Seven Years

[Petrie.]

Its not a big anniversary like 5 or 10, but the GOF is seven years old tomorrow (six on invisionfree).


In honor of another birthday gone by, please post a memorable moment you had from the GOF.  Or just say Happy Birthday GOF.  Your call.


I reminisce of an old friend--Brian--he had been the fifth admin before Tim came along.  We were very good friends over the net even though we lived oceans apart.  He helped me out here on the GOF, and I helped him at his own board.  After about two years of online friendship he disappeared, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was because I told him to go and make something of himself and get off the computer.  He had no job and was online all the time.  I'm hoping he truly did find something and my pestering convinced him to do something about his real life.  Friends help friends...even if it means you have to lose them sometime.  Would be nice to talk with him again, just to see what has happened in five years.  It is still the only GOF staff demotion in seven years, but hopefully one on a good note and for a good reason.      Hope he's living the dream in England somewhere.

[landbeforetimelover]

I honestly can't remember life before GOF.  The people here are so great and understanding.  GOF really changed me and made me a better person.  The people here have made me understand many things that I never understood before.  Part of it is likely maturity (I was 15 when I joined after all), but I can honestly say that I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for GOF and the great people here.  Checking GOF has become a habit for me.  Not one day goes by that I don't check up on the forum and read a few new threads.  I don't post much these days compared to how frequently I posted when I first joined, but I'm always around.  In fact, GOF is my most frequented forum (though I'm a member of many others).  All I can say is, happy anniversary GOF!  I couldn't imagine my life without this place.

[Mumbling]

GoF changed my life, in many ways. I've learned a lot about myself and about how to act with others. I met my best friend, and some other great friends that I made here as well. This community will always have a special place in my heart

[Malte279]

October 12th 2010... 518 years ago Christobal Colon landed on Guanahani and 7 years ago the GOF was founded (was the reference to the first board ever known as the Gang of Five or to the preceding board treestars.net Adam?). Two rather different events in their dimensions. Given those of the immediate results which one must consider as destructive the later is by far to be preferred. Anyway, the historian is babbling without much coherence there.
This day seven years ago I was still a school student in the final year at school. Since 2000 I had been active in the N54 forum and I was reluctant of the idea of giving up the one for the other thinking of more of a coexistence between the little organized but easy to access (no registration necessary) N54 board and the better organized and prettier looking GOF. The later of course turned out the superior by far and N54 is now mainly a (very interesting) archive for earlier LBT fandom history sources.
N54 I think has done a lot to get the GOF under way (I don't think the GOF would exist without the N54 forum) and ever since its founding the GOF has had a great effect on my life. No day on which I had access to the internet (which excludes some days during vacations, or stays in hospital) has passed since without me at least checking out the GOF. I've made many friends here some of whom I had the great pleasure to meet in real life as well, real life (as Petrie suggested by the example of Brian) being something that must not be ousted by our online life.
Dream of the Great Valley, but don't forget to build your Great Valley in real life as well.
These days this is sometimes rather difficult, but it would be off topic to go into that.
The GOF has brought a lot into my life as it has to many of you. I do not think that back in those days we did think much about the future of the GOF as anything more than a message board at all, did we Adam? Strictly speaking it remains a message board of course but I don't think we anticipated all the kinds of projects and the amount of fanart sharing made possible through the GOF. With LBT being much less of a fandom than franchises such as Harry Potter or the like and with it being considered an unusual fandom for teens and adults it may be considered an easier success that the GOF is by far the largest and most active internet resource on the land before time, but for the very same reasons it is also impressive that it became as active and successful as it is
We're going to see more of it. This tale is not yet told to the end

[Petrie.]

^ The first line I wrote: (six on invisionfree) so the earliest incarnation of the GOF is seven years ago, while the one most here would recognize has been around for six.  I still use the original founding date because if you didn't have that board to show that there was an interest out there, this likely would've never happened.  Of course we never anticipated things like projects, and that stuff, so who knows what is still to come?

[Pangaea]

Seven years. Wow. Recently I’ve been thinking about how amazing it is that I’ve already lived ten years into the 21st century; I would have been fourteen at the time the GOF was founded. I kind of wish that I’d gotten back into LBT sooner.

I have an unfortunate near-inability to really “relive” memories: I can recall details as my memory allows, but I can’t re-experience the emotions (It’s like reading a book that I’ve read before). However, I have had a number of my experiences on the GOF that I can think of as memorable, in the sense of representing major steps in expanding my horizons (socially and otherwise), significant decisions that I’m glad I made, or just being greatly rewarding. My first post and subsequent welcome discussion were one such event. Others include joining the “In The Land Before Time” RP; being asked by Caustizer to create a character for his LBT story; seeing other members’ nominations for me in the 2010 Awards voting, and mentioning me in the Member Appreciation Thread; the responses from people for whom I made artwork made artwork; the LBT Glossary; even my “Ask Me” thread.

I love the GOF because it lends purpose to my life; it makes me feel like I am a part of something, and appreciated for it. That’s not to say that my life has no meaning outside the GOF, but being a member of this community and interacting with other people here has helped me grow as a person in real life. Many of the things that I do or have done today I never would have done if I had not been influenced by my interactions on the GOF. There is no doubt in my mind that I have improved myself in ways I am not even aware of by making friends and interacting with people on this forum. Finding the GOF has truly been one of the best things to happen to me in the last two years.

Here’s to The Gang Of Five, and all the good it has done for all of us.

[Littlefoot1616]

Wow! Seven years! Hardly seems like that amount of time has since passed! Jeez, I was in my 1st year of uni when I first came over to what later became the GOF. I was a frequent poster on the N54 forum along with Malte before I moved over. Then went we moved over to invisionfree and I had the prestigous honour of our great leader making me an admin! Boy was I thrilled!   An honour I still treasure to this day seven years on Thanks Boss!

Well, all is left to say is "Happy Birthday GOF!!!...and many more!"
Cheers guys and gals of the forum! Thanks for making the forum great    

[Waluigifan]

Wow, 7 years! Congratulations! I hope that this forum will be online for another 7 years!