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January 31, 2010
Nikonians.org celebrates 10th Anniversary with Special Contest
A Message (and Invitation) from the co-founders
Greetings and Happy Anniversary to all.
As you know, we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of Nikonians.org. It was on April 30th, 2000 (with just 30 members) that we first went public.
The past ten years have been an educational experience for all of us as we pursued the dream of forming a community of Nikon enthusiasts instead of just "another Web site."
Web sites provide data, opinions and entertainment. We wanted to create more than just another Web site.
Our goal from the start was to provide a more complete, reliable and rewarding experience shared among friends. No questions would be dealt with as "stupid" and the over-all atmosphere should at all times be friendly encouragement and constructive critiques as opposed to arguments and needless insults. That was just a simple goal when we first started, and it caught on very fast.
The two of us basically moderated a friendly forum that started to catch fire faster than we expected. Moderating the small Nikonians.org site was easy in the first few months but our friendly approach quickly resulted in an exponential "viral" growth on the Internet, and thankfully we had a long list of like-minded members of this new community who were willing to step in as moderators to help us keep the community goals in mind.
As our moderator team grew, we also grew.
We have expanded from an initial offering of a few forums to the current 80 forums in 10 "conferences" or forum categories.
Our moderators (hand-picked and eternally appreciated) for the past ten years have been forced to stick to our prime directive of maintaining a friendly and informative community instead of "just another site" and they have delivered "the goods." At times they may have come across as overly stern, but as amicable as possible - their persistence in following our basic guideline of making this a community that "shares, learns, and inspires" has always been at the forefront. Their diligence has been rewarded. We are now the premier site for Nikon enthusiasts ranging from beginners to professionals.
This prominence in reputation has come at interesting cross-roads in the recent past few years. Our membership grew to such a point that we found ourselves severely strained financially to keep Nikonians.org active.
Increased usage equals increased costs and we were pleasantly surprised to find we had industry leaders who were willing to join us as advertising corporate sponsors.
From that growth we also saw the most immediate and basic fact. Many people will jump on a free Web site to grab a free fact or advice, and they are indeed welcome. However, if they are truly attentive to our goal of becoming a part of our friendly sharing environment, they could also consider entering any one of our membership levels, which at the very least amounts to only $25 per year or 7 cents per day. That paid membership step in our evolution (combined with the enthusiastic support of our corporate sponsors) has kept us active and we keep on growing.
Now, as we enter that tenth year anniversary we want to thank our members —the community.
As part of that thanks, we have established a limited time contest to celebrate our Anniversary with three months of eligibility (February-March-April).
Each month of our Nikonians 10th Anniversary Photo Contest has a special theme for an image submission:
I. What Nikonians means to me
The winner will be our member who best expresses in an image "Where I have made like-minded friends and don't feel alone in my pursuits" and "This photo I created thanks to lessons I have learned from the community."
II. Fellow Nikonians at Work
The winner will be our member who submits a photo that best expresses fellow Nikonians with their gear taking photos in environments or scenarios that have been made possible by their membership.
III. On the Nikonians Road
The winner will be our member who submits a photo that best expresses "Look at the places I have been to, inspired or directed by Nikonians" and "Places and pictures I could not have made without my fellow Nikonians."
All three theme categories are ultimately designed to meld a symphony that could be best described as "The Nikonians Experience."
Check our 10th Anniversary Photo Contest Rules for details and start planning for your winning entry.
Good Luck!
Bo Stahlbrandt & J. Ramón Palacios
Posted by flashdeadline at January 31, 2010 8:07 PM