First I want to thank everyone who has been part of the amazing growth of our community here! When I left for my little work-related hiatus late last year, we had around 2700 members. As of today we have over 7300! 😯
Beyond more than doubling our membership in 7 months, what's even more impressive about that 7300 number is that I had always assumed that somewhere in the 20% range of those members were spammers, bots, etc. so I figured the "real" number to be more in the 5500 range. In my recent efforts to get the user permissions and promotions stuff squared away I discovered that the forum software already excludes those from the count, so we actually have over 7000 real people who have taken the time to at least complete the registration process (the actual number of user accounts in the database is over 8400) which is mind-blowing to me. Sure, a large number of those have never posted anything and I'm sure a fair number registered but never came back; still, considering that we never really "advertised" the place and relied on word-of-mouth it's a damn impressive achievement!
I'm also grateful and impressed by the high quality content, discussions, and community sprit that everyone has helped establish. It's very satisfying to see people taking the effort to share their time, knowledge, and experience to guide others along "the path" or "the journey" or whatever you may choose to call it, as well as the inquisitive nature of a lot of the folks just taking their first steps to improve their health, knowledge, and quality of life. Reading through some of the discussions during my time away, it's incredible to see how many of you were just starting out late last year and early this year, who are now becoming trusted veterans. Amazing!
As you may have noticed, we have a couple of new Moderators. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to @peptideusername and @zpped who have recently accepted my pleas to help out with the day-to-day duties of trying keep the place free from spammers and scammers while promoting the importance of knowledge, safety, and Harm Reduction, and better things for us all! I'm very picky when it comes to trusting internet strangers, but both of them have made such positive contributions to the community that we're very fortunate to have them. Being a Mod on any public platform is not easy, and people tend to get angry at you for no reason, so please remember that they are volunteers and they are here to help even if something they do or say doesn't please you! If it pleases me is what matters. 😎
Finally, I can't close this out without telling you how incredibly fortunate everyone here in addition to myself is for @exploitedworkerbee 's time, effort, and dedication over the past several months!
Last fall, when I found out that my work life was about to get absurdly chaotic, I made Brute Enforcer Emeritus and a few other trusted friends Mods here so there might be someone to keep the place from falling apart while I was away. What you may not know is that I never asked a single one of them! I didn't know if any of them would be willing or able to help out, and I didn't have the time to get into any deep discussions about it, so I just flipped some switches and walked away with my fingers crossed. Not only did Brute Enforcer Emeritus step up to the plate, he really embraced the challenge more than I ever thought anyone ever would or could. The fact alone that membership doubled under his watch is a testament to his dedication and steady hand that I've witnessed since first meeting him online when getting into this hobby in early 2023. I know he's pissed some people off (mostly scammers, shills, shitty vendors, and liars) and ruffled a few feathers, but I guarantee you I would have pissed off the exact same people and probably more so if anything you had it easy! Brute Enforcer Emeritus let me know he wanted to step back from Modmin duties a couple of weeks ago, and despite my disappointment I totally understood why. Fortunately he agreed to stay on a little longer and help screen potential new Mods and as usual he was an enormous help with that. I'm sure we'll continue to see him around occasionally and I look forward to his continuing contributions here and to the "hobby" as a whole. I hope he enjoys being able to participate without having to worry about herding cats! I am grateful beyond words and hope everyone here understands just how important that kind of gratitude, loyalty, admiration, and respect are in everything you do every day of your life!
Cheers, and again THANK YOU! ❤️
(And sorry for the length of this and some of my other recent posts. I'm usually a man of far fewer words, but having so much more free time lately has brought out a chatty part of me that I will try harder to keep under wraps going forward!)
Beyond more than doubling our membership in 7 months, what's even more impressive about that 7300 number is that I had always assumed that somewhere in the 20% range of those members were spammers, bots, etc. so I figured the "real" number to be more in the 5500 range. In my recent efforts to get the user permissions and promotions stuff squared away I discovered that the forum software already excludes those from the count, so we actually have over 7000 real people who have taken the time to at least complete the registration process (the actual number of user accounts in the database is over 8400) which is mind-blowing to me. Sure, a large number of those have never posted anything and I'm sure a fair number registered but never came back; still, considering that we never really "advertised" the place and relied on word-of-mouth it's a damn impressive achievement!
I'm also grateful and impressed by the high quality content, discussions, and community sprit that everyone has helped establish. It's very satisfying to see people taking the effort to share their time, knowledge, and experience to guide others along "the path" or "the journey" or whatever you may choose to call it, as well as the inquisitive nature of a lot of the folks just taking their first steps to improve their health, knowledge, and quality of life. Reading through some of the discussions during my time away, it's incredible to see how many of you were just starting out late last year and early this year, who are now becoming trusted veterans. Amazing!
As you may have noticed, we have a couple of new Moderators. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to @peptideusername and @zpped who have recently accepted my pleas to help out with the day-to-day duties of trying keep the place free from spammers and scammers while promoting the importance of knowledge, safety, and Harm Reduction, and better things for us all! I'm very picky when it comes to trusting internet strangers, but both of them have made such positive contributions to the community that we're very fortunate to have them. Being a Mod on any public platform is not easy, and people tend to get angry at you for no reason, so please remember that they are volunteers and they are here to help even if something they do or say doesn't please you! If it pleases me is what matters. 😎
Finally, I can't close this out without telling you how incredibly fortunate everyone here in addition to myself is for @exploitedworkerbee 's time, effort, and dedication over the past several months!
Last fall, when I found out that my work life was about to get absurdly chaotic, I made Brute Enforcer Emeritus and a few other trusted friends Mods here so there might be someone to keep the place from falling apart while I was away. What you may not know is that I never asked a single one of them! I didn't know if any of them would be willing or able to help out, and I didn't have the time to get into any deep discussions about it, so I just flipped some switches and walked away with my fingers crossed. Not only did Brute Enforcer Emeritus step up to the plate, he really embraced the challenge more than I ever thought anyone ever would or could. The fact alone that membership doubled under his watch is a testament to his dedication and steady hand that I've witnessed since first meeting him online when getting into this hobby in early 2023. I know he's pissed some people off (mostly scammers, shills, shitty vendors, and liars) and ruffled a few feathers, but I guarantee you I would have pissed off the exact same people and probably more so if anything you had it easy! Brute Enforcer Emeritus let me know he wanted to step back from Modmin duties a couple of weeks ago, and despite my disappointment I totally understood why. Fortunately he agreed to stay on a little longer and help screen potential new Mods and as usual he was an enormous help with that. I'm sure we'll continue to see him around occasionally and I look forward to his continuing contributions here and to the "hobby" as a whole. I hope he enjoys being able to participate without having to worry about herding cats! I am grateful beyond words and hope everyone here understands just how important that kind of gratitude, loyalty, admiration, and respect are in everything you do every day of your life!
Cheers, and again THANK YOU! ❤️
(And sorry for the length of this and some of my other recent posts. I'm usually a man of far fewer words, but having so much more free time lately has brought out a chatty part of me that I will try harder to keep under wraps going forward!)
