An Apology

[Du5t1n 57]

I owe you guys an apology. For a long time now I've kind of distanced myself from people on Hyrule. At the same time I've been trying to get more people, I've become less involved with the actual people of the site and focusing on the behind the scenes stuff. While the site working is important and looking nice a plus, I tend to forget that even if the place looks ugly and has problems, if the community is happy and active, the site will flourish. The place kind of became un-human and business like (despite being a money pit XD).

I realized today that I hardly know the most active people on the site now. I got to know the 'old crowd' pretty well, especially on chat. They're not the most active ones anymore. Gingerlink, goron, kimmy, zuzu, and Josh are some of the ones that I got to know pretty well on chat and aren't around on chat as much or are busy in real life now, OR I'm not on at the same time they are talking as much... and there are many others that still post a lot that I got to know (ie tappy, arcticfire). And yet even more that were around a lot or that I got to know that completely disappeared.

I really liked all of these guys/girls a lot from the old crowd. Everyone seemed to really fit well together. Even when people fought, it just worked well. Things seemed more light-hearted back then.

The new guys though are a group I hardly know. Our top poster, Rain, still is a 'new guy' in my mind. I really want to get to know all of you guys better. I'll try to post on the forum more since this new crowd seems to like the forums more than chat, but the chat is really the fastest way for everyone to get to know each other. I've been starting to get to know some more of you lately on here and chat. Rain, Padraig, and adr really come to mind and I've been really glad to get to know both of them. They are among the few in the new crowd that I've been getting to know a lot and talk to. They help me to realize that the new guys are just as cool as the old guys and that I need to get to know all of them more. Oh, and Cirt! She has been on chat a lot lately and is really awesome. I'm excited every time I see her on the chat. She has a positive attitude too and no one seems to have one anymore! haha.

I also need to apologize for puttig off replying to private messages. I _DO_ read every message sent to me. I just usually procrastinate replying and either forget or it becomes too late. The old messages I haven't replied to, I do eventually get back to to reply. Yet again, chat is a good way to get ahold of me fast. If I don't answer, leave me a message and hang around. I'm more likely to answer a question than to answer 'yes to "can I ask a question""' and wait for you to ask it.

I owe ZuZu a big apology. He is always PM'ing me with great ideas, suggestions, or encouraging me to not give up on things and encouraging words and thoughts for dealing with problems I post about. I usually fail to reply to him though. I'm really sorry about that. I love getting the messages you send and I've gotten a lot of out them: from ideas to encouragement. Adr also sends similar ones. It really does mean a lot.

Well anyways, I hope I get to know a lot of you more. I'll try posting on Talk more and being more active in chat. I usually don't chat as well in PM with people until I've gotten to know them some. Lulls in the conversation tend to occur with me a lot until I know someone. I'm not that great at going from acquaintance to friend level of conversation. Chatting in the main chat helps a lot though since others pitch in and it helps keep everything moving along. I hope to see all you newer guys in the chat so I can get to know people more, and everyone can get to know each other.

As always, I'm so glad to have all of you here and reading all the great posts and talking with you. A lot of you have gone above that and helped the site too. Submitting stuff, debugging things, contributing downloads, code, ideas, mod help, and everything else has made this site a lot better than I alone could have. Anyways I mostly just do the behind the scenes, code stuff, etc. The community building has been everyone else, and that's what keeps most people here anyways.

Okay, enough mushy talk. I seem to have to do one of these type things once a year as stuff builds up. lol.

I'm out. I love you guys.

[Silent One 2]

Oh, you don't need to apologize, your very busy and we know that. If it wasn't for you this site wouldn't be around, and none of us would know each other.

I will try to go in chat more, I just don't think about it usually. And as far as Administrators go, your the coolest one I've ever known, most of the Admins

from other sites don't give a dang about anything, or anyone, on their site, but you care, I mean, just this topic shows you are passionate about Hyrule.net.

You have earned my respect, and if there is anything I can do to help you, don't hesitate to ask.

Ya, I'm one of the newest guys around, but I hope to always have Hyrule.net.

[Young Link Addict 67]

It's ok. As Slient One said we know you're very busy with the site, but it's nice to know you really care about everyone.

[Aethix 129]

I don't think there's any need to apologize. This is a great site, and you made it happen.

[Hedawn Omni 1]

It's cool man don't worry about it.

[ZuZu 10]

No worries mate, anytime.

[Luneth Uchiha 72]

While I would like to point out that YLA is still the top poster,

It's ok you're not to involved with the site members dude Dustin, you do alot of great work. I think that we all understand how important this work is.

[Arcane 12]

WE LOVE YOU DUSTIN. :'D

[Jo-Bengt 0]

I, personally, never had a problem with anything that you've done. I actually appreciate it all.

And plus, I'm getting on chat right now.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

What do I keep telling you, Dustin?

I'm never going to give you up,

Never going to let you down,

Never going to run around, and,

Desert you!

Never going to make you cry,

Never going to say goodbye.

Never going to tell a lie, and,

Hurt you!

Honestly, I don't think of you as that dude I hardly know. I think of you as the friend who chills out in chat and doesn't talk a lot.

Edited 18 Jun 2009 by Sahaqiel (see edit history)

[Cat Girl 0]

Dustin, you do so much for this site, and we really do appreciate it. You aren't the only one who hasn't been socializing that much...