Reading Njaco's post on the 'Lost members' thread makes me realize I've been for over 11 years already. The 10 year anniversary passed virtually unnoticed I guess. 11 years is a heck of a long time. I never thought I would be here for so long when I started here.
Back in the day, the forum was indeed much different. We had other members, like TheLancasterKicksAss with his friend ceddarcheese who tallied up 20,000 posts full of nonsense in 2 years or so. Lesofprimus, the moderator well known for his 'diplomatic skills'. And many more. We had a diarrhea-coloured theme called Artakus, which many old hand still fondly remembers as THE THEME.
The threads were also less politically correct. We had a 'Piss on the French' thread, which I totally disliked and almost made me quit the forum (not that I am French, but I dislike disrespect) and of course the infamous political forum. We had fights to the death between Soren and drgondog, which the latter clearly won in the end as Soren is not here anymore while drgondog still logs in
What did these 11 years bring me? Well first of all, it improved my English. I don't think my English would have gotten as good if I hadn't been on this forum. It has become my 2nd language. And I made friends among you. Some I even visited. I've been to the USA a couple of times, meeting Njaco, cheese and oldcrow and met Airframes and rochie both in the UK and here in the Netherlands.
The forum is much smoother now than 11 years ago. Most misfits have been banned or left and a lot of social banter has unfortunately moved to modern media like Facebook and the like. Now there are no major fights so not that much to do for a moderator.
I'm not as active on the forum anymore as I was the first 5 years. Back then I spend hours per week reading all in the aviation forum and replying. I'm not that much into aviation anymore, life getting in the way with kids and work. Although I'm still webmaster and donor of the Fokker G-1 foundation, and I still like to go to museums and airshows (Flying Legends this year!). And of course, since last year I'm acting as an administrator on this forum.
Anyway, wrapping up this unusual sentimental post, thanks to all of you, the ones who are still here and the ones who left already for the last 11 years. It has been great and I hope we can continue.
Back in the day, the forum was indeed much different. We had other members, like TheLancasterKicksAss with his friend ceddarcheese who tallied up 20,000 posts full of nonsense in 2 years or so. Lesofprimus, the moderator well known for his 'diplomatic skills'. And many more. We had a diarrhea-coloured theme called Artakus, which many old hand still fondly remembers as THE THEME.
The threads were also less politically correct. We had a 'Piss on the French' thread, which I totally disliked and almost made me quit the forum (not that I am French, but I dislike disrespect) and of course the infamous political forum. We had fights to the death between Soren and drgondog, which the latter clearly won in the end as Soren is not here anymore while drgondog still logs in
What did these 11 years bring me? Well first of all, it improved my English. I don't think my English would have gotten as good if I hadn't been on this forum. It has become my 2nd language. And I made friends among you. Some I even visited. I've been to the USA a couple of times, meeting Njaco, cheese and oldcrow and met Airframes and rochie both in the UK and here in the Netherlands.
The forum is much smoother now than 11 years ago. Most misfits have been banned or left and a lot of social banter has unfortunately moved to modern media like Facebook and the like. Now there are no major fights so not that much to do for a moderator.
I'm not as active on the forum anymore as I was the first 5 years. Back then I spend hours per week reading all in the aviation forum and replying. I'm not that much into aviation anymore, life getting in the way with kids and work. Although I'm still webmaster and donor of the Fokker G-1 foundation, and I still like to go to museums and airshows (Flying Legends this year!). And of course, since last year I'm acting as an administrator on this forum.
Anyway, wrapping up this unusual sentimental post, thanks to all of you, the ones who are still here and the ones who left already for the last 11 years. It has been great and I hope we can continue.
