Patrick

Excellent, Ashley. I hope to have a guest list posted up tomorrow, so you will have an idea of who some of the people are who are coming on as a guest - plus, we may just pull people on from the chat and call them up. Patrick

Thanks nanook660, Danielle and Ashley. Anyone else?

Tammy! Awesome. Thank you! I appreciate you stopping by and adding your thoughts, which I really enjoyed reading. It's interesting to learn what people take away from their time, not only on this community, but also as a member of the staff, which is a completely different experience. It's funny to look back, isn't it? You're absolutely right, some of what we dealt with made it into the book, without names, of course. "Pretty epic" about covers it. Hahaha. Congrats on your continued advancement in life, Tammy. Even if you never pick up the martial arts again, you'll always be an important part of the history of this community. For those who don't know, Tammy was a fairly early and long time member of the staff. She hasn't been active in a number of years, but was a very important part of the team during her tenure as we dealt with, probably, the biggest challenges that we've ever faced as a community. Doug and Pat were part of that time, too. Thanks, Patrick

She is the longest currently serving member of our staff! I'm not sure if she has spent more time on the staff than anyone has, ever, but actually... I expect that that is probably the case, without looking at it too hard. Patrick

Hey all, With everything else going on, I didn't want to let this slip: Heidi (ninjanurse) hit 5,000 posts earlier this mark! It's a huge mark. Only four have reached it and I'm proud and happy to say all 4 visited the forums today - me, Brian (bushido_man96), Pat (SaiFightsMS) and Heidi! Heidi's posts count for quality and her contributions to the community as a whole have been hugely important. Thank you, Heidi! Patrick

Hey all, Way back when, if you can remember, what led you to KarateForums.com? And, if you remember, why did you hit the register button and sign up? What prompted you to do so, rather than moving on? Thanks, Patrick

Hello everyone, With our 10th anniversary upon us, I thought that it would be fun to take a look back at the history of the KarateForums.com Awards and break down the number of awards won per member. Here is how it breaks down: 9 bushido_man96 4 monkeygirl tallgeese 3 The BB of C DWx sensei8 2 KickChick SaiFightsMS delta1 White Warlock Sohan evergrey 1 Kensai Shorinryu Sensei ZR440 Metsubushi Valithor aefibird Drunken Monkey dmoney101 AngelaG ninjanurse Kicks BlobOn KarateK gheinisch ps1 NightOwl Tiger1962 joesteph Kieran-Lilith Kuma Wow, look at Brian with an amazing 9 total awards received. That is pretty crazy. That's the same number of award iterations we've had. But, in all, this is a short list and represents a very small portion of our community. To have received 1 of these, let alone 9, is a really cool thing as it is the community honoring you. Thanks, Patrick

Hey albeaver89. Welcome to KF!

Welcome aboard, Ashley. Patrick

Rest in Peace.

Wow, Greg, Bob and Doug, thanks so much for sharing that. This is all pretty amazing stuff to read, with all of the various perspectives in mind. Greg, thank you for the kind words and for all of the important contributions that you made while on staff. Doug, your post was exceptionally well said and meaningful to me. You hit the nail right on the head, as far as what we try to do. Bob, that is some powerful stuff to share. What you said about this community and the staff and myself means a lot to me and thank you doesn't necessarily do it justice fully, but thank you. I am glad that everything worked out as it did and it is a testament to you that you put in the effort that you did and were open minded enough to do so. Thank you. To read all of these posts is pretty touching. Thanks everyone. Patrick

Ed, Alex, Bob, ps1, Brian, Jennfer, Pat and Ashley - thank you for sharing that and for sharing of yourselves in this manner. I can't fully express what it means to me to read what this community means to you. I've dedicated a portion of my life to it and to hear that the community has meaning, and so much meaning, to you... it is very touching. ps1, your post in particular. The value and meaning that you find here is because of everyone who has ever contributed to this community and everyone who has ever been a great member of the team. Thank you again for sharing of yourself. Sincerely, Patrick

Thank you Greg, Heidi, Alex, Jay, Jeffrey, Bob, ps1, Danielle, Brian and Jennifer. It means a lot to me. Thank you to all of you, who have all made great contributions to this community. And Greg, haha, yeah. Great timing, right? Patrick

Glad to hear that you all will be able to make it. Just so everyone knows what to expect: I will likely be the only one on video. It can be difficult to get others on video and have a good recording, as it requires a bit of technical understanding. I will be talking and calling guests (either via Skype or the telephone if they are in the U.S. or Canada) and will patch them into the stream. Everyone else will be welcome to listen in and chat in the chat room that we'll have up below the video. You won't be on video and won't need to talk to anyone, so don't worry about any of that. You can just show up, listen and chat via the chat room, ask questions, share your thoughts and just hang out. If anyone has any thoughts for anything else we could do on the stream, in addition to talking with guests, I'm open to ideas. Thanks, Patrick

Thanks for sharing, everyone. Whether you joined when we launched or just a few days ago... it's fun to look back and consider the moment. For those curious about James joining on May 6, if you look at the memberlist, you will notice that 4 people joined before we launched on May 21. That is me (May 1), jamesdasher (May 6), Lars (May 19) and jer (may 20). May 1 was when I initially set up the software that would power the forums. James is a friend of mine who helped motivate me to start the site and also was the first member of staff on the community. Lars was the person who designed our belt ranks. Finally, jer is Jeremy Wright, a friend of mine. Patrick

Brian was one of a handful of people that I asked to contribute his thoughts on this topic. Thank you, Brian, for your kind words. It means a lot to me to hear this, not only the stuff about me, but about the community in general. I am glad that I had the opportunity to start the community. Thank you for everything that you've done to help it reach this point. Sincerely, Patrick

Hey all, I thought it might be fun for everyone to take a look at their member profile and view their registration date. When did you register? Thanks, Patrick

Hey all, In light of this occasion, I wanted to start a thread and simply ask, when you think of KarateForums.com, what does it mean to you? How has the community helped you? What does the community stand for, for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts and appreciate you sharing them. Thanks, Patrick

Hey all, KarateForums.com is 10 years old! We're celebrating - and part of this celebration is a livestream where I will chat with special guests from the community and reflect on the last 10 years. Part of the experience is a live chat room where everyone can chat and have some fun. The livestream will be available at http://www.karateforums.com/livestream.php Will you be able to make it? Please note that you don't have to have to appear on camera or audio to attend, you can simply listen and chat via the text chat room - but only if you want to. I hope that you'll be able to make it! In addition to RSVPing here, you can also RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104241499667288 Thanks, Patrick

Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. Wow. Today is a special day. It was 10 years ago today that I launched KarateForums.com. I kicked it all off with an announcement on May 21, 2001 at 10:44 AM ET. To think about the passage of time, I can't help but get a little emotional, when I think about not only this community, but also my own life and what has transpired in this time. When I launched this community, I was 16 years old. I'm 26 now. Memories upon memories, good and bad, run through my mind as I type this message. Where does the time go? My life is richer for having started this site. Yes, this is what I do full time (manage my network of websites), but I'm speaking personally. I have so met many great people through this community, people that I consider to be my friends and I hope that the same is true for you. If not, I hope that will eventually be the case for you. KarateForums.com is a special community. It is a community deeply rooted in respect. No matter what topic is being discussed, from the controversial aspects of the martial arts to belt colors, I believe that it can be discussed respectfully. That is the overriding principle of KarateForums.com. This is a friendly, respectful community. That is who we are. Though our numbers are quite large (over 460,000 posts, 38,000 topics and 12,000 registered members), it's never been about numbers. I don't care about activity. I care about culture. That is what we guard, that is what we look after - the culture of KarateForums.com. On staff, we vigorously defend it and ensure that it remains. That martial artists may enjoy a community that is welcoming and respectful, if they so choose. You are a part of this culture. You are a part of what makes this community great. Thank you. Thank you for being a part of KarateForums.com and for helping to make this community what it is. I would like to thank all of you by name specifically, but realize that the sheer number of names of all of our members may very well cause some damage to our database (I'm kidding, but it's a long list). First, I'd like to thank all of my staff, past and present. My staff has always played a vital role in the success of this community, whether or not everyone was aware of it. They work behind the scenes to take care of a lot of issues that members will and should never know about. They do it because they enjoy this community, just like you, and they want to help maintain this environment. They have been some of the greatest contributors to these forums. Thank you Heidi (ninjanurse), Brian (bushido_man96), Pat (SaiFightsMS), Tammy (monkeygirl), Laurie (PunchPressQueen75), Doug (PSBN Doug), Greg (gheinisch), Danielle (DWx), Alex (tallgeese), Steve (ZR440), Rachael (aefibird), William (iamrushman), Brenda (white owl), G95champ, Ben (GrrrArgh), Scott (scottnshelly), Jack (Jack), Ed (KarateEd), kicker, Jennifer (Rateh), Rusty (pittbullJudoka), Kevin (lordtariel), Dave (the beast), George (KarateGeorge), Ramona (ramymensa), Jeffrey (Jeffrey), Cliff (JiuJitsuNation), Sam (vertigo) and everyone who has ever served as a member of the team. Thank you to every member who has ever contributed to this community in a positive manner. Your contributions are felt by many and are greatly appreciated and this is a time for you to be celebrated, as well. This includes Bob (sensei8), Joe (joesteph), ps1, ZeRo, isshinryu5toforever, Treebranch, Red J, Shotokan-kez, Goju_boi, battousai16, cathal, cross, Shorin Ryuu, TJS, ShotokanKid, Menjo, delta1, Sam, Pacificshore, patusai, italian_guy, Kensai, KarateK, GoldDragon, Karateka_latino, JerryLove, The BB of C, y2_sub, Kirves, baronbvp, BKJ1216, Jay, Tiger1962, NightOwl, June1, krzychicano, Adonis, kchenault, pineapple, JusticeZero, granmasterchen, Icetuete, marie curie, LeaF, Valithor, TheDevilAside, Throwdown0850, Kuma, tufrthanu, Lupin1, IcemanSK, Blade13, CloudDragon, GeoGiant, MasterPain, yamesu, Montana, ShoriKid, BDPulver, Wastelander, still kicking, Shizentai, whitematt, Sokusen, pers, Dobbersky, Groinstrike, honoluludesktop, Nevinyrral, evergrey, quinteros1963, wingedMonkey, RW, CTTKDKing, Derwentbob, sperki, wolverine uskf, sojobo, Kruczek, brickshooter, JohnASE, mindsedgeblade, Soheir, ashworth, MMA_Jim, Blade96, Fish, Iron Arahat, Ace2021, seersin, armanox, StrangeBacon, WireFrame, Killer Miller, tonydee, Kieran-Lilith and so, so many others! Thank you to Jackie McGhee, the creator of the design we've used all this time (we've got our mileage out of it!) and Lars Ostergaard, who designed our belt rank images (same! ). Thank you to Jared Smith for all of his technical assistance and Reuben Regier for being a great partner. Thank you to James Dasher for helping to motivate me to get this community started. In all, thank you - everyone who has ever contributed positively to this community, thank you. My thoughts out of the way, we are celebrating! There are two key things that we're doing that I'd love for you to be involved in: KarateForums.com 10th Anniversary Celebration forum This is a forum created especially for this occasion. This is the place to reminisce over the last 10 years and share your memories. In this forum, we'll also have a handful of articles looking back at the community and highlighting the thoughts of some current and former members of staff. Please join in! KarateForums.com 10th Anniversary Livestream Party On May 28, 2011 from 5-8 PM ET (GMT/UTC -4), we'll be hosting a special livestream party where I will host a live video stream, where I will chat with special guests from the community and reflect on the last 10 years. Part of the experience is a live chat room where everyone can chat and have some fun. The livestream will be available at http://www.karateforums.com/livestream.php I really hope you are able to make it for a part of the livestream, if not all of it! If you are, please RSVP here on KarateForums.com and on Facebook! I think that is everything. Thank you for reading this and for supporting KarateForums.com! Sincerely, Patrick

Thanks for the replies, all and for the kind words, Brian. They mean a lot. Patrick

Sure thing.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. Yesterday, Brian (bushido_man96) made his 20,000th post in this community. It's a huge mark and I wanted to take a moment to highlight it. What makes it impressive isn't just the number itself - 20,000 is certainly a big number - but also the quality of the contributions that Brian has made to this community over his more than five years of being here. For most of his time here, Brian has been a member of our staff. He has been a vital member of our team since joining it on July 31 of 2006, exactly four months after he joined the community itself. Brian has helped a lot of people and has contributed insight to a lot of discussions. When it comes to expressing viewpoints, Brian has been a great example to other members of how to do so with respect, helping to cultivate the atmosphere that makes KarateForums.com unique. It was great when I had a chance to meet him and his family last year at Podcamp Topeka. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Brian for all that he has contributed to this community, as a member and as a member of staff. I greatly appreciate your friendship and all of your support over the years. Sincerely, Patrick

Wonderful.

Welcome aboard, StirringMotion. Happy to have you. Patrick