Cartographers' Guild breaks the 10,000 member mark!

[ravells]

Don't know about you guys, but I like keeping an eye on the number of members we have and the regular posters. It's stunning that we have now broken through 10,000 members. It was only about 4 years ago when there were about 20 of us. I believe that the secret to our success is pretty simple: be welcoming, be polite and be constructive in your criticism....oh and share your knowledge. Keeping the site strictly 'non application' specific and welcoming maps from any software or hand drawn has also proved to be a great success.

This is a congratulations to everyone here. Thank you all for making the CG grow and to respect the values that we hold. In the thousands of posts here we have had only one locked thread and one banned user (apart from spammers). I think that must be some sort of record given our member base, but more importantly it just shows that a polite enviornment will perpetuate itself.

For myself, I have to say that this is one of the best bbs's on the internet I've ever visited and I'm proud to be a part of it. We're all volunteers but we do what we do out of a passion for mapping. I don't know if you've checked out the Finished Maps section lately but the standard of mapping lately has been phenomenal. We have recently had our first featured map inspired purely from the tutorials on this site.

The 'jewels in the crown' have been the tutorials by RobA, Ascension, Pyrandon and Butch Curry's youtube tutorials (apologies for anyone I've left out) which have allowed people who don't believe that they can produce a decent map to make something they probably didn't believe was possible. I know I've stood on the shoulders of the people here in making my maps, the level to which people are prepared to share their knowledge is truly a gift.

So congratulations everyone and thank you for being a part of our very small but rewarding part of the internet.

All this would not have happened if Robbie (Arcana) had not built the site. Robbie deserves a huge round of applause from all of us for creating a place in which we all feel comfortable, constructive and which is a melting pot of shared knowledge. In that sense this truly is a 'guild'.

Ravs

[Steel General]

Well said Ravs!

[torstan]

I have to agree, and to say that the success of the guild is in no small part down to the good work of the Community leaders here who do a great job of welcoming new people, running contests, keeping the boards clear of spam and being universally helpful and fostering a pleasant atmosphere. Thanks guys, Keep up the good work

[Ascension]

I'm just glad that we all are pretty cool to one another and helpful. We all have different strengths and we share them and that's pretty cool too. I certainly wouldn't have gotten anywhere unless this place existed...I'd still be sitting alone trying to figure things out on my own. If it weren't for the great people here, new and old alike, I'd have lost interest long ago. So I say, "congrats to all of us". Keep up the good work everyone.

[Sigurd]

Congratulations and thank you to everyone here.

This is a great place to be.


Thanks

[Sirith]

Congratulations to everybody, thank you Arcana for building this cartographer's home in the great seas of the internet, and thank you everybody here who has made this forum so much fun

[NeonKnight]

Congrats to all, But most of all to Arcana. He stuck in when his partner left.

Congrats again!

[Alfar]

Yay for us! I'd say it's well deserved - I've rarely found a more friendly bunch of people on the internet.

So, no goodbyes, but thanks for all the fish anyway

[msa]

Yay for us! I'd say it's well deserved - I've rarely found a more friendly bunch of people on the internet.

Seconded!

I didn't even know there were places on teh internets that were this friendly and helpful!

[Robbie]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This place belongs to you all. I am truly honored to be a part of this community. You have all been very good to me as friends and it means a lot to see the member base be so large. And to think, two weeks ago, I deleted about 300 members due to inactivity.

Every day this community astonishes me with its brilliance and maturity, and the fact that we've reached 10,000 members on word of mouth alone, is just incredible.

Thank you all so very much, and thank you Community Leaders for standing by me during this rough phase of my personal life as well.