wanna take a walk down pony memory lane? (Dream Valley website)

[Carrehz]

Did Tambelon/Cloud Castle ever actually go to air with those songs, though? Tambelon was definitely meant to have one, but I was under the impression it got cut during production.

[fuzzysherbet]

By the time I had even the faintest idea that pony collecting was a thing, Dream Valley was long gone. It was fun to look through it on the wayback machine though; there's just something about old websites, y'know?

[Mermaid]

I have seriously ambivalent feelings every time DV gets mentioned.

On the one hand I remember it as the second ever pony site I found (TP was first) and my hour a week at the library when I was 15 and printing out the whole ID pages and getting all excited about all the ponies I never knew existed.

For that I will always love it.

On the other hand, between around 1998 and 2001, DV did not update information on its international sections. And let's just say this created problems. Not updating was a personal choice by DV, because of  the sheer volume of people complaining about the errors (which should have been the reason to update, but Idk).

The international pages ultimately got taken down.

That part is a less pleasant memory.

So yeah, I love DV for being that gateway into MLP in the US and pony ID and the internet in the late 1990s and I have a lot of respect for it taking that step and giving us that first site.

On the other hand, I wish it had been better at correcting information sooner, or even at all, in that key crucial period when it was the go-to site and international ponies were flooding onto the market.

DV is an important historical milestone in our community but it should stay in the past and be left there.

Please, nobody go there for pony ID now. There's nothing that DV can tell you that the Wiki can't, and the Wiki is probably more accurate.

I think it's really important to underscore that fact. We've come a long way with our pony knowledge - but most of the problems/errors in information that still endure began with DV, and are still here because of DV.

You mean pretty bow isn’t a UK exclusive?!?! 😂😂😂 oh man what a trip down memory lane!

[Taffeta]

You mean pretty bow isn’t a UK exclusive?!?! 😂😂😂 oh man what a trip down memory lane!

 

Though in seriousness, there was a lot of unpleasantness at the time. It was very hard to be someone not from the US when DV was the only site dictating what ponies were sold everywhere.

And it took a lot of work to get to the point that we have the better int'l knowledge we have today. Which is absolutely no thanks to DV.

[Haruna]

You mean pretty bow isn’t a UK exclusive?!?! 😂😂😂 oh man what a trip down memory lane!

 

Though in seriousness, there was a lot of unpleasantness at the time. It was very hard to be someone not from the US when DV was the only site dictating what ponies were sold everywhere.

And it took a lot of work to get to the point that we have the better int'l knowledge we have today. Which is absolutely no thanks to DV.

When did you make your site, Taffeta?

[Mermaid]

You mean pretty bow isn’t a UK exclusive?!?! 😂😂😂 oh man what a trip down memory lane!
[/quote

 

Though in seriousness, there was a lot of unpleasantness at the time. It was very hard to be someone not from the US when DV was the only site dictating what ponies were sold everywhere.

And it took a lot of work to get to the point that we have the better int'l knowledge we have today. Which is absolutely no thanks to DV.

I hear you! I remember people including you challenging the norm of dream valley for years! I always checked other sites and reference other sites including yours before dream valley!

[Taffeta]

@Haruna - the first thing I actually did was rewrite DV's international sections because Kim was busy. She was a trade partner of mine for a while and I wanted to help. That was around 1998.

When for some reason she decided our information was unreliable and reverted back to the wrong version, I set up my website. Although it was also contributed to by other people, and continues to be even now.

Right now I can't find the oldest version of my site, but the wayback has this one from 2001 (recorded in 2009 I think, but you can tell by IPD and other things that it's from 2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20081009204216/http://www.taffeta.250x.com/ponypage/idhome.htm

I think that's the third iteration. The first didn't have frames. SO I estimate the first version was in 1999ish. Maybe 1998, but certainly 1999 for the first version. There isn't a trace of that one I can find right now though, because I don't remember the URL. If the pictures work, you will see ponies tortured by being shoved into scanners >.>.

There are definitely things on that site that I would organise differently, details I've fine tuned, questions I've answered and in some cases, errors I'd remove. But it was a product of it's time.

My older sites only dealt with ponies not sold in the US, including variants (this was pre the term Nirvana), so whatever was on that link was what was known about in 2001 regarding variants (and may be errorprone, as a lot more work has been done since by better people).

Unlike DV, I have always wanted people to send me information, corrections and updates. And I have always worked hard to fix things where they aren't quite right. If you don't do that, you shouldn't really be running any kind of website. Which is why IMO DV failed.

I did just learn that my coral Starglow was actually bought at the toy fair here in the UK, though. Which not only tells me I have had her a lot longer than I realised, but also that she may well be a UK exclusive based on other people's input.

[Shadowperla]

Ah, who starts things, is often not good, no? Like with Helixchamber in Pokemon fandom.

But I liked seeing old site. I still saw it online few years ago.

[Leikin]

Right now I can't find the oldest version of my site, but the wayback has this one from 2001 (recorded in 2009 I think, but you can tell by IPD and other things that it's from 2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20081009204216/http://www.taffeta.250x.com/ponypage/idhome.htm

Non Beddy Bye eyes ponies? Non So soft ponies? Oh no Taffeta, you didnt!   

[Taffeta]

Right now I can't find the oldest version of my site, but the wayback has this one from 2001 (recorded in 2009 I think, but you can tell by IPD and other things that it's from 2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20081009204216/http://www.taffeta.250x.com/ponypage/idhome.htm

Non Beddy Bye eyes ponies? Non So soft ponies? Oh no Taffeta, you didnt!   

Haha I know, it's terrible isn't it XDD

I quit using those terms somewhere around 2010 when I realised that using them (especially NSS) was conflating the idea of one collective set. And the non-thing always sounded horrible to me, so I felt like, when I did the current site, I was going to do away with the terms.

But if you look at some of the older images on my site they are labelled as 'nss' still in their filename.

The thing is in my defence, the original role of the scrapbook was actually to help people in the US understand ponies in Europe, rather than a site for UK people or Europeans. Because there weren't so very many of us...

But yeah, I look back at some things on that link and cringe. I almost didn't share it because I knew someone would poke me about it

It's a sign we can all learn from past mistakes though, right??

[SugarSpike]

Oh wow... I still remember sitting in front of our old boxy monitor, waiting for the dial up internet to get going so I could look at all the ponies on this website. I literally brought my ponies into the dining room so I could have them sitting there on the desk while I looked them up through the ID!

[KarentheUnicorn]

The curse that made me realize I needed more than 8 ponies.

Imagine living in a dreamvalley where you believe you only need 8 more ponies to complete your collection?

Back in like 1996-7ish, me...at a flea market for the first time ever talking to another MLP collector. She tells me that if I got online I could buy and trade with other collectors.

Me so young, hum (24-25ish!!! wow). So I set out to get the internet. SO I could get those 8 little jerks who eluded me the previous 15 years.

What is the first thing this young 20something looks for, yes, that's right. Ponies.

What is the first thing that comes up on her shiny new internets? Yes, that's right, Dream Valley.

Wow, cool someone else actually likes MLP besides me....wait...WHAT!?!?!?!?! What is this international pony stuff????

...wait WHO THE HECK IS SNOWFLAKE!!!! And Gypsy and Honeycomb and Hopscotch....noNOooooooooooo!!!! (cries tears of sadness but internal collector demon laughs evilly inside me) My precious....I must have you Gypsy!!!!

What is this chatroom stuff...

hum, joins chatroom.

Starts talking to pony collectors. And finds out I really enjoy chasing off trolls.

Daily starts talking to pony collectors from all over the world...and chasing off trolls.

And now, in 96-97 this KarentheUnicorn who used to be just Unicorn back then realizes it's not a small world after all and I need more than 8 ponies now).

Thanks Dream Valley...for ruining my life but also making my life bigger so I could find other people who love MLP as much as I do.

[Taffeta]

I still call you Uni

I'm wondering if DV chat was where we met now, actually...it was a long time ago. I know we used to chat originally on...ICQ? But I guess DV chat was probably the place.

DV Chat - one of the best things DV had until it got shut down for the aforementioned trolling.

[KarentheUnicorn]

I still call you Uni

I'm wondering if DV chat was where we met now, actually...it was a long time ago. I know we used to chat originally on...ICQ? But I guess DV chat was probably the place.

DV Chat - one of the best things DV had until it got shut down for the aforementioned trolling.

It was probably DV chat room. Then it spread over to whatever else came along. We may have chatted a lot on MSN messanger at some point as I remember my internet switched at some point back then to msn.

I think even PonyPolooza may have been initially setup using the chatroom or at least it was one of the ways word spread about the meet or maybe it was the trading post? I think both PP's were in 1999 and in 2000, so I can't really remember as it's all sorta a blur now and I couldn't tell you for sure where the initiation spark started on that original MLP collectors meet.

[Haruna]

The curse that made me realize I needed more than 8 ponies.

So true ha ha