The End of The L Word It’s hard to believe six years has past. It feel like just last year that Kathy and I were in Provincetown, staying at our favorite B&B for Carnival (not to be missed!). Many of you know this story, but it bears repeating because it was the conception of this site! During the annual parade, a float came down the street. It was unlike any other float in the parade, which are usually pickups with homemade displays to match the year’s theme. But in the middle of this parade was one of those advertising “A frame” trucks with giant posters for a new show that was coming to Showtime. A show about lesbians! The L Word. I can tell you exactly where I was standing that day, just like when the first shuttle exploded and just like the morning of 9/11. Fortunately, that moment was good one, one that I’d revisit a few months later. Skip ahead 4 months. I knew “the show” was coming soon and I kept thinking about it. I had been a fan of ER and the “Kim and Kerry” story. It was the first time I had ever participated in a discussion board or read fan fiction (I thought they were unfilmed scripts!). One morning, I woke up between Christmas and New Year’s and decided I wanted to start a site with a forum and fan fiction for the new show. I needed a distraction from writing my doctoral dissertation, and I found it with my new site. A few days later, Jared at uptask.com had the new site on line. It was butt-ugly but got us started. I had people email me fan fic stories until I started getting overwhelmed. I asked Jared to create an “auto-upload” fan fic system, and our fan fic software was born. Arda from Turkey took us through the next phase of development. One of the best things that ever happened to me personally and to L-word.com was meeting Chad Horton, who has had this site and all the other sites that were born from this one in his wonderful programming hands. . If anyone needs a fabulous php programmer and/or sys admin, I can’t recommend him enough. But it’s not just his talent that was a blessing to me but his friendship. I feel like I’ve watched his kids grow with him the past few years, and I can’t imagine not chatting with him about everything from programming to adolescent teens on regular basis. More later about what Chad and I are up to next. (If you've got major programming needs, you can find Chad at: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/49/73a). There are others I need to mention, particularly COWGIRL, real name Ruya. This gorgeous site design came from her a bunch of years ago. She was my right arm for years. Hands down the most talented, creative web designer EVER. Like Chad, she become such a close, trusted friend who I adore. Alice (aomedia) has been an amazing friend who gives me phenomenal advice about the sites. If you need Search Engine Optimization help – Alice is the woman! She took our Twilight Fan Center from not-found to first page on Google and Yahoo! (You can reach her at alice@aomedia.ca). More importantly, Alice has been a terrific friend to me and Kathy. It’s friendships like these that have made this site have a life-long impact for me. Jaded Rogue has been a sounding board and advisor for a long, long time. Thank you Janet for your patience, humor, creativity, and friendship. Kace Evers has provided such wit and insight to the show. Kace has been writing our episode summaries with terrific analysis and humor. As one of the token “guys” on the site, Kace has taken heat for being of the male persuasion. I knew from the beginning that we need more men in the world like Kace. THANK YOU for being with us this whole time, bud. Fan Fic writer Chicki has been one of the most loyal members of this site and advocate for it. THANK YOU Chicki for your friendship, support, and dedication to this site. I owe you a sail on the Hobie Cat! J Steph Smith has been a wonderful friend and provided terrific legal advice, when needed. Thank you for making me feel safe and protected, Steph!
Wendy Chew has provided the photo galleries and screen caps for us for a long time. She’s so patient with me and always makes me laugh – thank you for all your help!
There have been many moderators, and I’d like to thank them all. I met soooo many people from the site over the years, some who became friends, some who I had the pleasure of having a drink with or just saying hello – |
