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Empty Closets 3rd Birthday, 17th November 2007

Discussion in 'Empty Closets Help and Feedback' started by Paul_UK, Nov 11, 2007.

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  1. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    The very first thread was posted in Empty Closets by JD on 17th November 2004 here. So next Saturday will be Empty Closet's third birthday. I think we need a celebration!

    Empty Closets has come a long way in those three years.

    In fact I think our greatest growth has been in over the last year. During the last year we have introduced the chatroom, blogs and galleries, and the front page. Due to sponsored links on Google (paid for by JD and Seth) plus the link on the age verification page at ###, many more people are finding us, signing up and joining in.

    A year ago it was me, Micah and TriBi looking after the whole site. Now Becky and JayHew have joined the forum mod team and Jim, Dan and Derek form the chatroom mod team. That's an increase from 3 to 8 people looking after the place on a day-to-day basis.

    So let's see if we can mark EC's third birthday in some way. It's been our biggest year yet, and it'll take some beating!
     
    #1 Paul_UK, Nov 11, 2007
  2. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    Here are the first 10 threads (excluding those in the mods area), just for interest.

    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15
    http://emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16

    You will see from the gaps in the numbers that there was a lot of activity in the mods area in the early days. Also note that the 10th one was started (by Micah) in Feb 2005. That's almost three months to get ten threads! We move a LOT quicker now!

    Looking through some of these old threads there are some usernames that were active and supportive in the early days but have since disappeared. One who appears quite a lot is "cowboy_wannabe". I will try to contact some of those (if their email addresses are still valid) and see if they want to pop back and see how the site has changed now.
     
    #2 Paul_UK, Nov 11, 2007
  3. beckyg

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    Wow, happy birthday to us! The original people who started this forum should be very proud. We are getting close to 2000 members! This website has helped alot of members feel so not alone and that is very important! I'm sure it may have even saved some lives. I'm so proud of you all for making this site available and doing such a great job with it. Now, I'm teary. :slight_smile:
     
    #3 beckyg, Nov 11, 2007
  4. Miaplacidus

    Miaplacidus
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    It certainly has grown a lot in the last year. It is now twice as big as when I joined. However, sometimes I wonder if it has grown too much...
     
    #4 Miaplacidus, Nov 11, 2007
  5. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    I emailed about 17 original members and have got two bounces so far (one of them cowboy_wannabe unfortunately). I have also had one reply so far, via the Contact Us link, from hawkeye:

     
    #5 Paul_UK, Nov 11, 2007
  6. Paul_UK

    Paul_UK Guest

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    I wondered that when we had the floods of new members after the update at ### (over 30 new members in one day I think). However it seems to have settled down to a nice steady 1-3 new members per day now.

    Some new members stick around, some disappear almost straight away. Also some people disappear when they no longer need the site (which may be after weeks, months or years), while others stay because they like the place even when not wanting support or whatever.

    A lot has happened to the site in the last year, however that level of growth is unlikely to be repeated simply because there are not that many more things we can add! Although the front pages etc need more work when we have time and various tweaks will be done to the forum over time, the site basically has most of the features it needs now I think. So I think we will be looking at more stability over the next year.
     
    #6 Paul_UK, Nov 11, 2007
  7. Miaplacidus

    Miaplacidus
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    Personally, I think that the front page is still too "alpha version" and that the user should be redirected by default to the forums until it is ready (as it used to be). You see, I don't think it's very encouraging for new users to see a mostly empty site which hasn't been updated since August - because the front page, while nice, is still mostly unfinished, with lots of "future" links and very little actual content.

    The "testing" front page could be made available from WITHIN the forum, as a new feature under development.
     
    #7 Miaplacidus, Nov 11, 2007
  8. Paul_UK

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    Once Micah's exams are over we are going to get back to that, so hopefully it'll be improved soon.

    Anyway, about this 3rd birthday..... :slight_smile:
     
    #8 Paul_UK, Nov 11, 2007
  9. Miaplacidus

    Miaplacidus
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    HAPPY BIRTHDAY EC!!!!

    (Go us)
     
    #9 Miaplacidus, Nov 11, 2007
  10. Micah

    Micah
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    Happy birthday EC :slight_smile:

    (last exam tomorrow yay)
     
    #10 Micah, Nov 11, 2007
  11. nisomer

    nisomer
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    Yeah I remember the good old days where I got excited if there was even 1 new post on the forum!

    I don't post very often anymore...but I still check frequently and read posts.

    And I kind of also want to say thanks to EC. Before I found this website, I seriously felt as alone as I could possibly be. I thought I was the only one going through all of this questioning, and lonesomeness. When I found you guys, it opened me up to a whole new world. I began to realize that there were actually people like me going through the exact same thing. Thanks EC for helping me through that first step of acceptance and opening me up into a whole new world.
     
    #11 nisomer, Nov 11, 2007
  12. Urman

    Urman Guest

    Happy Birthday EC
     
    #12 Urman, Nov 11, 2007
  13. pirateninja

    pirateninja
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    Oh wow! Happy Birthday EC! Definitely going to log in on Saturday then. :grin:
     
    #13 pirateninja, Nov 12, 2007
  14. Louise

    Louise
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    :birthday: EC (!) (!)

    This site has certainly helped me no end :kiss:

    Thank you everyone here for being so kind and supportive.:sleep:
     
    #14 Louise, Nov 12, 2007
  15. Martin

    Martin
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    o0o, congrats. :grin:
     
    #15 Martin, Nov 15, 2007
  16. TriBi

    TriBi
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    Friday here now - Saturday tomorrow - can't believe it has been 3 years...
     
    #16 TriBi, Nov 15, 2007
  17. Kimi

    Kimi
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    OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Yay!!!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday EC(&&&) (&&&) (&&&)

    Hopefully, I have time to log in here on Saturday...I have a HUGE interview for college on Sunday but I'll try to come here and party with y'all(!) (!) (!)

    :thewave: :thewave:
    :birthday: :goodevil: :starwars: :music: :birthday:
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY EC!!!!
    :birthday: :music: :starwars: :goodevil: :birthday:
    :thewave: :thewave: ​
     
    #17 Kimi, Nov 15, 2007
  18. Grof142007

    Grof142007
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    PRetty much sums it up
     
    #18 Grof142007, Nov 15, 2007
  19. waitingsucks

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    Happy b'day EC
     
    #19 waitingsucks, Nov 16, 2007
  20. SpikySpice

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    [​IMG]
     
    #20 SpikySpice, Nov 16, 2007
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