Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
—Grouch Marx (or at least it should have been*)
​

Tomorrow, it will have been 5 years since I joined AAC. It really doesn’t seem that long ago. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for making AAC a place I wanted to spend 5 years in.

I am no pollyanna, and I know that not everyone here counted the days of my participation as happily as I did. Nonetheless, despite some occasional friction, I can honestly say I am happy to see every regular on the site and would miss any of you who went away.

This is a great community and the people here are both technically competent and generally simpatico which is an uncommon and very desirable combination. The Weltanschauung here is strongly focused on helping everyone who comes here with a question. Variously, regulars will spend a great deal of time assisting a neophyte they‘ve—for whatever reason—taken under their wing.

It is as satisfying to me to see each of you do this, with a successful conclusion, as to do it myself. I feel a vicarious satisfaction as a member of the same community when a new member is assisted so competently and comprehensively. I am regularly in awe of the breadth and depth of the knowledge and experience of our members.

I also want to thank the moderation staff for the unexpected and humbling opportunity to join them in helping to make AAC the best it can be. Being a moderator isn’t easy—particularly in a community that takes the moderation role so seriously. I hope I have lived up to the high standards expected and will continue to make the most of this opportunity to contribute.

Here’s to another 5 years among people I have learned to admire and grown to think of as friends. Thank you all for genuinely adding to my life.

​

*Unfortunately, there is no definitive attribution for this quote which seems to have spontaneously appeared in a Usenet group, possibly inspired by a paper on machine translations and their difficulties in which both phrases appeared but not as a single thought. Nonetheless, I have no doubt Groucho would have said it if he (or S.J. Perelman) had thought of it!

EDIT: typo repair (thanks, @boostbuck)

 

Hey, hey, hey, my dear Y!
You are one of the most reliable members here. With the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the pinpoint accuracy of David.
Well, I am exaggerating a little, but not much.

 

Wow, it's been 5 years? Oh well, looking forward to 5 more years. Anymore the time just blows past.

Ron

 

Hey, hey, hey, my dear Y!
You are one of the most reliable members here. With the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the pinpoint accuracy of David.
Well, I am exaggerating a little, but not much.

Thanks for the (excessive) praise. I do appreciate the acknowledgment. While far less patient than Job, I try to make up for some deep, dark past nonsense with marked tolerance, so it is gratifying to hear I appear to be patient from the “outside”.

As far as wisdom and bowmanship go, I do my best—usually.

 

.... S.J. Perlman ...

S J Perelman, if you'll excuse a correction.

The funniest man who ever lived.