Complete and Ongoing History of the OpenAI Developer Community

When did you find the forum, and why did you stay?

Apparently it was Spring 2021. I stayed because there was a sense of energy in the air, and I prefer old-school slower moving forums rather than Discord or Slack.

Was there a thread or person here that changed how you built something?

I’m sure there’s a specific example, but I can’t think of it at the moment. As more of a tinkerer than a full-fledged dev, I’m always learning something new in this community.

What was the strangest or most exciting era to live through?

The early days were the most exciting. I saw Brockman’s comment on Hacker News inviting people to get early GPT-3 API access. Later, one of my early emails to support about the playground was answered (quickly!) by none other than Brockman himself. It was a lot easier to handle support back then, I imagine! Exciting days, though, that reminded me of early computer excitement (for me) in the 80s.

What forum initiative, even if it faded, deserves to be remembered?

So many fond memories. I’ll go with the Lounge that comes with standard Discourse installs. The ability to converse with a lot of smart people interested in AI in a less formal category is nice.

What repeated question or recurring panic defines an era for you?

“This is not ChatGPT! Here’s a link for your query!”

Did Discord, Reddit, GitHub, or other spaces pull you away from here?

Not really. I became a “puzzler” on the Discord early on, but the bulk of my time has been here on the Discourse forum.

What should belong in a forum glossary?

All the “inside-jokes” and peculiarities we’ve had over the years.

What made you stop posting as much, if you did?

Feeling as if I’m less useful with my broad knowledge and just spending time making sure the place runs smoothly along with the rest of the mod team.

What would make this place feel more like a community again and less like a searchable support archive?

More humans!