A BIG Day

RedMage

RedMage

Scribbling Moderator
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Today, July 16, marks a big day in SFFWorld history. Today, 25 years ago, @Hobbit joined our community.

Happy 25th Anniversary Hobbit!

I didn’t join until years later, so I can’t speak to what the site was like in those far off days of 2001. However, Hobbit is someone I’ve always enjoyed talking with. He is considerate, kind and thoroughly well read. Even when we disagree about a book or author, he always gives good suggestions. His book reviews are some of my favorites, as he dives deep into the books and hitting on all the points, answering every question readers may have when searching for their next book. All without spoilers.

As for his other role here as lead site administrator after our owner, I can’t imagine someone else running this site half as smoothly or fairly as Hobbit. He responds quickly to posts and messages, always listens to others’ points of view and hears both sides of an issue before making a decision. He also steps in wherever he finds a hole, and has never given anything but full-fledged support for whatever members want to do on the site, or how they want the site to grow and develop–as long as it’s within the capabilities of the site and community, of course ;)

Cheers, Hobbit! I lift my glass and tip my hat to you. Happy Anniversary! SFFWorld wouldn’t be the same with you.
 
Thank you all! I hadn't realised.

Really don't know what to say... if my laptop could blush, it would.

It is weird thinking I've been doing this 25+ years - it's actually longer, but for some reason that escapes me I had to re-sign up to the site. Might have been a system upgrade.

I wouldn't be here if I didn't love it. Even when we have had issues - 'rival' forums trying to wreck what we do (I've never seen them as such, really), newcomers doing the same, the cyberattacks, the spam attacks... there's always been enough to keep me going. SFFWorld has been - and still is - such an important part of my life. It has opened so many doors - and got me sent so many books!

And that is also down to you - the talk, the chats, the recommendations....

It is hard now to think that I wouldn't review for a long time (at least 5 years) because I felt it would change how I read as a reader - on the whole, it hasn't. I think (hope!) I am a reader first and a reviewer second, in my opinion. And anyway, I always think Rob and Randy do a better job...

But thank you.

Just to stop me getting too big-headed, I always remember that Rob & Dag (our owner) have been here longer.... :)
 
...emerges from the shadows to say "Congratulations, @Hobbit !"

I'm more than a little fallen by the wayside in recent years, but the fond memories of SFFWorld remain (my phone still prompts me with the correct capitalisation, it's a rare week SFFWorld doesn't get mentioned somewhere). It was always the people who made this place what it is, thanks for your devotion to it!
 
Good question. Generally the attraction of the different genres has ebbed and flowed a bit. When I started, fantasy was by far the most active area on the site. These days the fantasy area is fairly quiet in comparison. Horror was very quiet but now seems to have become more popular again.

I guess the busiest areas these days would be SF, or perhaps TV & Film, with the greater accessibility due to streaming.

Writing I always saw as a Forum of strength but that now seems to be the venue of a select few.

The number of people being actively engaged has gone down. I hasten to add that that's not just SFFWorld, but in my experience Forums generally. People have splintered off into thousands of subgroups, which means that a site that could potentially talk about anything genre has become more generalised, perhaps.

Perhaps the biggest change (again, not just SFFWorld I hasten to add!) has been the type of posts we get. We used to get lengthy, detailed comments about books and films/TV people had read/seen that would take time to write and read. I think @KatG is still the winner on those posts these days, but we used to get more of those.

We do get many more 'Here's my book' kind of posts.

I think that this is due to the changing nature of media we now work in. Instead of posting here people will now write in their own blog posts. Where we have always loved longer posts, many have moved to posts of 150/230 or so characters max. It means that we've moved more to the 'Really enjoyed this thing' kind of posts. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with those and we all do them; it does mean you have to focus on what you think! - but it is how things have changed, I think.

In other ways, the splitting off of a Promotion Zone was always contentious, although on the whole it generally works, I think. We still have the issue of having a Fantasy/Horror section rather than separate. We did have them separate, but if I remember right Horror was eerily quiet. Now it seems to have gone the other way a little.

And we always have the debate about whether all the book posts should go in one Forum.

I'm sure that there's more, but that's my immediate thoughts for now.
 
SFFWorld has certainly undergone a lot of changes. I'm woefully uninformed, but it seems rather rare for a website to last as long as SFFWorld has. I posted this in the Fantasy/Horror forum because I thought it would get the most views there. Maybe I should have posted it elsewhere...

I'm glad the site is still here. I'm always rather proud when I see a quote from one of our reviewers on a book cover. It makes me smile and think "I know that person! I talked with that person! Personally!"

If anyone has a question for Hobbit or perhaps a story about some interaction you had with him--like maybe a book he led you to that's now a favorite, or some site problem he helped you with--or if you even just want to share how important this site is to you, the floor is open!
 
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I’ll just add a quick two cents… this is my second stint here as an active member. I had a previous username that I don’t fully remember. That was the days when blogging was quite popular. I had my own blog at the time (didn’t we all?) and also contributed some comics reviews here to the site, which for me was a great honor.

Then I sort of took a hiatus from genre reading and read mostly general fiction with a smattering of Speculative Fiction mixed in. Now my pendulum has swung back towards SF and since I like to talk about books, I was reminded of this place as a good place for discussion without a lot of the noise of Reddit or niche-leaning of Discord. So here I am for round two! It’s good to see some familiar usernames and meet some new (to me) folks as well!

I’ll also add that this site has been instrumental in helping form my reading tastes. Between Hobbit, Rob, Wertzone, Suciul and Pat and others I’m sure I’m forgetting their reviews and insights into books have shaped me as a reader.
 
Whenever people moan about the horrors of t'Internet, I always think that it can bring people together...SFFWorld proves it.

I am STILL amazed that I can 'talk to people in the US, Canada, Australia... all around the world and talk about SF, Fantasy & horror from my home. :) You are never alone. (And that sounds like the basis of a horror novel/film!) More seriously, thanks again to all who've popped up here.
 
Congratulations, Mark. Twenty-five years at anything is no mean feat, and maybe should be measured in dog-years on the Internet. While I've been here, I believe I've seen a direct correlation between the civility and cordiality on the site with your presence and influence. Thanks for that.
 
I've been coming here with some regularity since 2005 too. I used to see Mark's username so often, that the words Hobbit and his Cookie Monster avatar of old actually became one and I forgot that Cookie Monster is not a Hobbit (and vice versa). Now with that hoodie-wearing cat in the mix I am just totally confused! Many thanks, Mark/Hobbit, for your untiring mix of literary knowledge, good humour and weird avatars!
 
Ropie said:
I've been coming here with some regularity since 2005 too. I used to see Mark's username so often, that the words Hobbit and his Cookie Monster avatar of old actually became one and I forgot that Cookie Monster is not a Hobbit (and vice versa).
Click to expand...
Well the Cookie Monster was because I got a reputation for eating biscuits whilst working on SFFWorld stuff. The cat avatar is because two years ago I became a cat fosterer for a local rescue service here. My latest two have now been with me 18+ months - don't think they're going anywhere, sadly.

gandalf fang small.jpg
 
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