Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Tanya's Ten Years

I first heard the term “blog” about five years ago. I understand that “web logging” has existed as long as the web has, and online journals of one sort or another have been around since the bulletin board service (bbs) was the de facto online community. Although blogs as we know them today have existed for more than ten years (even though the term “blog” was not coined until 1999), most bloggers cannot claim to have been in the game that long. My first blog was created - after much resistance - in December 2005. I am still very much a newcomer.

I have been fortunate, however, to have established relationships throughout the world with many, many other bloggers. Some have been at it for quite some time. One in particular is celebrating 10 years of blogging on September 30. By any measure, this makes her a blogging pioneer. Tanya, also known as NetChick, is, in her own words, “living my dream in beautiful downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada.” She is celebrating her 10-year anniversary with a super-deluxe blog contest. The grand prize? A Nintendo Wii! And this post is part of my entry.

Although I would love to win a Wii, this post is really about paying homage to one who has blazed a virtual trail. Tanya was there early on when the blogosphere must have been a very lonely place. Much of the blog tools we take for granted today were not even a twinkle in some programmer's eye ten years ago, yet NetChick and others kept on writing. Did they know this thing would take off the way it has? I suspect that they might have had a feeling… but could anyone predict the phenomenon blogging has become?

I’m over my 250 words; the link to NetChick’s contest is on top of my sidebar. Come check it out!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike, thank you for such a delightful entry! :) To be honest, I had no idea that having a diary online oh-so-long-ago would have turned into such a daily, and community building journey for me.

But, it's incredible the people I've met from my little space online. Heck, I've even had a serious relationship result from it, before it being publically blogged that we'd ended it.

So, thank-you Mike! I'm so glad to have met you through this adventure I we now call blogging!

michelle said...

i just started blogging less than a year ago and I have been truly amazed at all the wonderful blogs there are out there. I can't imagine what it must've been like 10 years ago. i have gotten to know some awesome people through blogging and I am completely addicted to it.

flleenie said...

I only heard about blogging a few years ago. I live far away from my family, & one day my sis emailed me her blog link. So I started blogging, then stopped, then started, then stopped, once again started & now I'm addicted. I love expressing myself through words. I also thoroughly enjoy reading other people's ramblings, writings & getting to converse with a wide variety of people from across the world. Now, back in the day, when I started working with computers (in '83, remember ms dos?) who would have ever thunk it? You know the saying, can't live with it & now I definitely can't live with out it!!!

Janet said...

It's amazing the things you can accomplish when you enjoy doing something!

Hi, Michele sent me :-)

Queen of Light and Joy said...

I'm totally entering and thanks for bringing this contest to everyone attention. I'm a student *cough* poor *cough* and have been wishing for a Wii for a while now. I'm going to win. I just know it. She and I have so much in common. As I also have with Michele, she was the one who sent me. :)

November Rain said...

hi from Michelle

10 years wow.. I have been blogging off and recently back on for 2 years I was doing groups in yahoo before that
from geocities to yahoo to now blog I have meet some great people

Anonymous said...

I've been blogging just over two years now. I have periods where I take an extended break now and then but I always come back and always seem to run into the same people time and again. And I keep discovering new blogs along the way.

Good luck on the contest!

Michele sent me to visit today. :)

BreadBox said...

The amazing thing is that she has been *blogging* for that long! I encountered the internet earlier than almost anyone else I've met, and jumped into the game in various ways: but I've moved on from each of them, often from exhaustion from the medium (and the lack of tools to make it easy!)
I'm tremendously impressed that *she* is still around and blogging!

N.

BreadBox said...

Oh, and Michele sent me to say this...
N.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Michele sent me to see you tonight Mike...! WOW! Ten years...Amazing! I'm just two months earlier than you so I'm a newcomer, too!...lol!
I had no idea she has been blogging or whatever it was called, for ten years!
I must go over and check out the contest...BUT more than that, Congratulate her for her 'staying power'...!

Lady Prism said...

Ten years!!..wow..amazing!..Have been at it for about four years now. I think I became a better me through my blog experiences...the stories read..the emotions put forth..the connections...and ultimately life changing realizations.

MsT said...

I love the blogging community and the sense of creativity and fulfillment it brings. It's wonderful to "meet" people I otherwise never would, and to hear a point of view I would normally never run into, and so many other wonderful things. Thanks for telling us about Tanya and hello from Michele!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Well, I've been to Michele's twice today and both times she sent me to you, Mike! LOL! I'm happy to be here and I did go over o Tanya's and I wrote a little something...!