Legacy LD5

Well, as lazy as I am, even I have to get off my butt, dust off my Commodore 64, and make a special 20th Anniversary CBM-SCII screen to celebrate the fact that it's been 20 years since I've hosted an Internet presence. Now, I did run a Lava Dome III BBS for quite a few years before that, but as it wasn't specifically for the commerce of stomping dino and dragon paws, I don't think I can count it.

My new year's resolution this year is pretty simple: revamp the Dome. There is a *ton* of backend server work that needs to be done. The web sites and the forum are pretty old and rickety, so what's my solution? Make them even OLDER! Now that 8-bit is getting a revival, I feel there's no reason I can't Commodore 64 up the place big time. That's right -- blocky text and graphics done in HTML 5! What could be better? Oh, I know...that FONT everyone got all sandy about! Dammit, that's the official font of Lava Dome and I'll be damned if you all aren't going to put up with it.

So, before the year is out, I hope to have everything refreshed around here to last us another 20 years.

We've been around longer than Google. Isn't that mind-blowing?

Anyway, I'll make more ye olde history posts and put up lots of looks back in the year to come. First off, though, I think it's about time we did a Match Game 20th Anniversary Edition later this month. Let's shoot for Saturday, January 25th at noon Faibanx time (12:00 GMT -9). Feel like being a part of it? I'm pretty sure I'll be able to fill up the panel with old timers, but we always need contestants to select, and alternates, and what have you. If you're interested, send me an email to matchgame20@lavadomefive.com.

Finally, I just want to thank everyone. We've had thousands of people "flow through" Lava Dome; it's why some folks refer to it as a "macrophile boot camp." Everyone who has come through, and the even more special few who stick around, leaves a legacy that thanks to digital storage can possibly last forever. Isn't that mind-blowing, too?

And it's so simple, it really is. We've seen dozens of sites and mucks come and go over these twenty years. Someone also recently made the comment, "Boy, it's not easy staying around for 20 years, is it?"

Um, it's like...stupidly easy. You don't turn it off.

Happy 20th Anniversary, everyone!

Good god... 20 years...

Even bearing in mind the obscure fetish gratification requirements of people who come to a place like this, that's genuinely astonishing. Many congratulations, Dino!

And hell yes! There are enough people out there trying to do conventional sites and communities for people like us; you might as well do something different - especially if it means keeping the Dome true to its roots.

Happy anniversary

Triple damn to twenty years! I still remember when I arrived here some... 15 years ago: Everything was still so new, innocent, and strange - including myself. Dino was nice enough to design my very first website for me, which I then clumsily tried to maintain to the best of my abilities. The rest is history. And pretty enjoyable one at that.

Congratulations, Dino! And congratulations, Lava Dome Five! I will try my very best to be around for the Match Game, even if Alaskan time despises German raptors.

And it feels like just a year or two ago that we scrapped that old forum, and replaced it with the old old one, with the one before the one before this one.

I'm not sure yet if I can make it quite in time, but I'm pretty confident I'll be there old chap.