Posted by old-timer (72..2.45) on June 18, 2024 at 17:49:21:
Once upon a time in the mid-1990s, there was a site called Vietscape. It was dedicated to Vietnamese "thi văn nhạc hoạ" if I remember correctly. I remember browsing through pages about Vietnamese singers, among other things. Also nested somewhere in there were two small forums: Poems Garden and Culture Forum. That's where it all started. The initial "vs" in the current name "vsgardens" stands for "vietscape" and is a token of rememberance to that origin.
In those years, Poems Garden was rather quiet. I could only remember Duy Định and nqnv there, with the occasional contribution from culture forum members. Culture forum, on the other hand, was much more active and at times felt more like "cái chợ". Membership from that period included: HD (Hieu Dang), CP (Đại Ca), ak (aikhanh), SG (SomeGirl), PD (Nhị Ca), TC (Tam Ca), SM (Sao Mai), LN (Lan Nguyen), lv (Lan Vi), KP, Lê Trọng Cảnh (N8/bát đệ), TN (Thu Nguyen), bad hair day, CH, vitdong, Bờm, thai-mai, ndt (nguyen dang tuan), vinhdang, MT (MienTrinh), HongTy (not sure what her nick was), TTTT (Tram Tich Thach Thao), ...
In 1998, poem forum got a shot in the arm as the forum "Thi Thơ Đối Đáp" in vietfun ran into trouble. A lot of nicks from that forum migrated and took refuge in vietscape: LLT (Lưu Ly Thảo), Tây Thi, TQ (Tu Quynh or Tieu Quy), LP (Lac Phong), ThuanNguyen(MQ), Cây, ThangKho, tihon, DiuLinh/MeChua, VThanh/linhson, Mimosa, Tóc Tiên, BSN (BanSiNong), BaoNhi, TBD, KN (Khai Nguyen), SuongMai, Khuc Linh, Thuy Tien, Áng Mây, trongvang, La Suong, Tuyet Nhi ...
Later on, although vietfun.com reopened their forum, many did not go back. However after about 1-2 years of activities, the new Poem members started to disperse (probably when people started to focus on college or graduate?). Towards the end of 1999, Poems activities were more or less back to what it was in 1997, with main contributors being Tây Thi, Lac Phong, kdt (kieu diem thuy), BBV (Bông Bí Vàng), WA (B. Tran), MTS (Mong Tinh Sau), Duy Dinh, nqnv, and the occasional posts by MQ, trucly, ThangKho, T.H., SK (Sao Khuya)
Around that time, vietscape.com owner wanted to discontinue the two forums. Most likely it has something to do with the cost of maintaining them, although I wasn't privy to the details. That's when a group of culture members pooled their resources together, registered vsgardens.com domain and the current site was born.
After the hosting switchover, for a number of years the activities in both forum were slower than at their peak but steady. Somewhere in those years (1998-2002), a number of new nicks found their way there: tht, bé, k, ch, MTH (Minh Tàng Hình), st, Nhím, vodanh, hehehehe, vt, hl, tweety, Dtn (Dê tối ngày), Độc cô, hh (this is the early hh), Tui, tcc (tiểu công chúa), tbb, tlt, Gà Mái/HBL/Cô Khùng/Miên Đáng, Bợm, Ba cà lăm, Tóc dài, mctt, ngủ ngày, homeless, Thở dài, Sleepless in Seattle, sx (Sóng xanh or Sóng)
Then in late 2003/early 2004, there was another wave of "cyber refugees", this time from GMTL forum of vietfun/vietartist. This new wave brought to culture forum many new nicks: TLN (Tiểu Long Nữ), 9, Lavender, m/tm (tieu muoi), tn, cáo (chú Tư Cầu), Chanh (tinh), MongThuong, Wil (taito), DT (De Thuong), DG (De Ghet), Bạch Y, Bạch Y Nương, Gấu, Lão Ma/che, Thi "đớt". The following nicks also joined around that time though it's not clear if they came from GMTL or via words of mouth: vt, htc, hs (hamsay), phó, hon-hoang (caotanbao or tien-dui), ekeke, mms (mimosa), ti, bi/HA (Hải Âu), mb (mắt biếc), cm (chu minh), cuncon, xòi, kc (kitty cat), thỏ ngọc, SLH (seven love heavy), hh (hoa hậu, this is a different hh from before), Sóc, vk (vanhkhuyen).
The few years after that witnessed the zenith of activities in culture. There were days that saw messages from 30-40 nicks (the previous high water mark from the late 1990s was around 20 nicks). This period saw some new nicks leaving indelible marks with their posts even if they don't appear very often: HTC (HoThiCam) with her non-stop complaining, Earl with his cryptic posts, TuongVi with her long "tất niên" stories, Nguyễn Nguyên Nguyên "bát ngát tâm sự", Trương Tẩn "nhà phê bình thơ đích thực", Lê Tịnh Vân/Thúy Liễu "đổi áo".
In Poems, this period saw poetry from htc, nqnv, Hải Thụy, Trút Tường, ngủ ngày (lmtbay), thp, ch, kdt, vinh-dang, thaimai, among others.
In 2007, trouble started brewing, culminating in a permanent split in late 2007. Three younger culture forum members ("ba con nhãi", i.e. Lavender, xòi, kc) moved to a new website (xomnoixam.com) that was recently established. Some other culture members (thỏ ngọc, SLH, 9, ...) also either moved or split their time between the two sites. This was how it stayed for many years. Xomnoixam.com and its sister site ngogiatrang.com closed its door in 2015 but it wasn't clear where its residents went as they did not go back to vsgardens.
Culture was more or less the same for many years after 2007. There was no big wave of new nicks, although a few did find their way there: MSP, Lz. Then in 2021 disaster struck. The website hosting vsgardens ran into irreparable technical issues. vsgardens was down seemingly forever. A Facebook group was created as a temporary replacement. After about 5 months, the domain was transferred to a new website and access to vsgardens.com was restored. Some old culture members did come back although many didn't, probably preferring the FB group or doing nothing instead. And that is how it has been since.
Since the early day until now (2024), it has been close to 30 years of participation for some. Will this survive another 30 years? Who knows? Only time will tell :-)