Round table

1 In late 2007 - early 2008, an online community for Heroes III began to form, virtually from scratch. At the same time, popular HP and HL communities already existed. The question is — how did HeroesWorld still manage to gain popularity? I also registered around that time and remember roughly what it was like back then, but I cannot find an answer to this question.
2 What is the exact founding date of HeroesWorld?