I'm making this post really late, but it's still barely the day in my part of the world. Today the forum turned 10 years old. It's been a pretty amazing experience to have met so many friends here, many of whom I still talk to on a regular basis. What's especially fantastic is that I know this experience I have had is hardly unique. A lot of people have met others with common interests here and forged friendships, while creating a truly friendly and helpful community around The Sims.
It's kind of funny I ended up stuck working on a thoroughly busted comments system last night, as 10 years ago the reason Pam and I decided we should have a forum is because it was too much to manage and so poorly organized. Sure I like having the ability to share a quick thought on a guide page, but we saw there was more than enough activity to support an entire community and set out to do that. We met some very nice people who kept coming back and quickly found others who could help us manage it all. We met Metro, who was doing diablo 2 challenges on another forum back then and he offered to make some for TS3, which was a big hit. The tournament gradually developed out of these, became a mainstay and has been an annual thing ever since. Things happened so fast that nearly everything this place is known for turned 10 around the same time.
Community members have come and gone but you've nearly always been supportive and friendly to one another. I guess the expectation that you should treat people kindly attracts decent people.
There are some special things going on right now. The challenge team have made a special
10th anniversary scavenger hunt and
associated party.
Because so much of our server stuff was
also 10 years old, I've been modernizing it and introduced a
news system that lets me quickly post something to the site without going through all the html markup and uploading I'd normally have to do. I'll still do it old-school for guides, but it's something that helps a lot when you want to make it another 10 years with rapidly expanding responsibilities. The YouTube channel is now over a year old, which is shocking to me. I seem to be getting old enough that I get that same old, "time is flying" thing every person of age seems to experience. I was a young man a few years out of high school when I started making guides, yet now I'm a few short years away from 40.
Seems like I've been reflecting on all of the things that have happened for the past month in anticipation of making some post, thinking I'd have something profound to say. All in all I guess I just feel happy to still be here, despite all the trials that have come up at times. I think I might still be in one because comments still don't work right, but hopefully that is fixed soon! Thanks to everyone who has been on this ride with me, you've made an amazing community and it's definitely great to see it turn 10 years old.
