To manlobbi and everyone who participates here:

Thank you for this site.

I've never understood website design changes. I almost always hate them. Whatever features they add are far outweighed by the features taken away. I feel comfort in doing things in a familiar way, seeing things from a familiar view, and knowing what I can expect and rely on. That's not to say that there isn't a place for discovery and innovation. But I prefer that it come on my own terms.

Being here takes me back more than a quarter-century to when I was struggling with all sorts of things. My childhood expectations for the course of my life had run into the harsh reality of adulthood. I hadn't yet found work that I truly believed in. It was at that point that I happened upon a community with people who shared my vision. Being part of that community eventually helped me do work that aligned with my most closely held beliefs. That work has been rewarding in countless ways.

Now, I find myself at another crossroads. It's been years since an ill-fated website design change scattered most of my community to the four winds. But that turned out to be just the beginning of a huge transformation that has twisted the mission I proudly supported for so long. Enrichment without education is a hollow gift. Outsourcing critical thought in exchange for spoon-fed answers is an abomination. That so many people have been willing to make that trade has been a disappointment. That so many with influence have insisted that resistance is futile and dissent is intolerable hasn't quelled my desire to resist and dissent. Far from it. If anything, it has strengthened it.

To some, this place is an obsolescent virtual public house locked in a stasis field, populated by people unwilling to see the value of progress. To me, it's a reminder of what I have been, and what I need not stop being. May this community outlast its former sponsor. Thank you for being here.

cheers,
dan