The History of XMTS

[Duncanofcolorado]

As a recent member of XMTS and a Historty buff, I have been following the reaction to the retirement of the Saltire with interest. Can someone give a brief history of XMTS. All the talk of the old guard and the new, old owner and new, I find it interesting and would appreciate a history lesson. When did XMTS go on line and by whom? It's evolution etc.

[auld argonian]

...thereby leads the path to madness, my son...think carefully before you tread there!

...and I actually haven't been here as long as some.

Best

AA

[Nick the DSM]

Here's idea that remained constant for all the years Xmarks has been here: The love of Kilts.

I don't have much else to bring up.

[Steve Ashton]

In the olden days when the earth's rocks were still cooling a lad from S. Carolina named Hank Hanna began selling t-shirts and other stuff at highland games. He found it interesting and fun to take pics of some of the participants and began to post them on the web as a sort of "Do's and Don'ts of Kilt wearing".

At around the same time two online sites were finding that there was a growing interest in kilts and that there were questions that needed answering and support that needed offering. One of these sites was called "Tom's Cafe". It was popular for about three years but two things were happening at once that caused some problems. One, Tom was not well. He later died leaving his forum pretty much to the winds. Second, his forum was discovered by those males who enjoy wearing female clothing.

Those kilt wearers who were members of "Tom's Cafe" were trying to find a place to go as the forum was waning and found a site called "Bravehearts". This forum was popular for a while but the format of the forum was hard to follow for many and to some the topics kept going off on other tangents.

So, on the 22nd of Jan. 2004 Hank launched X Marks. He was getting his t-shirts made by a company called CaberDancer and they had a license plate frame with the name "X Marks the Scot" with a Saltair flag. Hank made an agreement to use the phrase as the name for his forum providing he included the .com.

Hank's original dream was to have a place where Kilts could be discussed. Where it was agreed by the members not to discuss other modes of dress or to let the topics range too far from kilts.

By the end of the month Hank had 27 members posting on the forum. By the end of March his membership broke 100 and then 300 before the summer was out.

In September of 2005 a member joined who had extensive forum programming skills and as Hank had a wife, a business and a life, Mike1 became the administrator of the forum and converted it over to the vBulletin software package in Mar of 2006.

In less than a year it was felt that Mike1 needed some help running the forum as he was a better programmer than an administrator. This need led to the formation of "The Mod Squad". A group of dedicated forum members who vollentered their time and energy to keeping X Marks from falling to the fate of "Tom's Cafe" or "Bravehearts".

I joined the forum in Aug of 2004 and became one of the first three advertisers. In the spring of 2009 I was visiting Scotland and asked some of the largest Highland Wear makers and selers why they were not advertiser too. They had many answers to my question but the one that shocked me was that they would like to advertise but Hank had been an absentee owner for over three years and there was no guarentee that if something were to happen to him that the forum would continue. I knew Hank and his wife had had a baby and that he was running two additrional businesses but it had never occured to me that X Marks could simply stop because no one paid the hosting bill.

In September of 2009 I approached Hank and asked him the questions I was asked in Scotland. His reply was that he would consider an offer to buy the forum if I would bring it back to and insure it continued to live up to his original dream.
I purchased the forum from Hank on the 21st of Oct. 2009.

Today as we celebrate seven years on the web it is interesting to note that of the first 100 members 27 are still active and participating. This is very unusual on the internet where the life of the average forum is 9 months.

Since the inception of X Marks we have had almost 14,000 members join the forum who have made over thee quarters of a million posts. X Marks today is seen as a large forum and is ranked as a big board.

Over the years there have been other forums about kilts. Some are still around and some have ceased. But X Marks contiues to thrive and grow.

It is also interesting that this forum is known world wide. We do not advertise the existance of X Marks other than by word of mouth but I am confidant that I can go anywhere on this globe where the kilt is worn and find a member or someone who knows about X Marks the Scot.

[Standard]

Thanks Steve, most of us that have been here for a time know much of this history, but it's certainly nice to have it all laid out in one place to help jog the memory.

[Steve Ashton]

In the 9 or 10 years that the kilt renaisance has been going on a lot has happened. There are few who could write a full history of kilts on the internet.

Many of us know that part that we have been involved in but are fuzzy about other sites or what happened before we found the kilt.

And even of what I know this is only a small portion. I just wanted to answer the questions asked and not burden everyone with details.

[Calico]

An excellent summary, Steve. Thank you. As another new member (I ordered my first kilt on Saturday), I appreciate that bit of history.

[Riverkilt]

Didn't realize I was such an olde geezer on this board. Steve told me about X Marks when I was over on another (now nearly defunct) kilt board in October of 2004...time do fly when you're having fun kilted!

[BoldHighlander]

Thanks Steve, most of us that have been here for a time know much of this history, but it's certainly nice to have it all laid out in one place to help jog the memory.

***

Matt Newsome first told me of XMTS (via email correspondence) back in 2005, then again encouraged me to join in 2006....... I'm glad I followed his advice, it was one of the best decisions I ever made!

[Jerry]

Thanks for the history summary, Steve. Like you I came on the board in Sept. 2004. I believe that we were just outside the first 100. Have you heard anything from Hank or Mike1 in the past few years, just wondering if they are still doing well.

Also, do you know if any of the original first 10 or so founding members are still around? I spoke with Jimmy Carbomb, of Barleyjuice" at the Richmond Highland games a few years ago and he said that he did still check the board occasionally, but didn't post. I also think that Terry of Bear kilts and Rocky from USA kilts might have been close if not some of the original members.