Our First Year in Review, Happy Anniversary MM! Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

Happy First Anniversary Mosaic Musings!

So, you’d like to know how this all started, do you? Well, here’s my version of the story for your reading muse. Please feel free to comment with your own thoughts by replying right here in this tile. TY!

Back in October 2002, my good friend Lindi Balboni invited me to join a poetry board that she was involved with, Poem Kingdom. My muse was ignited from that point on, and after a few short months, I began to create poetic challenges for my writing buddies there in what is called, “Inspiration Inlet”. Also active at Shadow Poetry, I was inspired to write short stories but found it difficult to gain critiques on the few I had written. As the year went by, I realized that what seemed lacking at sites I belonged to, was something that I yearned for – a place where the members were honest, yet thorough and courteous with feedback, in a friendly setting which also offered prose.  

In July 2003, I decided to research what would be involved in opening my own forum board, and what would be required to administrate it, how the network technical pieces would be handled, and through Peter’s advice, we decided to go with Ikonboard, version 3.1.2a. With our Host Jarvis selected and account up and running, we began to test our board on our own server in mid-July. After a few weeks and several variants of a name, Mosaic Musings was born. With much gratitude to Larry, Lindi, Butch, Daniel, Dolly, Jan and a few others, the testing began and some bugs were squashed! The forum names were established and we went live on August 1, 2003.  

For those who were not with us in the beginning, I had re-designed what we call the ‘standard Ikonboard skin’, which took too many hours to remember and was a pastel colored skin at start up.  I had this very simple light gray mosaic tiled home page as well. We also did not categorize the board as it appears today. Instead, all forums were displayed at the start page (which became intimidating)!    

Within two months, we added many avatars and emoticons to make things more fun, hacked some enhancements to our post options, like font size, color, alignments, spell checker, topic start dates (under member name in new posts), new forums and the reference links located at the bottom of the board.  

In November 2003, we turned ourselves into a company and became Mosaic Musings, LLC, also contracting with a site attorney. We also categorized our board to streamline the forums and better match the topics together. In January 2004, we changed host companies due to a lack of support to Apollo. In March, we added “Odin’s Opposition”, our first cash contest to the board and in the process, opened an account with Paypal, which now allows us to accept credit card and check payments. Once that code was put in place, we added a donation and contest link on the board, and began the brainstorming on chapbook sales.  

In April 2004, both our forum board and home pages got an overhaul. We bought a professional template, which is what is now our www.mosaicmusings.net design with many more pages to utilize there. In addition, I designed seven more ‘skins’ for the forum board based on templates provided on the Ikonboard’s support site(s) for our member’s use, and a few other hacks were put in place based on member feedback.  :operagal:

In July 2004, our forum board host was having problems with our sql database, so we decided to split the home page database and the forum board database into two: we now host the forum board ourselves, and Apollo still hosts our home page DB.  

What you have just read is a VERY BRIEF summary of our first year in review. These few paragraphs do not give the summary justice, as so many hours, code changes, enhancements, staff and member changes took place in the first year and it would be a novella to detail all the many changes at length.  

One thing remains unchanged: Simply put, our mission.  We will not waiver. At Mosaic Musings, we strive to bring out the best in our writers, to streamline and strengthen their talents, which will result in a refined masterpiece ready for publishing (if so sought). By offering friendly, yet thorough critiques, we will support those members wishing to enhance their works in a setting that is relaxed, fun and challenging. Within our forum board, we offer exercises and challenges (to stir the muse), famous writer works (to gain inspiration), motivational quotes, and a variety of critique and exhibition forums. Our members can post their works in the categories of Poetry, Prose, Short Stories and Novels. They can seek feedback through review and critique forums to cultivate a polished work utilizing the site’s greatest resources: its tools and members, in a friendly setting. Monthly contest forums spotlight a spectrum of writing styles to recognize those members who have best demonstrated “intellection by expression”. The opening of “Pandora’s Box” brings challenges guaranteed to stir the muses into chaos. Will you rise up and add your name to the Great Wall of Fame? Better yet, will you become an MM ‘Laureate Legionnaire’?  

To recap our first year’s stats, as of this writing, we have a total of 15,690 posts (13713 replies to 1977 Topics), 123 members, 4 moderators (Praetorians), 5 assistants (Centurions) and 2 administrators.  

On the forum board, we’ve offered 25 ‘Pandora’s Chaos’ challenges, which resulted in 170 responses thus far, 9 Crown Jewel and Faery award winning tiles, 13 Wizard award winning tiles, 3 members designated as ‘Laureate Legionnaires’, ONE chapbook for sale (Pandora’s Chaos Winners, 2003) with an additional SIX currently in design for sale in the near future. Our members hail from the following 10 countries: Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, United Arab Emirates and the USA.  

The chronicled characters of Ancient civilizations have long been a fascination of mine. The rise and fall of such grand civilizations of Babylon, Damascus, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome, Greece, Pompeii and the wonders of Atlantis have shaped humanity throughout the ages long past and will forever remain an important part of history. The tales of prosperous societies promoting order, a sense of community, and of peace and pride, reinforce my enthusiasm and desire to recreate the grand splendors of Mosaic Musings.  

Can we initiate your intellection by expression today? Let your imagination soar!  :pharoah2

Thanks to all who have made this possible! We look forward to our second year with you all!  

Lori Kanter and Peter Clark    
Owners and Administrators

[Guest_Tao_*]

Dear Lori,

Not merely a few haphazard hacks, but a feat of heroism fit for heralding! Yours is an accomplishment worthy of the gods, likened to the start of a new civilization!

Congratulations on your annum prima, primus, prime!

David

[Cleo_Serapis]

Dear Lori,

Not merely a few haphazard hacks, but a feat of heroism fit for heralding! Yours is an accomplishment worthy of the gods, likened to the start of a new civilization!

Congratulations on your annum prima, primus, prime!

David

Tee hee  :blush21:  :blush21:  Why THANK YOU David!  :angel:

It's very exciting to see how far we've come in a short time!  :detective:

Thanks for the kind words!  :lovie:

~Cleo  :pharoah: