How did "Brown Cafe" come to be what it is today?

[Pip]

I'm relatively new here, only been here since mid 06'. Often wondered how the site came to be what it is.

Probably some of the pioneers of "Brown Cafe" could answer this in a heartbeat. How did brown Cafe originate? I have picked up pieces here and there about when it started and who actually owns the site, but never really got a good understanding about it's conception and why it was started.

Was it a couple of UPSers that got together? Did corporate figure this would be a good way to communicate with the ranks? (Don't really think that is it, as UPSers.com seems to be driven towards that) Is there much inpute from upper management? or do they pretty much stay away.

Figured i'd throw this out there and see if I could get a better understanding of the site. I do enjoy it for the information and views from others.

 

[cheryl]

Once upon a time (1999) the only civilized UPS forum was Motley Fool's UPS sub forum. The group there was friendly and knowledgeable and everyone got along fine.

One day a jealous troll known as "ewave" stumbled into the forum. Ewave was jealous of the happy community and amused himself by disrupting it. He liked to announce that the end was near for UPS. In his quest to tear down the Big Brown Corporation he created his own yahoo web page to spread disinformation and promote the union vs. management philosophy which Ewave loved so much.

I was an active participant in the Motley Fool UPS community and spent a lot of time debating Ewave. Coincidently I had spent a couple of years learning to create web pages as a hobby. I was looking for a topic for a new project so I decided to create a web site with exactly the opposite intent of ewave's. Originally browncafe was a homepage account through our isp, then after a couple of months it got so busy that I registered this domain and rented server space.

Although I've never worked for UPS I know the culture well, I have spent my whole life in it. My dad worked for UPS his entire career. My husband worked for UPS 1977 - 2003.

This site is entirely my own creation, no UPS involvement at all. I guess it's really a tribute to my brown blooded dad who had passed away a few years before the site started. This site was up and running before my husband ever knew about it. After he saw it he didn't think it was a very good idea. He was concerned that there might be repercussions for him at work, but no one ever said a negative word about it. He left UPS in 2003.

That's the whole story. In a nutshell this site was created because in 1999 I got ticked off and wanted to show a troll on another forum that our community could create a better, more productive resource for all UPSers than his one sided UPS bashing site... thank you ewave

 

[ups79]

I too remember ewave. What happen for me, Motley Fool became a "pay for comment" site. I be damn if I was going to pay. Found this site and have enjoyed it ever since.

 

[username]

Thank you Cheryl, for such a wonderful creation

 

[trucker1946]

A great site for the new upsters to learn the ups thinking mentality from us who are retired and not get brainwashed with threats and confusion management tells them

 

[stand up rider]

Oh what a heartwarming story, like we care about you and your family.

My only question is how do you fund the site? DOn't tell me you pay for it yourself.

 

[sendagain]

Oh what a heartwarming story, like we care about you and your family.

My only question is how do you fund the site? DOn't tell me you pay for it yourself.

She debits every jackass who comes in here a dollar. Thanks Cheryl for a place to hear what is going on, debate, and occasionally hear some good ideas.

 

[Pip]

Thanks Cheryl for the infomation. You have done a great job of promoting an informative, and friendly environment for us UPSers. This should also clear up any insinuations from another thread that the Brown Cafe is tied to Atlanta in anyway.

 

[westsideworma]

Oh what a heartwarming story, like we care about you and your family.

My only question is how do you fund the site? DOn't tell me you pay for it yourself.

whats with the disrespect anyways? no one asked you to care, someone wanted to know and she's explaining, end of discussion.

sounds like the stereotypical management candidate in training (no I know you're not all like that hence the "stereotypical") as with the dispatches and such they give their drivers, they clearly don't care about employees and their family life.

 

[satellitedriver]

Oh what a heartwarming story, like we care about you and your family.

My only question is how do you fund the site? DOn't tell me you pay for it yourself.

I hope she makes a million dollars a year off of it.

 

[Sammie]

Oh what a heartwarming story, like we care about you and your family.

My only question is how do you fund the site? DOn't tell me you pay for it yourself.

That was uncalled for. How about an apology?

 

[upsdude]

Oh what a heartwarming story, like we care about you and your family.

My only question is how do you fund the site? DOn't tell me you pay for it yourself.

What Cheryl didn’t tell you is she’s an heir to the Reynolds Wrap fortune. She makes millions off clowns like yourself when you guys don all those tin foil hats.

 

[trucker1946]

Wow must be the weather or overdispatched CHILL OUT

 

[cheryl]

Oh what a heartwarming story, like we care about you and your family.

My only question is how do you fund the site? DOn't tell me you pay for it yourself.

This site earns income by selling advertising space. After expenses it makes a small profit.

thank you for your interest

 

[beentheredonethat]

This site earns income by selling advertising space. After expenses it makes a small profit.

thank you for your interest

No Profit, Small Profit, Large Profit. It doesn't matter to me. I think it's a great site for UPS'ers to congregate. Way better then UPSERS.com. I had visited Fool.com in the past and when it became a pay site, I also decided not to join a pay site. I think the browncafe is a great idea, and I hope Cheryl does earn a lot of money off of it. She deserves it, IMHO.

 

[toonertoo]

No Profit, Small Profit, Large Profit. It doesn't matter to me. I think it's a great site for UPS'ers to congregate. Way better then UPSERS.com. I had visited Fool.com in the past and when it became a pay site, I also decided not to join a pay site. I think the browncafe is a great idea, and I hope Cheryl does earn a lot of money off of it. She deserves it, IMHO.

I hope shes wallowing in freakin money all the way to her keyboard. I hope she has to throw bundles out of her way to get to her desk.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

I found this site on accident sometime in early 2000. I've been on and off of it since and under different screen names. I can't even remember all of them. What I remember most about the beginning was that if you scrolled through just about any thread you could find an arguement and about 70% of the time it involved "TieGuy." The poor guy was a target it seemed.

 

[satellitedriver]

I hope shes wallowing in freakin money all the way to her keyboard. I hope she has to throw bundles out of her way to get to her desk.

Thats what I'm talking about. I hope Cheryl is elbow deep and hip high in money.

 

[DS]

I respect tieguy,he`s often the rare mngmt person on here that can take the slings and arrows of us grunts.His resilience
to being jaded by some of the meatballs that have shown up over the years is commendable.I`ve had a few differences of opinion with him on occasion,but I`d still like to have a beer with him.
This place is kinda like cheers,remember the sitcom?
I really wish more people would chat.Its a good way to get to know the ones behind the posts.with over 300 members,and
lots more soontobe`s,I think the chatroom should be active
a lot more than it is.The reason for this is that nobody realizes that someone has to initialize the chat by logging in ,even if you are the only one there.Minimize the chatroom
and turn on your speakers and open a new window.Just do whatever you like to do and before long, you will be talking to someone.Like NORM walking into cheers you`ll say...TIE!..
It would be a blast if Cheryl or moreluck had a huge brown cafe` party in California that we could all go to and meet and show our tattoos and stuff.It might end up like woodstock ...
The golden gate bridge is CLOSED man!

 

[diadlover]

If you all really want Cheryl to make a million then just click on the advertisers. She gets paid per click. Anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars.

Here's a link to what the Browncafe looked like back in November '99. It hasn't changed a bit, Cheryl.


Browncafe - old skool!