For my 8000th post, I'd just like to say thanks to you all (well, 99% of you :p ) for making this "thing of ours" such a great forum! I've always strived to keep this unlike most other forums where things are constantly out of control. I'm glad we attract good people, for the most part! So thank YOU!

Now, onto my homework assignment:

I started The Godfather Trilogy and Scarface (1983) sites in 1995 because I was passionate about these films (and anything Pacino) and at the time there were no other sites on the WWW about them. As I told Joel Gibbs on the radio show in 2002, when I got on the WWW I looked for sites about these films, but none existed, so I created them myself.

A few months later I started a mailing list, which is still going strong, tho not nearly as active as this. Soon thereafter I started a message board, which after some time changed formats (twice I think) before arriving at this one in 2001.

The previous board to this one became overrun with annoying ads, and was pretty simple in structure. I didn't spend a lot of time there, but many old-timers did. SC another others were active on there, so when I switched to the UBB I got plenty of feedback (that I ignored! lol) -- the old board was black, and this one white, but I think they've since gotten used to it!

SC had proven to be a reliable and "perfect" person from the old board to help me moderate this one. I have yet to be disappointed, and really appreciate his fine efforts! We had never met in person until a couple years ago. He was too big and strong looking for me to ever think of taking it away from him!

I am more surprised that most of the members the past 3+ years have been overwhelmingly mature, intelligent people as compared to most other boards. Of course, we've had our share of "undesireables" yet I feel SC and I have done a decent job keeping them in check.

But when you think about it, this board is pretty small compared to General Interest boards that have 10s of thousands of members...

My first post most likely was a "welcome to the new board" post.

Hell, no. But, I do plan on either moving it to a new host, or, changing the software again to make it more efficient...

Once Turbull joined, I had no more reason to return to the serious discussions! Besides, after spending years talking about all that stuff before on the mailing list (when it was really active), I was just argued-out for the most part, and tried to just provide the facts on the site without having to repeat myself. But Turnbull (and others) know more about all this than I do, so I try to stay out of it!

Most unusual? I think anything Vercetti posted the first few months was most "unusual" -- to say nothing about his discussion of his veiny ass problem! And I can't not mention "Uzi's Ruminations" nor the original "Melting Pot" threads! And then there was Mr. Sixer... and the thread where we tried to "broke" some type of record...

CamillusDon's "Last Post" was a shocker, but then someone screwed it up by accidently posted with that account! lol

Then there are the other Most Noteworthy BB Events of 2003 that Plaw posted.

And the What We Look Like thread is great, including the original Mama Corleone Is Dead one. (Incl. the start of the whole "Waldo" thing! lol)

And had it not been for Fantasy Sports threads, I'd only have maybe half as many posts!

But the threads that will always be the most memorable to me would be Don Cardi's 9/11 experience and his follow-up . Very moving!

Anyway, I could probably go on forever. I'm sure others will share their own memories as well. But I will leave you with my favorite pic of myself, from when I visited South Park!