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A timeline of Nightwish fandom


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The story of Nightwish is rich and full of twists... and so is the story of Nightwish' fandom! Here are some of the main events that shaped the community over the years.

Of course this is not an exhaustive list, and I have probably involuntarily ignored many important events, so feel free to send in your additions.

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1997

  • November: Angels Fall First is released, and Nightwish start touring. Fandom is born! Very few details survive from the early days...

 

1999

  • The official NW website hosts a fan chat that eventually becomes a forum, the Nightwish.com discussion board. Built with Finnish, English and German sections early on, it will soon evolve to include many more languages.

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2003

  • February: Launch of the Nightwish-France website and forums.

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  • October: Oceansouls of America, the North American NW fan club is born.

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  • December: The Russian Nightwish fan club, Nightcom (at Nightwish.com.ru) launch their first forum.

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2004

  • December: Launch of the fan site Ocean Soul at TuomasHolopainen.net, run by a Polish fan named Agnieszka (a.k.a. deathwish).

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2005

  • April: The Polish Nightwish fan club launch their forums, eventually named Ocean Souls.

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2006

  • September: TuomasHolopainen.net gains official status as Tuomas' web presence.

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2007

  • The English section of the official Nightwish forum at Nightwish.com is shut down.

 

2008

  • February: Nightwish World, a semi-official international forum run by Nightwish France, is launched.

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  • February: TuomasHolopainen.net stops being updated, and the associated forum will slow down and become inactive by 2011.

 

2009

  • The Escapist, a Tuomas Holopainen fan site, is launched by Carol Walker, a British fan.

 

2010

  • October: After gaining official status, The Escapist moves to Tuomas-Holopainen.com

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2011

  • February: Launch of The Islanders Fan Forum, home of the Nightwish British Isles fan club.

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  • November: The Nightwish English Forum (at NightwishForum.com) becomes the official English-language band forum, replacing Nightwish World. It will gradually include sections for Finnish, German, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking fans.

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2015

  • April: Launch of Nightwish Family, currently the largest NW fan group on Facebook.

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  • October: A server crash signs the demise of Tuomas-Holopainen.com including the forums.

 

2016

  • August: Premiere of the fandom documentary "To Nightwish With Love".

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2017

  • March: The official NW forum is moved from NightwishForum.com to NightwishOnline.com

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2019

  • March: NightDreamers' Reacticide server on Discord is created.

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  • December: The official NW forum at NightwishOnline.com crashes... and burns, given the absence of backups.

 

2020

  • January: Part of the Nightwish Online community moves to a new Discord server, eventually named "A Walden Of Our Own".

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  • January: The band cease their involvement in fan community coordination and therefore community support.

 

2021

  • August: When the Nightwish France web site is revamped their forums are powered down, possibly replaced by their Facebook presence.

 

2022

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  • January: Floor Jansen introduces FloorWorld, a social platform with free and paying tiers, replacing her YouTube memberships.

 

The future...

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  • 1 year later...

I've been considering getting Discord to join the server "A Walden of Our Own", as I met a few of the members at the Toronto show back in May. I have met a few of the members from the Nightwish Family Facebook group, as I am part of that group. A few of the members from the mentioned show refer to me as "Cake Boy" as I brought a Cupcake cake for the band. 😁

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

I though I would mention here that today is the 20th anniversary of Oceansouls of America, and here is what was posted on their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/Oceansouls.America/posts/pfbid021HWUcLJQGRXDiuPoUUNzQe83tv9tJFXjqphH4BQGToWCe2YeoH2bW6DH1jTcv1CZl

Quote

ON THIS DAY IN OSA HISTORY: October 15, 2003—A small group of American Nightwish fans form their own online community. Oceansouls of America was created by Matthew "Snowy Owl" Bankes, who made a post at the official Nightwish forum, looking to meet other American fans. The response he got was enthusiastic and willing to help create the first fan community for Nightwish in the United States. Many of these fellow fans had even been in attendance at the band's ProgPower USA performance the month prior. When Nightwish toured North America the following year, there were even more people becoming part of the growing OSA family.

Needless to say, it is because of passionate fans that we started this awesome journey 20 years ago. It has always been the love and support from all of YOU that keep us going. Give yourselves a hand. These last 2 decades wouldn't have been possible without you.

Kiitos.

 

That said, except for this rarely updated Facebook page and a dormant forum, I'm afraid there's not much of an online presence anymore for this venerable fan group. I wonder where are the Oceansouls today?

https://ultimatemetal.com/forums/nightwish-ocean-souls/

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On 10/15/2023 at 11:35 PM, Fugazi said:

That said, except for this rarely updated Facebook page and a dormant forum, I'm afraid there's not much of an online presence anymore for this venerable fan group. I wonder where are the Oceansouls today?

They probably migrated over to the Nightwish Family group on Facebook, or the Walden of Our Own group on Discord? Maybe both?

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