We get asked a lot about who exactly is behind PbNation, so hopefully this answers that question a little better. Please feel free to ask questions here and I'll be happy answer them.
Tony Rieker aka "Tony" - Tony started PbNation on Christmas break in the winter of 2000 when he was still a High School student with no idea how it would eventually expand into the community it is today. Tony first played paintball at a friend's birthday party when he was 14 and his first paintball gun was a Tippmann 68 Carbine. You can even find an
old video here of his hand built "rocker cocker" that eliminated the F5 big electronic box on the bottom that plagued the first electronic cockers. He currently owns an old blue splashed Merlin 'Cocker and a new
dust black PM8 that he intends to get around to laser engraving some day. Tony has recently moved from Phoenix, Arizona to Portland, Oregon and is an avid outdoor enthusiast.
Kyle Christensen aka "Kyle" - Kyle started playing paintball around 1994 while he was in High School. He and his friends secretly saved up money and bought Spyder Bottomline kits out of the back of an issue of APG and played renegade ball in the woods behind his friend's house as often as they could afford to. Ever since he got his first computer, about the same time he started playing paintball, he's been working in the Information Technology sector. He's worked in many different industries for and with Fortune 1000 companies as a Systems Administrator & Consultant, but here at PbNation we shortened his title to "UNIX Geek." Kyle currently owns an A4 Fly, HK'd Fly LCD, DM4 as well as a
new PM8. Kyle is a audiophile, with a soft spot for gadgets with blinking lights. He's got a wicked music addiction and listens to
a lot of electronic and indie music. Kyle is probably the smartest person on staff but would deny it most days.
Read more about Tony and Kyle in this
article by PGI Magazine that was published in 2007. Yeah, we know they got the year the site was started wrong and there are question marks for Kyle's last name for some reason.
Ed Rieker aka "cs@pbnation" - Ed has been playing paintball longer than many of the paintball players on PbNation have been alive. He first played in 1988 with a Splatmaster when paintballs still cost a whopping $0.25
each and he and his son Tony have played together many times. He mostly plays big games now with his Promaster and tries hard not to shoot the mod staff in the back. It was actually Ed's credit card that was used to register the pbnation.com domain name back in 2001. He didn't get involved with PbNation again until the site was in trouble and in danger of closing. He shared the same passion for the site as Tony and the team at PbNation, so he invested some capital and time to see if he could help stabilized and grow the community. He continues to this day to run many of the business aspects of the site. He maintains he is not too old to be on the internets and even insists he helped Al Gore invent the 1st internet “back in the day.”
John Dresser aka "John" - I started playing paintball with a rental Splatmaster in High School back in 1990 when the local field had a stock class day once a month. I played my first tournament in 1993 with a Phantom pump gun and even though we only won one game, I was hooked on the competition. I was recruited by a local traveling tournament team and played the MSPA series that year. I've also worked in the paintball industry since 1994 when I managed a small paintball field in Tennessee while going to school. After college I moved to Chicago in 1999 to work for PMI (now part of Kee) running their Customer Service department, teaching tech classes and helping out with Research and Development as well as Quality Control for 5 years. I first played professionally in the woods all the way back in 1998 playing 10-Man and I'm pretty sure I finally retired from traveling and playing professionally in the NPPL this year. I've owned literally hundreds of paintball guns (here's a link to
some of the current ones) over the years and I still play locally every weekend as well as traveling to some events. I'm pretty much just an all around paintball nerd that has no job title or even business cards. Link to
video.
Dan Voils aka "Auctionjunkie!" - Dan started playing paintball in 1985 when he purchased some Nelspot 007’s and he’s been hooked ever since. Although Dan’s formal training is in electronics, he has been employed full time in the paintball world in one aspect or another since 2000. He was the Master Tech for a marker manufacturer for over 5 years and is qualified to work on many markers. Dan’s other hobby is photography and has had his photos published in many magazines as well as on the web. He currently owns Indy Extreme Paintball, a retail store in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dan helped start Team Wiseguys in 1999 and still actively manages the team. Dan stopped playing tournaments in 2003 and now mostly plays scenario and big games. His current gun of choice is the Eclipse Ego with a Lapco Apex barrel. Dan is'nt the oldest Moderator/Admin on PbNation, but he is the only one who is a Grandfather! Dan has four sons, two daughters-in-law and one grand daughter. Two of the sons played regional and national events and were original members of Team Wiseguys. The youngest is still playing regional events and works at Indy Extreme. Dan is one of the very few who played paintball with the original founders of PbNation and still enjoys getting out on the field with the staff when he can. A day in the life of
Dan.
Rich Brown aka "sstruckguy" - Rich started playing in 1999 with a green Brass Eagle Raptor. His son, (now 30) talked him into playing and now takes the blame for him still playing. After a short stint on the
other forums, he ran into Tony in a chat room in January of 2001 and accepted a PBTalk mod position. He was accused at the time for "skewing" the average Mods age. After putting in a few years in the trenches, he was promoted to a Mega and eventually to Admin. With a wife of 30+ years, one grown son, 2 cats and 2 dogs, he has done automotive dealership parts management for 29 years. A victim of the crappy economy, he is looking to start a different career.
