ABOUT THE YOWIE SUPER GROUP
The Yowie Super Group (hereinafter: YSG) came into being on 12 January 2000, shortly after the dawn of the new millennium. It was founded by Neil Travis, who envisioned a group where members could discuss any collectable they liked, but also have a bit of fun with jokes, competitions and so forth when things got a bit slow in people’s favourite collectables. From its very beginning, YSG has been more than a group where people could buy, sell, swap and discuss collectables. It has also become a place in which friendships are formed and much all-round fun had. When the collecting and competitions go stale, the friendships remain, and that’s what makes this group special.
Like any group, YSG had fairly small beginnings, but it has grown to the point where it has around 150 members in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan and other countries besides. Apart from Yowies themselves, collectables discussed include Mondos, Tazos, Kinder Surprises, Pokemon, Beanie Babies or Kids, Smurfs and many more. As long as it’s collectable, you can talk about it here! There are competitions galore too. Pit your wits against fellow-members in the Friday Night Question or Mid-Week Quiz, or test your creative skills in the Caption Competition. But above all, share a bit of life and laughter with a wonderful and caring bunch of people.
YSG has had a lot packed into its short life so far. Below is a timeline of some of the key events in YSG history:
2000
12 January: Neil Travis founds YSG. He originally called it YowieTraders, but the current name was there right from Neil’s inaugural message, which is reproduced below:
From: "Neil Travis" Hi,
Date: Wed Jan 12, 2000 2:17 am
Subject: [yowiesupergroup] Welcome to YowieTraders
For the lovers of Yowies everywhere!
Unite!
I welcome you all to join the new yowie super group.
Cheers,
Neil Travis
29 January: Neil announces that he will give away a free Lord
Balthizzar figurine to whomever posts the 500th message to YSG. His simple
words, “free lord for the 500th message” launch what is to become YSG’s oldest
competition, the Message Number Competition. Soon thereafter, Neil also
promises a free Crystal to the posters of the 499th and 501st messages.
13 February: Peta Nicholson posts the 500th message to YSG and wins
Lord Balthizzar from Neil. Rhonie Turner and Jill Shaw get the Crystals
for posting the 499th and 501st messages respectively.
25 October: Neil announces that he has transferred ownership of
the group to Andra Robertson, aka Chook, who remains in that position to
this day.
2001
2 February: First Friday night chat session held in the YSG Chat
Room. This proves a great success and becomes a regular tradition for many
months.
11 February: Derek May creates a Web site for YSG, designed to
coordinate the burgeoning number of group activities and become a focal
point for members.
March: Maggi Fretwell is voted the inaugural Member of the Month.
April: The new YSG site wins the inaugural Site of the Month award.
1 June: Heather Hodges announces a “mini-comp” in which she will
ask a question and award a small prize to whoever answers correctly first.
She allows a week for this, but Ben Dillon supplies the right answer within
minutes. Ben suggests that this “mini-comp” be turned into a regular event,
perhaps some sort of daily quiz. Christine O’Grady modifies Ben’s idea by
suggesting that it should be once a week on Friday nights and thanks Heather
for starting it. Heather then agrees to the idea of a regular Friday night
competition and lays down the initial rules for it. And so the Friday Night
Question, one of YSG’s most venerable institutions, is born.
19 June: Heather proposes a Secret Santa scheme whereby members
would buy a Christmas present for $5 or less and send it anonymously to
another member. The idea is very well received and is a great success at
Christmas time. It is equally successful the following year, and looks set
to become a great YSG Christmas tradition.
October: After Derek May leaves YSG, the YSG Web site is revamped
and relaunched under the auspices of Robin Williams. Other members run
assorted pages within the site.
20 November: Robin Williams posts a message with an idea from
Sandy Maxwell to set up a “generous members” page, where members can nominate
fellow-members who are very generous or helpful to them for a little
“thumbs-up” award. If a member accumulates enough “thumbs”, they would get a
special “thumbs up” award. Andra Robertson gives this new page the name it
has had ever since – “Helping Hands”. The Helping Hands page was very
popular from its outset and is now one of YSG’s institutions.
2002
January: A record seven sites share the January Site of the Month
Award.
February: Maggi Fretwell is voted Member of the Year for 2001,
and the YSG Web site wins 2001 Site of the Year.
Early March: Joh Barlin wins the February Member of the Month
award with 7 votes, the most votes anyone has received for Member of the
Month since records began. As of July 2003, the record still stands.
April-June: Various members write a story for YSG. Robin Williams
starts it off on 16 April. One member at a time contributes a line, then
passes it on to another member, who contributes another line and passes
it to yet another member and so on. The YSG story was then published on
the YSG site.
1 May: The first YSG Officials are appointed. These are members
who play an important role or roles within the group and are given titles
to recognise the work they do.
2003
Early February: Christine O’Grady is the 2002 Member of the Year
and Yowiemaggi.com (run by Maggi Fretwell) is 2002 Site of the Year. The
YSG Annual Awards are held in a virtual Chook Shed, but a sheep named Dolly
Baaton steals the show.
Early July: Three people (namely Andra Robertson, Chanel Clarke
and Steve Ross) share the Member of the Month Award for June, the most
people to ever win the award in a single month.
Mid-July: The YSG Web site is given a major makeover, including
extensive revision of several pages.
Enquiries to YSG Moderators