20,000 posts (depending on how you view this, I might be past, or almost there, taking the average, close enough)

The tradition was that to mark a milestone like this a long post would ensue.  I think that tradition seems to have gone by the wayside, but I wanted to take this opportunity to say a few words.

Wow, who would have ever thought I would get to this level.  From the time I joined this site in 2003 to today there have been many changes.  Some band named Judas Priest released 2 albums, toured the world a few times, even managed to get in front of me twice.  Here on the site, the whole layout has changed, with the result that people like me can make tens of thousands of posts.  When I joined Priest_Hammer was by far the most prolific poster, well on his way to a lofty 2000 posts.  I have defended Priests replacement singer, debated socialism, crime, capitalism, ice cream, told people off and been told off, discussed all sorts of music, and posted a whole lot of meaningless trivial stuff from what are you drinking to pictures of models in skimpy clothing.  Sometimes I think the latter might be my most important contribution, how sad…

The board changed formats a few years ago, and at first I didn’t like it, but now I do.  The change in format brought out good and bad, people had the ability to post more, create topics, and post and create they did.  Some good, some bad, but the old format had some good, some bad too.  People came with the point of causing trouble, and respect points were introduced.  I spent some time as the most ignored, and even a brief moment as most respected, but the points were quickly abused and became kind of irrelevant. 

The change in format did allow people to get to know each other better, and for a lot of you, we did get to know each other much better.  Those of you that I have gotten to know are great people, and it has enriched my life to know you.  Some of my best friends are people that I have met on this site.  I won’t create a list of names as I will surely forget someone, but you are all great friends.  As a group we have seen many members come and go, many changes happen, many friends join, some leave.  While we miss all those who chose to leave, we understand why they do so, and hope that they come back to us.  For myself, I find that of late I seem to have less and less to say and am putting more and more topics on ignore.  What started as ignoring the topics in languages I couldn’t read spread to ignoring word and song association threads, and now on to threads that are dedicated to all kinds of things I find a lack of interest in. 

I never thought I would have the most posts here, and am sure I won’t for long.  The next 20000 will take a lot longer, priest will either have to have to make 3-4 more discs, or keep the site up a long time after retirement.  As it stands now, I am going to change the way I visit here.  I am not leaving, but I don’t plan on doing as much chatting or visiting here as often.  Since the view all posts tab was introduced I have used it, read as many posts as I can.  I don’t plan on doing that anymore, I will view a few select threads, but I am not going to spend as much time on this site.  If you want to chat, send me a pm, email, note on facebook, whatever, I will probably find it one of those ways.  If you see a post or thread that you think I would find interesting, let me know. 

Play nice with each other, ignore the idiots, make friends, and love the band.