Sometimes those of us who have been around awhile tend to take things for granted.  We forget that sometimes WE used to  wonder who and what a chat channel is, what's meant by the channel "owner"  For those of you who are new or newer chatters, these and more questions may have come up from time to time.

On this page we'll try to answer all those questions and more.

First of all, Channel #40-UP is one of many channels or chat rooms on the Starlink-IRC network.  Starlink-IRC is in turn a part of IRC or Internet Relay Chat protocol.  Some chat channels have a specific purpose or theme such as baseball or bowling. Others are focused on a particular interest group such as a religious denomination, others are made up of folks with a particular physical affliction.  #40-UP is made up of chatters who are 40 years old, almost 40 or who wish they were 40 again.  The theme of #40-UP is "Safe Friendly Family Chat"

Our channel is owned by Jim VanMarter who uses the chat name of Truckr.  "Owner" may be a bit misleading as there is no financial consideration involved. What it means is that Jim is the registered owner of the channel, and is responsible for whatever happens.  Jim is assisted with the day-to-day operations of the channel by a group of helpers called SysOps which is an abbreviation for system operators.  The chief SysOp or OP for short is Ruddyduck whose major reasponsibility is keeping Truckr out of trouble.  Ruddy has been a part of the channel since its beginning in 1997.  Truckr and Ruddy are helped out by Annshanks and TheHok.  These 4 folks make up The Executive Committee In Charge Of Everything.  Truckr's wife Gidget is The Executive Secretary In Charge Of Tourism And Travel.  Gidge provides all or most of the logistical support for our annual gatherings.  Truckr, Ruddyduck and Gidget were kind enough to pose for the photo which appears at the top of this page.

#40-UP had its humble beginings in 1997 on a network called Talk City which has since evolved into Delphi Forums.  The original #40up was started by Dwight and Kaydee on Dec 30th 1997.  In 2001 it was decided that it would be beneficial to make a move, and so the chat room moved to Starlink-IRC under the name #40up. In June, 2003 some of us decided that we wanted to take a different path so a few of us broke away and formed #40-UP under Kaydee's leadership.  For a short time both #40up and #40-UP existed side-by-side on Starlink-IRC.  Recently Starlink-IRC administration updated their servers and channel #40up ownership elected not to re-register their channel on the new server.