Back in '98, when all this started, I never had any idea it would grow into what is has. I was tired of getting deleted on another board, and threw together a little yellow board using the only script I knew how to run to make it happen.
About the same time, I found what I consider the best webhost on the planet, FutureQuest, being run by a husband and wife literally out of their garage. TTMB grew, not by advertising, but by simple word of mouth, folks came and went, and in general TTMB became known as a place where you could laugh about the good times, find a shoulder to cry on during the bad ones, and was not so much a fishing board as a board of folks that liked fishing.
We had gatherings in the face of howling northers, under the hot August sun, and even once during a Pacific hurricane that somehow found it's way to Pt. Aransas. Through it all, we continued to grow, and I had to grow my talents to stay ahead of the curve. Some here will remember the old webbbs script and it's departure, the old format, the way we were. I truely thought the changes would be the end of us, but I was wrong. Others have only known this place as it is today.
Earlier this year, I had to move the site, to another server. That pained me deeply, as I consider Deb and Terra who own FutureQuest good friends and a large part of the reason we were able to do what we did. But, I had outgrown their ability to service this site and didn't want to continue to cause them problems. Shortly thereafter, disastor struck and 80,000 posts and over 3000 memberships went to byte heaven. Again, I figured that would be the end of all this, but y'all proved me wrong and we are once again approaching 2000 members and take 400 or more posts each day in stride. My obligations to SCA Texas, my work, and my family, have made it necessary to ask several of you for help moderating and while that's ruffled some feathers here and there, it's one thing that has allowed us to continue. I simply cannot do it all by myself anymore.
To say the old TTMB is gone, is partly true. Sure, it's not a little bitty speck on the internet anymore. We took 27 million hits last month, and all through the day, anywhere between 100-200 folks are browsing, posting or just lurking. But what TTMB has always stood for, I still see every day. When Kay asked for help with her sons marriage, she got help and more. When Debbie passed, we all cried together in her church. When Eric actually picked a good weekend for the POC gathering, lots and lots of us showed up and Donna covered my back so I could make it down. When I was in the hospital with Stacy for 3 days, I didn't have to worry about coming back to a mess on the board, things were running smoothly and I found comfort in each and every post wishing us well. When I see Aunt Joyce posting pics of her and her pupper, it makes my heart warm to know that this is the place she calls home on the internet.
TTMB isn't mine anymore, it's all yours and it's yours to make what you wish of it. Sure, I turn the wrenches when the bolts fall out, and arrange the server space, and coordinate the sponsors, but that's the little stuff.
I ask each of you a favor. Think about the other person, think about the day they might be having or what they might be going through and try and make this place one that all of us are proud of and proud to have our friends, kids and spouses be a part of. That's the TTMB of the future, and one that comes right from our past.
