One Year Ago

[Da Klugs]

The doors opened up here 365 days ago. Having a family of friends in a virtual world is a concept that probably is foreign to anyone who has not experienced it. Families need homes, for many of us, our old one went “poof” 13 months ago creating a need …. for here. So here became home…. or home became here… or we moved here making it home…. Arrgh whatever, you get the point. Lost some older family members in the process, gained many new ones since the move. Like any successful family there are successive generations who continue the name and replenish the blood and energy to move forward and evolve.

The nature of a place physical, or virtual like here, determines its activity and amount of “regulars”. There is no perfect cigar board. In attempting to cater to all types of smokers we can never make every smoker happy. The key to keeping a healthy community is to attempt to create a friendly place for all to participate. Without members of varying experience willing to share and welcome new folks into the family.. there would be no new members. Without new members curious to learn and explore, the forum would get stale and over time become a closed clique.

Cigar boards are unique places for learning and sharing experience and knowledge. Hang around a bit and over time you are not just a recipient of others knowledge and experience but become a provider of what you have learned to others who are earlier on their journey. It’s the nature and inherently addictive quality of these forums, they bring out good things in each of us, in different ways. We all seem more interconnected in today’s modern world. For me, this was always a false front. It makes us more productive but not really more connected from a human standpoint. Participating and being involved in a cigar community was a dramatic eye opening experience that continues to augment and provide a connection outside of the necessary daily activities to provide and fulfill career responsibilities. I suppose all hobbies do this to an extent, ours just does it on steroids… or nicotine and lithium.

Every Inmate here should take pride in what has been created because we all contribute to what this forum is. There are a few of us… the 11 who did the software set-up and continue to act as moderators for the forum. This won’t last forever. Evolution of experience, interest and available time will require others to step up over time to fill these roles. Each of us experiences these forums in our own unique way. Very few retain high activity in perpetuity.. well maybe Tom but he’s not human.

Comparing cigar boards statistically is not really of any value, unless you are selling something. Since we don’t sell anything except a concept of brotherhood they don’t mean much here. However, everyone should take pride in a couple of them. We had more … posts, new members, new threads than any other cigar board in the past 12 months. No one else was even close. What does that mean? Dunno, probably that we are a bunch of post whores. Possibly that our collective contributions have made a place that people like to visit.

Many may think it is their posts that are their legacy on this forum. I believe that the willingness and culture of passing on experience and friendship is the ongoing and evolving legacy for each of us.

Kudos to everyone who has and continues to make this place… home.