Aloha and mahalo from Hanford Lemoore - General Tiki

H hanford_lemoore Tiki Socialite Tiki Central Joined: Mar 23, 2002 Posts: 1899	H hanford_lemoore Posted posted on Thu, Jan 12, 2012 3:46 PM Aloha everyone! You may not know this, but Tiki Central turns TWELVE YEARS OLD today. Its last year of being a preteen. I can't believe it's been that long! And looking back, the journey it has been for me personally has been quite an adventure. The knowledge it has brought me and the friends I've made are irreplaceable. I am truly thankful for stumbling onto tiki when I did, and I've been happy to provide a service to everyone who loves tiki as much as I do. I am deeply honored that Tiki Central became the gathering place for so many wonderful people, and the birthplace for some epic events. But 12 years is a long time, and at this point I feel like I've contributed everything I can to Tiki Central. I've not been reading it in recent years, and I really only visit the site for administrative or technical purposes; which are few and far between. In practice this means I only stop by Tiki Central to fix a problem or settle a dispute, so I don't exactly associate Tiki Central with leisure anymore. I've come to realize my lack of participation hasn't helped TC much. And in some cases, it's done it a disservice. So I've decided I'm going to step down as an active Administrator for Tiki Central. This means I won't be the go-to guy for things like user-name changes, creating new forums, running the Tiki Crawl, and settling user disputes. I will still own the site, and will continue to run the technical side (keeping the site up and running) for the foreseeable future. But I will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations, policy-making, and future site direction. What does this mean to you and the rest of TC? Well, it shouldn't mean much. TC does run quite smoothly all by itself. This is mostly about handing off some of the high-level controls that I used to be the sole keeper of, and passing some of the policy-making to people who are more active on TC and know the current climate of its goings-on better than I do. I'll still be around to guide it, pass on advice, and help keep the tone I've provided. I actually see this as more of a promotion than a stepping-down. Like going from company president to Chairman of the Board, so to speak. I still love Tiki and Tiki Culture. I still love Tiki people, and I still love Tiki Central! It is my love for TC that leads me to this. I want to see TC continue to thrive and evolve and keep its spirit alive, by people who love it as much as I do. This isn't a sad moment for me. I'm excited -- and frankly a bit relieved -- to be doing this. The timing seems right. And if you're worried things are going to different -- don't. I had already handed over admin controls to TC member Hakalugi many months ago, and he has been doing a great job keeping TC running smoothly behind the scenes. In fact he's been doing a better job than I've been doing in recent years. If you've noticed spammers aren't nearly the problem they used to be, thank Haka. So with that, I raise my tiki mug and propose a toast: To Tiki Central and all its members. Thanks for making it such a wonderful and life-changing twelve years for me! Aloha and Mahalo! It's been a pleasure to serve you. ~Hanford PS: There's a million people I need to thank -- too many to list here in its entirety -- so i'm going go to stick to a short list of old-timers who in some way help shaped my interest in Tiki and led me to get Tiki Central running in its current form. Otto Von Stroheim, for Tiki News, which was my first exposure to Tiki Culture Jeff Berry for his prototype Grog Log, which was another early exposure for me James Titelbaum, for the Tiki Bar Review Pages -- the first Tiki Bar resource on the web! Mig Ponce, for helping me organize the first tiki gathering: The San Francisco Bay Area Tiki Crawl. This was the first time we got members together in real-life. Sven Kirsten, for the Book of Tiki, and for jumping on board TC so early. There were almost NO IMAGES OF TIKI BARS on the web when the Book of Tiki came out. Jon Blossom (non Tiki Central Member) for being an early tiki supporter. He suggested I buy the Tikiroom.com domain name, and was with me when I first stepped foot in a Trader Vic's. Stuckie at MunkTiki, for making the Shecky mug, and later the Ohana Hut. I had no idea who Munktiki was at the time! My fellow artists at LucasArts who had Tiki Mugs at their desks (there were a few). I remember being quite intrigued and fascinated by them, way before Tiki Central. Ben Fuller, for encouraging me to leave the clutches of Yahoo and put Tiki Central on its own site. All the charter members who were in love with tiki bars before Tiki Central had any real content. You guys made the site worth visiting Jennifer Thompson (lastly but not leastly), for co-starting Tiki Central with me, and for pounding the pavement and getting new members when I was still embarrassed I was running an "internet club." Again, this is just a short list of early influences, but I want to do an extra special mahalo to EVERYONE who has made Tiki Central so great. [ Edited by: hanford_lemoore 2012-01-13 01:43 ]

Aloha everyone!

You may not know this, but Tiki Central turns TWELVE YEARS OLD today. Its last year of being a preteen. I can't believe it's been that long! And looking back, the journey it has been for me personally has been quite an adventure.

The knowledge it has brought me and the friends I've made are irreplaceable. I am truly thankful for stumbling onto tiki when I did, and I've been happy to provide a service to everyone who loves tiki as much as I do. I am deeply honored that Tiki Central became the gathering place for so many wonderful people, and the birthplace for some epic events.

But 12 years is a long time, and at this point I feel like I've contributed everything I can to Tiki Central. I've not been reading it in recent years, and I really only visit the site for administrative or technical purposes; which are few and far between. In practice this means I only stop by Tiki Central to fix a problem or settle a dispute, so I don't exactly associate Tiki Central with leisure anymore.

I've come to realize my lack of participation hasn't helped TC much. And in some cases, it's done it a disservice. So I've decided I'm going to step down as an active Administrator for Tiki Central. This means I won't be the go-to guy for things like user-name changes, creating new forums, running the Tiki Crawl, and settling user disputes. I will still own the site, and will continue to run the technical side (keeping the site up and running) for the foreseeable future. But I will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations, policy-making, and future site direction.

What does this mean to you and the rest of TC? Well, it shouldn't mean much. TC does run quite smoothly all by itself. This is mostly about handing off some of the high-level controls that I used to be the sole keeper of, and passing some of the policy-making to people who are more active on TC and know the current climate of its goings-on better than I do. I'll still be around to guide it, pass on advice, and help keep the tone I've provided. I actually see this as more of a promotion than a stepping-down. Like going from company president to Chairman of the Board, so to speak.

I still love Tiki and Tiki Culture. I still love Tiki people, and I still love Tiki Central! It is my love for TC that leads me to this. I want to see TC continue to thrive and evolve and keep its spirit alive, by people who love it as much as I do. This isn't a sad moment for me. I'm excited -- and frankly a bit relieved -- to be doing this. The timing seems right.

And if you're worried things are going to different -- don't. I had already handed over admin controls to TC member Hakalugi many months ago, and he has been doing a great job keeping TC running smoothly behind the scenes. In fact he's been doing a better job than I've been doing in recent years. If you've noticed spammers aren't nearly the problem they used to be, thank Haka.

So with that, I raise my tiki mug and propose a toast: To Tiki Central and all its members. Thanks for making it such a wonderful and life-changing twelve years for me!

Aloha and Mahalo! It's been a pleasure to serve you.

~Hanford

PS: There's a million people I need to thank -- too many to list here in its entirety -- so i'm going go to stick to a short list of old-timers who in some way help shaped my interest in Tiki and led me to get Tiki Central running in its current form.

Otto Von Stroheim, for Tiki News, which was my first exposure to Tiki Culture
Jeff Berry for his prototype Grog Log, which was another early exposure for me
James Titelbaum, for the Tiki Bar Review Pages -- the first Tiki Bar resource on the web!
Mig Ponce, for helping me organize the first tiki gathering: The San Francisco Bay Area Tiki Crawl. This was the first time we got members together in real-life.
Sven Kirsten, for the Book of Tiki, and for jumping on board TC so early. There were almost NO IMAGES OF TIKI BARS on the web when the Book of Tiki came out.
Jon Blossom (non Tiki Central Member) for being an early tiki supporter. He suggested I buy the Tikiroom.com domain name, and was with me when I first stepped foot in a Trader Vic's.
Stuckie at MunkTiki, for making the Shecky mug, and later the Ohana Hut. I had no idea who Munktiki was at the time!
My fellow artists at LucasArts who had Tiki Mugs at their desks (there were a few). I remember being quite intrigued and fascinated by them, way before Tiki Central.
Ben Fuller, for encouraging me to leave the clutches of Yahoo and put Tiki Central on its own site.
All the charter members who were in love with tiki bars before Tiki Central had any real content. You guys made the site worth visiting
Jennifer Thompson (lastly but not leastly), for co-starting Tiki Central with me, and for pounding the pavement and getting new members when I was still embarrassed I was running an "internet club."

Again, this is just a short list of early influences, but I want to do an extra special mahalo to EVERYONE who has made Tiki Central so great.

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore 2012-01-13 01:43 ]

Post #620666 by hanford_lemoore on Thu, Jan 12, 2012 3:46 PM