What is the Urban Exploration Resource?
UER is currently the largest website dedicated to the hobby of Urban Exploration worldwide, with over 10,000 members. The site is entirely hand-coded from scratch by me.A little history, please.
In 2001, through a discussion with a friend of my family's known as Scott, I discovered the existence of unused/abandoned subway stations, here in my fair city of Toronto. This news excited me, as I had always had a passing interest in such subjects. I quickly hopped onto my computer and did a search, and before long I found Infiltration. I eagerly read as much as I could on the website, and soon afterwards, sent out for paper copies of the Infiltration Zine. Eagerly, I awaited their arrival, and when they finally did come, I pored over them, reading each one several times. I was hooked.In the first quarter of 2002, I moved out of my mom's place and into a place on my own. On a bike ride around the city one day, I came across one of the abandoned buildings I had read about in Infiltration. Memories flooded back to me, and within hours I had called a friend and we had made a date to go and explore the building together.
Now I was hooked. I posted in the Guestbook of the Urban Exploration Canada website, and before long I had made contact with other people in the area, who showed me buildings and locations I had only read about before.
Sometime towards August 2002, I was becoming more and more aware of the limitations of the Guestbook system on UEC's website. I had recently began work on a Forum engine for The SillyZone, so I came up with a plan. I contacted the owners of UEC, Wraiths, and Infiltration: Snee, Jester and Ninjalicious, respectively, and offered my idea. A community forum, shared between the websites but retaining their individual looks. The system would allow the Urban Exploration community to be one and the same, but at the same time, allow the website hosting the forum to retain it's individuality. Snee, Jester, and Ninj agreed, and UER was born.
Bonus: Read the original IRC log file of this conversation
Now, it's August 2006, four years after that IRC chat. UER has had it's ups and downs, members come and go. Many other websites have spawned as a result of UER, both positive and negative. International events are organized every day. The community is strong.