I didn't start AFN. In fact, I didn't even know what autos were until I got a freebie from an Attitude Seed Bank order of Dinafem's Auto White Cheese. Trying to remember that far back, I may have grown it in Miracle-Grow even haha! But I said to myself "what's an autoflower?" And when I looked for it online, this was with no exaggeration the ONLY resource that really popped up at the time. So I started lurking, and I said "wow, this seems like a pretty cool place, no one is chewing up newbies for newbie questions!" And that was a common denominator for all the other forums I had been on; it seemed like people only listened to those with the highest "reputation" scores on their profiles, and then in turn those members were either helpful, or just total assholes. It made it tough to want to even ask questions when you weren't sure what kind of hostile response you'd get (and no one wants to be made to feel dumb or stupid.) But on AFN, there was an extreme focus on new growers and helping out the newbies.
My first mentor on the site (ironically someone who I've grown to be at odds with over the years) really did help me out though. Answered all my questions, helped me make decisions on what to buy, how to amend, how to feed. Why my damn plants kept burning from being overfed lol.
I remember the first offer to join "The High Team," our old "vibester" team on the forum. It was super cryptic: "We've been watching you."
Some iteration of "And we like your vibe and attitude. We'd like to offer you a chance to join the High Team because someone finds you trustworthy." That was
@Mossy At the time, a member by the name of Hazy was on here and apparently we use to run pretty extensive checks on members in question, because he asked "is this you from this particular computer gaming community?" Sure as shit, it was. Want to freak someone out, point out some personal details of their life while they live in an illegal cultivation state haha. So I changed my name to Son of Hobbes (at the time my firstborn was on the way) and because I grew up reading Calvin & Hobbes books, and that's where it stuck. Forever. I have grown adults in the cannabis industry that ask "so do I call you Sonny? Or Hobbes?" Neither, none of those are my name.
Always wanted an alias, had I known the name would get some glimmer I would have chosen something cooler, like ViperLazerFangs, or SuperBabeSlayer. Sigh.
AFN has given me some of the best friends I've ever had. Hard to do something and work at something for so long without gaining a major appreciation for those that share in the passion for the plant and the knowledge and hunger for that knowledge.
My children actually got a pair of grandparents out of this forum lol. Two staff members (husband and wife) lost their homes in the California fires years back; about 2 years ago they asked "would it be weird if we went and looked for properties out your way in Colorado?" We had just moved here, and we LOVED IT. So we said "sure!" It was a little weird to meet people from the forum at first (something you get over quickly after a few handshakes,) but as the cards would fall, they ended buying the property LITERALLY across the street from me (I could throw pebbles at their front damn door haha!) And they've been here since, and they have just been amazing people. Good people. Good hearts. And wonderful to my kids. We do suppers and holidays togethers. How cool is that?
This site's taught me a lot about myself too. I've been a tyrant and a total asshole to some good people here in the past (and that never panned out for me either.) AFN taught me "you can be a boss, or you can be a leader." I'm not great at either of those things somedays, but I know who people would rather be around between the two choices. I realized though that I can't do this alone, heck it's a struggle sometimes even with all the hands we have helping, but it's been a humbling experience for sure. We wouldn't have this site if it weren't for some amazing individuals here. We wouldn't have this site if it wasn't for all of YOU!
Anyway. I'm stoned and ranting lol. Just wanted to say thank you again to everyone helping and donating. Some great ideas suggested in here too; I'd love to keep the donation button going if we can and again to just be transparent with what goes in and out.
I've got about 5 individuals on the forum for OUR actual forum software that have reached out about the prospects for helping us optimize the site, and I'm including both
@wwwillie and
@Mañ'O'Green to help me ask the right questions on qualifications, what we need done in terms of outstanding issues/problems, etc. We'll get the site back to warp speed (or at least just not erroring,) and we'll just take things from there!
I'm going to be talking to Daz tonight hopefully about the upcoming Autoflower Cup that I was told is happening in October in Denver (hoping to get the full run-down this evening,) and I genuinely hope I get to see and meet many of you there if and when it happens!
...... $4.20 a month or every 3 months or even a yearly donation
