I do not think I could I have said it any better, guido. What wonderful words and remarkable sentiment. And how true your words! I know there are members that would just as soon see this site closed. Many of these same people would prefer to see my mouth closed as well. Such is their  position and I will respect it. I recall a very dear friend of mine, Shawn in Canada, that expressed the desire to see the site closed. His thought was that this place had become a big "chatroom" and had lost its appeal as a Priest site. He lamented the daily babble about all things "Un-Priest". He ended up leaving this site.  I respected his opinion then, and I respect those today. But I do not agree. This is one of the great beauties of friendship; we need not always agree.I believe many more will come and go. The choice is theirs. (I use e-mail. I have a cell phone, by the way!  These are all tools for work more than they are anything else.) 

This place is more than just a band's website to me. It is through this site that I have met, face to face, some of the most wonderful and dear friends I have ever known. I have met, electronically, many others.  There is just no way that I can place a value on that.  I think a certain element among us have forgotten the importance of friendship. Perhaps their lives have become so hectic with the many other responsibilities we face that they are no longer able to remember the joy of seeing a dear friend? Of having someone to talk to when you need them? Of sharing a laugh? Of knowing what friends and being a friend really means?

The day I came here, I met some great people. Some of them are gone now. Some of them are still here.  A couple are very close to me. Phil (Metal Meltdown) is as close to a "best friend" as I have had in twenty years. We are very close and that friendship means SO much to me. Without this Board, I would have never met him. I would have never had the opportunity to do the wonderful music we have created! I won't even get into all the other tremendous aspects of happiness that has brought along!

I guess the most important thing I can impart from this post is this; I truly love you all. You really do mean something to me. ALL of you. Whether or not we agree is irrelevant to me. I am grateful for you. I learn from you. Occasionally, I lean on you. You know as much about me as any friends I have ever had. You have been here during some of my most difficult moments. There is a certain theraputic value to that. To be able to tell you things. To share. And all of this has been facilitated by the place we know as Judas Priest.com.

		guidogodoy wrote:
		I'll jump in with and answer, if I may, as it matters a great deal to me if JP is up or down. Most know me as one very much into tech. I am a programmer, set up computer networks, just finished building three computers in as many days and can (sadly?) tell you how the next quad-core "Nehalem" Intel chip will fare against the nanosecond "future" of computing. That said, I am one of the only people I know who does not own a cellphone! I have NEVER been one for chat even in the beginnings (yeah, I know FORTRAN and can change tubes on the ENIAC! LOL!). Quite frankly, I feel no need nor do I have anything so important to say as to be in contact with someone so constantly.  Email, to me, is a task. A chore. How I deal with people on a day-to-day basis at work. WORK being the key word. They demand a response. IM conversations? To me, they are like cellphones (and chat, for that matter). They are "non-substantive," IMO. Perhaps a laugh or two on the good days but, again, a chore to me. I may come across as a troglodyte (anyone who knows me knows that I am cutting edge on most everything) or perhaps an anomaly of the traditional tech-nerd. Still, for as much as tech marches on, I appreciate the human contact all the more. Wanna know the saddest thing I saw last Ozzfest? The masses who were there speaking on the phone. I am almost ashamed to have taken so many pictures at the last Priest concert. Probably what led to my injury. First time I got a camera into a show while trying to headbang. "Don't you email your friends" you ask? IM? IRC? Nope. I might email a friend from time to time but no IM nor IRC. I just don't have the time to be on the same schedule as them. HERE, however, I can be writing at 1am, post pictures, make friends both here at home and ESPECIALLY abroad. Necro sending recipes to us, for example? How would I have found such a thing otherwise? I cherish the noticeboard for it doesn't "demand" my time. I give it freely and whenever I am able. I very much appreciate the opportunity to have that choice.    (Quoting Message by Where AmI from Tuesday, December 02, 2008 12:24:48 AM)   Where AmI wrote:   Don't you email your friends and have IM conversations or use IRC? Honestly, there is no reason why you should stop talking to your friends now that you have them. It shouldn't matter that jp.com is up or down. Where there is an ending, there may be a new begining. A far better, sharper, improved begining. A slick, shiny - and technologically advanced - begining to reflect the changing times. If for that to happen, jp.com has to be sacrificed, so be it. I'll be the first one to hammer the nails on the cross.      Head banger wrote:   I think that to let the actions of one spoil the fun and friendships that hundreds have forged here would be a great loss.       Where AmI wrote:   I don't know if it's because of people posting here that the website may shut down. It's fine by me if it does, even if I have been coming here for years. If the noticeboard itself shuts down but not the website, I rather ask if it's possible to leave only two threads available for visitors: Messages To Judas Priest and Messages By Judas Priest and management. All else can dissappear.       MG_Metalgoddess wrote:   Yep.. this is exactly what Iam talking about..  Its too bad that these people really have no clue..  For reasons such as this and others Its no-wonder this site may shut down.. Edited at: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 1:12:41 AM