remember: winglin

Winglin was the home to one of the most infamous and long-lasting community in online TVB history. It is the mother of all forums that succeeded it.

As a fanfic haven
Winglin started out as a fanfiction site in the late 1990's. Writers would post their stories based on their favorite TVB artists and/or series and share with fellow fans, who would read them. The site was easy for writers to use and publish their works and it was hassle-free for fans to read and comment. To this day, Winglin remains to be the headquarters for TVB fanfiction writing and is the only remaining fragment of Winglin still accessible.

As a forum paradise
The boardmasters of Winglin decided to create forums for fan discussion (rather than just be a site for fanfic postings, reading, and discussions) of TVB artists and series. The layout followed a similar structure as those of the original Winglin fanfic site. The forums' threads were linear and fans could post without registration. The forums were free to the public and it soon became the "hot spot" for English TVB discussion. In particular, the "New TVB Discussion Forum" was very active. People would post news and have lengthy discussions on the latest releases.

The "golden years" of the Winglin forums remain to be the early 2000's. In those good times, Winglin wasn't just a forum. It was a home to many online TVB fans. It was a strongly-bound community of fans from all over the world. It was friendly and extremely active. Friendships blossomed and it was just a great time. People had intelligent and sound discussions. People knew one another and it was just a warm time and place.

It was the #1 source for anything and everything current about TVB. If you wanted to know something, someone at Winglin would be able to tell you. It was that simple.

Deteriorating and scares... it's the end
Starting in 2004, Winglin headed for an inevitable decline.

As the Internet became more widespread, new forums started to pop up everywhere. These new forums allowed people to have their own log-in and they were structured in an orderly way. People could quickly find their threads of interest. However, Winglin stood the test of time and its simplicity retained its loyal visitors. Even though the forum was threaded and lacked order, people still liked it for being easy-to-use and active. It remained a source for TVB information. However, these "other" forums started to attract and appeal to more people once Winglin began to have one huge problem...

The forums were frequently down as a result of a faulty and old server. People panicked and the mayhem that resulted with each "down time" was proof of Winglin's strong hold on the TVB community. However, as down times became more frequent, people started to accept that Winglin was not going to work all of the time. Perhaps its lack of stability turned a lot of visitors away and contributed to the continued degradation of activity at the forums.

In 2005, troublemakers started rumors that Winglin was going to shut down. With the site's already unstable nature, many fans believed the rumor to the true. Although the boardmasters have always been quiet, they never failed to update individual artist's forum banner and background. In 2005, however, forum layouts remained static. It looked like it was true that the boardmasters were bailing. Luckily, they set the record straight and told everyone that the problem with the downtime was because of the old server and that they were looking into upgrading so that the forums would run smoothly and be up at all times. The promise of a "new" Winglin was promising. However, with the atmosphere of the forums at that time, not even an upgrade could have saved it.

Since the "golden years" of Winglin came to a sad and abrupt conclusion, the forums began to change drastically - for the worse. Spams got worse. People got ruder. Familiarity and friendships were lost. People couldn't be civil. Heated arguments became more frequent. People were attacked. It was chaotic and downright scary.

I was holding off on writing a Remember article for Winglin because the boardmasters promised fans a "new" and "improved" Winglin back in 2006. I waited and waited... To my dismay, such a resurrection never came. I realize now that Winglin is truly but a memory and needs to be laid to rest.

Encoded Thoughts
In 2007, as a forum, Winglin is long gone. However, it retains its original purpose as a fanfic site and continues to serve writers and readers alike. The golden age of peaceful and happy discussions about TVB is gone. Left are golden memories of better times. While Winglin lacked the "custom" and "personal" features of current forums and had a problem with people "using other people's names," its simplicity and ease marks its beauty. The Winglin forums were a haven from boredom and a great source of information for many years. However, like everything else, all good things come to an end...

Thank you boardmasters for creating and maintaining such a beautiful home and a great place for so many years. You guys pioneered online English TVB discussions for overseas and non-Chinese literate fans. Winglin will always rightfully have its place in TVB's history and we will remember you for it.

Bonus: TVB Musings' Episodic Memory
Winglin was one of the first TVB sites I discovered after getting into the TVB world a few years ago. I used it as an information source as well as for opinions on series. It was a great place. I eventually become one of the "known" posters at that forum with my frequent postings. Winglin was a pivotal reason for the success of my Virtues of Harmony websites. They even linked my Virtues forums on their main page of forum directories. I used it to shamelessly advertise my site(s). I used to love Winglin in its "golden years." I'd go to it right after school and check out all of the new postings (which would be a lot). It was so fun! I was addicted to Winglin. I met a lot of good friends there (of which, sadly, I only talk to on an infrequent basis or none at all nowadays). There were so many great people at Winglin during the "golden years" that made Winglin such a fun and interesting place to visit.

I want to give a shout-out to nAnCeE ("Wifey"! I miss the way we used to post with our names together; our chats were so fun!), Diana ("Ah Lui"!), Candie, me, and Ray (If it wasn't for your posts praising Virtues so much, I don't know whether or not I would have had the faith to continue it. It's a scary thought to me now if I never had the 4-years Virtues experience.) I met countless of people over the years at Winglin, so if I forgot you and you're reading this... sorry!

In either 2002 or 2003, discussions started to stray from TVB. People began to be more interested in the personal lives of fellow posters. I remember that one time, everyone posted their pictures. It was crazy. Consequently, the boardmasters created a new forum for personal/off-topic discussions. I believe this was the start of the decline of Winglin. The atmosphere in the TVB forums never recovered after the "personal curiosity" explosion. Perhaps the lackluster-ness of TVB is to blame for the deterioration as well.

Despite my fond memories of Winglin, it hasn't always been so pleasant. The boardmasters know who I am. I bothered them countless of times as a result of "forum drama." Because of my "status" at the forums, people recognized who I was and I inevitably developed haters on Winglin. I don't want to go into details, but let's just say my "forum drama" involved stalkers and a despicable "shim" (inside joke/name).

In 2005, I discovered the joys of Winglin as a fanfic haven. I was very disappointed with Virtues of Harmony II's ending and had lots of ideas on how to continue the storyline, so I started a fanfic. I loved how simple it was to post chapters and the comments page that Winglin had was awesome. It allowed my fanfic to reach out to countless readers. It was great. Sadly, in 2006, I could no longer log in to post more chapters of my story. It turns out that all old users could no longer log into their accounts. However, my fanfic remains on Winglin's server. I probably lost a lot of readers as a result of the move from Winglin over to my own server - such a pity.

As the years went by, my postings on Winglin became less and less. The atmosphere there was no longer the same. Very little people knew anyone else. The "community" factor that was so strong in the early 2000's was lost. The forum became heavy on spam and haters. Its constant downtime was also discouraging. It just wasn't fun anymore. I also avoided posting or posted under a pseudonym because I knew that people still knew who "MetalAZNWarrior" was and I didn't want to leave myself vulnerable for haters to attack nonsensically. Nevertheless, I continued to visit on a daily basis out of habit and to check for news and/or discussions. At this current time, my passion for forums has died. Even if Winglin returned, I'd be indifferent. The feeling is just long gone.

However, I still appreciate and love Winglin for what it was and how much it gave me during the good times.