The story of how we ended up here started on Sept 18, 2002. Many of us UPN "Bronzers" were enjoying posting from all parts of the world. I posted during my lunch break to many Bronzers such as tarasApprentice, roja, Mr. Holtz, Dogmeat, _star_, darcie, Momkata and others. Later on that evening, I clicked on my link to the UPN "Bronze" only to find that it had been dismantled. UPN had created a whole new format for their official Buffy The Vampire Slayer site and The "Bronze" was not part of that format.
I was in shock and disbelief. In an instant my virtual social scene was wiped out. The Season Seven premiere of Buffy was to start in less than one week and I had no place to party before or after. After a panic attack, I tried to get my head back together. Fortunately, I had built up enough trust with some of my fellow posters that they gave me personal e-mail addresses. I started spreading the news.
Anger and depression were starting to take hold. Many of us started to wonder, "Where do we go from here?" We started to look for new Buffy boards to call home. We searched each other out. I went to BronzeBeta because some UPN posters mentioned that they also posted there. Fortunately, I found Dogmeat, roja, Mr. Holtz, and others. This made me happier. The BronzeBeta people were very accommodating to the influx of refugees. I learned that some surprising relationships existed between UPN and Beta. I also searched for refuse at buffyguide, thebronzealternative and Hellmouth Central.
The closing of the UPN board had a scattering effect. And many UPNers didn't seem to showing up at any of the other boards. I was afraid that I would lose contact with them forever.
A couple of days later, tarasApprentice stated with resolve that we should start a new message board that could bring all of our old friends back to one place. With no experience in bulletin board creation or management, we decided to create a replacement for the UPN's linear message forums. This board had to be created in less than a week so that it would be ready for the new season. The Magic Box is the result of our labor.
Being in a rush, we concentrated on the board being functional. By this, I mean that it had to at least work to some degree by Tuesday, Sept 24. Therefore, it is far from being finished. Thus, we are working to improve it and are taking suggestions.
By building this new message forum, we are in no way saying that we do not want to hang out at other Bronze bulletin boards. I intend to post here as well as the BronzeBeta and other sites. If anything, the closing of the UPN Bronze broadened my horizons. However, we just want to have our old friends back in one place.
We welcome all newbies as we were all newbies once. We pride ourselves on being friendly and saying hello to all newbies. So come in and join in our serious conversations about Buffy and fan fiction as well as our not so serious conversations about nekkid Spike, Spikebots, Spuffy, the Gutter couch and SOs.
Finally, I wish to thank tarasApprentice for being the inspiration of this new home. She did alot of work to bring this about. Without her this site would not exist.
*tarasapprentice says: again, an immense and most heartfelt thank you to Watcher the wonderful person who knows none of us, yet put countless hours of work into creating The Magic Box.