History of Soakerdom (Online Water Warfare Communities).:

Note: This page began as a thread on WaterWar.net (membership required to view original post) I posted back in 2013.

Prelude

Soakerdom refers to the entire water warfare community that uses water blasters to battle with each other. Soakerdom, admittedly, owes part of its name to the Super Soaker brand as the pressurization technology that Super Soaker revolutionized the water warfare scene. While this definition means Soakerdom began in 1991 with the release of the first Super Soaker-branded water blasters, the Internet was in its mere infancy then. The following page is focused on the online developments of water blaster and water warfare-related websites and communities. Special thanks to Ian Helfrich, SuperSoakerWarrior, marauder, Ben (of Super Soaker Central), Budgie, Shadowstrike Prime, CA99, TAKrogoth, and many others who helped both in checking this list as well as building and/or running many of the sites and communities listed below.

Admittedly, the listing of dates below have more regarding developments I was personally involved in and is missing a lot of other details from other websites. I remain open to adding more on what is missing, but first I need to be made aware of the details I lack.

Notable Dates

Dates below are listed as accurately as possible. Please contact me if you would like to add and/or correct any of the information presented below.

The Beginning?

1997/1998? MiB Alliance launched (?)
July 18, 1998: Aquatechnology launched
September 5, 1998: MiB Alliance Yahoo Club launched

1999

April 1, 1999: The Super Soaker Classics launches
May 5, 1999: The Super Soaker Classics renamed to C-WSL Super Soaker Website
May 24, 1999: C-WSL Super Soaker Website renamed to C-WSL AQUA-NeXuS
June 24, 1999: MiB Alliance Yahoo Club's first 400 messages are erased by Yahoo (first of many frustrating data loss events)
September 22, 1999: Aquatica Yahoo Club formed (co-founded by Aquatechnology and Super Soaker Warriors of Aqua-Nexus)
September 23, 1999: Aquatica Webring set-up
November 11, 1000: C-WSL AQUA-NeXuS renamed to Aqua-Nexus v2.0

2000

February 9, 2000: MiB Alliance joins Aquatica
February 22, 2000: Aqua-Nexus v2.5 launches
April 20, 2000: Aqua-Nexus v2.6 launches
June 1, 2000: Aquatica decides to ban posting of modifications and homemades across its sites, hoping for greater manufacturer support though also causing a rift in Soakerdom
June 8, 2000: iSoaker.com launched (Aquatechnology closes)
July 15, 2000: Aqua-Nexus v2.8 launches
July 21, 2000: MiB Alliance website closes; MiB Yahoo Club closes
July 21, 2000, Aqua-Zone launches on tripod.com server
October 16, 2000: Hydrowar launched.
October 18, 2000: AquaNexus Soaker Link Yahoo Club launches (affiliated with Aquatica)
October 18-20, 2000: iSoaker.com Yahoo Club launched (affiliated with Aquatica)

2001

February 22, 2001: Aqua-Nexus v2.9 launches
April 1, 2001: Aqua-Nexus v3.0 launches
April 21, 2001: iSoaker.com Yahoo Club closed to re-focus on Aquatica
May 22, 2001: iSoaker.com Rogue Group started
July 17, 2001: iSoaker's choice to step down as co-founder of Aquatica Club
August 15, 2001: iSoaker agrees to assist Super Soaker Warrior with Aquatica until a new co-founder is chosen
October, 2001: (mid-October?) HydroSphere opens/begins development? - (ShadowstrikePrime, Sapper, Budgie)
December 1, 2001, Aqua-Zone moves to a Brinkster.com Server to remove Tripid pop-up ads

2002

January, 2002: HydroSphere launches (?) - (ShadowstrikePrime, Sapper, Budgie)
February, 2002: Supersoaker Online launches (?) (XNeverfacedefeatX, Marauder4?)
February 2, 2002: HydroSphere closes
March 16, 2002: Aquatica Yahoo Club converted to Aquatica Yahoo Group
April 1, 2002: Aqua-Nexus v3.1 launches
April 6, 2002: Aquatica EZ Board launches
April 18, 2002: iSoaker.com Rogue Group closes.
June 1, 2002: iSoaker.com Rogue Group reactivated (?)
July 23, 2002: Aquatica EZ Board closes.
July 23, 2002: Aquatica Ikonboard launches
October 17, 2002: iSoaker's choice to leave Aquatica, forcing the board to find a new home. Marauder4 and a few others opted to try and keep Aquatica alive on a new set of forums: Aquatica myiB, then ClubAquatica, then Aquatica at iyouth.org. SuperSoakerWarriors contacted to help with Aquatica migration
November 18, 2002: WaterWar.net launched
November (?), 2002: Aquatica Ikonboard closes.
December 17, 2002: iSoaker.com Rogue Group put on hold due to success of WaterWar.net

2003

March 23, 2003: SSCentral.net launched
April 1, 2003: "iSoak_Her.com"
June 21, 2003: Aquatica 2 (after being taken over by Marauder 4) finally closes
July 29, 2003: iSoaker.com Registry started
Summer 2003: Aqua-Zone transitions to a paid server to solve ads and bandwidth issues
September 6, 2003: WaterWar.net server problems. Data loss. Forums restarted.

2004

July 4, 2004: WaterWar.net server corrupts database (again); forums lost again; abandoned due to lack of control over server space and domain name
July 16, 2004: iSoaker.com Forums launched on iSoaker-controlled server

2005

March 27, 2005: SSCentral.net becomes SSCentral.org

2006

September 9, 2006: WaterWarfare.com launched
October 1, 2006: iSoaker.com Rogue Group re-activated

2007

January 3, 2007: iSoaker.com Forums taken offline due to security issues (thanks to Ben of SSCentral for informing iSoaker of the weakness)
January 5, 2007: iSoaker.net launched (imported data from iSoaker.com forums)

2008

January 21, 2008: The Zen of Soaking (zenofsoaking.com) launched

2009

September 1, 2009: iSoaker.net to be converted/scaled back

2010

February 24, 2010: SSCentral.org reaches 50,000 posts
September 1, 2010: iSoaker.net reborn
September 14, 2010: Water Warfare Facebook community page created.
Dec 31, 2010: iSoaker.com Rogue Group put back into stasis

2011

January 10, 2011: iSoaker.net Wiki goes live.
February 1, 2011: iSoaker Water Warfare League announced.
March 21, 2011 - September 21, 2011: iSoaker Water Warfare League Inaugural Season
August 20-21, 2011: Community Water War is held for the first time, in Dug Hill Park, NY
October 12, 2011: WaterWar.net is reborn. iSoaker.net to be mostly archived. Data imported from iSoaker.net/iSoaker.com Forums
November 1, 2011: iSoaker.net is archived.
December 3, 2011: Super Soaker Central forums archived.

2012

March 16, 2012: Buzz Bee Toys Inc. website posts The Water Warfare Handbook with links back to iSoaker.com.

2014

January 1, 2014: iSoaker begins 365 Days of Soaking Visual Project
March 12, 2014: iSoaker Warriors Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/ISoaker-Warriors/230925637113767) goes live
March 12, 2014: iSoaker Warriors Google+ page (http://www.google.com/+IsoakerWarriors) goes live

2015

March 2, 2015: WaterWar.net crashes hard due to server upgrade
March 4, 2015: CA99 and DX set-up new host for WaterWar.net as problems continue with iSoaker's previous WaterWar.net hosting service; CA99 and DX take reigns as top Administrators of WaterWar.net
March 8, 2015: iSoaker.net Forums re-launched (primarily in the event WaterWar.net remained unstable)
June 15, 2015: iSoaker.net Forums shuttered again
September 20, 2015: iSoaker Warriors launches on Twitter (http://twitter.com/iSoakerWarriors)
October 3, 2015: iSoaker Warriors Google+ page put into stasis

2016

February 9, 2016: iSoaker.net put into stasis/archive-mode again
September 2, 2016: The Art of Soaking launches.
November 3, 2016: After a failed update and data corruption, the Art of Soaking relaunches.

Reference Info

MiB Alliance (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/miballiance/)

Aquatica

Yahoo Forums
Yahoo Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aquatica2/)
ezBoard (http://pub5.ezboard.com/baquatica51546)
Ikonboard (http://www.id2.org/aquatica/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi)

Aquatica post-iSoaker

Aquatica myiB (http://aquatica.myikonboard.com/viewboard.php)
ClubAquatica (http://www.clubaquatica.net/phpBB2/index.php)
Aquatica at iyouth.org (http://www.iyouth.org/aquatica2)

Various Message Boards

Aqua-Nexus Board
Guts'N'Glory Board
The Monkey Workshop Forums
Super Soaker Central Forums (http://forums.sscentral.org/)
Soaker Media Forums (http://z8.invisionfree.com/soakermedia)
WaterWar.net (http://www.waterwar.net)
iSoaker.com Forums
The Zen of Soaking Forums
Extra Water Forums
iSoaker.net (http://www.isoaker.net)
WaterWarfare.com Forums