# How did you find Dimensions?



## Michelle (Jan 1, 2007)

_*My question to you is, how'd you find Dimensions?*_

I was chatting with an internet friend in 1997 about a breakup he had just been through and he sort of eased into the fact that he liked large women and the woman he had been going with hated herself for being fat. I was shocked men like him existed. He had no idea I was fat, as I'd never shown him a photograph. We talked about it at length and he was very cool when I told him I was one of those "large" women. Towards the end of the conversation, he told me that if I wanted to check the whole thing out, visit Dimensions Online. I visited that day and never left.

(My apologies if this thread has been done before. I couldn't find it, if it has.)


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## biackrlng (Jan 1, 2007)

Strictly by fate.

I was sick one day and stayed home from work and DOnahue had Ruby,Conrad and a few other BBW's on his show. After I saw the show I was hooked. I Immediately subscribed to the DImensions magazine Which BTW I sadly miss and eventually with the internet coming into play HAve been online for years 

SO I guess I owe Ruby and Conrad many thanks for taking me out of the closet and becoming an FA:smitten: :wubu:


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## saturdayasusual (Jan 1, 2007)

I was just browsing around online one day mainly looking for BBW dating sites when I found Dimensions. Just the first day it opened my eyes about a lot of things and now I'm hooked.


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## Fuzzy Necromancer (Jan 1, 2007)

I found the site a long time ago through google, but I didn't actually get into the forums until a friend linked me there, and then I spent a good amount of time just browsing the paysite forum.


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## SoVerySoft (Jan 1, 2007)

I'd been subscribing to Dimensions Magazine since it was the black and white newsletter-type publication for the FA SIG (special interest group) of NAAFA.

I originally hung out in Dimensions Chat (In the Feeder Chat Room, believe it or not!) back in the mid-90s. We used to have chat get-togethers - in NJ, in VA, in OH....(that's how the NJ Mini Bash got started in the 90s).


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## Wagimawr (Jan 1, 2007)

Michelle said:


> How did you find Dimensions?








Turn left at Greenland. 

Seriously? I don't remember, but it probably had something to do with ye olde Wren-Spot. I've been hanging out on the Dimensions forums since I was *way* underage.


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## Fuzzy (Jan 1, 2007)

I was chasing links.  Like a fat woman picture binge, looking and searching for more. I was a lurker, until the new streaming chat came along, and the new(current) forums.


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## Emma (Jan 1, 2007)

Always used to be dead interested in fat people and when I was about 13/14 I decided to search and read about the fattest people I could find, followed a few links and ended up here.


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## activistfatgirl (Jan 1, 2007)

I did something similar to Emma. I was researching fat people, only I was prolly 22 not 14! I found Cat's site and searched that site high and low, totally enthralled. I found Dims through that. Even though I was explicitly looking for info about fat folks (and doing it/relationships), I was still taken a back by Dims. I couldn't get into the old forums format, but chat was fun.


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## Jane (Jan 1, 2007)

Through a link on Slate.com


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## Theatrmuse/Kara (Jan 1, 2007)

Well, I was a member of NAAFA........but did not come across Dimensions Magazine until around 1993 or so. I was doing some grad work over the summer and staying in a dorm for several months. Someone had (thoughtfully) left a Dimensions magazine on a table in the TV room. WHOA - I was thrilled to see large women looking so lovely and sexy and NOT hiding all they got! I also had been reading the old BBW magazine since - what- 1976? Whenever it started publication AND I also saw Conrad and Ruby and Sandie Sabo (I think) on a talk show..........but didn't make the connection between Dimensions and Conrad until becoming more involved in the NAAFA conventions.

Another road to my own self acceptance and confidence as a supersized woman............who knew? Thanks Conrad!:wubu: 
Hugs, Kara


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## Fuzzy Necromancer (Jan 1, 2007)

What does NAAFA stand for anyway? I always wind up with an extra A when I try to work it out.


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## Ruby Ripples (Jan 1, 2007)

After being online for 18 months I was yet again doing searches for bbw chatrooms and I think it was on a search for ssbbw chat that I got the feeder uk site which had a link to Dims. I sat in stunned amazement in the chatroom for the first couple of visits, i was so happy, I felt like Id come home  That was in late Oct 2005. I don't know how it took so long for me to find the site, but Im SO glad I did. I wish it came up more easily on searches, so that more people could find us. I've made wonderful friends here and it has changed my life. 

Thankyou!


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## SoVerySoft (Jan 1, 2007)

Fuzzy Necromancer said:


> What does NAAFA stand for anyway? I always wind up with an extra A when I try to work it out.



National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance


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## Biglover (Jan 1, 2007)

Looking at different fat girl sites, you know, Google this, Google that... found Dimensions, thought wow! I lurked for a long time, never left because I love it here, so many nice people, and so much fun.


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## TheSadeianLinguist (Jan 1, 2007)

Psychiatrist's office, print version. I had an overwhelming fear of the refeeding process of treatment for anorexia nervosa, and rather than lie her ass off to me, my doctor thought it a better thing to say there was a sporting chance I'd become fat, but that some people did find fat people attractive.


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## Sandie_Zitkus (Jan 1, 2007)

SoVerySoft said:


> I'd been subscribing to Dimensions Magazine since it was the black and white newsletter-type publication for the FA SIG (special interest group) of NAAFA.




Me too!! I saw Ruby and Conrad on TV I think it was Geraldo in the 80's. I remember sitting there watching TV with my mouth open in total shock. LOL


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## moonvine (Jan 1, 2007)

I found it back when it was the BBWQt site. Don't remember how.


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## TheSadeianLinguist (Jan 1, 2007)

Sandie_Zitkus said:


> Me too!! I saw Ruby and Conrad on TV I think it was Geraldo in the 80's. I remember sitting there watching TV with my mouth open in total shock. LOL



Yep. My parents were Geraldo fans and I sort of remember my mother making commentary about this... In her weird, positive way, "Isn't that fat lady pretty? I can certainly see why her husband is attracted to her, fat or not."  

I didn't mention it though for fear my memory had fizzled and I would say, "I think I was about four," and Conrad says, "That aired yesterday..."


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## out.of.habit (Jan 1, 2007)

As per my handle, I found Dimensions this past July when I decided it was the last time I would hate my body out of habit, only to half-heartedly embrace Fat Acceptance and end up drinking the weight-watchers kool-aid again a couple months later.
I made a choice to break my own cycle, and sought support via Google, since from previous attempts I knew this virtual utopia existed.

You'll be happy to know, it is no longer half-hearted, and the cycle truly has been broken. I've never stayed on this side of the acceptance line for so long before. I've never felt so free of the self-hatred, like a ghost that you know has just gone from your life; immense relief (pun might have been intended), and a breath of fresh air. Anyway... that's a story for the "Size Acceptance History" thread, which I have been working on... 

Good thread, Michelle.


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## charlieversion2 (Jan 1, 2007)

I was searching for the end of the web and found this along the way, in all seriousness I think it was a good friend of mine named james.


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## Fairia (Jan 1, 2007)

I've be going to the main page for a long time. I remember when the chats were just like reply messages, looking nothing like a forum. It was by another member here that I joined the official forums.


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## Rosie (Jan 1, 2007)

I found it through the BBW channel on Dalnet IRC, a friend had told me about that chatroom when I first got internet (way back in '97).


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## Green Eyed Fairy (Jan 1, 2007)

For anyone who is a regular of the chat, Joisey_Tomata is my stepsister. She doesn't post on the forum but is a chat reg. 
My father passed away this past June and I had to make an unexpected trip to Jersey for his service. I stayed a week in Jersey and shared a room at my step-mom's home with Tomata (some call her Lenore). 
It was like a slumber party with her almost every night. On her mother's computer, she showed me the Hipsters chat site, introduced me to Scotter and Ruby Ripples and explained about "fat acceptance". She also explained to me about the terms BBW (told me I was one), SSBBW (said she is one) and BHMs.
I became a regular at Hipsters from then until it's shutdown. During my visits to Hipsters, I heard of Dimensions and joined their chat. In September, I checked out the forums and have been here ever since.


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## Violet_Beauregard (Jan 1, 2007)

Michelle said:


> _*My question to you is, how'd you find Dimensions?*_
> 
> I was chatting with an internet friend in 1997 about a breakup he had just been through and he sort of eased into the fact that he liked large women and the woman he had been going with hated herself for being fat. I was shocked men like him existed. He had no idea I was fat, as I'd never shown him a photograph. We talked about it at length and he was very cool when I told him I was one of those "large" women. Towards the end of the conversation, he told me that if I wanted to check the whole thing out, visit Dimensions Online. I visited that day and never left.
> 
> (My apologies if this thread has been done before. I couldn't find it, if it has.)





I found dimensions through my new "guy" friend.... he has opened my eyes to the number of men who find BBW's attractive. I'm still coming to terms with it, but this forum is a huge help.


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## MisticalMisty (Jan 1, 2007)

My first fa turned me onto dimensions. I had such a hard time believing him when he talked about the community etc. that I had to check it out. That was 5 years ago this past November. I've only been on the boards for about a year..I never understood the last format and this is easier to follow for me.

I love Dimensions.


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## Punkin1024 (Jan 1, 2007)

I was searching for fashionable plus sized clothing and fat friendly communities back in 1998. I subscribed to BBW Magazine for years and had been checking out clothings sites advertised in that magazine. Somehow, one search engine got me to the Dimensions website. I posted a few questions about clothes, didn't get many responses. A year later, I came back to the site and started posting again and hung around until 2004. Stayed away for a while and recently came back this past October - just missed all my friends so much and was glad to get back.

~Punkin


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## Sandie_Zitkus (Jan 1, 2007)

OH... GOD you sure know how to hurt someone kiddo.

You were 4..............Oh Agony - agony - A - Go - NEE!

I'm an old fart.:huh: :huh: 




TheSadeianLinguist said:


> Yep. My parents were Geraldo fans and I sort of remember my mother making commentary about this... In her weird, positive way, "Isn't that fat lady pretty? I can certainly see why her husband is attracted to her, fat or not."
> 
> I didn't mention it though for fear my memory had fizzled and I would say, "I think I was about four," and Conrad says, "That aired yesterday..."


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## missaf (Jan 1, 2007)

It was uh... 1996 I think, before BBWQT became involved with Dims. I was in the Dalnet IRC rooms on my state of the art 14.4 modem and was looking for for more information. Cat, and Tina and Sandie Sabo (and SVS's website) were all my early inspirations to get hip and embrace who I am


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## NFA (Jan 1, 2007)

I've been around since BBWQT.com, though I'm sure I was aware of Dimensions prior to the merger. Back then, if you did a fat related search online, there weren't that many sites that would turn up. Feels weird calling it "back then". I know it was almost 10 years ago, but I still feel too young to be calling things "back then" even if I'm refering to when I was 18.

Oh, and young FA's, be happy for the acceptance you enjoy now. Really wasn't always like that.


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## Santaclear (Jan 1, 2007)

Somebody gave me a TV in the late '80s, a little black and white one. I had stopped watching in 1968 but I went on a short bender of watching televangelists, weird late-night B-movies and Perry Mason reruns. After that the ONLY thing I used the TV for was checking out BBWs on talk shows. I started monitoring the shows (with the sound off, while listening to music and reading) for "weight loss", "big and beautiful", "My husband doesn't like me because I'm fat" etc. topics. Finally in '92 I bought a VCR mainly to tape the shows and they became my porn! (I must say it made for crappy porn.) I was always looking for respectful fat girl porn (not that I thought of it as "porn", I wasn't a porn person.)

Anyway I saw Nancy Goddess on a few shows. One was _Geraldo_ with HeatherBBW, feedee Betsy and Ned. I think Nancy's friend, a shawt gawgeous Joisey goil, was sitting with her in the audience and they gave her a minute to talk about BBW parties and Dimensions Magazine. Once I could find it I subscribed. I finally got online in Jan. 2001 and Dimensions was practically the first place I came to.


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## Tooz (Jan 1, 2007)

I found the main Dimensions site in mid 2000, through google or something. I got on the forums after it got the makeover.


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## liz (di-va) (Jan 1, 2007)

This _is_ a really interesting thread, Michelle! I can't remember how I found Dimensions, though! Online searching? Radiance? (RIP) Fat!So? General fat-acceptance wanderings of some kind. I know I started chatting after some solid months+ of lurking in 1997/8. And I (like others) didn't hang around the boards that much until this redo.


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## stan_der_man (Jan 2, 2007)

SoVerySoft said:


> I'd been subscribing to Dimensions Magazine since it was the black and white newsletter-type publication for the FA SIG (special interest group) of NAAFA...



That's about when I discovered Dimensions, just at the tail end of the FA SIG when I joined NAAFA. I got one of the last issues of the FA SIG newsletter and then subscribed to Dimensions magazine soon after it started.

fa_man_stan


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## missaf (Jan 2, 2007)

Do any of you old timers remember Dimensions t-shirts? I was delivering flowers in 2005 and delivered flowers to the most luscious blonde I'd ever laid my eyes on in person. She was wearing a black t-shirt with "Dimensions" in a kind of rainbow bubble font and it said "Where big is beautiful" underneath. I couldn't say anything, I was so shocked and overwhelmed I just smiled and handed her the flowers!


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## Frankie (Jan 2, 2007)

In the summer of 1997, I entered an AOL chat room called "Fat and Gaining." I thought it was a room for people who were commiserating about being fat and gaining, but, clutch the pearls! It was about something entirely different! A guy sent me a link to Dims, and I've been here ever since.


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## Wagimawr (Jan 2, 2007)

Frankie said:


> an AOL chat room called "Fat and Gaining."


Ah, yes. One downside to no longer using AOL is that I miss the chatrooms.


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## BeautifulPoeticDisaster (Jan 2, 2007)

This is an awesome thread!!

I found Dimensions back in 1997.

I can't remember the entire process, but it went a little something like this-

I moved back to Cali and in with my aunt as soon as I turned 18. (1996) I went to a communtiy college there and because of such, my aunt got a computer so I could do homework. We decided that we needed to be a part of this internet thing and so we got cable net. (Ive never had to deal with dial up much, lol)

Being new to the whole computer thing, my aunt was on the lookout for second hand books about the internet. Well one day she brought internet browsing for dummies #2 I think it was. And in it...there was fatfetish.com. I just stared at it. By this time I was just over 400 pounds. I had never heard of such a thing, but just reading that url made my heart race and feel naughty and good at the same time. While my aunt wasn't looking, I looked it up...and on the home page there was a very large blond with rolls and fat hanging everywhere. I drooled and drooled. I couldn't get enough. I was only 19 and very innocent sexually so this was like ultimate hardcore porn at this point, lol.

I had to have more. I looked up fat women online. Learned about the terms bbw and ssbbw. Found some websites and somehow landed on Dimensions. I have been on the boards since 1997. I joined with my real name, but never posted because it seemed very chaotic. Then in 1999 or 2000, I registered with this name to promote myself and my group in a more annonymous way since I have a very unique name. Then in the same year, I got some very hurtful comments, and when you are in your early 20's and very unsure of yourself, it only takes one thoughtless comment to scare you "straight" so to speak. I continued to lurk on the boards, keeping up with all the drama. I never chatted much either. Then when I started my group up again in 2005, I started posting randomly about updates and things, but mostly still stayed away due to the fear of rejection again.

I stopped looking at the boards early 2005 and sorta just left it behind me. Around the time that Mike (fatchicksrockuk) and I got together though,(late 2005) he told me the forums had been redone. He never posted on here, he was primarily a chatter. (He also introduced me to Hipsters where I made some awesome friends before it shut down.) With his nudging, I checked it out. The forums were so nice and clean and organised. So I registered with the name I had almost always had (boy do I regret that now, but I have too much rep to change, lol). I love it here now. This is like my online home.

So there is my loooooooooong winded story. I've been here 10 years now off and on. And nowadays, I don't know what I would do without Dimensions. I wish I woulda known about it earlier and been a few years older...I always wanted to be a covergirl


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## SoVerySoft (Jan 2, 2007)

Frankie said:


> In the summer of 1997, I entered an AOL chat room called "Fat and Gaining." I thought it was a room for people who were commiserating about being fat and gaining, but, clutch the pearls! It was about something entirely different! A guy sent me a link to Dims, and I've been here ever since.



I bet it was BobSJers who gave you the link. The fat and gaining chatroom was my hangout back then too 

Do you remember me? It's ok to say no.


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## Tad (Jan 2, 2007)

Back in, I think, 1996 I first got online, and then a couple of weeks later was home sick from work one day and used the search engines of the day looking for fat stuff online--I didn't know much about what I was looking for. I first found Melanie's Bell's site, and from there linked to the BBWQT site. I did find Dimensions somewhere in there, but didn't come to it regularly until it took over the web board and chat rooms from the BBWQT site.

-Ed


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## RVGleason (Jan 2, 2007)

In the late 90's I was channel surfing on cable TV and came across a public access talk show and saw Ned Sontagg and his wife and they were talking about Dimensions and mentioned the Dimensions website. Some months later when I first started checking out the internet, I was able to find the Dimensions site and have been a regular ever since.

RV :eat1:


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## babyjeep21 (Jan 2, 2007)

Hmmm... Well, to keep things short and sweet, I ended up going on a date with someone who was a feeder (at the time, I had no clue). During our first date, I was fairly uncomfortable with the way he stared at me and watched my every bite. When I called him out on it, he tried to explain it to me and ended up giving me the Dim website and telling me to do some research on it. The feeder/feedee lifestyle is definitely not for me, but I absolutely love the community that we have here (both in chat and on the boards).

So... Here I am, almost 2 years later.


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## RVGleason (Jan 2, 2007)

SoVerySoft said:


> I bet it was BobSJers who gave you the link. The fat and gaining chatroom was my hangout back then too
> 
> Do you remember me? It's ok to say no.



I'm still on AOL and check out the fat and gaining chat room from time to time, still see Bob there.

RV :eat1:


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## BigCutieSasha (Jan 2, 2007)

I gotta give these props to Mr JayWestCoast  Him and I were hanging out a lot and he was always mentioning this board where there are BBWs and FAs and having good conversations and chats. Come to find there was a lot more going on here too! He would show me the site from time to time and eventually I joined  So thanks Jay!!!


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## Mini (Jan 2, 2007)

If I remember correctly I stumbled upon it during one of my many "panic" days during high school. I found the Weight Room and spent a few days searching it before I realised it was part of a much larger whole.


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## snuggletiger (Jan 2, 2007)

I was surfing on the web and came across the BULGE Chatroom and that's where I met people like Mercurial and SVS, then ended up stumbling to the DIM chat room when the Bulge Chat Room closed down and viola here I am  And ya all can hold your applause or applesauce


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## rainyday (Jan 2, 2007)

I was posting on another size acceptance forum and saw Dim referred to frequently. I'd subscribed to the print magazine for a short while in the early '90s and was already familiar with the name, so one day I wandered over. I think it was at the end of 2001 or the first month or two of 2002.


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## JoyJoy (Jan 2, 2007)

I got on AOL in the spring of '98 and found the world of BBW/fas through the chatrooms there. A guy I met in one of them told me about Dimensions and I began lurking in the feeder beseen chat room and in the old bulge room. I spent many years frequenting the chat rooms and only reading the forums. That has reversed itself...now I spend more time on the forums than I do the chat room.

I classify the discovery of Dimensions as one of the major turning points in my life.


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## eightyseven (Jan 2, 2007)

Like many here, I was exploring my attraction and searching the internet for photographs, information... anything I could find. I came across a link for the FatForums on one of the sites I found and began to look around there and post every now and then. One of the people I chatted with from FatForums mentioned Dimensions to me as an alternative community that may be better suited to the kinds of things I found interesting in regards to my attraction to BBW. She was absolutely right


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## UberAris (Jan 2, 2007)

I've kinda skirted about this site for years, mainly the stories area on the main site, but decided to hook up on the message board. I can't really recall how I found the site per say... but it probably came up in an SSBBW/BBW search.


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## bigsexy920 (Jan 2, 2007)

A very young very handsome man told me about Dimensions while at a Goddesses party in Manhattan. 

Because of him I've made some really wonderful friends here. 

SO thanks.....I know you are here and you know who you are.


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## fatchicksrockuk (Jan 2, 2007)

Well, this is delving back into the deepest, darkest reaches of my teenage years....


Now, before I start, I will admit that when I first visited Dimensions I was underage, by several years!:wubu: 

Ok, with that out the way, let's see what I can remember....

I first found Dimensions when it was still www.pencomputing.com/dimensions ...I think this was around 1995/96. We had hella slow dial-up, like 9.6 Kb/s, and I think a 386..so this was hella days ago LOL!!

As to exactly how I found it, thats a very good question!! I do remember that it changed the entire path of my life. It showed me that there was other people who liked fat girls and that it was ok. Dimensions has played a very major role over the past 10 years in making me who I am today, and this is a good time to say thanks to Conrad and every one else who has made and continues to make it possible  I love you guys!!!

Fatchicksrockuk


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## Butterbelly (Jan 2, 2007)

I was introduced to the Dimensions Community after I met my first FA. I'm glad he encouraged me to join the community...it's been a wonderful opportunity to learn more about myself and other people of size.


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## fatgirl33 (Jan 2, 2007)

I remember the time I found Dimensions more than the actual way I found it... It was in early 1998, and I'd had access to the Web for less than a year at the time.

There was a library that had a bunch of internet computers, but often the ones that allowed graphics were busy. There were a bunch of old Mac (ie: Mac Classic) computers where you could surf via TEXT (can youngsters even imagine this? lol!) which were free much more frequently. It was on one of these Text viewers that I found either Melanie Bel's stories or her AOL "blog" (although the term didn't exist at the time, to my knowledge). I could print the text out on the library's printers, and I incredibly nervous that someone else might read my print-outs before I could pick them up! It was her stories that brought me to Dimension's "Weight Room." Then the sky opened up and the world changed forever.  

It is amazing the impact this network of people has made in my life over the last eight years - I can't fathom how much different my daughter's life will be because of access to the Internet (she's only 1 now, so it will no dount change some by the time she gets to use it!).

Brenda


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## jjgreen14 (Jan 2, 2007)

I first visited the story section around 1998 after a google search and have seen the boards from when it was just a long line of posts but did not make a profile until yesterday

J


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## Frankie (Jan 2, 2007)

SoVerySoft said:


> I bet it was BobSJers who gave you the link. The fat and gaining chatroom was my hangout back then too
> 
> Do you remember me? It's ok to say no.



I can't remember who sent the link to me. I didn't stick around to chat in that room. I was so flabbergasted by my "discovery," I preferred to lurk on the Dim boards and get a handle on everything. 

But I do remember the personal site you used to have!


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## SoVerySoft (Jan 2, 2007)

Frankie said:


> I can't remember who sent the link to me. I didn't stick around to chat in that room. I was so flabbergasted by my "discovery," I preferred to lurk on the Dim boards and get a handle on everything.
> 
> But I do remember the personal site you used to have!



Awww...I'm glad. Sometimes I really miss my site!


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## Jon Blaze (Jan 2, 2007)

I was a younger teen and after a bunch of views of explicit material, I decided to give up on it. Now I'm horribly turned off by XXX content.

I found dimensions looking around for content that was at the most softcore, and later it became a place to breed my preference. My family and friends had quite the negative response to it when I was younger, and dimensions was the only site that was my safe haven. I admit that originally I came here for the ladies, but now I'm here for the community as a whole. The women are still a very very very very very very very nice superlative, however. :smitten:


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## supersoup (Jan 2, 2007)

i was just surfing around online...and i believe i somehow found someone's blog from here, and got the link from that blog. i read around for about 15 minutes, fell in instant lust with this place, and now i'm here, bothering you lovely people on a daily basis!


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## Jon Blaze (Jan 2, 2007)

supersoup said:


> i was just surfing around online...and i believe i somehow found someone's blog from here, and got the link from that blog. i read around for about 15 minutes, fell in instant lust with this place, and now i'm here, bothering you lovely people on a daily basis!



We love you supersoup!!!!


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## supersoup (Jan 2, 2007)

Jon Blaze said:


> We love you supersoup!!!!



oy, you

:blush:


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## Ned Sonntag (Jan 2, 2007)

RVGleason said:


> In the late 90's I was channel surfing on cable TV and came across a public access talk show and saw Ned Sontagg and his wife and they were talking about Dimensions and mentioned the Dimensions website. Some months later when I first started checking out the internet, I was able to find the Dimensions site and have been a regular ever since.
> 
> RV :eat1:


Wow thanks RVG. The actor from THE HILLS HAVE EYES was also on that segment and so she had to up the weirdness by flirting with him:batting: . It was pretty radical.


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## GunnerFA (Jan 3, 2007)

I found Dimensions around 2002, back when i was just noticing, accepting and loving being an FA. I'd be on the net for hours, my teenage mind wanting only one thing... pictures of beautiful fat women. I'm not sure exactly when I found it but it came up in one of my searches and was the site that taught me most about SA as well as the terms used to describe us. What drew me to the site back then was the weight gain fiction, the 900 club and the 500 club.


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## Spanky (Jan 3, 2007)

Someone can correct the year, but Melanie Bell was my first connection back in 1993?? Connected on AOL with a Macintosh at a whopping 2kB. Downloads were forever but checked daily for the new chapters. Her writing on being freed of her societal reigns on her shape and size were so incredible. These things would never have been read or discussed without such a medium. Very freeing.

I think Dimensions was under www.pencomputing.com/dimensions. (still can type it faster that anything else)


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## ATrueFA (Jan 3, 2007)

I've started getting Dimensions when it was still a black and white print magazine back in the late 80s I believe. I started coming to the Dimensions Chat rooms in Nov 96 and previous to that I went to AOL Fat & Gaining during the brief time I had AOhell and also spent a lot of time in the IRC bbw chat rooms.

Dave


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## EtobicokeFA (Jan 3, 2007)

I believe I stumbled onto it by accident back in my teens, when I was trying to come to terms with being a FAs. Lucky, I found it and learn to accept myself as a FA.


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## Emma (Jan 3, 2007)

Ok guys. Did any of you not realise you were FAs before you came to the site?


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## Webmaster (Jan 3, 2007)

CurvyEm said:


> Ok guys. Did any of you not realise you were FAs before you came to the site?



Well, I realized it when I was a child back in Switzerland. I was just born that way. And I can tell you, puberty and discovering the sexuality of your body with visions and fantasies of fat women when you grow up in country where there were none, that is quite an experience.

Nice thread. It's good to hear how some of you found Dimensions. Yes, it goes back 23 years to when we founded the Special Interest Group for Fat Admirers, or FA-SIG, in NAAFA. I was the coordinator, and since I had an early Mac and Pagemaker, I immediately began cobbling together a newsletter. It started out 24 pages black and white, added color with the 42nd issue, then went all glossy and 64 pages for a good many years. I wish I could still do it, but the internet and web have changed everything. Today you can get so much more for so much less that print publishing is almost out of the question. I mean, only 22 years ago it was a revelation to print te first poorly scanned black & white picture in the FA-SIG and today you can view and download unlimited high-res color pics anywhere.

I remember when I was searching for a good name to replace the prosaic "FA-SIG." We had dozens or hundreds of suggestions and may even have run a contest in the mag. There were some interesting ones. In retrospect, "Dimensions" was a natural as it implies so much and all the right stuff.

Some factoids:

Yes, we did go on many shows. The first was Sally Jessy Raphael when she was still in St. Louis. Then numerous local and regional shows, and also most of the big ones, including Geraldo (twice), Donahue and so on. Ruby did some by herself, I did a large number by myself, and many we did together. It was a trip.

Dimensions went online at the very dawn of the web. Sometimes it's hard to imagine that the web really only has been for a few years. Sure I had ArborText running on SUN workstations back in 1987, which was really HTML with embedded links and all, and I signe dup with Prodigy in its beta in 1989 or so, but the web did not really even start til 1993 or so. In 1994 I stumbled upon the 2nd annual WWW convention in the Chicago Hilton while attending a mobile show. It was just a few geeks in a room with SUN workstations.

The BBWQT site was cool. But Dani kept getting shut down by her ISP until she called it quits, and so I offered to host her. There was some overlap and so we decided to integrate BBWQT into Dimensions and have her be my staff webmistress. A lot of the systems in the "old town" of the Dimensions site (have you ever explored those old alleys? -- yes, there is more than just the forums, much more) were her idea and creation. I still wish she hadn't taken the keys with her when she vanished.

I tried hard to make Dimensions into a true national, commercial magazine, even pitched a couple of the major distributors that carried my tech magazines. No go. Even though we printed almost 10,000 copies of each issue for a while, and that was almost all subscriptions. I later bought BBW Magazine with the intent of making a true commercial magazine available to a larger audience and gently educate about size acceptance. We did that for four years. Today, BBW remains online (bbwmagazine.com), and history is littered with plus-size mag failures and crashes.

I am thrilled that DImensions is here and thriving after so many years. It's become a real community, and I think that's because of a few principles that never changed over the years. It's both for men and women. 

It's both for FAs and the fat people they admire. 

It's size-positive without being pornographic. 

It stands for freedom of fantasy, as long as things remain safe, sane and consentual. 

It lets people be activists without pretending we're not also sexual and social animals. 

Quite a scope, I know, but somehow it works. We have lots of different interests here at Dimensions. We're sort of tuned or locked into a common "force" out there, and gather here, even though we may pitch up our tent in one part of the Dimensions haven or another.


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## BeautifulPoeticDisaster (Jan 3, 2007)

CurvyEm said:


> Ok guys. Did any of you not realise you were FAs before you came to the site?



Ok Im not a guy em, but I was into fat...being fat and being attracted to fat when I was a mere child. I remember finding books with fat characters in them in the library and checking them out....but the most notable memory from childhood is being turned on by the guiness world book of records. Starting from the age of 7 (the first I can remember) I always looked forward to seeing if the fat records had been broken.  It's too bad the anti obesity media has such a grip on society these days that there is no mention of fattest person anywhere in the book or on it's website. Asswhipes they are!!

Even before that though....I used to have a book with bugs bunny in it...he ate too much and had a swollen tummy...that's all I remember about it, but I loved to just look at the before and after pictures.

I also distincly remember playing with my tummy and wishing it was bigger. I was being potty trained and had no sibblings, lol....so I was like 2. I remember sitting on the toilet just playing with my little belly. Then by 3 I was 75 pounds....I know this because I remember my older cousin weighing me and then announcing to the living room full of family that I weight lots more than she did. I was 3, she was almost 10. 

A couple of years after that...I think I was 5...I was laying down to take a nap and before falling asleep I would think about getting so fat I couldn't move. Where did these thoughts come from in someone so young?

Now...the question becomes...is: was my attraction to fat women and eating come from already being a fat child...or was it something I was born with? I'm not sure...and I really don't mind either way.

Reality. Be careful what you wish for,lol. I am very super-sized now and I think my subconscience had a lot to do with that....and I am also the fattest woman in the country (or so it seems, lol...bloody english!)

Sorry for the long answer. But I did realise I was into fat before Dimensions...I just didn't realise there were others....or a name for it....or a name for my kind.

Thank you Conrad and those of the old age.

PS-I too was on IRC in 1996-1999 in lots of bbw channels and the ssbbw channel. I had totally forgotten about that!! I was also in Beseen...I think that's the old Dim chat, lol. I've been around longer than I though Too bad I can't remember the names I used, lol.


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## starwater (Jan 3, 2007)

I saw "BBW" as a classification on a dating website and I didn't know what that meant... that was about a year ago.

So I went on the trusty Wikipedia, and typed it in.

Whoa.

That led to looking up other terms for clarification: ssbbw, fa, feeder, feedee, etc.

This also led to Dimensions and another chat I wasn't very fond of... it wasn't what I was looking for.

I like Dimensions, so I settled here. For a while I tried to skirt the issue on the dating website... call myself a little overweight and then I figured, this is what I am and changed it to BBW. And actually, I got a lot more messages.


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## ATrueFA (Jan 3, 2007)

CurvyEm said:


> Ok guys. Did any of you not realise you were FAs before you came to the site?



I've been an FA all my life and have never been in the closet about it. I dated only big chicks in High School and was usually made fun of for it and also got crap constantly from my fat-phobic parents...

Dave


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## kathynoon (Jan 3, 2007)

I found about the Dimensions magazine from people in NAAFA. I had never seen a magazine with pictures of fat people in sexy outfits and poses. And I was had come from a very sheltered Catholic background. So it took a while for me to appreciate Dimensions. Now I know that the magazine was instrumental in helping me to accept my body.


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## Mishty (Jan 4, 2007)

when I was 17 I read "Wake up I'm Fat" and got LOTS of amazing sites, numbers and addresses!!(dims,NAAFA,BBWnetwork..etc)

Seven years later I still love me some Dims!


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## stan_der_man (Jan 4, 2007)

missaf said:


> Do any of you old timers remember Dimensions t-shirts? I was delivering flowers in 2005 and delivered flowers to the most luscious blonde I'd ever laid my eyes on in person. She was wearing a black t-shirt with "Dimensions" in a kind of rainbow bubble font and it said "Where big is beautiful" underneath. I couldn't say anything, I was so shocked and overwhelmed I just smiled and handed her the flowers!



I remember seeing them advertised in Dimensions magazine, but never got one. I took a peek in my old Dim magazines and found this old ad. Not the same wording though, as you mentioned missaf. But definitely the same vintage! I wonder if they are still available?

fa_man_stan


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## lemmink (Jan 5, 2007)

In the late nineties, when I was looking for belly porn.

I didn't know I was an FA/feeder before finding Dimensions/other internet sites. I thought I was a complete freak.


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## Candy_Coated_Clown (Feb 12, 2007)

Hi, I am new btw.

I came across this site actually a few years ago. It was mentioned through a community that I belonged to via LiveJournal. I lurked on the forums for a bit and never registered a screen name and eventually stopped lurking...for no particular reason.

However, the site was brought to my attention again last year by my boyfriend. He is a member here (Edens_heel). He mentioned participating in the discussion forums and asked if I ever heard of the site...and once I browsed the link he sent, I definitely remembered, so again I started reading the forums occasionally and recently decided to register a screen name


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## Edens_heel (Feb 12, 2007)

and what a brilliant decision that was I might add


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## Friday (Feb 13, 2007)

Followed wise friends from elsewhere. :bow: Thanks friends!


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## Canadian (Feb 13, 2007)

How did I find dimensions?

Well, I found it to be a lovely little board, which is why I stuck around. 
I'm glad you asked.

 

Bad joke? 
Because it sure as fack wasn't a good one.


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## Oona (Feb 13, 2007)

I found Dimensions via google. I was just looking for fat friendly forums and got this one, and boy am I happy I did ^_^


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## Tooz (Feb 13, 2007)

BigBellySSBBW said:


> I was into fat...being fat and being attracted to fat when I was a mere child. I remember finding books with fat characters in them in the library and checking them out....but the most notable memory from childhood is being turned on by the guiness world book of records. Starting from the age of 7 (the first I can remember) I always looked forward to seeing if the fat records had been broken.
> 
> I also distincly remember playing with my tummy and wishing it was bigger. I was being potty trained and had no sibblings, lol....so I was like 2. I remember sitting on the toilet just playing with my little belly. Then by 3 I was 75 pounds....I know this because I remember my older cousin weighing me and then announcing to the living room full of family that I weight lots more than she did. I was 3, she was almost 10.
> 
> ...



(I cut some out and kept the parts more relevant to my point.)

Well, let's see. I wouldn't say I'm very super-sized (maybe just sort of super-sized?), but I have been no stranger to the whole being fat/gaining weight thing. Even when I was a kid, I was into it. I remember watching Tiny Toons and seeing Hamilton or Babs or whoever get huge for whatever reason and I was totally into it. I, too, checked the Guinness Book regularly. That seems to be a sort of staple for those who have been into this since childhood.

I was always fat to some extent-- I remember in third grade, I was talking to a friend, and for whatever reason, she brought up that she weighed 75 pounds. At that time, I weighed 112, which is actually pretty big for an eight year old, when you think about it. I was ALWAYS heavier than all the other kids. In fifth grade, I moved to Massachusetts and in my new class, we were studying gravitational pull. We had to calculate what our weight would be on the moon, and I remember lying about my weight because I was ashamed. Granted, I think having to say your weight in front of 30 kids is kind of traumatic as it is, but I said 90 pounds. No one believed me. Why would they? I mean, seriously, I was like a size 22 or something at that point.  Anyway, the funny thing is I never ate more than other kids when I was little. I was always just fat. I think that somehow is what got me started on this track. I just remember always liking it. As a teen (and even now, sometimes), I feel torn because part of me wants to conform and kill myself trying to lose weight, but the other (healthier, prominent) part of me says it wants the world to conform to ME.

I found Dimensions when I was 16, though I didn't come to the forums much later. I was looking for stories about either fat people or people who wanted to be, fiction or otherwise. I think I found it through Google. Was Google around in 2000? I can't remember. Anyway, it was some search engine, and I can't remember what I typed to find it. I was shocked to find so much about weight gain and fat and what have you. I read a lot of the stories. Until I had found Dimensions, I thought I was the only one like this. It really felt like I was having a giant weight lifted from my shoulders. I was on a diet at the time, and I think I actually gave up on it when I realised I wasn't alone.  I, for a long time, kept this aspect of my life very, very separate from my "normal" life, for fear of being judged for LIKING being fat. Now, I don't bring it up on my own really, but if asked, I'd explain honestly, I suppose. When I joined the forums is when I really started becoming courageous. It took me a while after that, though, to have the courage to post pictures of myself anywhere on here. :batting:



> Now...the question becomes...is: was my attraction to fat women and eating come from already being a fat child...or was it something I was born with? I'm not sure...and I really don't mind either way.



Maybe it's something of both? All I know is we're kind of in the same boat on that one.

Anyway, now, I'm still fat (duh.), and I don't mind it. I honestly don't think I would be happier if I were skinny. Actually, I probably wouldn't be as happy. I'd be living on crappy salads and working out all the time. No, that's not a stereotype, that's me: it's exceedingly hard for me to lose weight, and that is what I would have to do to lose/maintain. Not worth it. I'm like a size 30, and I wouldn't even be bothered much if I gained from here. I kind of think being fat makes things more interesting anyway.

Well, this post was kinda long and actually dealt very little with finding Dimensions, but I will say finding this site/community and becoming active in it has changed me and helped me be okay with who I want to be. I'm really glad I found it when I was 16 before I did any real damage to myself trying to get down to some single digit size. 

Edit: Haha, guess I posted here before. Way to go, memory of mine. Oh well, this post has more detail and awesomeness. :batting:


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## bigplaidpants (Feb 13, 2007)

Michelle said:


> _*My question to you is, how'd you find Dimensions?*_



I love reading "tell your fat story" posts. The new posts on this ole' thread motivated me to respond.

On the first question, though, I found Dim around 1995-6 when I was in college. I had always been attracted to fat folk, but I was not as clear about fat/size eroticism then. I just knew I liked the fat physique: it's size, proportion, movement, etc. I started searchin' the internet (on dial-up!) for fat pics, info, etc., and ran across Dim at the www.pencomputing.com url. I remember the first time I visited the site. Something like a light came on. Lurked on and off for years since.


I also want to respond to BigBellySSBBW's and tooz's response, i.e. their "fat story" (for lack of a better term).



BigBellySSBBW said:


> ....Starting from the age of 7 (the first I can remember) I always looked forward to seeing if the fat records had been broken.  ....
> 
> I also distincly remember playing with my tummy and wishing it was bigger. I was being potty trained and had no sibblings, lol....so I was like 2. I remember sitting on the toilet just playing with my little belly. Then by 3 I was 75 pounds....I know this because I remember my older cousin weighing me and then announcing to the living room full of family that I weight lots more than she did. I was 3, she was almost 10.
> 
> A couple of years after that...I think I was 5...I was laying down to take a nap and before falling asleep I would think about getting so fat I couldn't move. Where did these thoughts come from in someone so young?




I, too, wanted to follow up on this with tooz.

"Telling your fat story" as always intrigued me. It's like coming out, perhaps again, again, and again. It wasn't until Dimensions that I looked back and rethought my own fat-coming out story. I have the same question BigBelly has:



> Now...the question becomes...is: was my attraction to fat women and eating come from already being a fat child...or was it something I was born with? I'm not sure...and I really don't mind either way.



When I was little, I, too, remember great fascination with fat/big bodies almost from the start. The bigger, the more amazing. As a kid, though, I didn't understand the feeling of being "turned on." I just knew I got this strange and hard-to-shake feeling in my skin.

Even when I was 7, 8, and 9, I remember strange feelings I used to get hugging the fat ladies at church. (I can hear you laugh  ) I felt it, too, first time I stumbled on the Guiness book of World Records. I had to have been around the same age. I remember locked-stare I had the first time I laid my eyes on the fattest people. It started me fantasizing about it.

All of this had to be connected with my fat body as a kid. (I'm not so fat now - 6'1" and 230lbs, more "man" shaped with a 46-48 chest and 38 waist - but, I was always one of the fattest kids in my class). At my fattest, I was extremely aware of my fat body. I always did, and still have, a belly. As a kid and into my early teens, I would secretly fantasize about becoming extremely fat. I, too, would focus on my belly and fantasize about growing its sheer girth. I always imagined the sensuality of all that fat around me. I was 8, 9, or 10 when I fantasized about it so much, I tried to stretch my stomach. I just drank and drank water, thinking I could make it better. What happened is I drank myself sick!...

....and what I ache about to this day is the shame I felt around it all. It was all a secret I kept from everyone. If I had known what I know now....

I had often dated big girls in high school, but it wasn't until Dim that I put it all together and realized, "Hey - this is me! And, it even has an name: FA!" 

Going back and recounting these events, allowing them to come to the surface, really adds to the "born with it" sensibility that Conrad, Jay West Coast, and other FA's talk about. I'd been fascinated with fat/big people since I can remember. 

I realize now most of my failed relationships growing up (i.e. high school and college) were because I didn't really understand my sense of fat eroticism. I tried so hard to "get past appearences" and let other (i.e. "normal sized")girls turn me on. There were a few, but it never lasted long. The fatter girls I dated, I always came back to. My sense of the erotic and fat admiration, however, wasn't yet clear to me. 

*In short, there is nothing that matches the allure, softness, size, proportionality, movement, sensuousness, and sheer eroticism of a fat physique. * (For me, of course, I prefer it female  ) To this day, it's the only thing that causes my thoughts to drop out of my head and my eyes to have a mind of their own. 

Looking back, I wish I had known what and FA and BBW's were when I was 17. (That'd been 1990.) But, better late than never. Dim helped crystalize it all for me....

Now, I thank God for this community. It's time fat folks and FA's be who they are.


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## fatgirl33 (Feb 13, 2007)

Spanky said:


> Someone can correct the year, but Melanie Bell was my first connection back in 1993?? Connected on AOL with a Macintosh at a whopping 2kB. Downloads were forever but checked daily for the new chapters.



Melanie Bel was instrumental in my "development" as well. She really articulated the erotic side of fat in a way that connected with me (maybe it helped that we were both lesbians, too, and her online AOL journal went into great detail about her becoming comfortable with her lifestyle).

If one site could be recovered from the ether of the Internet, I would like it to be her AOL homepage/journal. I'd give almost anything to read it again. I looked for it on archive.org but it isn't there...

Brenda


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## Zoom (Feb 13, 2007)

Magazine:

Heard about it on Geraldo in the late 80s or early 90s. Probably the latter. Never saw the magazine in stores so I had to give up.

Every time I was called by telemarketers trying to sell me low-cost magazine subscriptions, I would ask about Dimensions and they would answer, "Never heard of it". Back then I thought Dim was based in Albany, NY (can't recall how I arrived at that idea) so I would tell them to research local mags there and call me back.

Finally, I got a copy of Dimensions in what turned out to be the only place in Chicago it could be purchased-- a porn mag rack. How I found out it was there is a very long story not worth telling.

Website:

The year 2000 was a big blur for me. Soon as I got the Sega Dreamcast, I wanted to go internetting with it. It wasn't until I'd paid for a second phone line and set everything up in the basement, somewhere in March or April 2000, than I could finally get online.

My goal was to read more about the lovely Gina Varney in arealfg.com, said website being mentioned in the magazine. But, unbeknownst to me, that site had closed in 1998 or 1999. After looking around using Yahoo's search engine, I noticed some links said "dimensionsmagazine.com" or "pencomputing.com/dim" and it didn't take me long to add 200 lbs. and 200 lbs. and get 180kg.


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## Lapwing (Mar 20, 2007)

Hope its ok disinterring this thread - as it's really interesting. Here's my experience with finding Dimensions and also some of the things that BBSSBBW and BigPlaidPants brought up.

I have always had a fascination with fat people's bodies (including my own body) as the "forbidden" and therefore fascinating and interesting and sexy. I wanted to know more. Pre-internet, I devoured any anti-diet and positive body image books I could get my hands on (e.g. "Being Fat is not a Sin" (Bovey) "You don't have to diet", "Womansize" (Chernin) etc). I also got involved in body-image workshops at my first university where I had inevitably gained weight after leaving home and the watchful eye of my mother.

Anyway in 1996 I had just gone to university to do postgraduate research and I discovered the internet for the first time which was a complete and utter revelation. I wanted to see what other people thought about fat women so in October 1996, pretty much the first thing I typed into AltaVista or the like was "Fat women" and I got the "Women en large" website. 

Comments on this website led to Marylin Wann's Fat? So! website and its Wall of Weight which inevitably led to the nascent Dimensions site at the pencomputing.com address (that still rolls easily off my fingertips!) At Dimensions I was literally like a kid in a sweetshop, Wilson Barbers stories (the seven deadly sins story I think its called "archetypes" was the first "fat" fiction I had ever read, what a turn on!), Melanie Bell (OMG how fantastic was her diary? I think I cried when she wrote the final message that Jess had discovered the journal and was really unhappy about it and she was not going to post anymore), the Weight Room, and strong female role models like SirenSong CindyG, TaurusVixen etc. 

The stories in the Weight Room turn me on, and I still can't work out whether that is bacause I'm an FA or a closet gainer or whether it's because it involves FAs enjoying being with fat women and showering attention on them or whether it is that "forbidden is sexy" aspect again.

Anyway I was originally registered on the old boards as EnglishGirl and posted occasionally between 1996 and early 2000, but then I got a job and left Uni and didn't have so much access to the net (certainly not onto Dimensions through my employers web access!) and I stopped being involved and reading the boards and the "real" world of stick thin role models impinged on my life. For three years I had felt sexy and attractive but pretty much as soon as I lost my connection with the world of size acceptance, I lost my confidence. A few random insults here and snide comments from my mother there and I was back to being 16 and needing to diet again.

Now I'm back at Dimensions and re-registered and trying to find the old pleasure in loving myself as I am again. The site has matured massively, especially the Forums which make so much more sense. But the old Dimensions the first time around was such an utter revelation, a real epiphany, I can't actually imagine ever feeling that sense of homecoming and excitement ever again on the net. Its been 11 years since it happened and nothing on the net has ever come close!


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## SoVerySoft (Mar 22, 2007)

Lapwing said:


> Hope its ok disinterring this thread - as it's really interesting. Here's my experience with finding Dimensions and also some of the things that BBSSBBW and BigPlaidPants brought up.
> 
> I have always had a fascination with fat people's bodies (including my own body) as the "forbidden" and therefore fascinating and interesting and sexy. I wanted to know more. Pre-internet, I devoured any anti-diet and positive body image books I could get my hands on (e.g. "Being Fat is not a Sin" (Bovey) "You don't have to diet", "Womansize" (Chernin) etc). I also got involved in body-image workshops at my first university where I had inevitably gained weight after leaving home and the watchful eye of my mother.
> 
> ...



Thanks for sharing that and welcome back!! It's great to have you here. You'll be loving yourself again in no time, I'm sure!


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## Lapwing (Mar 22, 2007)

SoVerySoft said:


> Thanks for sharing that and welcome back!! It's great to have you here. You'll be loving yourself again in no time, I'm sure!



Thankyou SVS, it is really good to be back and I should have done it before


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## Les Toil (Mar 24, 2007)

Waaaay back about 1998 when I first began to do big girl pin-up art, two women I had drawn, Terra and Cleacia (beloved legends and pioneers in the realm of sexy BBW websites), emailed me to tell me a discussion was going on about how I was drawing BBWs but was shaving weight off of them instead of adding weight onto them. They said it was at this forum called The Weight Board which I soon found out was associated the Dimensions Magazine (that I loved). Well I hightailed it over there out of sheer disbelief anyone even heard of me, let alone a handfull of dudes! So the first thing I see are posts about wanting to see a woman eat themselves to the size of VW buses. Since I had never heard of feederism, I immediately understood why they had an issue about my art. And by the way, that was way back when feeders on the Weight Board were hardcore about their lust to see the women on the board expand. Women who were actively gaining and posting pics of themselves blowing up were treated like royalty. But the cool thing was, they were also just praising the beauty of big chicks and that's when me and my happy face decided to hang around.  

Say, do you old-timers remember when the Weight Board would get about 4000 views a day and this General Board we're on now would get like 60??? I do. Back then the Weight Board was often used to as a means of luring us FAs to women's member's sites with pics and stuff until Conrad took the complaints to heart and created the Paysite board.


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## Ivy (Mar 24, 2007)

I was around 13. I was searching the internet for "pictures of very fat women" and "big fat belly" i found a site on feederism (the name escapes me now, but it was a creepy site). i read the stuff on there and realized that it summed up everything i had felt for so long. i then searched for "feedee" and found dimensions. i lurked for the next 5 years and then finally started posting..


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## Waxwing (Mar 24, 2007)

I have a strange fixation with message boards; I tend to devour them. It's a fun combination of insomnia and boredom. I seek out and read random boards from various links, and just find it fascinating and rewarding to learn about people. 

I think that, like Ivy, I was reading some article on feederism and there was a link to Dims. It was about 3am, I took a look, and began reading a few posts. Next thing I knew I had been reading for *hours* and inexplicably felt really drawn toward the people here, and really interested in what everyone had to say. I also found that I had a lot in my past and in my thoughts that was addressed here.

Now that I'm actually posting I feel tremendously blessed. It's an amazing group of people and I find myself learning things, rethinking my views on my own body as well as bodies in general, and growing as a person. Internally. God I hate puns. 

I actually talk about threads that I read here. "Well on Dims..." is my new potentially-irritating refrain.


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## BothGunsBlazing (Mar 24, 2007)

Ivy said:


> I was around 13. I was searching the internet for "pictures of very fat women" and "big fat belly" i found a site on feederism (the name escapes me now, but it was a creepy site). i read the stuff on there and realized that it summed up everything i had felt for so long. i then searched for "feedee" and found dimensions. i lurked for the next 5 years and then finally started posting..



Yeah, I am just quoting it, because it's oddly exactly what I was going to say. 

Actually, this one is probably not too uncommon!


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## Nikki (Mar 25, 2007)

I found it when I was upset that my grandmother once again called me a shallow name and wanted me to lose weight.

I was looking up how how to lose weight and instead in the search engine found Dimensions. That was about Fall 1999. I'm 25 now.


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## BitsyAintMyName (Mar 25, 2007)

I go to the craigslist Casual Encounters sections to give myself a giggle from time to time and kept seeing BBW in alot of the posts and I looked it up on Wiki. There was a link to Dimensions on the Wiki(as well as to some porno sites  ). There has to be one place on the entire planet where I'm just me, not the fat chick.


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## Stevefezzik (Mar 25, 2007)

just googling around looking for pics of women with big tummies.


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## NancyGirl74 (Mar 25, 2007)

Sometime in 2001 I bought my first computer and had access to the Internet for the first time ever. What a learning experience that was! I spent lots of time exploring, making mistakes, and learning. During that time a friend introduced me to AOL Big & Beautiful Chat. I'd never heard the term BBW before then. I spent quite a lot of time in those rooms and found that I could chat with men without being so overwhelmingly shy like I would be in a face to face situation. I also realized I was too big for most of the men in those chat rooms. After a few years of frustration, I gave up on AOL and Yahoo BBW chats. 

In 2004 a friend of mine introduced me to the guy who would become my boyfriend. He was/is a FA. His love of big girls was apparent from the start and he made no bones about it. As much as I loved him he could tell I was uncomfortable with my fat and his desire for it. To be totally honest I thought he was a bit of a nut-case lol. One day he decided to "prove" to me that there were lots of men who like and admire fat women. He took me into Dimensions Chat and clicked on some of the women's pictures. I was not impressed. I thought it was all so strange...but seeing fat women comfortable showing off their bodies stayed with me. When my boyfriend and I broke up in 2005 I went searching for the site. In total honesty, I was there to spy on him lol...but he wasn't there most of the time and so I started chatting. It's amazing how I felt at home there almost right away. I was not too fat for this BBW room and the women were so confident and beautiful. I began to gain some confidence in myself and I started going to BBW dances on my own. Then one of the guys in chat with told me about a Dims Jersey get-together and so I went. 

So, that's how I found Dims and made some great new friends. I haven't looked back since.


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## fishhat (Mar 25, 2007)

Weekend Web on somethingawful.com


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## FatJim (Mar 25, 2007)

The magazine was advertised on the back of Plumpers and big women,then I searched for it on the Internet


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## Elfcat (Mar 25, 2007)

Michelle said:


> _*My question to you is, how'd you find Dimensions?*_



I am of course now in the position, along with a handful of other "ancient ones", of having come into NAAFA before the 90s, when the Fat Admirers' Special Interest Group had their newsletter. It was plain-paper, it was balc and white, it had hand drawn illustrations. No photographs, but a lot of cool drawings and poems and discussions. It was a few years later that the FA/SIG membership was invited by Conrad to vote on a new name for the rag, obviously the first step in his grand vision to go to a full-scale magazine. The internet back then was itself text-based, with pictures being sent back and forth as encoded text over 300, 1200 or, for the bleeding edge, 2400 bps modems. Todays broadband connections are almost a thousand times as fast. So the web had to wait for a few more years.

We took the vote, and "Dimensions" won the day. It took a little longer to to full color and glossy and photos and all. Of course it took a while longer still for the web site to come into its own and to foster the web modeling careers engaged in by many women. For the time being back then, it was still the (in my opinion) rather problematic themes and executions of Longstar Lonehorn. The less said about them, probably the better, but it gave Layla and Teighlor their start.

I bowed out of the scene for a while during my first marriage, but in the past few years have returned, my current wife being a bit more interested in it herself.

It is interesting to see all the changes which have come in only the last 15 years in technology and how it's affected our own community here.


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## tonynyc (Mar 25, 2007)

When I became involved with NAAFA again in the early 90's - that's how I became aware of Dimensions....


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## BigCutieSasha (Mar 25, 2007)

My story is simple. I got back in touch with an old friend from high school, JayWestCoast and he told me about this board where plus size women and men go. I had never been on any form of a chat board before so it was a little intimadating. But I came to love the people here.


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## Tina (Mar 25, 2007)

I found this site almost ten years ago, through Dimensions Magazine, the print mag, not even having a hint I would be featured one day in the mag itself. 



Les Toil said:


> Waaaay back about 1998 when I first began to do big girl pin-up art, two women I had drawn, Terra and Cleacia (beloved legends and pioneers in the realm of sexy BBW websites), emailed me to tell me a discussion was going on about how I was drawing BBWs but was shaving weight off of them instead of adding weight onto them.



Oh, God, Lester, I remember this!! It turned into a huge thread that took over most of the board (for those who don't know, the old board format was the BBS format, and fights and contentious discussions could take over most of the board, not having various sections and sub-sections, like this software does). All that discussion of shaving off fat and smoothing.

Thing is, I found your site even before I found Dimensions, and simply adored your artwork. Spent hours there, poking around and trying to see everything on the site, so that when you came here and were attacked, I already knew who you were and couldn't believe what was being said. Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?


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## RyanFA (Mar 27, 2007)

wow, it was so long ago, I can't even remember. though I don't necessarily support the site, I think I found a link off of feeder.co.uk to "message boards" and it took me to the old dimensions boards. ever since then i've just typed in www.dimensionsmagazine.com


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