Just a quick note this Thanksgiving to let everyone know how grateful I am to all of you for making Rocky Top Talk what it has become and what it is becoming. Since the first post on August 26, 2006, I've hastily hit the publish button on 1,732 posts, and we've had over half a million visitors and over a million page views. We're up to 540 registered members, 330 FanShots, 515 FanPosts, and over 20,000 comments. And still, much of the world hardly knows we exist.
As I said last year, the stats are nice, but more importantly, we're having a blast, and it's all directly because of the developing community. This season has been rough on everyone involved, and to be honest, there were times over the past several months that it got a bit tedious, but when it did, it was your involvement that helped us to maintain the momentum. The thing that I'm most grateful for is the fact that despite this Season of Constant Sorrow, our community has thus far avoided the deevolution process that tends to permeate message boards and newspaper comment threads. Kudos to all of you for keeping your sanity and keeping it mostly positive.
At the very great risk of forgetting or neglecting anyone (sorry!), thanks especially to the following:
- hooper, for everything. hooper's authored over 200 posts and nearly 4,500 comments in the short time he's been here, and each one has been exceptionally well-written, well-researched, and well, well-everything. I can tell you that the guy is every bit the gentleman behind the curtain as he is on the front page and the comment sections, and for that I am extraordinarily thankful. Dude, enthusiastic chest bump to you.
- MeytonPanning, Jackson the Mule, CornFromAJar, and Holly, for posting excellence when they get a chance.
- rustytanton, Aerobab, and the other charter members (you know who you are!) who have been involved from the very beginning.
- GVX, EDSBS, StumbleUpon, and all the other sites that have shared their readers, and Peter for prominently featuring several posts up top and right across the SB Nation network.
- All of the regular commenters, and the fact that this year there are just too many to risk mentioning any one of them. Thanks to you. Yes, you. You, staring at your computer. Yes, you.
- All of you lurkers out there who keep coming back, hoping that someday we might actually get it right.
- Anyone's who's ever spread the word and invited someone to join the fun.
- And finally, The Papa, Chief, and the coaching staff and players, for risking failure, for taking up the yoke of stress so that the rest of us can shed it for a few brief moments during the week and a few hours on Saturdays in the fall. Thank you.