more and more companies are returning.  Apple featured HAIF:weather in some of its marketing material.  Even today, you pay extra for radar in most weather apps.  We had it 13 years ago for free.

HAIF:weather on Apple's web site.

HAIF:weather installed on the first iPhone.  Who's up for a game of Super Monkey Ball?

 

HAIF:traffic

The HAIF:traffic logo

At one time we hooked up with a traffic service and provided live traffic maps and updates on the web, mobile devices, and even by text message.  Today there are a thousand apps that will do it.  We were one of the first. And probably the only one to grade traffic on a scale of Movin' Easy to Mass Hysteria.

A screenshot of the we version of HAIF:traffic

A screenshot from the mobile version of HAIF:traffic

 

It's a fact: HAIF is awesome

In 2009, HAIF was named best local web site of the year by the Houston Press.  

 

Icons and embarrassments

When looking through the archives, I found a bunch of interesting icons.  I don't remember what we used them for, but they're neat to see.

 

This was the icon we used to use for "City Services."  It was funny twenty years ago.  it has not aged well.

 

Advertising HAIF

We used to do quite a little bit of advertising for HAIF.  Much of it online.  We sponsored web site, and even podcasts back when the podcast community hated the word "podcast" because it implied that all audio streams came from Apple and were only for iPods.  Things sure have changed.  Here are some of the images we used.  Again, not all of them have aged well.

This is an ad we ran when HAIF reached 300,000 posts.

 

HAIF:memes

Before they were called "memes," they were called "image macros," and there was a whole bunch of them for HAIF.  Here are a few I found.

 

 

HAIF:jobs

Before CareerBuilder was a big deal, it hooked up with local web sites to get jump-started.  We were one of those web sites, and HAIF:jobs was born.

 

HAIF-TV

The early years of this century saw a lot of streaming video services emerge.  But they never really went mainstream until the last half decade or so.  Even companies like Williams, with massive video infrastructure and deep pockets, learned they got into the game too early, and folded their operations.  HAIF-TV didn't get very far, but we documented a few things.  This is a still shot from a video of the implosion of a downtown building.  I think it was a flophouse, but I'm no longer sure.  "Crawford Hotel" sticks in my head, but I might have made that up.

 

radio:HAIF

HAIF's streaming audio was more successful than the streaming video.  radioHAIF only played local artists, from garage bands to the River Oaks Orchestra, or songs about Houston (Dean Martin, and R.E.M. both have songs called "Houston.")  There were also occasional weather forecasts and local information breaks.  It ran for several years, and worked on multiple platforms.  Audience-wise, it had maybe 50 or 100 people listen a day.  Not many, but enough to make it worth doing for a while.

A photograph of radioHAIF playing on an AppleTV

When we pulled the plug.

 

HAIF:book

The dead tree edition of HAIF.  It sold about 50 copies.  Look for it at a Half-Price Books near you!

 

HAIF:calendar

For a while, we published yearly calendars.  But nobody uses calendars anymore.  And for those who do, we can't compete with Snap-On Tools.

 

Going all dot-com

For many years, HAIF was on a .info domain.  Then one day, a domain squatter offered me the opportunity to buy houstonarchitecture.com for $15,000.  I didn't have $15,000.  But when I mentioned in on HAIF, the donations from you nice people came pouring in, and within a few weeks, HAIF had moved to the .com it's on today. That's the kind of community HAIF is.

 

Hard times for HAIF, and good

HAIF has always been up-and-down.  In good times, HAIF did really well.  It made enough money for it to be my full-time job and support my wife.  When times were bad for Houston, they were bad for HAIF.  But there were a few notable bad moments.

The Great Recession

The recession hit HAIF like a ton of bricks.  Advertising revenue for HAIF, and the rest of the internet, fell like a stone.  We lost 90% of our revenue within a month.  Simultaneously, Google's ad monster revved up and killed all of the competition.  Today, online advertising is (IME) 95% controlled by Google and Facebook, leaving crumbs for the rest of us and the non-Google ad networks we rely on.  In 2006, a thousand ad views on a web site like HAIF would have earned between $20 and $60.  Today, you're lucky to get 75¢.  This is why the congresscritters in Washington are beating drums about "big tech."  

Hurricane Ike

I really don't know what happened here.  HAIF was roaring along until this storm came.  HAIF had been through bad storms before, most notably Tropical Storm Allison, but always bounced back.  In the days before Hurricane Ike, HAIF traffic skyrocketed.  When the storm hit, it plummeted, and for some reason didn't really come back.  Lots of people were without electricity and internet for days, weeks, and even months.  And perhaps being away from HAIF for so long, they forgot us.  Perhaps they needed to focus more on their physical community, rather than this virtual community.  That's understandable.  But I've never really been able to nail down what happened.

 

Miscellaneous

Here are some images I found in the archive that I'm not sure what to do with, so I put them here.

 

The future of HAIF

While I no longer own HAIF, and am only able to devote a few hours a week to it, largely behind the scenes, I can say that financially, HAIF pays for itself, and should be here for the long run.  The current owner takes a hands-off approach, and that has always served HAIF well, as it has allowed people to come and go, to express themselves, and to make this a better place.

If you have memories of HAIF, please post them here.  I'd love to read them.

 

[hindesky]

I probably surfed HAIF for a couple years before I became a member. Posted pics directly from my iPhone till I met the limit and then realized I could use Imgur for hosting my pics. Been a member since 2014.

[editor]

11 hours ago, hindesky said:

I probably surfed HAIF for a couple years before I became a member. Posted pics directly from my iPhone till I met the limit and then realized I could use Imgur for hosting my pics. Been a member since 2014.

Thanks for being a long-term member!  

FYI, I recently increased the upload limit.  It was previously set at a size that made sense in the early days, but is no longer realistic.  It is much more believable now.

[HoustonMidtown]

Thank you for all the work you have done and are doing to keep this site up and going - I joined way back in 2004 shortly after I moved to Houston....it was a great way for me to learn about the "big city" since I was moving from a small town in Michigan....It continues to be a great source of information!

[Montrose1100]

My father moved back to Houston in the late 90s in a townhome off Blossom Street. Growing up in Spring, I spent all the time I could with him in the city to follow my fascination of architecture, city planning, transportation, and to escape the general boredom of the suburbs. Coming of age and surfing the web, I believe I stumbled on HAIF looking up information on local buildings for an art project. He moved away again but I could drive by then so the first thing I did was head down 45. 

I think there was maybe one point in time I contributed photos on my brick digital camera that was a whopping 12 megapixels.

And wow, unlocked memories, I completely forgot about the muddy cowboy. Also, could have sworn the HAIF icons changing for holidays/special days was because Google owned a copywrite on holiday logos? Someone probably posted that a joke.

Redscare & TheNiche going at it felt like watching titans battle. Entertaining, annoying, and sometimes educational. 

How could you forget the site crash? I checked every day to see if it would come back. 

Big Head on Main Street.

Every thread ending up as a Dallas vs Houston.

Speaking of, the Port of Dallas Thread.

Heights Walmart... I'm pretty sure I took a break from HAIF during this time. The people involved with the arms race migrated to Swamplot and didn't come back. 

Idk how many hours I've spent on this website but probably an unhealthy amount. I'm 100% certain there was a thread about how annoying I was posting on literally every single thread - daily. Nothing has changed. 

[august948]

I think TheNiche got his own day because he was the first to hit 10,000 posts.  Followed very soon after by RedScare if I recall correctly.  I miss the Christmas tree banners.  There was also a brief time when you could post a map of a given project in the banner.  That was a really cool feature.  Don't recall why that got pulled.

I've been a member since 2008 and I miss some of the active posters we used to have.  The Heights Walmart thread was a blast.

[s3mh]

10 minutes ago, august948 said:

I think TheNiche got his own day because he was the first to hit 10,000 posts.  Followed very soon after by RedScare if I recall correctly.  I miss the Christmas tree banners.  There was also a brief time when you could post a map of a given project in the banner.  That was a really cool feature.  Don't recall why that got pulled.

I've been a member since 2008 and I miss some of the active posters we used to have.  The Heights Walmart thread was a blast.

HAIF used to be almost like an 8chan for people interested in real estate development.  Niche and RedScare could be as vicious and line crossing as they could be interesting and well informed.  And a lot of posters would follow their lead making hot topics pretty toxic at times.  I had fun sparring with everyone but it got to the point where the tone was limiting who could participate to only those who had very thick skins.

It is interesting to reflect back on the whole stop Walmart thing.  I always wondered how much that fight influenced developers like Radom, Deal, Braun and others who have broken with the longstanding Houston development pattern of demolishing anything old and building strip malls, townhomes and generic apartments in its place.    

[Subdude]

Wow. This brings back a lot of memories. Some of us are still hanging around from HAIF v1, before the great hack brought that down. That was a sad day. 

Wayne, thanks for all your support on HAIF over the years.

[kennyc05]

I stumbled across the site back in 2004 right before moving from Victoria to Houston.

[mkultra25]

I can't remember how I first found HAIF. I suspect it was via a link from some other site, or from a hit in Google search results when HAIF happened to have something relevant to whatever it was that I'd been looking for.  I am somewhat surprised that I've been here since 2006. Doesn't seem like it's been 15 years. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by mkultra25
typo

[j_cuevas713]

I became passionate about Houston development when the Stros/Rockets built their new stadiums with the threat of possibly relocating. I remember the Cotswold project being the first project that got me excited about the possibilities downtown. Been a member pretty much since the beginning. 

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bellaire/news/article/The-Cotswold-Project-beautifies-Downtown-9803075.php

Edited June 23, 2021 by j_cuevas713

[Ross]

I too forget how I originally got here, but I joined in 2007. Lots of fun, it helped me keep up with things when I was living overseas, and it's part of my day.

[kennyc05]

6 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I became passionate about Houston development when the Stros/Rockets built their new stadiums with the threat of possibly relocating. I remember the Cotswold project being the first project that got me excited about the possibilities downtown. Been a member pretty much since the beginning. 

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bellaire/news/article/The-Cotswold-Project-beautifies-Downtown-9803075.php

I didn't get on this site until 2005 officially I was following all that action on Clutch City/Clutch fans if those idiots wouldn't have took away my account back in the day at Clutch City  I probably would have been a 20 year member Lol 

 

[j_cuevas713]

13 hours ago, kennyc05 said:

I didn't get on this site until 2005 officially I was following all that action on Clutch City/Clutch fans if those idiots wouldn't have took away my account back in the day at Clutch City  I probably would have been a 20 year member Lol 

 

Daaamn yeah I remember Clutch Fans too! 

[dbigtex56]

I stumbled across HAIF while seeking information about Houston's new Light Rail. To my delight, I found a community of people whose interests were similar to my own, and who provided information and insights that other Houston media did not. 
I remember the Great Meltdown of HAIF v.1 (and the weirdo homophobe who was almost certainly behind it). Lots of great information and observations were lost. Perhaps it doesn't rival the burning of the library at Alexandria, but it cannot be completely replicated.
HAIF has led to some long-term friendships which have continued on Facebook and even IRL.  It's no exaggeration to say that HAIF was the social networking site for Houston in the early 2000's. 
Thanks to Wayne and our fearless moderators for keeping this site up and running. 

[editor]

On 6/21/2021 at 7:36 AM, Montrose1100 said:

How could you forget the site crash? I checked every day to see if it would come back. 

Idk how many hours I've spent on this website but probably an unhealthy amount. I'm 100% certain there was a thread about how annoying I was posting on literally every single thread - daily. Nothing has changed. 

Yeah, the big crash.  I don't even remember who hacked HAIF, it was so many years ago.  I vaguely recall that we lost something like 100,000 posts.  

If I recall correctly, you were the first person to even be banned from HAIF.  Years later, you came back a different person, and have since become an asset to this group. 

I think of that sometimes when I see people on the internet being pilloried for things they did five, ten, twenty years ago.  It is folly to judge people today by who they were in the past.  We all learn and change, every day.  The internet has taught people how to be vengeful and scornful.  How to hate and how to persecute.  But it has not yet taught people how to be patient, and how to forgive.  I think that's why the internet so often seems at odds with the values that have shaped the world for thousands of years. 

[Montrose1100]

On 6/26/2021 at 7:48 PM, editor said:

Yeah, the big crash.  I don't even remember who hacked HAIF, it was so many years ago.  I vaguely recall that we lost something like 100,000 posts.  

If I recall correctly, you were the first person to even be banned from HAIF.  Years later, you came back a different person, and have since become an asset to this group. 

I think of that sometimes when I see people on the internet being pilloried for things they did five, ten, twenty years ago.  It is folly to judge people today by who they were in the past.  We all learn and change, every day.  The internet has taught people how to be vengeful and scornful.  How to hate and how to persecute.  But it has not yet taught people how to be patient, and how to forgive.  I think that's why the internet so often seems at odds with the values that have shaped the world for thousands of years. 

Was I? I know I got in trouble for arguing with Dalparadise in every thread, but I don't think I was banned? 

Anyway, thanks for forgiving me 😇.

[arche_757]

I started with the website before venturing into the forum.  I think I joined the forum because I just like arguing, and what better thing to argue about (from my perspective) than Houston development/architecture/urban planning!  I was a freshmen in college at UH when I really got into the forum back in 2001, and I remember having to rush my posts before running off to my architectural studio course!  Made lunchtime quite hectic for me!  Eventually, it just grew into a sort of obsession!  Still is…sort of.  But then, I see, it is quite the obsession for…well…most of us.

I think this site is the lone place on the web that is 100% pro-Houston in all respects.  Many, many thanks to all who have posted and enabled such a great site to prosper over the years!  And a and hearty huzzah to Wayne for starting this over 2-decades ago.

What a run!  Here’s to another 20!