Someone, or maybe it's something, just had a birthday.......
That would be this site, 14 years this week.
I'll spare the editorial commentary about recent self inflicted wounds as it's been said aplenty (and there's not much profit in dwelling on the negative), but back in the beginning we spent considerable effort to draw membership. A handful of stalwarts, now mostly gone on to other endeavors, wrote articles, greeted newbs, encouraged participation, and did all the things to help a fledgling site grow..............and it worked. Granted, at the time the WWW was relatively new and by comparison to today there were fewer "places" for folks to go for their venture into cyber community. There was no facebook, twitter, pinterest, and so on, so folks who stumbled through the door had fewer distractions to lure them elsewhere. Some of those early joiners have passed on to their reward, others lost interest or engaged in intramural battles that damaged personal feelings causing them to drift away. A small handful (3-5 maybe) are still present to one degree or other, but what has remained is a small but valuable crowd of supporters who seem to tough it out despite the considerable disincentives. I value you all and consider you friends..................and am glad to have earned your acquaintance. Rock on....................
