Fool,

There is kind of a history that is interesting with VFS (virtual fly shop) and although I can't do it justice I'll try some of the basics.

It was started in the early or mid 90's by a couple Canadians Greg McDermott and Ross Purnell and I think there might have been another but I'm not sure. They developed their own BB software and promoted a fairly interactive website for the fly fishing community. It got big and noticed. It also developed a camaraderie that was unique to the earlier years of such boards. One of the entities that noticed the site was Fly Fisherman Magazine (prinemedia) and they bought them out and moved the operation to Fort Collins CO; believing that they were going to be able to tap into the income generating (subscriptions) of this internet thing. Well that never materialized for them no matter the level of content they pushed. I think mostly because they didn't understand the content that we all found overwhelmingly valuable was the information and entertainment we shared amongst ourselves. Anyway they shifted the whole web presence around and re-arranged both the software and the personal and a couple incarnations later VFS (which exists only in the minds of those of us older regulars) ended up being farmed out to the Florida Sportsman Site.

VFS doesn't exist but we use the name to remind ourselves of the camaraderie and innocence of the early years of such forums.

I'm sure I got some details wrong and certainly left out many more, as I wasn't involved until '96 or so. But I will always remember the VFS that got together and organized two fundraisers for Gary LaFontaine during his last two years of life that brought together people from around the world in a common effort to help one of our own, within a format that hadn't really been tried before.

I know that there is a history of FAOL as well that is written somewhere and I'm sure someone will link you to it. It too is quite a legacy.

Have fun
Bubba