In a couple of hours it will be the 4th of January 2008, one year to the day that ESMB was launched.
Weeks before I had decided that another message board was needed. One with no other agenda than to allow ex Scientologists to get together and talk. One that welcomed all viewpoints on Scientology in a civilised environment where we could learn from each other. I wanted it to be like XSO where people felt safe to express their opinions without getting beaten up, and I wanted it to be open to everyone.
So I started to look for message board setups. I found several that seemed suitable but once it came time for testing I would find that they didn't have the functionality I wanted, so I would scrap that & start over. I think I had 3 or 4 false starts. Strangely enough Sten Arne was very helpful to me at that stage and although we ended up at odds, I am still grateful for the help I got from him at that time.
Finally I realised that the free options just weren't going to cut it and so after being up ALL night and becoming completely exasperated with the last free board I tried, I bit the bullet and bought the VBulletin package and some hosting. I'm very glad that I did. Not only has my original cost been worth it in the success of the board, it has almost been 100% repaid by the kind donations I have received (something I never expected but was very grateful for).
I remember thinking that I wanted to launch this on a Friday night US time so that people reading ars & OCMB over the weekend would see the announcement and check it out. So after about 48 hours of no sleep I had ESMB up and running and made my announcements.
I was terrified.
I really had no idea whether this would be a success or not. I didn't know what to expect. I got a fair bit of opposition to the board initially as people were suspicious of my motives. I'm very happy to say that 12 months down the track nearly every one of my original detractors has admitted that they were wrong and have since wished me well.
I've already published the stats for the end of December in another thread but I want to recap the whole year.
In just 12 months we have had over 2300 threads created by over 400 members who have made over 53000 posts. There have been a total of 63000 unique vistors who visited 220000 times to read 4.5 million pages of posts written by you.
Isn't that amazing!
When I started this thing I had NO IDEA that I would be blessed with the standard of people that make up this board. I never thought that I could get that lucky.
You are smart and funny and humble and generous. Yes you. You reading this. You are what make this board a success. You share your knowledge and your stories so that others may benefit. You tell your jokes so that others may laugh. You create an environment where others can ask their questions in safety and you provide those answers.
I feel so honoured that each of you are here and talking. Saying thank you doesn't seem enough but it's all I have. So THANK YOU.
Only one thing left to say:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ESMB!
Weeks before I had decided that another message board was needed. One with no other agenda than to allow ex Scientologists to get together and talk. One that welcomed all viewpoints on Scientology in a civilised environment where we could learn from each other. I wanted it to be like XSO where people felt safe to express their opinions without getting beaten up, and I wanted it to be open to everyone.
So I started to look for message board setups. I found several that seemed suitable but once it came time for testing I would find that they didn't have the functionality I wanted, so I would scrap that & start over. I think I had 3 or 4 false starts. Strangely enough Sten Arne was very helpful to me at that stage and although we ended up at odds, I am still grateful for the help I got from him at that time.
Finally I realised that the free options just weren't going to cut it and so after being up ALL night and becoming completely exasperated with the last free board I tried, I bit the bullet and bought the VBulletin package and some hosting. I'm very glad that I did. Not only has my original cost been worth it in the success of the board, it has almost been 100% repaid by the kind donations I have received (something I never expected but was very grateful for).
I remember thinking that I wanted to launch this on a Friday night US time so that people reading ars & OCMB over the weekend would see the announcement and check it out. So after about 48 hours of no sleep I had ESMB up and running and made my announcements.
I was terrified.
I really had no idea whether this would be a success or not. I didn't know what to expect. I got a fair bit of opposition to the board initially as people were suspicious of my motives. I'm very happy to say that 12 months down the track nearly every one of my original detractors has admitted that they were wrong and have since wished me well.
I've already published the stats for the end of December in another thread but I want to recap the whole year.
In just 12 months we have had over 2300 threads created by over 400 members who have made over 53000 posts. There have been a total of 63000 unique vistors who visited 220000 times to read 4.5 million pages of posts written by you.
Isn't that amazing!
When I started this thing I had NO IDEA that I would be blessed with the standard of people that make up this board. I never thought that I could get that lucky.
You are smart and funny and humble and generous. Yes you. You reading this. You are what make this board a success. You share your knowledge and your stories so that others may benefit. You tell your jokes so that others may laugh. You create an environment where others can ask their questions in safety and you provide those answers.
I feel so honoured that each of you are here and talking. Saying thank you doesn't seem enough but it's all I have. So THANK YOU.
Only one thing left to say:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ESMB!