User blog:AceTheMystery/Tenth Anniversary, and some other fun things.

Hey CBW. It's technically been awhile since some of us spoke- or rather, I spoke to you. I've been hanging around, developing things in the background, and hatching nefarious schemes. However, as many of you know, I've remained in contact through instant messaging and the advent of Discord and the like. CBW was always a place that I enjoyed being around- and the people here were always fun. Perhaps out of nostalgia, or just wanting to give things a second shot, I announced my return last year. However, I appeared inactive for most of that period- that was not my intention. Blatantly, I ran into issues of not being happy with the way my works-in-progress for the wiki were going, and reworking them. However, I believe the content I have reached at this point is worthy of beginning full work on the wiki.

Before I get into any of that, though, I want to say some things.

First off, this was one of the first online communities I truly joined. For that, and for everyone on here being so patient with my early lack of wiki skills, I am grateful. I've been around since 2012, and although I haven't been consistently editing during that time, I have been reading and watching a lot of the content that comes through. I can't say that this absence was my intention- a signifigant amount of personal stuff got in the way of me editing, or even producing content of any sort. While unfortunate, I'm not here to make excuses.

I would, however, like to thank those wiki users who helped me a lot in the early years. Not all of these people are around as much anymore, but several are still present. In no particular order,
 * Echo 1- Man, you were the first admin to welcome me, and the first one to teach me the basics of wikicode. For that, I'm thankful. Your creations early on inspired me, and I still think you're one of the friendliest people I met here in those early years. If you're ever around, let me know.
 * Sidd- Thanks for being so patient with my early work on the wiki. It wasn't all that good, but you were still positive and helpful. I think that the encouragement is a lot of what motivated me to put out what I did- even when it wasn't great, it was a learning experience.
 * Delta- Like the two above, Delta helped me out a lot in the beginning with wikicode. Turns out that looking back I was rather incompetent with wikicode. Huh. Regardless, Delta's content was always of a high caliber, and he served as another friendly face.
 * ThatDevilGuy and Varkanax- Two for one. We didn't really interact too much, but these two helped call me out on some early manual of style stuff I goofed pretty hard. While they weren't as prevalent as some of these others, this helped more than they likely realized at the time.
 * Pokermask- While many seem to remember him less fondly for actions that occurred in my absence, Pokermask was always friendly to me, and allowed me to participate in a true collaboration for the first time on the wiki. For that, I am thankful. Additional thanks go to KopakaMata for the support and feedback during that project- unfortunately, it fell through before it could be completed.

Shortly after this point, Chalk invited me to his group; this was a boon to me. Although I didn't remember it at first, in my retrospective of my old work here I came to the realization that I occasionally came off as antagonistic in my early days on the wiki. I probably regret that the most.

I'd also like to take a little bit of time and shout out some of the wiki users who I interacted with less, but still inspired me to work on content then and now.
 * Invader- Your creations have always been really well done, and you continue to put out a high quantity of content.
 * Vorred- Your MOCs were always really interesting, and your comic was one of the things that brought forth a fresh type of content on the wiki. Glad to have you back, man.
 * Bobdo- I feel like this goes without saying. Finish Judgement Day please?
 * Mott/Jareroden- Your creations were always well done, and your stories equally so. I'm glad to see you're still around to chat sometimes.
 * BC- Your comics have always been good, and you've always been a friendly face. Glad to see some of the old guard is still around.
 * ChineseLegolas- We've spoken more recently, but your content that you did finish was quite a sight to behold.

There are MANY others I'm sure I'm missing, but these are the ones off the top of my head. If I missed you, I apologize.

While I made some things I was proud of back then, I have come back to the wiki a much better person and much better writer than I ever was in those days. I've dealt with the personal situations that prevented my editing consistently, and I have committed to coming back in full force.

So what does that mean?

In short, I've made it a goal to come back in full force, and leave work here that I'm far prouder of. To fulfill that goal, I decided to begin editing in full again on the wiki's anniversary; I felt it slightly fitting. While I did sneak in some edits earlier this week, tonight is when you should see a marked increase in my activity. I have been sitting on several character page's worth of content that simply needs editing, so I'll be rolling that out in a few more days. Additionally, I've decided to completely reboot my storyline plans from the ground up. While I've said that before, I fully intend to make good on it. The work I've done since I announced my return has ensured that I have too much done to justify bailing out, and the community I've reconnected with has doubled that invigoration.

I've already spoken with a few users about potential collaborations, so that should be interesting. If you stick around and look at the new stuff I have incoming, I hope you all will be pleasantly surprised.

Furthermore, I have a lot planned for this month. I'll be updating old pages that are salvageable, and uploading new ones. I have some new MOCs to debut, and I'll be releasing some storyline stuff in the next few days. Additionally, I'll be submitting an entry to the Ten Year Contest. I think you all will enjoy it.

In Conclusion

I'm officially back. Sure, I've said that before, but this time I can follow through. I have content planned, and I'm glad to be back.

If you're interested in chatting or discussing collaboration, I'm open to both. It's good to be back.

 Ace  Is   Here