Today is the ten year anniversary of when I first joined this forum, the Gang of Five, and quite a lot has happened since then.
At the time (the end of 2007), I had had only a little experience with forums on the Bionicle fansite, BZPower, and even though my online behavior back then was rather newbish, I'm glad that I got little more than just one warning before I was able to learn a few hard lessons about being respectful to other people on the internet. Also, I guess I was a little behind the times, because I never even had an email address until just a few weeks before I made my account here.
Not long after I joined, I quickly started writing my very first fanfiction, a crossover between Land Before Time and Bionicle (I think the links in my signature to both of my stories still work, if you're curious about what I wrote back then). I had been reading LBT fanfiction for about a year by that point, and I had read every official Bionicle book that was available by then, so I felt like I was ready to try writing my own story. It was certainly a unique idea, but neither of the two stories I wrote didn't seem to get much attention. Thankfully, I eventually managed to ask fellow member Pangaea to help me fix errors, make improvements, and other kinds of editing advice. Although it's quite a shame he's no longer an active member here, I really must thank him for helping me to become a better writer and to have confidence to keep on writing.
Throughout my early years here, I not only wrote and completed my very first fanfiction, but also attempted to join in the RPG section. I recall being part of two RPs and starting one of my own (based on a concept inspired by a sci-fi book I had read), but despite my intent to stay fully active, they all eventually faded away. Just as well, as I would later struggle to find time to do additional things like RPs, so as much as I enjoyed those days of fun, I'm glad that the loss of those supposed obligations allowed me to move on to other things.
By the time I had been a member for five years (the end of 2012), things for me had changed quite a bit since the day when I had joined. Bionicle had been discontinued in 2010, there had seemed like no chance at all we would ever seen another LBT movie or episode, my graduation from college meant the end of dedicating a lot of time to working on class and homework assignments, and I was starting to loose interest in the second LBT/Bionicle crossover fanfiction I was writing. I considered resuming my activity over at BZPower (where I had been a member since 2004), but even though I still visit those forums as frequently as I do these forums, My interests eventually went to something new and quite popular at the time; My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Once I had gained interest after reading the discussion topics about it both here and over at BZPower, I not only became interested in the show and eventually was able to watch every episode, but I also soon came across the fanfiction site for it (FiMFiction.net) and quickly found so many interesting stories to read that I pretty much had to make an account there just to keep track of the ones I wanted to eventually read (many of which I still haven't had the time to read to this day). After about a year, I finally decided to cancel all further progress on my LBT/Bionicle story, and turned my writing efforts to a new fanfiction series (which I've titled "LEGO Equestria Girls"), and after writing four main stories and four minor stories over the past four years, I continue to receive positive comments on them and I still have plans to keep going. Part of that success is thanks to the experience I had with my earlier attempts at writing fanfiction I had mentioned before, and although I still have no intentions on ever continuing that old series, I'm very thankful that it gave me the experience and confidence to keep going with my current series, despite how time-consuming it can be at times.
Over the last few years, I haven't been quite as active as I used to back in the early years. Much of my time has been occupied by either fanfiction writing or by playing video games, and as far as I can tell, that'll likely remain the case for some time to come. However, I still make the effort to keep visiting this site every single day, even if I hardly ever post. I'm glad to see some of our more recent members have done a pretty good job of keeping this forum active in the absence of nearly all the older members I remember, though my changed interests means that it's highly unlikely I'll ever again be as active here as I once was back in my earlier years.
The Gang of Five may no longer be the hub of my internet activity, but I definitely respect the significant impact it has had on my life, and I'm glad that I'm still able and willing to keep showing up to show how much I continue to appreciate this site.
