- Joined
- Sep 15, 2009
- Messages
- 3,478
- Reaction score
- 1,189
I feel as if I should reintroduce myself as Iâve changed my username on DNF from âamplifyâ to âDavid Walkerâ and the color to USD green since Iâve been using âamplifyâ from the early days of AOL when it was popular to buy AOL handles (I know⦠Donât ask. However, I still own it at leastâin one way you can say it was a start to my domaining of buying and selling AOL generic handles⦠LLL were worth quite a bit as well! 
).
Now that you know my name, Iâll tell you a little about myself and my history with technology.
I first started developing websites when I found the internet on my first blazing fast 133 MHz computer with a 14K modem. I started with Perl, but was blown away when PHP was introduced as it was so much simpler, then switched to programming in it only. At the age of 11ish, I programmed my first online text based RPG entitled RoboWars (I was young, with no money so I had a subdomain of hosting with 25 MB storage and 500 MB data transfer, http://robo.netherweb.com if you want to Archive.org it).
RoboWars grew exponentially as at that time, low graphics and text were a hit for games (I donât know about that anymore). With the game, I reached 1000s of members and found an individual who was an awesome designer. After talking things over, he convinced me to partner up and he would design the game and make it more modernâthe direction I wanted to goâwhile I coded and fixed bugs. I would also save on hosting, as he would be paying for the server as one was required at that moment because a page would load around 1 minute due to so many SQL queries on a shared server. Needless to say, we partnered up and I uploaded all my files from the domain. Since he had a DoubleClick account (I wasnât approved for one and that time they paid CPM, which I had thousands+ as it was text based and one user really into the game would do 2000+ impressions a day), we could have potentially earned a whole lot more as well.
Two months into our partnership, I started to inquire about the money that RoboWars was making with DoubleClick as I was making $150-$250 a month CPM with another advertising agency. At that point, he started to describe to me how he designs webpages for $800+ and yadayadayada. So I said, itâs over and began to try and login to delete my files from the server.
I figured that the password had been changed and he told me it was over. I was devastated when I was stabbed in the back that young. It was hard to earn the ability to trust other people back again (though I feel very safe with DNF members making transactions). I didnât touch a computer for months. I forgot how to code. I just began focusing more on school as my grades were dipping to Câs because of the time spent on the game. (The game still exists today as http://www.robowarsgame.com with the same person who stole it from me, though Iâm sure itâs coded differently now).
After a couple months, I got back to it. It was my game I created and coded from the ground up. I still had a database of thousands of emails which I could use to my advantage. I then reopened a new game MechaStrike (http://www.mechastrike.com which I would like to own again, but a domainer is squatting on it! Damn domainers!). However, after being exposed to high graphics, it was hard to compete with RoboWars trying to get the previous members back and I didnât have the advertising budget to stay on Top 100 lists like I had before. It ended up failing and I quit developing unless I was doing a project for fun.
I focused on high school and ended up getting a 3.8 GPA upon graduation. At that point, I was a prep cook for a small hometown restaurant. One day, I was walking through the mall with my friends and saw Marineâs in their Chucks (a dress uniform). I ignored their sales tactics as I was with my friend and fell into their peer pressure to not give the recruiters the time of the day.
I ended up going back to the Marine recruiting office later that day without my friends to learn more about the Marine Corps. I was sold. I signed up to become a cook in the USMC (why I have an EGA for my avatar). I went through basic training in San Diego, California. I graduated on my birthday (April 21[SUP]st[/SUP], no coincident) in Company H Honor Platoon 2071 and went off to do more combat training and proceeded to do on the job training at the school house in Virginia.
Before graduation of the school house, we were given 4 choices of where we wanted to go (although always reminded âneeds of the Marine Corpsâ and donât be disappointed if you donât get stationed where you want first). I selected Overseas, Japan as my first choice.
To my surprise, I got my orders to Japan. Okinawa, Japan. I was stumped at where that was and found it on a map and said to myself: thatâs not Japan! But I learned that it was and was stationed on Okinawa for 2 ½ years.
During which time, I found the wife that I am with to this day. After getting out of the Marine Corps, we decided to leave Okinawa and take all our belongings back to the States. I ended up having to pay for my wifeâs airfare as well which was nearly $3000 more than I had. After she arrived with my step daughter, we stayed in America for 3 months before deciding that itâs not the best place to live anymore (high unemployment and a cook couldnât even get an assistant management position at McDonalds with both cooking and leadership skills for $9 an hour). We moved back to Japan. I lost everything, sold 42â TV for 100s, tables for 10s, dishes for dollars, etc. and took what we could take with us on the plane.
About 7 months or so ago, I just paid my last bill on a loan of high $XX,XXX at 11.5% interest (still saving the card the bank sent me congratulating me on paying it off... sometimes I wonder if they thought I would file Chapter 11 :? I canât complain, money is money and it will come and go. It also got my credit score to nearly 800, which turned out to be a great thing for me.
I spent a couple years teaching conversational English with my wife to Japanese students. Then I got back into doing what I loved to do: the internet. I started developing and domaining again while working for a company full time and havenât looked back since.
Wellâthatâs meâthatâs David Walkerâs life story in a nutshell and Iâm forming my company around DJW.NET (my initials) and have a lot of great websites in development currently.
Thanks for listening to me ramble on!
David J. Walker
). Now that you know my name, Iâll tell you a little about myself and my history with technology.
I first started developing websites when I found the internet on my first blazing fast 133 MHz computer with a 14K modem. I started with Perl, but was blown away when PHP was introduced as it was so much simpler, then switched to programming in it only. At the age of 11ish, I programmed my first online text based RPG entitled RoboWars (I was young, with no money so I had a subdomain of hosting with 25 MB storage and 500 MB data transfer, http://robo.netherweb.com if you want to Archive.org it).
RoboWars grew exponentially as at that time, low graphics and text were a hit for games (I donât know about that anymore). With the game, I reached 1000s of members and found an individual who was an awesome designer. After talking things over, he convinced me to partner up and he would design the game and make it more modernâthe direction I wanted to goâwhile I coded and fixed bugs. I would also save on hosting, as he would be paying for the server as one was required at that moment because a page would load around 1 minute due to so many SQL queries on a shared server. Needless to say, we partnered up and I uploaded all my files from the domain. Since he had a DoubleClick account (I wasnât approved for one and that time they paid CPM, which I had thousands+ as it was text based and one user really into the game would do 2000+ impressions a day), we could have potentially earned a whole lot more as well.
Two months into our partnership, I started to inquire about the money that RoboWars was making with DoubleClick as I was making $150-$250 a month CPM with another advertising agency. At that point, he started to describe to me how he designs webpages for $800+ and yadayadayada. So I said, itâs over and began to try and login to delete my files from the server.
I figured that the password had been changed and he told me it was over. I was devastated when I was stabbed in the back that young. It was hard to earn the ability to trust other people back again (though I feel very safe with DNF members making transactions). I didnât touch a computer for months. I forgot how to code. I just began focusing more on school as my grades were dipping to Câs because of the time spent on the game. (The game still exists today as http://www.robowarsgame.com with the same person who stole it from me, though Iâm sure itâs coded differently now).
After a couple months, I got back to it. It was my game I created and coded from the ground up. I still had a database of thousands of emails which I could use to my advantage. I then reopened a new game MechaStrike (http://www.mechastrike.com which I would like to own again, but a domainer is squatting on it! Damn domainers!). However, after being exposed to high graphics, it was hard to compete with RoboWars trying to get the previous members back and I didnât have the advertising budget to stay on Top 100 lists like I had before. It ended up failing and I quit developing unless I was doing a project for fun.
I focused on high school and ended up getting a 3.8 GPA upon graduation. At that point, I was a prep cook for a small hometown restaurant. One day, I was walking through the mall with my friends and saw Marineâs in their Chucks (a dress uniform). I ignored their sales tactics as I was with my friend and fell into their peer pressure to not give the recruiters the time of the day.
I ended up going back to the Marine recruiting office later that day without my friends to learn more about the Marine Corps. I was sold. I signed up to become a cook in the USMC (why I have an EGA for my avatar). I went through basic training in San Diego, California. I graduated on my birthday (April 21[SUP]st[/SUP], no coincident) in Company H Honor Platoon 2071 and went off to do more combat training and proceeded to do on the job training at the school house in Virginia.
Before graduation of the school house, we were given 4 choices of where we wanted to go (although always reminded âneeds of the Marine Corpsâ and donât be disappointed if you donât get stationed where you want first). I selected Overseas, Japan as my first choice.
To my surprise, I got my orders to Japan. Okinawa, Japan. I was stumped at where that was and found it on a map and said to myself: thatâs not Japan! But I learned that it was and was stationed on Okinawa for 2 ½ years.
During which time, I found the wife that I am with to this day. After getting out of the Marine Corps, we decided to leave Okinawa and take all our belongings back to the States. I ended up having to pay for my wifeâs airfare as well which was nearly $3000 more than I had. After she arrived with my step daughter, we stayed in America for 3 months before deciding that itâs not the best place to live anymore (high unemployment and a cook couldnât even get an assistant management position at McDonalds with both cooking and leadership skills for $9 an hour). We moved back to Japan. I lost everything, sold 42â TV for 100s, tables for 10s, dishes for dollars, etc. and took what we could take with us on the plane.
About 7 months or so ago, I just paid my last bill on a loan of high $XX,XXX at 11.5% interest (still saving the card the bank sent me congratulating me on paying it off... sometimes I wonder if they thought I would file Chapter 11 :?
I canât complain, money is money and it will come and go. It also got my credit score to nearly 800, which turned out to be a great thing for me.I spent a couple years teaching conversational English with my wife to Japanese students. Then I got back into doing what I loved to do: the internet. I started developing and domaining again while working for a company full time and havenât looked back since.
Wellâthatâs meâthatâs David Walkerâs life story in a nutshell and Iâm forming my company around DJW.NET (my initials) and have a lot of great websites in development currently.
Thanks for listening to me ramble on!
David J. Walker
