State of the Forum Address - 11/4/07, Please send your best wishes... Options

[JeffsFort]

As most of you may be aware, today ACFan performed a major update to the forum and it seems all went well, thankfully. There are a few other things that need to be worked on, but those will come in time. I know this isn't news that would require a SOTF post. It's simply a small thing that should be mentioned to all so we can keep our eyes out for new issues or bugs in IPB's code. It happens.

The reason I am addressing the forum tonight, I'm sure we are all very much aware of. This morning, after a very long fight from an extremely strong young man, we all lost a beloved friend and a little brother. So many members of our family right here in the fort have had the privilege of getting to know the founder of "http://www.codeysworld.com" and were thrilled when our family welcomed his with open arms. Codey has to be one of the most unselfish, loving and helpful site/forum owners out there on an internet that desperately needs just that. "One boy's dream..." was one simple wish that I honestly think he successfully brought to life. He wanted to help anyone who needed helping, he extended love to every one around him in an abundance and he wanted to create his own space on the internet to do just that. In my opinion, he accomplished more than maybe even he realized.

I don't want to blow my own horn here but to put his position in perspective, I have to speak from experience. Creating a community is no small feat to pull off. Intentional in design or not, creating and maintaining takes hours upon hours of hard work to setup and maintain. It puts you in a position to do the good things you hope to while at the same time puts you in a position where you can not always come out as the "Good Guy" in everyone's eyes. Our staff here and the staff over at Codey's World have a full plate most of the time. The same is true for just about any other online community. I always looked at such communities and thought their founders must have had a screw loose or something to intentionally open themselves to the amount of extra work and abuse that is part of the package you must accept when you take that step that makes you a founder/admin/moderator. (Back then, who knew where we'd all be now.) The funny thing is, for every one bad apple; there are twenty more out there who bring love, friendship and companionship in with them when they join. As our collective families know, that is the payoff. That is what makes it worth the effort. That's what makes us watch every day. That's what keeps us posting and opens the door for new friendships and new family to be created... But even that payoff hurts sometimes. Like it does today.

17 years old... It's almost beyond belief how much Codey had gone through in that short period of time. Even harder to believe how much he did for those he considered his friends and family. It makes me so proud to be able to say that he is, by any definition of the term, my little brother. It should make us all proud to be able to make that claim. Because for someone so young, he possessed enough love and friendship to make even the newest of family members feel just as much a part of his family as the older members do. I've seen it in an abundance in the posts on his forum, I've felt it from both families with each and every playful interaction, every friend who found a new friend, every new author born to us from a former reader and most importantly...

...for each and every person who reached out to find a gathering willing to reach back.

No online community is absolutely perfect, but I can say this; of all the places to go online where you can feel 100% welcomed and cared for, Codey and his team created one of the very best. There is proof of that on this forum as well as Codey's own forum with the news that was brought to us today. So much love and caring from this virtual family that it is hard to believe very few of us have ever even met, face to face. I have always been humbled to be accepted as family by our neighboring communities, we all do. I'm just glad that I was fortunate enough to be a part of what brought us all together. Even if tonight, it is in his memory.

To each and every family member, admin, moderator, staff member, hosted author and site owner who has had the privilege to know the family Codey created and opened the door to right here in the fort, please join together with me tonight in wishing Codey, his friends and family and his entire community our love, appreciation and support at a time when they really need it.

Goodnight Codey... *HUGZ* You did just what you hoped to do, and so much more...