Nine years old today

[roddy]

Today marks the 9th anniversary of this fine site's foundation. While I am not one for big celebrations, it would be remiss of me not to note the date, and give a thank you to everyone who has contributed over the years.

Attempting to thank everyone by name would of course be a futile effort. So I thought I'd thank by name everyone who registered in our first year, and has visited over the last 12 months - that is, has been active to some degree for pretty much the lifetime of the forum. But there were two pages of us, and I wasn't typing out all those names. So I looked at post counts - but what of new members who haven't had time to rack up a high post count? Reputation figures? That's only been running a few years, members from way back wouldn't show up.

So I gave up on names. Here's to you, the unknown poster.

It isn't the biggest site on the Internet. Lord knows I'll admit it isn't always the best run. Sure as hell ain't the prettiest. But I'm kind of fond of it anyway.

[skylee]

Happy anniversary.

[Guest realmayo]

We could all line up while you are driven past with your head poking out the roof of a black limo?

[Kenny同志]

Time flies. I've been here for two years and nine months now. I am glad I have met you guys.

[abcdefg]

Congratulations!

[xuefang]

Congratulations! Can't believe I registered back in Jan 2004! It's been a great ride during these past 8 years. Thank you!

[putonghua73]

Roddy,

Chinese-forums, like most forums, serves a purpose in buidling a community around a shared interest. Despite all the talk about social media and the 'death' of email (for like the 754,678th time), forums in all of their forms - BBS, usenet (back in the day) - that allow people to respond to comments in threads, are just as prolific now (if not more) than they were when Chinese-forums first started.

The testament of the site is ultimately the community and the quality of interaction in terms of posts shared over the years. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site, that I've barely unearthed, but interest and time permitting, I and others, have the opportunity to unearth such knowledge, without having to filter out a million and one useless spam threads or posts that plague lesser forums.

On a personal note, if it wasn't for this site then I may not have decided to quit my former job and spend 6 wonderful months living / studying in Kunming (although my ex-ex girlfriend in Japan played a considerable role in that decision). This site has not only enriched my life, but also provided the motivation for an interest [Chinese] that has played a large part of my life since I decided to [mentally] learn Chinese back in Winter 2005.

If HashiriKata ever fulfils their offer of an introduction to a Japanese female, then I may have a LOT more to thank Roddy (et al) ;)

P.s. Roddy, with the unseasonal i.e. glorious, weather in the UK, I suggest that you treat yourself to a pint or two this evening by way of celebration!

[anonymoose]

Well, I turned 8 on this site a few days ago. I have been using this site longer than any other on the net.

Congratulations, Roddy, and thanks.

[roddy]

Have you been a member for that long, xuefang? You must have been nine yourself when you signed up.

[semantic nuance]

Glad to read this thread when I logged in! 恭喜恭喜!!

[creamyhorror]

Nine tasty years, just lookit dat...baby forum's all grown up now...*sniff*

[Shelley]

Congratulations, 9 years well done.

9 is a very auspicious number in China, so a very appropriate occasion to mark.

I joined in 2009, so more 9s

9 is a very interesting number in many cultures and in maths.

I have copied the section from Wikipedia on the number 9 in chinese culture and pasted it below.

Chinese culture

• Nine (九 pinyin jiǔ) is considered a good number in Chinese culture because it sounds the same as the word "longlasting" (久 pinyin jiǔ)^{[citation needed]}.
  

• Nine is strongly associated with the Chinese dragon, a symbol of magic and power. There are nine forms of the dragon, it is described in terms of nine attributes, and it has nine children. It has 117 scales - 81 yang (masculine, heavenly) and 36 yin (feminine, earthly). All three numbers are multiples of 9 (9x13=117, 9x9=81, 9x4=36)^[2] as well adding up individually to 9 (1+1+7=9, 8+1=9, 3+6=9).
  

• The dragon often symbolizes the Emperor, and the number nine can be found in many ornaments in the Forbidden City.
  

• The circular altar platform (Earthly Mount) of the Temple of Heaven has one circular marble plate in the center, surrounded by a ring of nine plates, then by a ring of 18 plates, and so on, for a total of nine rings, with the outermost having 81=9×9 plates.
  

• The name of the area called Kowloon in Hong Kong literally means: nine dragons.
  

• The nine-rank system was a civil service nomination system used during certain Chinese dynasties.
  

The whole page is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9_(number)

Well done everyone and heres to many more years.

[Lugubert]

It isn't the biggest site on the Internet.

So what? There is no automatic correlation between quantity and quality.

Lord knows I'll admit it isn't always the best run.

Matches my life.

Sure as hell ain't the prettiest.

Nor am I.

But I'm kind of fond of it anyway.

So am I and many more of us. Thanks for your dedication and please go on for many years to come.

[大肚男]

happy birthday, forum

[creamyhorror]

9 is a very auspicious number in China, so a very appropriate occasion to mark.

And next year the forum will be, auspiciously, 十全十美.

[SinoPhil]

Happy anniversary ! Congratulations to you, roddy ! and the whole forum - I am really glad this site exists

[Daan]

Chinese-forums.com 万岁！Thanks to everyone for the interesting posts, and to Roddy for keeping everything running smoothly for all these years I've been around for seven of them, in which I learned all kinds of cool stuff, and even met some people at great meet-ups. Roddy, I still think about that veggie restaurant every now and then...

[laurenth]

Obligatory: 生日快乐!

[feihong]

I have found this site immensely useful. When I first meet someone who is studying Chinese, I always recommend this site.

[Wang7]

Congratulations and thank you