As many of you are probably aware, this is normally a topic I'd plaster across the front page, but we've already got plenty going on up there, and it's not always a terribly interesting read when I get busy chatting up my own site. I figure in this format you're responsible for having clicked the subject so any boredom on your part is your own responsibility. That said, I do have some thoughts on the community and the site as a whole as we come into our donation time, and you might find them interesting.

First, thanks to everyone who has and continues to donate. I'm not just speaking of those flinging money our way, but also those who have donated extremely generous giveaway prizes, those who donate their words to our front page, those who donate their skills to improving the site, those who donate their thoughts to our forums, and those who donate their time to reading. You guys make what was meant to be a self indulgent web experiment worth far more than Certis or I could have hoped. In short, you guys are awesome.

On the topic of giveaways and those who donated prizes, should we give a few weeks heads up before donation drives (though, there won't be another for quite some time) so those who'd like to contribute prizes can get organized? This feels to me like asking for icing on top of the icing on my cake, but if this is how you'd like to contribute far be it from me to stand in your way.

I also appreciate all of your patience and support as GWJ has gone through some recent growing pains. Actually, I have several things to say about that, because as we've pushed through a few difficult weeks to what finally feels like the other side, I want to talk a bit about where we've been.

I've always felt like opening up the door a little bit and showing what's going on behind the scenes can only make you guys feel more connected to the site. And, truth be told, it's been a bit tumultuous of late. Not in a genuinely bad way, no politics or back biting, but just adjustment to a series of events.

As I'm sure you're all aware we've recently changed hosts. I want to take my own opportunity here to thank Tactical Gamers for giving us our new home. Having the opportunity to join an already solid community and bring the full functionality of GWJ back online has been an extremely gratifying experience, and really was a bit of a weight off our chests. While our previous host was an excellent place for us to launch and build, we were really not a good fit with the kind of site I think they necessarily wanted. Truth is, we're more of a burden than we're worth a lot of the time. I recognize this.

A lot of our functionality takes up a larger portion of maintenance than our traffic really justifies. We eat bandwidth, processing time, and other technical sounding words that don't mean much to me, but apparently turns into issues of time and money. But, to be painfully honest, things should have never reached a level where our readers noticed, and it has always bothered me that without warning I'd suddenly find the site down, or slow. Certis would say something designed to be fair and not point blame. He would also probably not want me to pen my precise thoughts on the matter of who was at fault where.

I know Certis is flawlessly professional in his dealings with the people we align ourselves with - and he really is the face of GWJ in many ways - so to balance that I'm like the straight talking drunk uncle who always storms in and embarrasses him with fart jokes and the story about the time I lost a finger in a hay bailing accident. So, while he paints a pretty picture, allow me to say that he is being quite political and many of the technical issues the site has experienced over the past few months could have easily been avoided with just a bit more communication and clarity. I don't wish to speak ill of our former home, but I will say that our goals were not well matched to the kind of site they were looking for, and they were not always clear or consistent in their dealings with us. Further we were encouraged not to grow further until the release of GWJ 2.0 - which really will streamline our site and is something we continue to pursue- , which put us in the uncomfortable position of not promoting ourselves (though, we continued to grow despite ourselves), and we were forced into a kind of artificial plateau. It was a stagnating atmosphere. In short, I for one am glad we've moved, and I have every reason to believe that many of our technical issues will quite suddenly disappear.

Of course, I expect that having said that we will experience mysterious technical issues very soon, because fate really thinks that's a funny kind of joke to play on me.

But, I don't think the only issue we've had has been technical or to be put on someone else's shoulders. I think we've all been very tactical in not giving voice to concerns many of you may and probably did have of late for fear that saying a thing will make that thing come true. With Sway's heartbreaking departure from the front page - though, thankfully he hasn't disappeared from the forums, and we still bug him in private just because old habits are hard to break - my notable and lengthy absence, and Pyro's poorly timed affliction (dammit, Pyro!) all coupled with the aforementioned technical issues, the site probably looked as if it had hit a frightening stumbling block. I'm sure we're all familiar with sites where a hiccup of this kind began a long agonizing process by which the site slowly faded and died. If you feared that GWJ might not survive its confluence of issues, you were well within your rights to do so. The evidence suggests it was a real possibility.

Let me set your fears aside. GWJ has weathered a few difficulties, but I feel as confident in the site as ever. Pyro's back up and in action, the site functionality is up and running again, GWJ 2.0 is still on the horizon, we've got a great new host, our community is as strong as ever, and the front page is beginning to feel full again.

This next part doesn't happen often so you guys might want to take note. The only reason this site is strong, vibrant, and able to weather difficulties is because Certis is incredibly dedicated and committed to making this effort work. He has been the glue of this site for the past two months, and any praise you have to GWJ needs to be directed toward him.

I, on the other hand, am a big flake. As I returned to work, readjusted my life, decided where my priorities were, and retreated into a nice tidy introverted lifestyle, I seemed to disappear at the worst possible time. I didn't mean to give the impression that I was beginning to pull away from GWJ, though I fear I might have seemed to be doing just that. Partly, I was disillusioned by the path we seemed to be stuck on for a short time. I like growth, and numbers that go up, and strutting around a lot. I wasn't playing a lot of games, and was even less inspired to spend a lot of time writing about what I wasn't playing. To make a long post short (Too Late!) I was being a jackass. Certis pointed this fact out to me, and I realized how much it must have seemed that I was on the way out. I don't know if this will be a relief or annoyance, but I'm not going anywhere.

And with that, I'm done being a jackass in quite that manner, though I've no doubt that I'll find entirely new models of jackassedhood.

So, there were some things that could've gone better, let's not dwell. Why do I bring it up? Because, even if you didn't notice, or figured it would all work itself out, I don't want you to think we're flying blind. We know how it looks when you try to access the site and can't, or it's painfully slow, or we mysteriously pull down Gamecal, or one of the founding members goes MIA. I stand by my previous assertion that a lot of sites wouldn't survive a confluence of bad luck and hurdles, much less come out of it stronger. I think we're going to buck the trend here. I think we're poised now to make a site that will knock people sideways. In other words, it's time to get off this plateau. It's time to grow!

So, ultimately what I want to say here is thanks for sticking with us and being patient through our growing pains. I think we're going to be worth the perseverence. I think the coming months will be our best yet. I think things are about to get really really good.