UBB.Developers Forums General Discussion Chit Chat awesome feeling

Wow, you never realize how much all the hard work and stress running your community is worth it until you meet people who use your site. I know I may be one of the exceptions here because my site is more of a statewide thing, but its just so great!

So far, I have met probably close to 200 of the 750 or so members we have, usually just real quick, but other times I have spent a lot of time with them. Like this weekend we had a local meet and greet at an area bar and grill. About 25 people showed up, some of which I had never met. But anyway, so many people were sharing stories on how my site is now their homepage, how they sit there all day during work, and all of the many many friends they have now made, how their lives have changed tremendously, etc.

They thank me and say they don't know where they would be w/o the site, or how they have met some of the best people in their life, telling my stories about this one time some random guy form the message board came to their rescue in an emergency.. just crazy stuff.

Like, to think I started this website as just a little thing for fun between 10-20 people and have it turn into this.. changing so many lives, it messes with my mind. I never realized how much responsibility I have now keeping this site online and running smoothly. Its just kinda crazy!

That is a great accomplishment for any site to attain. You do have something to be proud of there.

Yeah, it's cool allright. The site I'm working on converting over to threads is for fishing north east Florida. We started having these get togethers we dubbed Fish-Tails Roundup, and if you're a member you are called a fishtailer We haven't had a roundup in quite a while, and actually traffic has dropped off real bad this year. Most of which is due to slow page loads, but moderation has been a problem. I'm hoping that when I convert the site over to threads things will begin to pick up again.

Like you, my site started started as a personal site on my space provided by my dial up ISP. I eventually bought a domain, and it grew real well. It's satisfying to know that so many local people and tourists visit the site and learn a lot about fishing the north florida waters. At any rate, if I'm not out fishing, I like to talk fishing.

Now that I think about it, I'm going to change my sig a little.

I haven't sorta felt "ready" to meet any of my sites members in person. There have been 2 organized gatherings by my site's members, but I did not attend either.

I've talked to several of my members on the phone. Our site's primary purpose is a support site, and many members have told me, and thanked me for how their lives have changed. How they feel better about themselves, and some have told me how our site saved their life.

Sometimes it's brought tears to my eyes that people were so touched. It's nice that the hard work I put in there (and here to help develop cool stuff for the site) has helped someone in a profound way.

We recently had a 19 year old kid, who came to our site ready to comit suicide. He posted his problems, and members identified his problem as being a hormonal one, and urged him to seek the proper medical attention. He did. He is undergoing hormone treatment and feels so much better about himself. He is like one of my best friends to this day. He just completed and posted the results of some tests the doctor did which ruled out more serious genetic problems.

It's a subject many blush over, but He was basically a 19 year old kid.... not yet into puberty... and headed for major serious medical issues if not treated. Because he found our site when he did... just in the nick of time, the docs were able to kick things off for him before it was too late. Not to mention he broke a "19 year habit" of thinking of himself as totally defective...which wasn't good for his mental health. He now thinks of himself as normal... and has a more positive self image.

Guess that's at least one thing I can be proud of.

That sure is Josh.

I think the anonyminity? the internet allows people to make the first step easier when seeking support and help.

So many of our users start with a generic sorta username to hide behind.

This particular kid started as "LostInCleveland" but has since changed to "Glenn"...which is his real name.

I use the change username hack several times a month when people no longer think their original username fits. Yesterday's example.... UglyBill -> BostonBill Much more fitting I'm sure.
HwnStudNOT -> HwnStud Much better self image.

Yeah josh, I remember you talking about that one incident. that's really great your site can make such an impact. Its just so cool when you realize your site is creating new lifelong friendships that would have otherwise never happened