Decius wrote:
] ] Some pictures of Brad Blines (aka CrankyMessiah)
]
] Flynn asked us to host these for a few days because several
] people have requested them.

I've been thinking a lot over the past week or so about our community, and I've been thinking how amazing it is in this day and age that people can become so tightly knit and have such a family-like atmosphere even though they've never met.

Many MANY MANY years ago, Nick had told me all about IRC and he was having these friendships with people online. I thought it was ridiculous. How wrong I was. We have the opportunity now to talk to people all over the world, and it's amazing that people across the country can have the same likes and dislikes and sense of humor. You'd be friends in real life, but for geography! It's incredible. The world is getting smaller, very quickly.

When I heard about Brad, it was a painful shock. He wasn't just a nickname on a screen, he was someone whose insights and humor I enjoyed, and it was painful to hear that he has moved to a different plane of existence. It's still painful, a member of my community is gone.

But seeing the pictures, that brings the nickname, the insights, and the face together. A real person.

I'd love to meet other members of our community. I'd love to talk to them, I find people truly fascinating, and I'd love to share likes and dislikes, senses of humor, etc. But again, geography.

Tom, I'm wondering how you and Nick (and everyone else on MemeStreams) feel about having some space to post pictures if anyone wanted, to put a face to the names. Just a thought..

jessica wrote:

] Tom, I'm wondering how you and Nick (and everyone else on
] MemeStreams) feel about having some space to post pictures if
] anyone wanted, to put a face to the names. Just a thought..

This is very important to us feature wise. We are presently involved in a significant rewrite of the site that will dramatically improve the UI and the database schema. This is one of the features we want when we post this code, and we're about 50% of the way there. I'd say we'll have something in a month, but I need to be very careful about time estimates. Its hard to do this stuff when you aren't getting paid. :)

Decius wrote:
] jessica wrote:
]
] ] Tom, I'm wondering how you and Nick (and everyone else on
] ] MemeStreams) feel about having some space to post pictures
] if
] ] anyone wanted, to put a face to the names. Just a thought..
]
] This is very important to us feature wise. We are presently
] involved in a significant rewrite of the site that will
] dramatically improve the UI and the database schema. This is
] one of the features we want when we post this code, and we're
] about 50% of the way there. I'd say we'll have something in a
] month, but I need to be very careful about time estimates. Its
] hard to do this stuff when you aren't getting paid. :)

You're doing a fabulous job, by the way...

jessica wrote:
] I've been thinking a lot over the past week or so about our
] community, and I've been thinking how amazing it is in this
] day and age that people can become so tightly knit and have
] such a family-like atmosphere even though they've never met.
]
] Many MANY MANY years ago, Nick had told me all about IRC and
] he was having these friendships with people online. I thought
] it was ridiculous. How wrong I was. We have the opportunity
] now to talk to people all over the world, and it's amazing
] that people across the country can have the same likes and
] dislikes and sense of humor. You'd be friends in real life,
] but for geography! It's incredible. The world is getting
] smaller, very quickly.

There are a set of really amusing stories I could break out with right here.. All of them would likely get you pissed at me if shared with the world.. But anyway, I have been forcing you to get hip to my anarchy for quite awhile now..

And yes, you did think I was nuts every step of the way.. UNTIL NOW. Muhahaha.

However, right now I got this warm and fuzzy feeling because I just realized I have been focused somehow on online communities and communication for about 12 years now, that being every single day of my adult life and then some. This particular fascination has been with me for a very long time now.. And that whole time, I've been turning other people on to whatever results I've come up with..

] Tom, I'm wondering how you and Nick (and everyone else on
] MemeStreams) feel about having some space to post pictures if
] anyone wanted, to put a face to the names. Just a thought..

That's on the way. I know I've said it before, and its still true.. The site is running what Tom and I consider our proof of concept code. We don't want the site running this code base. Its got all kinds of problems. It can't scale. Its hard to work with. Extending features is a nightmare. Every time I make a change to it I feel as if I'm poking at an open wound in my foot, which I had shot repeatedly earlier.

When we started coding the site you are using now, we were out to prove a point and test a few ideas. That's done. Now we are building the base we are going to build the future of this site on.

I'm so sorry its taking so long. I really am. There are several of you folks on this system who have stuck with us for awhile now. We have listened to all your feedback. Tom and I have (what we think is) an extremely good grasp on what it is people want, and how we intend to deliver it. We are working on it, every day.

Furthermore, some of our plans are pretty damn innovative, if I must say so myself. Right now, we are sticking to the "short list", trying to get our v2 code running the site. When it goes up, it's not going to have every feature that has been asked for.. But at least we will be in a position to move forward, finally. We are still playing catchup with ourselves.

jessica wrote:
] Decius wrote:
] ] ] Some pictures of Brad Blines (aka CrankyMessiah)
] ]
] ] Flynn asked us to host these for a few days because several
] ] people have requested them.
]
] I've been thinking a lot over the past week or so about our
] community, and I've been thinking how amazing it is in this
] day and age that people can become so tightly knit and have
] such a family-like atmosphere even though they've never met.
]
] Many MANY MANY years ago, Nick had told me all about IRC and
] he was having these friendships with people online. I thought
] it was ridiculous. How wrong I was. We have the opportunity
] now to talk to people all over the world, and it's amazing
] that people across the country can have the same likes and
] dislikes and sense of humor. You'd be friends in real life,
] but for geography! It's incredible. The world is getting
] smaller, very quickly.
]
] When I heard about Brad, it was a painful shock. He wasn't
] just a nickname on a screen, he was someone whose insights and
] humor I enjoyed, and it was painful to hear that he has moved
] to a different plane of existence. It's still painful, a
] member of my community is gone.
]
] But seeing the pictures, that brings the nickname, the
] insights, and the face together. A real person.
]
] I'd love to meet other members of our community. I'd love to
] talk to them, I find people truly fascinating, and I'd love to
] share likes and dislikes, senses of humor, etc. But again,
] geography.
]
] Tom, I'm wondering how you and Nick (and everyone else on
] MemeStreams) feel about having some space to post pictures if
] anyone wanted, to put a face to the names. Just a thought..

[Well put Jessica. I was very much moved by how everyone on memestreams reacted to the passing of Crankymessiah - memestreams is like a homebase in the vast internet. I love how I can come here and see what friends of mine that are living all the way across the country are thinking about on a daily basis. I know I am biased (being "Tom's sister" and all) but I really feel that memestreams has become part of my daily life as well as the people who take part in it - I would feel like something was missing if it was taken away.
Hats off to Tom and Nick - Keep up the good work guys. - Nano]

Nanochick wrote:
] jessica wrote:
] ] Decius wrote:
] ] ] ] Some pictures of Brad Blines (aka CrankyMessiah)
] ] ]
] ] ] Flynn asked us to host these for a few days because
] several
] ] ] people have requested them.
] ]
] ] I've been thinking a lot over the past week or so about our
] ] community, and I've been thinking how amazing it is in this
] ] day and age that people can become so tightly knit and have
] ] such a family-like atmosphere even though they've never met.
]
] ]
] ] Many MANY MANY years ago, Nick had told me all about IRC and
]
] ] he was having these friendships with people online. I
] thought
] ] it was ridiculous. How wrong I was. We have the opportunity
] ] now to talk to people all over the world, and it's amazing
] ] that people across the country can have the same likes and
] ] dislikes and sense of humor. You'd be friends in real life,
] ] but for geography! It's incredible. The world is getting
] ] smaller, very quickly.
] ]
] ] When I heard about Brad, it was a painful shock. He wasn't
] ] just a nickname on a screen, he was someone whose insights
] and
] ] humor I enjoyed, and it was painful to hear that he has
] moved
] ] to a different plane of existence. It's still painful, a
] ] member of my community is gone.
] ]
] ] But seeing the pictures, that brings the nickname, the
] ] insights, and the face together. A real person.
] ]
] ] I'd love to meet other members of our community. I'd love to
]
] ] talk to them, I find people truly fascinating, and I'd love
] to
] ] share likes and dislikes, senses of humor, etc. But again,
] ] geography.
] ]
] ] Tom, I'm wondering how you and Nick (and everyone else on
] ] MemeStreams) feel about having some space to post pictures
] if
] ] anyone wanted, to put a face to the names. Just a thought..
]
]
] [Well put Jessica. I was very much moved by how everyone on
] memestreams reacted to the passing of Crankymessiah -
] memestreams is like a homebase in the vast internet. I love
] how I can come here and see what friends of mine that are
] living all the way across the country are thinking about on a
] daily basis. I know I am biased (being "Tom's sister" and all)
] but I really feel that memestreams has become part of my daily
] life as well as the people who take part in it - I would feel
] like something was missing if it was taken away.
] Hats off to Tom and Nick - Keep up the good work guys. - Nano]

Well put Marie, I agree, it has moved me as well, its such a shock to hear about something like this, even though I didn't know Brad, it's still so sad. I hope his family and friends realized just how big an impact he made with his life.

Nanochick wrote:
] [Well put Jessica. I was very much moved by how everyone on
] memestreams reacted to the passing of Crankymessiah -
] memestreams is like a homebase in the vast internet. I love
] how I can come here and see what friends of mine that are
] living all the way across the country are thinking about on a
] daily basis. I know I am biased (being "Tom's sister" and all)
] but I really feel that memestreams has become part of my daily
] life as well as the people who take part in it - I would feel
] like something was missing if it was taken away.
] Hats off to Tom and Nick - Keep up the good work guys. - Nano]

hear hear.