Two years old!

[NiteRaider]

(I wasn't really looking forward to writing this, but I felt that it since it is an anniversary it deserves some mention. Here it goes...)

Two years ago today, I joined this great fan site and community of ours. My history, however, goes beyond that date.

I joined the original fansite, heroscape.net, on March 9th, 2005. Granted that I made some posts there as a anonymous guest back when that was allowed, but that's the official date in my head. I still remember that hero had an unusual rank system that are on some sites where you acquire a new title after a certain amount of posts. I also still remember the title he bestowed upon me, "Total Hero", for admitting that I was too young to join the site unless I had parental permission first. That was a great group of members over there, and I believe that most of them are still active today, some just under different screen names. I recall that hero even gave me an honorable mention or two in his farewell letter when the original site was shut down. It is a shame to me though that he never comes here anymore.

Then the community moved on to HeroscapeHQ (after a brief stint on a website made by UranusPChicago). I don't remember a lot about HQ, for I ran into some trouble in early October 2005. I had fell far behind in some of my freshman high school classes and was cut off from this wonderful group, or at least the group we had then. I know that the fansite has grown dramatically since those days. Since the computer I had used was inaccessable to me now and I couldn't spend much on the other laptop since it was my mom's, I felt completely cut off from the site. I managed to get on here through my grandma's computer back when my grandparents lived up in northern AZ (more specifically Dewey), but I couldn't really keep that connection for very long since my school life resided down in Phoenix.

One of the things I will always remember about these site are the great friends I made and the great times I've had. The friends I made here have really changed my life. Because of my asthma and my allergies, I never went to public school, so I never had a chance to make friends in real life. Granted though, that most of the friendships (and some of my enemies) spawned from the Tavern. That thread seemed like the greatest thing in the world, but now I look at it and see how big of a mistake that was. I regret a lot of the things that I said and how the fights over it spilled into other threads. To all those I offended in there, I'm sorry for what I've done. A big thank you to bunjee for closing down the Tavern and snapping me back to common sense in a way. Granted though, the Hangout Tavern is still around, but it's all but dead now.

In closing, I leave you with these thoughts. I don't get a chance to play the game as much as I first did (seeing how that I have no one close to where I live to play with). All my medical problems also keep me from any local HS tournaments/game days. My house is also too small for me to even try to attempt a game day of my own (the fact that I'm only 16 doesn't give any positives to that idea either). I feel somewhat sorry that I haven't been able to contribute more to the main HeroScape threads. I look up to all those who provide in-depth discussions about the various aspects of the game and create the quality custom maps that are a blast to play and just look beautiful in general.

I would like to thank all the members who continually support this site and make it better day by day. Thanks to the admins and mods who keep the site running smoothly and work hard to provide us all with a great community experience. A special thanks to Revdyer for helping me through some difficult times in my family. I've lost two relatives to cancer in the past nine months, and he helped me support me and my mom in those difficult times that we all encounter. And of course, I would like to thank truth for creating this site, for keeping alive what hero started with .net and Glasswalker continued at HSHQ and for providing the great details on the upcoming HeroScape news and the best coverage at Gencon.

Thanks for your time,
NiteRaider