December 21st, 2012
This is my heart-felt thank you letter to all of the members and participants of this website.
We have worked for a long time, in some cases for several years, to get to this point. I know that some of the founding members of this website were answering "2012" questions on Yahoo! Answers as early as 2007. Maybe even earlier, I'm not sure.
As I said several times, I am a late-comer to this party. I didn't arrive until 2009. I 'founded' the site, but that doesn't mean that much. It was the content from the members that made the site unique and powerful. It was the members who weren't afraid to correct each other, who were nit-picky on the details of spelling or math, who agonized over the correct placement of a comma in a sentence, that made this site excellent.
But the site has had something else going for it as well. It was the forums that turned out to be where the real "magic" happened, where volunteer administrators and moderators kept some semblance of order, where questions were asked and answered, where motivations were questioned and explained, and where finally most people who arrived in fear found relief and comfort. Most amazing to me were the people who arrived in fear, but stuck around to help others. That's "pay it forward" in action.
There are too many names to recognize them all, but I have a few that I need to single out.
bikenbeer2000 was part of the founding group, and his constant presence as an astronomer and as a mathematician have been an important part of the quality of this site. He's never been afraid to tell me when I'm wrong, and he's always been more than willing to do whatever is necessary to make this site a top-quality source of information.
Alene Y is also a part of the founding group, and her attention to detail in English, spelling and grammar have also helped to make this site a well-written and easily understandable resource. She has also been a constant presence and has truly helped to keep all of us sane.
ticktock is also part of the founding group, and while he has not always been as active as some of the others, his sardonic wit could cut through to the heart of an argument faster than any paragraph full of detailed arguments.
TheGreatJuju was not part of the founding group. But shortly after he joined in 2010 it became apparent that he was a veteran of many forum arguments. He's also been one of the most active and pro-active administrators we have had. Do you remember when this site was vandalized a couple of months ago? By the time I arrived to begin repairs, He had already repaired most of the damage. We have all been fortunate to have his near constant presence watching over the site.
3WMElliott also joined us in 2010, and showed us his skills for logical reasoning right away. He has also been a near constant presence as a site administrator, as well as providing us with some really great debunking videos.
obaeyens joined in late 2010, and impressed us with his math skills. He's also been an administrator and a near constant presence in the forums, especially in the last few weeks when we needed it the most.
Tomy2011 joined in 2011, and shortly afterward was made a moderator, and has been a great help in the forums.
There are too many others to list, but you can look at the members's list to see them all.
BUT, that doesn't tell the whole story. Many people participating in the forums are not "site members", because you don't need to be a site member to post. The thing that has impressed me the most about all of you is the way that you have begun helping each other. Some of you who are in the forums now debunking these crank claims arrived here afraid not very long ago. That is what has impressed me, your resilience and courage.
Thank you all.