WELCOME TO YEAR 11 of the Beekeeping Forum!

[beemaster]

Hi all Members:

You can tell when you've been doing something a long time when anniversaries slip by unnoticed. But February 20, 2004 was the day I started Beemaster forum, making this week one of year 11. Wow!

I mention this for a few reasons: firstly, several of you have been here since year one, many for at least 8 years and the majority when looking at the member list have been here at least 5 years. When I think of website I frequented 5 years ago, few are even bookmarked and far fewer still visited. The one staple I use for everything is Youtube, for so many reasons you can find info one just about anything and I find it great to have it delivered in a video format so I can see what I want to learn, not just read.

I hope however long you have been here, that our forum and the rules we have laid out have made our site helpful, enjoyable, educational and a soap-box to either teach others what you know on beekeeping or gleen from others the information you desperately need answered.

We are not going anywhere, over a decade of archived posts are always there to search, you have many topical areas to post and create friends which has always been important to us - and share with us your opinions, hobbies, and anything you want to expand out to with all the many areas we have to post in.

We will continue to always be advertizement free, only sponsored by our donations from our members who kindly gift funds to keep us afloat especially as server costs, back up servers, voice chat, all the miscellaneous fees of keeping the forum going come around frequently. Just the archives alone reach into the many gigabytes and the monthly bandwidth as millions of hits add up get to be daunting numbers - but YOU keep us in the black and Beemaster now hosts all your posted images, so that they are saved, backed up and NOT sent to a third party site that bombards you with ads, and not to leave out - external sites aren't there forever! Many sites that seem "free" all of a sudden fold up and your images are gone. We are taking on the responsibility to house your images so that as long as Beemaster is around, so will your images and your posts.

I never miss an opportunity to thank those who continue to support us financially and to make aware new members (and seasoned members) that we now take all the major credit cards, as well as Paypal, which was the standard for years. You can find the donation link on the top right of every page and believe me, with thousands of members here even the smallest donation is greatly appreciated and adds up when the bills come around.

So I hope that if Beemaster has been helpful, gifting a few dollars if you have it to spare is a wonderful way to give back and express that having a site with no ads, that is family friendly, that encourages community and for many is a sounding board and can use your help is worth a donation to keep us always in the black and ready to expand to meet the needs of beekeepers as we move on toward our 2nd decade.

So thank you for finding us, sticking with us, interacting with the members, using our site to form friendships and (as many members say) be a website that we visit daily, often several times. As big as the Internet is, that last statement is amazing: we all have favorite sites, but even with those, how often do they get visited as often as members here return.

Thank you, I hope that Spring (if it gets here) has good news in all your beeyards. We like to think Beemaster being a place where MEMBERS raise BEEKEEPERS and feedback has proven that this has happened for years and years and I'm proud to play a part in that - as you should be!

John

[biggraham610]

Thanks for all your efforts. This has been a great site, and I have received a ton of great information here. Kudos to Beemaster and the original Beemaster. G 

[pdmattox]

I have learned a lot from the members of this forum and I am very proud to say that I have also had a chance to meet many of members here that I gladly call friends. Congratulations for another year and a special thanks to all the ones that keep it going.

[iddee]

Check your math, John. Feb. 20, 2014 ended year ten. Year eleven started then. This is the first week of year twelve.

[Michael Bush]

If you are going to call February of 2004 the beginning of year one (1st year), then Iddee is right.  You finished year one and started year two in February of 2005 and ten years later (now) you are at the beginning of year 12. 

It's always the start and end that get  you.  If you put a truss every two feet on a twenty two foot building how many trusses does it take? 1 + (11 x 2) = 12  Because you started with one and then went every two feet. :)

[GSF]

Ken, thanks to you and your help. I don't mind a bit informing folks that my mentor was the folks on the forum board at beemaster.com and I always encourage the new beeks I meet to come here to read and ask as much as they can.

[Maggiesdad]

Thank you for this place of learning Mr. Beemaster.

[sc-bee]

Check your math, John. Feb. 20, 2014 ended year ten. Year eleven started then. This is the first week of year twelve.

It was a test id just for you.... trying to decide if you passed. Hold on let me take my shoes off so I can continue counting   

[Old Blue]

Thanks John!

Most of what I have learned has been learned here.  I always had a place to hang out and commiserate with fellow beeks - newbees and pros.  And its always fun to watch the cabin fever progress as the cold season wears on. 

In todays world of everything that's here today and gone tomorrow, it's nice to see that Beemaster isn't going anywhere. 

Thanks again for running a comfortable site with no BS.

Old Blue.

[beemaster]

Okay, I'll admit I thought year 12 too, then I said "If 2005 was the end of year one (then yes I counted on my fingers) and it seemed logical that 2015 was 11 years".  Of course I left out that we have exceeded the 11 year mark and thus it is indeed year 12, although really year 11 and a few days.

But no matter how we count it, I've loved the ride it has been and besides the forum, I am most proud of the Bud events and all those who attend, often again and again - how cool is that!?

I tried not to make the post above not seem like an info-mercial - but our great admin staff all have their specialties and mine is to find the money to pay the bills. I can't NOT (my wife hates double negatives) recognize all those who contribute without asking anyone who hasn't, share the load - if they are able. You know, this isn't Wikipedia here, but there are cost factors that may shock some of you,. So tossing a couple of pleases and a nudge is the least I owe those who repeatedly contribute. I just like to think that people who really get something, whether knowledge or entertainment here should toss a buck at the monkey with the tin cup once in a while - There's no organ grinder around, so that makes me the monkey I guess - lol.

Thanks for correcting me that this is year 12 - again, we ain't goin' nowhere. Our goal is to make this a hub for bekeeping and beyond and it works well - nothing to fix makes for easy admining. Speaking of which, a final thought: to the gang behind the scene, those who seldom get credit except by those who know what they do - thank you all, look what you have built and pat yourself on the back for all of us!

[CapnChkn]

Yes Sir,

Thank you!

[Michael Bush]

You are right, that was the end of year one.  And this is the end of year 11.  :)  And the start of year 12.  It's been a very nice 11 years.  Thanks.  You maintain a very civil and friendly place to discuss bees.

[beemaster]

Actually, I used Common Core Math and came up with year 73.... Didn't seem right, so I went old school!

[indypartridge]

Thanks, John!

I started reading here in Jan 2005, before I ever got bees. Now I'm starting my 11th (or 73rd?) year of beekeeping. Where did the time go? It's been an exceptionally fun journey.

[Sean Kelly]

Thank you John!  This forum has been a life saver and great place to vent for many years for me!  I know I haven't been on much lately, but I'm so happy to see old familiar faces on here still!

-Sean