
Originally Posted by
mol
So, it's been ten years. 10. Ten. One, Zero. Hell, it’s even binary. In binary it means TWO. That would equate to ten whole years. All of you should feel a bit of pride right now. It's because of you that this site even exists. I am not spewing bullshit here. My wife asked me to write this letter. I would venture to guess that 95% of you don't even know who I am. I know I don’t know who any of you are…and I don’t really care to. So, I was really surprised when she asked me to write a letter to the community. I mean, I used to do it all the time, but that was many tears ago. So, I had to think about this.
That is the reason this letter is coming a bit late. After all, the anniversary or bicentennial has come and gone already. I was stuck thinking. What do I say to people I don't even know? What could I possibly say that would have any meaning to you? I know that if I read some post from some forgotten dinosaur, I wouldn't think twice about clicking some button that would get me the hell out of here. In fact, I know I wouldn’t read it. If 10% of you got this far, I applaud you for being freaks of nature. You are the truly curious. You are the next generation of weird. So, it is with that attitude in which you find this letter to the community. I don't think many will read this. However, I do know that those of you who *do* read it, will appreciate it. With all that said, here we go....
It's been ten whole years and everything has changed. Wars have been fought (and I mean REAL wars…with guns, mortars, and weapons of MASS destruction), leaders have changed, countries have been turned inside out, recessions, and whatever else you can think of. If you really look at the world, and I mean take a HARD look at it, you will see what I am talking about. Almost everything has been changing constantly. However, one thing that hasn't changed is this community.
I know that sounds cheesy, but really, think about it. Just think for a minute or two. The faces and usernames have changed, but the community here is the community it always has been. You know I am not talking smack. This isn't some pitch. I am not asking for money or advertising. I don't really have a stake in this place anymore at all, other than the money I pay out each month (and believe me, I still pay through the nose). Even that, I don’t have a stake in. My wife says “PAY”, so I pay. I am strictly speaking from a totally unbiased point of view.
This place is life. It's no different from walking down the street, having dinner with friends or family, arguing with siblings or your significant other over the phone or email. It is life. It is alive. It is a community. It's not just a label. It's something that we have to beat into our heads about this place. I know I have. People come and go, but this place has remained through it all. That is because it is a world within THE world. It's THE community. It’s OUR community. It’s YOUR community.
I have been working in the *internet* industry for a long time. I have grown several forums, I have several patents, worked for several banks, fortune 500’s, and blah, blah, and blah. I am NOT trying to make a case for myself, so that you will see that I am not spewing out bullshit because this is an anniversary...or a birthday. I am just telling you what I think. I am just telling you what I feel. I suppose the best way to show you that I am telling the truth is to tell you I simply don’t care anymore. I really don’t.
The truth is that this place has stood the test of time and the only reason it HAS is because of you. Truthfully, I would have shut this place down long ago. I have said it time and time again to GEBS, but she wouldn’t let me.
That sucks to read, doesn’t it? It doesn’t make it any less true. I would love to apologize, but it would be a total lie. I have said it many times to my wife (GEBS). I will have to get personal to explain this, so bear with me, because here I go...
Once upon a time, I was the *leader* of this place. Hell, some people even called me the “site god”. That was awesome, by the way, as it went right to my head. As a geek it really made me feel important. So, I focused a lot of my time and energy on the site. Anyway, I WAS married to a woman that was obviously referred to as the site goddess (Semele) and so the site was built quickly and opened up.
So, along came Mysticwicks. My wife at the time wanted to start a candle shop. The name Mysticwicks seems fairly good for place like that. I told her I wanted to have a forum on the website. I said this would help encourage people to buy the candles she wanted to make.
We ran this place. We paid for all of the expenses out of pocket. It wasn’t cheap, believe me. It still isn’t (trust me…or don’t…trust GEBS). Since I was a tech guy, I knew what it would take to grow a website that would support thousands of users. So, I made the budget happen. My wife at the time (Semele) was all for it, because she was sure that she and her brother could make a candle business out of the site.
Even with all the money we were throwing at the site. The “candle” site just never happened. I have to admit that I didn’t care one iota about the candle site. If it failed, it failed. I was more interested in the forum. The forum…wasn’t failing.
One day the community (people of the forum) started bitching about the fact that things didn’t run as fast as they wanted. Well, I told them this was all we could afford. They (now YOU) believed otherwise. I was told that I needed to have some subscription system. I was totally against it. After all, the only reason I set this place up was because of my own inadequacy of having a place to talk about the things I was *really* thinking and seeing. Not just things, but *things*. These things had to do with stuff that went against everything that I was taught all of my life. I wanted a place to be me. If you don’t believe me, as some elders’ around here….if you can’t find someone to ask…then “oh well”. It is the truth. I don’t care if you believe it or not.
My wife (Semele) still thought that my main focus was on the candle shop. Ladies and gentlemen, that was complete bullshit. I wanted the forum for my own personal reasons. My wife wanted to make candles and I wanted someone to talk to about. That shit happened to be closely related to subjects like Wicca, witchcraft, and Druidry. All of which, she thought I was crazy for thinking about.
Anyway, I am putting all of the stupid little details so that you will hopefully trust the truth I am bringing to you. The site came up. It was a candle site with a forum. Candles appealed to people who were more *mystical*, so that is what fueled the existence of the forum. I started putting links up everywhere. I started getting some registrations, but no one would ever talk. I realized that the only way to make people talk here would be to show that people were already talking.
I registered about 20 different users myself and I proceeded to talk to myself about a multitude of subjects. Out of the woodwork a few of the folks that already registered started chiming into the conversation. From there, newly register people started jumping into the talk immediately.
It wasn’t too long that I was able to abandon talking to myself with my fake accounts. People were talking. Real people. They were talking about stuff that I identified with. It was amazing. I started talking and exploring things about myself that I never was able to do so. In return, I was talking about things with people who were having the same problems and the ideas I was also having. They were exploring things about themselves that they never were able to do so.
A fast forwarded is needed here (mostly because I a tired of writing). Anyway, the long story short, the candle shop died. The forum, the community, went on strong. Years and years have gone by, people have come and gone. I even left for brief periods because of life. Life does happen, unfortunately.
Life happens everywhere. Towards the end of my life in this community, I was betrayed. That is right, betrayed. People that I had considered my friends turned on me without reason. I was in the middle of a horrible divorce and instead of support, I received grief and ridicule. I did the only thing that a sane person would do in my position. I said: “hug you.”
So, I haven’t been around that much for years. My wife (GEBS) runs the community in the fashion that I always did. I just take care of the servers and software. I do this because no matter what betrayal I felt, I know that the main goal of what I had started is still going strong.
It is you all that makes this community strong. It always has been…it always will be. New names, new faces, new administrators, new moderators (or whatever they call them these days)…it doesn’t matter. What matters is that 10 years have passed and we are still here. That makes me proud…and it should make you proud, too. If it doesn’t, then maybe it will in 10 more years.
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