Well, we're finally here!
1000 registered members on IceInSpace!
It's not
the most significant milestone, as I know not all of those users visit every day, or post every day, and some have gone onto other hobbies, or visit other sites, or have never visited again after signing up..
but it's still a great milestone for us to achieve. It signifies the continued growth of the site, and the fact that we're obviously doing something right. Looking at trends, there's more people visiting each day now than ever before. There's more people posting each day than ever before. Googlebot transfers over a GIG of bandwidth each month alone!
So we're heading in the right direction.
We filled a niche market at a time where there wasn't much else around like it in Australia. It started as my simple homepage back in September 2004, but with the introduction of the forums it grew steadily, and at times grew very quickly! In December 2005 alone, we had 100 new members sign up! This month of May has also been a very busy one.
We're now 18 months later, with 1000 members and we're now one of the biggest and most popular amateur astronomy websites in the Southern Hemisphere! It's a great achievement for a community site and i'm personally very very proud of how far the site has come.
It's now a community site, as it's nothing without the input and contributions from the members. The info for the site (reviews, projects and DIY etc) rely on your contributions. The forums are nothing without information and advice being posted every day by you guys. So thanks to all of you for making this site what it is.
I feel proud that as a community, we've helped an enourmous number of newbies start in the hobby, and get the
right advice about what telescopes and eyepieces/accessories to purchase. Hopefully we've created a life-long love for astronomy because they were able to get the right advice right here, and not end up with a cheap ebay refractor that sits in the cupboard after the first night out.
I feel proud that this site has helped forge many close and long lasting friendships between like-minded forum members. Astronomy can be a very lonely hobby if you don't have anyone to share it with.. but thanks to IceInSpace there's now localised observing groups meeting up, and friendships being made. It's affected me on a personal level too, as I didn't know anyone near me who was into astronomy. Now there's a large group of us meeting up each month, and many of them I call my personal friends.
We had our first successful star party, IISAC, in January this year. What a blast that was. I'm really looking forward to the 2 IISAC events next year.
It's been a great 18 months. Special thanks must go to:
-
mojo, a friend since my days in online gaming. He's been a tremendous help with technical behind-the-scenes stuff, as well as someone to bounce ideas off.
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The server hosts, for being flexible and allowing me to create the sort of site I want.
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The moderators, who help keep the place ticking over and keeping the friendly, family community feel we've always had. You guys do a great job and I couldn't do it without you.
- The generous members who have
donated financially to keep the site up and running.
- And of course, the community for contributing articles, advice, suggestions, questions, images and coming back and visiting every day.
Thanks again, and here's hoping for 1000 more!
1000 members!
..
L.
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