Saying Good-Bye To the Sci Fi Vine

[ProfCrash]

Ery, we really have to get you watching B5, there are some great one liners that show. (Grins)

Ery, I know what you mean. I have been trying to pretend that I am not pissed about the demise of Sci Fi Sites, but I am. I put alot of time into Sci Fi Sites, watching it shut down is really, really hard. I still remeber the chats I had with Mars and the sense of utter panic I felt when he left Cybersites and I was all alone there. (Admin wise)

I'll never forget going to AS and finding someone on who said she was a Demi Goddess and leaving her a message (that would be Ery). We had never chatted before that and I was not quite sure if Demi Goddess equated to Admin. Sure enough it did. Up until then I had one email address to someone in NY and had felt really isolated. Finding someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of did me a world of good. Heck, without Ery, I never would have asked Jot about promoting Azziz to Admin (sorry Azziz).

I know that the revelation I was Sparty Bear lead to some really bad feelings for some folks, but I still take pride in the contribution I was able to make to Sci Fi during that time.

I know this, I could not have survived without the support of Ery and Azziz. The phone calls, IRD chats, grams, and ICQ messages did alot to help me keep perspective, and my cool, on any number of occassions.

I know that I grew alot because of my experiences at Sci Fi. I learned a great deal about who I could trust and how to lean on others in good times and bad times. The support that I received from my friends at Sci Fi was incredible. Meeting folks in real life just cemented the relationships I had developed online.

That is why this hurts, its not the closing of a site, but the closing of a home. Jas, your not the only one who has been thinking about the past. We all are. It's natural.

In alot of ways, this is different then Pathfinder for me. 1) I am more invested in Sci Fi Sites then I was Pathfinder 2) We have had alot more time to adjust to the idea. I am angry, but grateful that we have had time to move and say goodbye. I am angry that I have to leave my home. But I am more sad then anything.

I'd rather share that with everyone then bottle it up. What the hell, lets grieve together (I have Irish blood in me, we believe in giving loud, abnoxious Wakes for the deceased. Its cathartic)

No matter what, I would not have passed on the last three years. The ups were much more numerous and fun then the downs.

(hugs everyone)

So now we start to build a new home.

(PC taps a keg of Guinness)

Beers on me.

[AsIs]

The demise of SFS is a bit odd for me.

I had some great times there.

- Writing stories with my friends.
- Playing in the pool area.
- Getting the nerve to post about B5 without fearing being flamed.
- Helping people learn the site.
- Fixing problems.
- Supporting people during times of hardship and having people support me during my own hardships. *hugs all round*
- I virtully came out at SFS and found that I had a lot of wonderful friends. And that we had a outstanding group of people.
- Some great vacations meeting people I already knew.
- Getting to meet the folks at Cybersites and getting to work with them, basically creating my job from the ground up.

The smiles and kind words I got made much of it worth it.

I remember when one of our posters accidentally posted a very graphic moving gif and couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. I remember looking at it and thinking Oh my! And she was so worried she would be banned for it. I had to reassure her, while telling her how to remove it. Heh, one thing I can tell you, I no longer thought of her quite so innocent.

I remember Iz gramming me to look at the mainpage and some goofhead had created a nick with a naughty avatar and managed to get it posted in all four slots on the main page. He/She/It really was most popular that day! While I was trying to get help getting rid of it, I got about 8 grams from people telling me about it. I had to track down the developer over at AS to get rid of it. He said, "Ask them to remove it and I'll be over when I get a chance..." I replied, "Full frontal nudity, spread eagle, against a wall." LOL, he was over in a shot to remove that bad boy...er, girl.

I remember the first anniversay, what a grand time we had.

The first Sci Fi convention. I put in a lot of work on that one, we finally were getting some attention at SFS. I enlisted the help of various people from the boards and we created some kick ass contests I think. The trivia quizes and scavenger hunts were a lot of fun. I think I stayed up most of the weekend on that one. It was truly a group effort and a ton of fun.

I remember with Star Wars coming out with a new movie. I got a bit of a budget and was able to hire one of the posters to help out.

There truly were a lot of great times at SFS.

To be honest I felt a tad guilty setting this site up when I left the company. But I love this site, it is free of some of the less nice baggage I have from SFS.

I wouldn't trade the hardtimes, because they gave me the chance to meet all of you and good times come with bad.

But some of the things that happened at SFS were very hard on me.

I don't regret coming out, because I did it for the right reasons. I saw some intolerant voices being the loudest and I didn't want SFS to be a intolerent site. I was afraid we had teens there who might be questioning their sexuality and they needed to know that that was ok. We lose too many teens to intolerance as it is. But the whole thing was tough on me personally. It strained several friendships, more from my being the center of attention than being gay tho.

But the hardest part was losing people I thought were friends over stupid control issues. Sometimes I think maybe we had too much at SFS. I like that this board is simple. But what I like most about this board is that it is most of my favorite people.

[Erythrina]

Ery takes a mug of beer from PC and sips it thoughfully.

Thanks, bud, you know it's amazing how long we've lived togehter at SFV (in dog years at least) and I still clearly remember Mars contacting me one day and asking me to make avatars for the SFV. I think this was a couple of months after one of the founders asked me to work as a remote admin, so I signed up for the site and started cranking out avatars. I had to rely on Mars and Betty to upload them, so I usually had time to read the bulletin boards and get aquainted with a few folks. I've always been handicapped neverhaving seen "B5" but there were so many really nice people, and with my fantasy/SF book collection I soon felt like I had a place there.

Right away I met PC, and I guess it just didn't take me long to put two and two together, because one day I asked Mars if Sparty were PC, and he laughed and said yes, how did I know? I said it just seemed so obvious, because PC's such a good guide and showed great leadership.

Soon, we roped Azziz into things, and before I knew it I was on the phone to each every week -- more than my own mother, most weeks! By the time I met Azziz, I felt like we'd known each other for years, and when I met PC last Summer, it was like we were related (and the world ain't ready for THAT!).

Losing the site where I worked -- and more importantly -- got to know some wonderful people is as hard, in a way, as if urban renewal came along and wiped out every trace of the neighbourhood you grew up in. Maybe I'm being a tad overdramatic, but that's the sad thing about the Internet -- you can wipe away every trace so damned easily.

There goes history! Poof!

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The Red Witch
True Names by Vernor Vinge
[email protected]

[Shadowjack]

Ery, you succeeded in making it a pleasant place to be, there are lots of folks who will miss your work!

Working with both you and Asis was a pleasure and you should be proud of what you did at the vines.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Erythrina:
My life has been so full of the sites for so many years now that it's hard to put into words what closing them means to me. I feel like it's the death of a child, in a way, since I spent so @*!# much time building the sites up and trying to make them a pleasant place to be. I have to say that SFV was one of the best places for me, one where I always felt welcome even (some days despite) sporting a red star.

Jas, I have got to confess it: I still have my pathfinder bookmark to the original SPQR boards where I played the game and tried to solve the puzzles with my friends. Why I've kept it is beyond me, but you make me feel better for doing it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[AsIs]

Hey PC, pass me a Zima, I'm not a beer drinker...

[ProfCrash]

Zima? Have you been rewatching Season 1 of B5 and that is why you have that drink in your head? (grins)

PC passes Azziz a Zima

[ProfCrash]

PC looks around for Wizzard

WE could use some magical margarita's.

Fondly remmebrs Chicago, Las Vegas and Boston

I got to have about 2 sips of a margarita in Chicago before Buscar confiscated it (he knew I was on meds at the time and hence really shouldn't be drinking). But Vegas and Boston I was in the clear. Those were some damn fine Margaritas.

Then there was the trip to San Fransisco were we actually ate at the restraunt were the Margarita's came from. I got to sing the Super Bowl shuffle when Carlo's questioned my knowledge of football and devotion to the Bears.

grins

This group sure has led to some serious traveling....

[Erythrina]

<sniffle> I love youze guys. OK, what d'you think about putting a site together on Tripod or some such where we could sort of enshrine SFV archived posts, a few homes, etc? That way we could at least reread the posts....

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The Red Witch
True Names by Vernor Vinge
[email protected]

[ProfCrash]

Ery, great idea. This week is spring break at MSU, I am workign alot of hours so I will probably start putting up old topics at my home page.

[ProfCrash]

OK, I have started to put up the topics I saved. If you have saved topics and would like to send them to me, so I can put them up as well, please send them to [email protected]

The account size is small so if a message gets bounced back to you, please try sending it again in a couple of days.