I'm not sure when to even begin, I first off would like to tell everyone thanks, thanks for everything. It's been one whole year, that fact alone astounds me. I joined 12 months ago, June 11th 2011, that was back when Halo 4 was just announced and I, like many others believed this was 343i's official website when I joined. It wasn't til a bit afterwards that I learned this was a fan forum, but that comes later. I was a classic "gotta be number 1" style of poster. If you go back far enough, you will find that my posts were borderline spam. I became decent friends with the moderator BoB. After long discussions about the forum, I became a "secret moderator". I had the simple abilities of a community moderator. (ban,delete posts,move posts,etc,etc.) while still appearing to be a regular member. This lasted for quite awhile until someone noticed that if you look at "moderating team" at the bottom of the website, my name appears there. At this time it was just Twam, Scott, sch1smarch and one other moderator whose name slips me.
Remember that this was back on the original skin with hardly any customization (we had Xbox symbols for the forums) There was also not a shoutbox. At this time there were only 800 or so members and there were no awards, only a basic post rank system. This carried on into the early fall of 2011 in which we received the old "white site" which you can see a picture of here. It was in this general time that we received a shoutbox, we also met the wonderful Spectral Jester. He soon made community moderator, that's right our friend Jester was once a brother in blue! We also got out current skin and the award system. Absolute Dog was a member at this time also. It was at this time that my Dad's health started to decline.
For those who don't know, my dad was diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer, my dad was a heavy smoker and always had been. At first we thought it was drywall dust (we had been doing home renovation) in his lungs but it only got worst. That was when my attendance started to decline, when said something to Twam he explained to take the time I need and not to worry, Jester had spam under control and the new Absolute Dog (now a moderator) was doing fine also. The winter was a really hard time for my family. We were never wealthy or anything close to it and when we had to check my dad into the hospital, money was tight. We pawned off my decent gaming laptop and I used my Aunt's older desktop then. I was barely on, but whenever I checked on, I had messages from Absolute Dog wishing me luck, wishing me a merry Christmas and the such. Later on in the winter I had to give my Aunt her computer back, and while I was not here, my heart was. I missed those days of talking about whether or not Reach sucked or which Halo was the best. I longed to be here again, but I knew my family needed me more. Late February my father passed away quietly. I really don't want to go into detail about what happened afterwards, it's been really hard talking about this already...
--Fast forward a month or two--
Please, I did not post this to get attention about my Dad, it was an important part of my experience this year.
When I came back, it was like I hadn't left, but it was also radically different. My friends I had made were still there and supportive, I got to meet new friends and talk to those I hadn't practically agreed with before. I was no longer a moderator but I honestly didn't care. I was back with my second family that were on my minds every day. Awhile later I came back as Moderator thanks to Jester and Twam.
I would like to do a call out to all of these wonderful people.
Twam
Jester
Absolute Dog
Azaxx
The Director
Zb-85
Kurt
Ms. Mystic
Biggles
Elfy
German Shepherd
Undead
Zagorouth
Brony
King Brony II
Dj Brony
John 117
Theorix
VItamin Pwn
One
Choot em
Total Mayem
Adamj
Twin Reaper
and everyone else who's name I couldn't think of right off the bat!!!
This site is growing at an astounding rate, new features are being added left and right. There are many new features coming, we will be starting a podcast soon.
When I joined, there was no shoutbox,no awards,no likes, now we have all of those along with a news team, an art team,communications team. We have so much, we will be number 1.
So it's been a interesting year eh?
It's been a long year full of fun times, times that were downright hellish but you all tried to help me through it. And that is one of the many reasons I love you guys. It's been a full year, I look forward to many more I love you all. I look forward to what we will achieve in this year.
I'm also baking a cake to celebrate :3