1
Moments of Clarity
Posted by
timeturner
,
05 November 2011
·
720 views
I ramble so bear with me. Especially when I was rendered speechless and am trying to get my words back.
I was having a rough night. Week/Month/whatever. Almost every moment has been spent with HPFF stuff because we are so busy behind the scenes right now. I was briefly lamenting that we probably won't hit 2 million reviews by the end of 2011 (I had challenged everyone to join in and help back last summer and everyone said they would but...yeah, we aren't there) while pulling some site numbers for yet another HPFF project I was working on. Jay had to pull some numbers I requested and then we both got the news.
I've been at HPFF a long time. I was here as a lurker, and a writer and a staffer before I took over managing. I've seen us go from a handful of folks (where we all knew each other's names) to a site so large it's sometimes a nightmare to navigate. I've seen us through hackers, downtimes, amazing events, so many changes in staff it will make your head spin and everything in between. You've heard the stories - there are moments so bad that almost every staffer is ready to throw in the towel. Moments when the darkness is so bleak, you can't possibly see beyond it.
When Jay stepped down and I became manager I worried. I worried even more when I ended up on my own to manage it. I've always felt it's not been the same since then - that I've never been able to live up to what he wanted and his vision for the site. The simple truth was that I knew I would fail and the site would crumble. I'm a negative little bee like that.
We have the best staff on the planet. I say that alot but I really really mean it. This site wouldn't exist without our staff. They put up with long hours with little reward. Our members? Minus a few bad eggs, the most wonderful, genuine folks you could ever call family. There's few times the staff and members (and Jay and I) can sit back and say "This is what it's all about". Moments when the clarity is so bright is blinding. Today is one of those moments.
Granted, it wasn't actually today because we were all too busy to know we had made history. We're a bit nuts like that...work to do, things to organize, people to ban.
Monaco. Iceland. Virgin Islands. Bhutan (which no one but me probably knows but I'm dying to go there). What do they have in common? They have populations less than 1 million people. Why is that important?
Because in August 2011, after 10 years of blood and tears, from starting with 10 hits per month, HPFF managed the unthinkable: we had 98,773,533 hits.
I know that may not mean much to some of you. But that number has left me in shock. The work we've done? The lack of sleep and the tears? We have more hits than some countries have people...and if that's not something to be proud of, then I don't know what is.
Staff: revel in what you've done. What you've helped us become. Realize that every little thing you've done has made that number
Members: take pride in your stories, your reviews. No matter how many reviews you have or how many stories you've posted, you have made that number possible. You are reaching people you never even imagined.
Me? I'm going to take and deep breath and try and figure out just how the hell this happened.
I was having a rough night. Week/Month/whatever. Almost every moment has been spent with HPFF stuff because we are so busy behind the scenes right now. I was briefly lamenting that we probably won't hit 2 million reviews by the end of 2011 (I had challenged everyone to join in and help back last summer and everyone said they would but...yeah, we aren't there) while pulling some site numbers for yet another HPFF project I was working on. Jay had to pull some numbers I requested and then we both got the news.
I've been at HPFF a long time. I was here as a lurker, and a writer and a staffer before I took over managing. I've seen us go from a handful of folks (where we all knew each other's names) to a site so large it's sometimes a nightmare to navigate. I've seen us through hackers, downtimes, amazing events, so many changes in staff it will make your head spin and everything in between. You've heard the stories - there are moments so bad that almost every staffer is ready to throw in the towel. Moments when the darkness is so bleak, you can't possibly see beyond it.
When Jay stepped down and I became manager I worried. I worried even more when I ended up on my own to manage it. I've always felt it's not been the same since then - that I've never been able to live up to what he wanted and his vision for the site. The simple truth was that I knew I would fail and the site would crumble. I'm a negative little bee like that.
We have the best staff on the planet. I say that alot but I really really mean it. This site wouldn't exist without our staff. They put up with long hours with little reward. Our members? Minus a few bad eggs, the most wonderful, genuine folks you could ever call family. There's few times the staff and members (and Jay and I) can sit back and say "This is what it's all about". Moments when the clarity is so bright is blinding. Today is one of those moments.
Granted, it wasn't actually today because we were all too busy to know we had made history. We're a bit nuts like that...work to do, things to organize, people to ban.
Monaco. Iceland. Virgin Islands. Bhutan (which no one but me probably knows but I'm dying to go there). What do they have in common? They have populations less than 1 million people. Why is that important?
Because in August 2011, after 10 years of blood and tears, from starting with 10 hits per month, HPFF managed the unthinkable: we had 98,773,533 hits.
I know that may not mean much to some of you. But that number has left me in shock. The work we've done? The lack of sleep and the tears? We have more hits than some countries have people...and if that's not something to be proud of, then I don't know what is.
Staff: revel in what you've done. What you've helped us become. Realize that every little thing you've done has made that number
Members: take pride in your stories, your reviews. No matter how many reviews you have or how many stories you've posted, you have made that number possible. You are reaching people you never even imagined.
Me? I'm going to take and deep breath and try and figure out just how the hell this happened.
All the staff, past and present have done a great work, so have the members. This is an incredible achievement and we should all be proud to be part of it
You do a fantastic job, TT ^_^