I found this site in the early 00's and signed up immediately, but somehow lost my login info and had to start a new account in 2009 lol!

I remember getting on this site in the early 2000s also but not enough to remember my login also.

I always remember looking up anything Thirdgen related would eventually bring me here throughout the early 2000s.. When I finally got another Thirdgen I joined.

I got some hard to find parts from members here and sold a few parts here as well.

Keep learning new things about these cars too..

By far the best site online for thirdgen information. A lot of thirdgen Facebook pages have popped up over the years. But in my opinion is only good for looking at pictures of peoples rides. The tech advice is absolutely horrid. Low fuel pressure? Def your TPS. Car running rough? Your timing chain definitely jumped a tooth. It's bad. I try to tell people to come here and use the search function instead.

This site and it's people have been a real blessing to me. I never could have done the things I've done without the help and guidance from people here and at the regional forum CascadeCrew.

I was lurking on this site for awhile before my join date. Soooooooo much good info on here and yes the search sucks but google search normally brings up what I'm looking for.

Google search anything thirdgen will bring you to the right spot..

Over 20 years now. Hard to believe.

Seen many changes, all mentioned in posts above. Time flies.

Before Internet brands owned the site there was one special day of the year, April 1. For 24 hours this site would change from the informative, business-as-usual TGO to the wacky, off the wall, hilarious TGO. I can remember truly laughing out loud at the problems and solutions that people would post. I actually got my Avatar (Beaver holding the machine gun) one of those days. Then on April 2 the message boards would magically change back as if nothing ever happened. Anybody else remember that? I wish they would do it again.

This site's history mirrors that of many on the webz, or at least those that are still around today. I joined this site at the same time I joined another, non-automotive-related site, very large and with a very large internet presence. At the time, that site ranked as the 20th largest forum site of any type. My last 4 years there, I was a forum moderator, until a series of Admin layoffs brought in a guy who, in a misguided effort to increase site traffic, relaxed all the forum rules to a point where the site is now overrun with trolls and asshats. Today, that site ranks around 1800th on the internet, and is hanging on by a thread; I expect it to be gone within a year.

This site still survives in a climate where FB and Instagram have pretty much killed 'forum' formats primarily because---to their credit--- Admin refuses to add "chat" forums and allow off-topic nonsense. IMO, this site will continue to survive as long as it remains tech-oriented, and forum members support the companies that advertise here.

The year that www.thirdgen.org redirected to the Titanic movie forum ruffled some feathers over there.

Although the timing is about there to make it appear as such, the April 1st thing (or lack of) actually has nothing to do with Internet Brands. I started when Dirk was one of the last founders still active on ThirdGen and have remained along with Chris - who also came aboard before myself during Dirk days. The April 1st thing, I believe, was really from Dirk and Chris. But it also got to the point where so many people expected it and it became harder to continue doing so.

as far as using the search function, whenever i want to search a question on this site i go to google and type in “thirdgen” and then my question or a brief sentence describing my issue. the first 5 links on google are always threads from this site followed by a link labeled “more results from thirdgen.org”. click the more results link and you’ll get every single thread that’s worth reading on the subject.

for example, if i wanted to search this site for info about replacing the window motors on these cars i would go to google and type: “thirdgen replacing window motor”

I’d love to know how some of you actually use the search bar on this site

I remember back as a sophmore in high school 1999-2000 (before I even I first bought my iroc in february of 2000 at the age of 15) I would go to the high school library and scroll through this website. once I got the car i spent even more time there and on this website. I would actually PRINT out pages and pages of tech info, photos, troubleshooting tips to the library printer and read it over during classes and at home. I graduated highschool in 2002 and I probably had printed out thousands and thousands of pages!

I never knew enough to create a username back then, and I felt too dumb to ask my own questions, so I would just search and read. Finally made a login in 2005 and began posting.

I have learned such an incredible amount due to this website and i'm eternally grateful that it exists.

The April 1st gags started all the way back before the forum started using the UBB software. 1998-ish. It started when the forum was still red/yellow/white text on a black background. The redirects tended to dump a bunch of thirdgen hooligans onto unsuspecting forums, that suddenly got flooded with troll posts. IIRC some of those other forums got so upset that the redirect link had to be changed to load a different forum to limit the damage.

Those were the days!
Fingers crossed for April 1, 2020

Wow, in just a few months it will have been 5 years since I even posted a reply in this thread. Blows my mind I've been here for more than 20 years. Damn I'm getting old!

I bought my car and did not even know this site existed. I was told about in in passing by a member that has posted a handful of times in double my time here. Now 4.5 yrs later and over 1k in posts and I love this place! It is the PERFECT balance of tech and social to keep it interesting and bringing you back. I came here to get some technical advice on fixing problems with my third gen, I stayed because you can come on this site and learn something new everyday, make some new internet friends and see pics of the world's finest thirdgens! You also get opinions here, albeit some very strong, that ultimately helps make decisions on your car. The detail and appearance thread, history originality thread, COTM, regional threads all add up to facts, advice, pics and opinions...man this place has got it all and hope JT you and the others see this and that IMHO is why TGO is still around with all these members for all this time. My hats off to everyone!

Man, TGO was painful back in the dial up days. Want to see pics of third gens? Well, itll load, eventually... one pixel bar at a time...then the infamous "click" followed by the phone ringing. lol

Good times!

This was about 1997 or 8. I remember my gf looking at me wondering what I was doing messing with a lap top. lol