It’s the end of an era for the older generation.
Former PinoyExchange (PEx) users went on a nostalgia trip as they shared their own memories of the online forum days before it officially shut down.
The 24-year-old popular forum announced “with deep sadness” that it would say goodbye to Filipinos on April 15.
No reasons were divulged.
“From the bottom of our hearts, Maraming Salamat!” it said on a social media post on Tuesday.
PEx also included its logos on its post — back when it first opened in July 1999 and its current one with a tagline.
PEx is an online forum that preceded most social media platforms, including Reddit, which operates similarly.
It is where over 1.5 million monthly users express their thoughts and opinions on various topics such as showbiz, sports, gadgets, travel, and other interests, as well as local and international news.
‘End of an era’
Meanwhile, Pinoys went on a nostalgia trip following the announcement of its closure this month.
“Tambay ako dito, lalo sa call center job pati bardagulan ng mga UAAP teams at syempre, sa UP PEx Squad. Salamat sa lahat, PEx!” a Facecbook user wrote in response to the post.
“End of an Era. Interesting topics about politics, UAAP, NCAA, PBA, NBA, buhay sa Pinas at working abroad, working Filipinos, pati ang katawa-tawang bangayan ng mga Kapuso at Kapamilya,” another online user commented.
“Awww! Nakaakaiyak! Dito nabuo ang UE Red Tribe (2006-07), sa UAAP forums [niyo]. Dami ko na-meet na fellow UE Pexers na eventuallt naging Red Tribe members. [Siyempre], pati sa Single’s forum. Thank you for the memories, PEX! Proud Pexer here,” wrote a different Pinoy.
“For ten years, I hosted awards prediction games and pools! It was so fun to do kahit minsan late ako mag-tally ng scores!” a Filipino on Twitter said.
“For a long time, this was my go-to for a lot of things — fandom, opinions, adulting advice. (Used to get a lot of travel tips here) Met a lot of good people, too. Salamat, PEx!” another Twitter user wrote with emojis of a love-you gesture and face-holding-back-tears.
Some former PExers also shared their memories on Reddit, a similar discussion website that opened six years after the Philippine-based forum.
ALSO READ: Reddit is Pinoys’ ‘most visited website’ if Google, Meta, YouTube ruled out
“This is so sad. Before I became a Redditor, I was a PExer first. The college threads helped me so much after high school. Met some online friends din. So many posts and memories I made in that forum,” a Pinoy Redditor wrote.
“I think it died with the rise of FB [Facebook] groups (and to an extension, Twitter and Reddit) and hasn’t been able to recover from it. Which sucks, PEx had a charm to it na anonymous [plus] well-defined ang forum structure,” the Redditor added, calling PEx the country’s “true homegrown social network.”
“Si Luis Manzano rin dati, he used to post in the PBB forums, too. Asking about the online nicknames people made for certain contestants. Lol,” another Redditor recalled.
“Aw! I remember reading the ghost stories posted here :(,” a different Reddit user said.
“Sad. I was in Buhay Pinoy back in the day. I’d left the PH since I was young, so did not follow news about PH, was curious during the start of social media so I found PX… a lot of my news and updates about Pinoy community worldwide were through PeX posts lol,” wrote another Redditor.
“I’ve met a few that I used to contact online (never met any of them IRL) but I had gotten so much knowledge and a few online friends, thanks to PEX,” the Reddit user added.
PinoyExchange was born from an idea to create an online message board in the late 1990s. At that time, the only way to communicate virtually was through chat sites and chat rooms.
Michael Nolledo, Nix Nolledo, and Jude Turcuato eventually founded the popular forum on July 12, 1999.
They were later joined by Michael Palacios, who became its lead designer and technical consultant.
Other early members of PEx also became moderators to manage content and discussions.
The online forum became popular through its exposure via televised UAAP basketball games where Jude was a commentator.
Viewers were asked to express their thoughts about the ongoing matches, prompting thousands of students and alums from UAAP member schools to flock to the site and create discussions.
PEx said it reached its 2,000-member mark “before the turn of the century,” when the Philippine internet penetration was reportedly less than 2%.
It has since evolved as an online forum where users worldwide can connect and converse on various topics, not just sports.