i was talking with jay the other day, and it dawned on me that this is actually our FOURTH anniversary, not out third. i'm not sure how we missed that. we were both pretty shocked. i actually bought the site from eric in december of 2007, and then we actually took over the site shortly thereafter. that means this was 4 years.
so, i started thinking and doing a bit of homework to see where we were and where we are.
we started out when eric first opened the site with a vision of a peaceful community of owners who shared a common interest. he and i spoke at length about how to construct the site, and what directions it should take. he wanted one free of censorship and those who would inhibit the free exchange of ideas and thoughts. the old site was burdened by the closed minded self appointed experts that haunt other sites today, preventing any real exchange, especially of anything new or innovative. when eric decided to move on, he immediately contacted me about taking up the reins. of course i jumped on the opportunity.
from the day the keys were handed over, changes allowing the expansion of the site began. we already had something great going, and it was clear that it had the potential to become the most active and largest site in the world. we were determined to maintain the idea and philosophy that free thinking individuals would be able to come here and openly discuss, as calm intelligent adults, pretty much whatever they wanted to, without fear of reprisal.
to that point, as a rule, we don't censor anybody, and have extremely few instances of needs to edit anything. unlike other narrow minded sites, we never bash anybody for merely mentioning a non-sponsoring vendor, and we certainly don't ban them. in fact, since we took over, nobody has been banned for any reason.
certainly there have been intense discussions, and certainly there have been vehement disagreements, but in the end we always come back to the precept of the free exchange of ideas. the membership has shown an unparalleled ability to discuss things, some of them incredibly polarizing, and all without anybody getting in a snit. sure, there have been a handful of people who just can't see past whatever misconceptions they have for whatever reasons, but frankly they are always in the middle of some drama on any site they frequent, so i don't really think it has anything to do with anything here, and i suspect that some of their lives are so miserable they just can't be happy anywhere. they continue to piss and moan about us, which only drives more people here. that's a win/win for us.
as a result of all of this, we have now officially surpassed every single record that any 968 site has ever had, and by a wide margin. we have more threads, more posts, more members, and more information than any other site in history. the vast vault of knowledge stored here, and organized in an encyclopedic manner, is so far above and beyond any other site that it is ridiculous to even bother trying to find anything anywhere else.
in the end, it is the members that make this site what it is, and to those members, i send out a huge "thank you".
we will continue to provide the best meeting place and resource for fellow 968 enthusiasts, and will constantly be looking for new ways to expand the abilities and capacities of the site.
the biggest - the best - who needs the rest?
tell a friend
