I'm sorry I am so late in reacting to the 15th anniversary of the Gang of Five 
Not long ago Adam and I had a chat and we were getting rather sentimental about the founding days. I dug up some of the first emails we ever exchanged (fanatical historian that I am keeps them archived) and in a chat with Jason, Iris and Gustav we too dug up old pictures (e.g. one showing Jason and me back in 2004).
Nowadays there is a bit of the atmosphere of the LBT 10 song bestest friends about my lack of presence in the GOF. In general I don't write a lot in forums these days (not in the forum refering to my other fandom (MLP) either) but am mostly to be found on Discord and sometimes Skype (am also active on Deviantart these days).
A good portion of my life has also been moved to real life as in me meeting many good friends in real life and organizing meetups, workshops and events within the brony fandom (heaven forbid that "moving to real life" ever referred to denying the importance of Dinosaurs, Ponies, Dragons etc. to real life's happiness, however imaginary they may be 
In spite of my decreased activity on the GOF this forum will always remain a significant part of my life. I have made many awesome friends here, participated in many interesting discussions, and to a certain degree a close lecture of old messages feels a bit like I had written a diary throughout that time.
It is with some regret that I found that the old Network54 forum where Adam, Nick, Jason and I first met seems to have disappeared, but it sure has been a long and very interesting, eventful and adventurous road from that first ever post there (dating August 1st 2000 I think) in which I recall I was very selfconscious about my lack of good Englis, to today 

In 2013, back when Malte was the most active admin, I knew about his fascination with the American Civil War, so when I got an opportunity to visit Gettysburg that summer (only a month away from the 150th anniversary of that famous battle), I decided to do a few nice things for him, such as sharing a few pictures and even mailing him some souvenirs.

And those souvenirs sit right here on my shelf and I have since used them several times in history presentations on the American Civil War. Thank you very much, The Chronicler
I also keep every letter I ever got from another land before time fan in a land before time tinbox and the emotional value of gifts which I got from some of you (like drawings or the beautiful clay sculptures made by Iris and Christian or the beautiful prints by Rocking Scorpion) cannot be measured. Some of my fondest memories include meetups with some of you, like the visit to Jason back in 2004, the trips through Sweden and Norway with Jason, Gustav, and Patric respectively Iris in 2009 and 2011 or the Christmas meetup at my place back in 2010 with Tim, Iris, Jason and Gustav
All of that goes way beyond usual forum posting yet at the same time it would have never happened but for this amazing forum. Therefore I want to give a wholehearted THANK YOU to the whole Gang of Five and hope that it will give many more land before time fans the kind of joy and happiness that it has given me since back then when it was created in a land before time...

...well, before this time at least

Littlefoot would probably be the type of student who always sits close to the teacher, pays attention as much as he can, and tries to be a good studen

And one that might end up embarrassing certain teachers by asking questions the teacher can't answer
Don't forget that we already have seen the gang in kind of a school situation in LBT 8.

The death of Stephen Hawking truly feels like a personal loss to me. Of coure I didn't know him personally and am not understanding much of the theoretical physics which he however could break down in such a way that normal people like us could get a glimpse of the wonders that his amazing mind allowed him to see.
Above all he is an inspiration for showing what humans can accomplish against all odds. Told that he had two or three more years to go at age 21 he did not allow for amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to bring him down and spited probability by living to the age of 76 years enhancing our understanding and improving the world in doing so. He is a shining example of what people can accomplish for themselves and for others if only they are given the chance rather than being discarded by society.
I bow to one of the worlds greatest minds and most inspiring people. You may rest in peace Stephen Hawking, but will continue to inspire people anyway.

Aye, I moved it here

Congratulations for completing your second decade David
I hope that you have a great celebration today and that your next year and decade of life will be of health, success, happiness, friendship, luck, peace, love and occupation

Welcome with us
It is always a pleasure to welcome new members to our community. Please feel hearty invited to join our discussions or start threads of your own

Welcome with us Gwenda
I think this is the first time I ever met someone in real life before he or she joined the GOF rather than the other way round.
Please feel feel hearty invited to join our discussions or start threads of your own

I'm very much looking forward to the GalaCon, the larges brony convention in Germany, which is going to be this weekend. It will in fact be the first convention of any sort for me. Nevertheless I'll end up on the stage since I successfully applied to participate in a "movie fights style" discussion panel called "pony fights" in which two other bronies and I got to "battle" over four MLP related questions. Since it is all in English chances are that you may be able to watch it on youtube later on if you are interested

I'm also very much looking forward to meet Rocking Scorpion in persona at the GalaCon. Does anyone else from the GOF happen to be there?

I got to admit I am relatively inactive in the MLP thread here on the GOF, which is partly due to me trying to avoid any spoilers whatsoever. For the same reason I am visiting Equestria Daily only on very rare ocassions.
Recently however some of my MLP related stuff has been published there
Lately I have been doing quite a bit of MLP art and posted it on my Deviantart account. Maybe some of you are interested in taking a look there.
It's mostly MLP Origamis, but also soapstone carvings, tin casting, some computer drawn images and an aquarelle (the later mostly showing scenes from my fanfiction Lessons in quirks).

Congratulations for your 27th birthday F-14
May your 28th year of life be one of health, success, happiness, friendship, luck, peace, love and occupation

Welcome with us Bruce
It is always a pleasure to welcome new members to our community.
Please feel hearty invited to join our discussions or start threads of your own