Post by The Sandman on Jan 30, 2022 1:42:10 GMT -5
I missed ManMMA's TENTH birthday earlier this month.
10 days ago, ManMMA turned 10! That's insane.
Thank you to everyone. Whether you've been here a few months, or a decade, I sincerely appreciate you spending your valuable time here with us, and following this crazy adventure.
Life story & reminiscing time, feel free to skip.
I launched this site because my daughter was 3 and I was home alone with her for up to 12 hours a day. I needed something to keep my brain active and stimulated during down time, or when she was playing independently.
I was hardcore into MMA at the time, and had, for years, wanted to do an MMA sim site. When I found UMS, the time was right, the program was right, and everything clicked. But I had no idea if people would care, and I didn't want to be disheartened at losing the site to disinterest, but I polled people on ManNHL to see if anyone would be interested. More people than I expected said yes. But I was still concerned if most of them left, I would be devastated at having to close my site. So I thought about it for a bit, then decided we would do it, but I vowed that I was going to pursue this project as long as I was having fun. And that I could probably have fun simming for just one person if necessary. So I became comfortable with that. But even under that founding proclamation, I never would have guessed we would have lasted a fucking decade.
We have lots of invisible history here. Our name is a small remnant of ManNHL - the site that, when Mike made it, I figured would be my last-ever sim site. I hated the name, but it worked and we had fun. Years later (after this site even, I beleive), I learned "ManNHL" came from notes Mike had taken when prepping the work for a new NHL sim site. When he was writing a short form to make a new NHL Site - shorthanded as "man nhl site", ManNHL.proboards.com was born. Naturally, as a sister site, we adopted the "Man", and started this thing. But man, did I think "ManNHL" sounded stupid. Pretty sure I even had that as a tagline on our banner once - "Terrible Name, Great sims". Something like that.
A few years later. Proboards starts beta-testing upgrades. Among all the hockey sim sites I was a part of at the time, ManMMA was the first to switch over to Proboards 2.0. I'm sure some of you remember original Proboards. At the time, 2.0 didn't make the most sense for hockey sim sites, but it fit our needs here beautifully (the best change was we could make unlimited sub-boards - something we use all the time here, during Grand Prix, and in keeping clean history pages). I felt fortunate, because a few months later, when Proboards forced all their sites to upgrade to 2.0, I was one of the few people who had in-depth experience with it, and was able to help some sites smoothly transition over and deal with the learning curve. It was nice to give something meaningful back to those who were interested.
My daughter is now 13. She has no interest in MMA. But we have half-jokingly discussed her joining the site and taking a team. But she is anti-social, and feels she would have nothing to say, ever. I mentioned that that is probably true of many members here. And yet, here we all are. So who knows. Maybe one day
We've had countless trials and tribulations, both personal and professional over the years. Conflicts between members, conflicts with exceeding Proboards' thread maximums, and some days of conflicts with motivation and "is this worth all the effort". Days like today, and every year like it, with you fine folks, you rivals, friends, and family, yes. A thousand times yes.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. Thank you again. Thank you wholly and fully, from the bottom of my heart and soul. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for sharing your time, and often your lives with us.
A toast to 10.
10 days ago, ManMMA turned 10! That's insane.
Thank you to everyone. Whether you've been here a few months, or a decade, I sincerely appreciate you spending your valuable time here with us, and following this crazy adventure.
Life story & reminiscing time, feel free to skip.
I launched this site because my daughter was 3 and I was home alone with her for up to 12 hours a day. I needed something to keep my brain active and stimulated during down time, or when she was playing independently.
I was hardcore into MMA at the time, and had, for years, wanted to do an MMA sim site. When I found UMS, the time was right, the program was right, and everything clicked. But I had no idea if people would care, and I didn't want to be disheartened at losing the site to disinterest, but I polled people on ManNHL to see if anyone would be interested. More people than I expected said yes. But I was still concerned if most of them left, I would be devastated at having to close my site. So I thought about it for a bit, then decided we would do it, but I vowed that I was going to pursue this project as long as I was having fun. And that I could probably have fun simming for just one person if necessary. So I became comfortable with that. But even under that founding proclamation, I never would have guessed we would have lasted a fucking decade.
We have lots of invisible history here. Our name is a small remnant of ManNHL - the site that, when Mike made it, I figured would be my last-ever sim site. I hated the name, but it worked and we had fun. Years later (after this site even, I beleive), I learned "ManNHL" came from notes Mike had taken when prepping the work for a new NHL sim site. When he was writing a short form to make a new NHL Site - shorthanded as "man nhl site", ManNHL.proboards.com was born. Naturally, as a sister site, we adopted the "Man", and started this thing. But man, did I think "ManNHL" sounded stupid. Pretty sure I even had that as a tagline on our banner once - "Terrible Name, Great sims". Something like that.
A few years later. Proboards starts beta-testing upgrades. Among all the hockey sim sites I was a part of at the time, ManMMA was the first to switch over to Proboards 2.0. I'm sure some of you remember original Proboards. At the time, 2.0 didn't make the most sense for hockey sim sites, but it fit our needs here beautifully (the best change was we could make unlimited sub-boards - something we use all the time here, during Grand Prix, and in keeping clean history pages). I felt fortunate, because a few months later, when Proboards forced all their sites to upgrade to 2.0, I was one of the few people who had in-depth experience with it, and was able to help some sites smoothly transition over and deal with the learning curve. It was nice to give something meaningful back to those who were interested.
My daughter is now 13. She has no interest in MMA. But we have half-jokingly discussed her joining the site and taking a team. But she is anti-social, and feels she would have nothing to say, ever. I mentioned that that is probably true of many members here. And yet, here we all are. So who knows. Maybe one day
We've had countless trials and tribulations, both personal and professional over the years. Conflicts between members, conflicts with exceeding Proboards' thread maximums, and some days of conflicts with motivation and "is this worth all the effort". Days like today, and every year like it, with you fine folks, you rivals, friends, and family, yes. A thousand times yes.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. Thank you again. Thank you wholly and fully, from the bottom of my heart and soul. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for sharing your time, and often your lives with us.
A toast to 10.
