I signed up on E2 five years ago today. I think I first found the site through a link on Slashdot; that was so long ago, I couldn't say for sure. Afterward I peeked in every so often to see what was new. (The node on making your own bleach was pretty memorable for me; don't worry, I never tried it, I'm not that brave.) Over the years I had written lots of poems, but they were all stuffed away on my hard drive, or crumpled up in the back of a drawer. On a whim, I thought, "I wonder what those people might say...." So I signed up and started posting them. Now I know! To all of you who have supported me over the years -- with encouragement, suggestions, admonitions, or even just a silly joke left in my inbox -- to you, I can only offer my humblest thanks. To those of you who aren't fans of my work -- thanks for not downvoting me too much!
My only regret is that I didn't get here sooner. Too often I see excellent writeups written by noders who left years ago, with whom I will never have the opportunity to exchange a single word. I go back to some of those nodes every now and then, rereading them, and the tears still well up in my eyes. Like Atlases, holding up my world, unseen. I whisper thanks to them, hoping that some anomaly in the universe will guide my words to their ears. And for those who did not go willingly... I hope they're at peace.
Some of you have noticed that my writing tapered off over the years; some noders who have been here for a fraction of the time I have have stats that put mine to shame. I still scrawl things down when I get some inspiration, and if they're any good, I clean them up and post them when I get the time. I've been a few XP away from level 4 for a while now, and this writeup will finally put me there; I'm looking forward to C!ing that list of writeups I've been accumulating in my home node.
There have been times when this site was the only escape I had from the tedium of life, school... other things I don't care to mention right now. Last year I started looking for other escapes, in real life, with varying results -- but E2 was always there. Your words and thoughts have touched me in so many ways; if I've had even a millionth of that effect on any of you, I can count my time on here as having been a success.
Thanks for five great years. God willing, I will be on E2 for many more to come.
Tom