10th Anniversary!

[webmaster]

Winnipesaukee.com Celebrates 10th Anniversary

I'm pleased to announce that the winnipesaukee.com site is 10 years old! In Internet years that's an eternity. In 1995 most of us had never heard of the Internet and I had no idea where the site would go, if anywhere.

It all started on July 29, 1995 when I registered the name winnipesaukee.com and launched a simple Web page. In early September of 1995 I dropped by the old Seaplane Services dock on Paugus Bay and offered them a free Web page in exchange for a flight around the lake. The resulting pictures were the first feature of the site and are still available today in PhotoPost. Aside from the aerial photos the site had very few features including a very short links list (less than 10 links).

In 1997 I installed the first Forum and it quickly became one of the most popular features of the site. The WeirsCAM was added in 1999 and we are now entering its 7th year of operation with a brand new camera and video. PhotoPost was also a popular addition and now features an astounding collection of over 6500 great pictures of the Lakes Region.

It has certainly been an interesting 10 years. The knowledge I've gained has helped me in many ways and I've made lots of new friends. The site has been featured in many newpapers, magazine articles and TV shows and my pictures have appeared in countless publications. That is all very rewarding and makes all the late nights tending to the site worthwhile.

I don't know what the future will bring but the site is such a part of my life and daily routine that I suspect that I'll be doing this for a very long time. Who knows what the next 10 years will bring.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me nice letters and supported the site in many other ways. I couldn't do it without your support.

Don

[Steve]

Wow, awesome! And congratulations. I know I make it an almost daily stop on the Internet. A great bunch of people and information.

Thanks for all your hard work.

[islandAl]

THANK YOU for making this such a great place to visit. Your site has helped me and provided wonderful information (and entertainment) over the relatively short time I have been a member.
You are deserving of many many thanks and well wishes.

[Orion]

Thanks to the webmaster for the serious efforts put into this site.

I hate to think how many employer work hours are being wasted by people visiting this site to get their daily fix from work (like me now, oops) . And how gratifying it must be for newbies looking for info to come here and get what they need and more. It is truly a forum for people at The Lake to communicate as well as people not at The Lake to "be" at The Lake, if just for a few moments.

The value of this endeavor can not be measured. It is priceless to us all.

Thank You Webmaster,

Orion

[Lin]

Congratulations and thanks Don for inventing this website! I've met some wonderful people through here that share the love of the lake, found great places to eat or a fav boating spot or hike. It's nice to know what's going on and what it looks like when we can't be here either. Great job!!!
thanks again.

[upthesaukee]

In my 2 1/2 years associated with this website, I have seen it grow and prosper in its importance to all who care about, visit, or desire information about Lake Winnipesaukee and its companion area lakes. I marvel at all you (Webmaster Don) have done in your spare time (of which you must have NONE!) and sincerely applaud you for providing all of us with a place to post our pictures, voice our opinions, and share information among all of us. You have given us the opportunity to meet people whom we probably never would have met without this site. As others have said, winnipesaukee.com has become virtually a daily fixture for me and I'm sure many others, and words really aren't adequate to describe what your efforts have meant to me, and I'm sure to many others. Thanks to your family for the sacrifices you all have made so you can do all that you do for this website.


So, Happy Anniversary Winnipesaukee.com, Happy Anniversary Webmaster Don, and sincere wishes for another 10 years at a minimum. May they all be as successful as the past 10 years. Cheers, Don !!!!!

Dave

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Happy Anniversary Don!
The Internet really has come a long way in the last ten years! We are all very lucky that you saw the opportunity to create and build such a special site.
Can you imagine the amount of hours you have put into it? The Forum and PhotoPost has so many wonderful participants. Both are very special communities. Thank you so much for taking valuable time out of your personal life to maintain and upgrade Winnipesaukee.com. Nice job!
Sincerely,
Celia
PS: The new Weirs Cam is just so cool!

[mcdude]

Don: I applaud your efforts and thank you for a job well-done! This site has inspired me to build my own web site, renew my interest in photography and to delve into the history of the lakes region. More importantly, through this site I have made many invaluable new friends. Absolutely amazing where your initiative has led us all! McD

[Skip]

What else can I add to the previous posts of thanks?

Except my own personal gratitude.....

Thanks, Don!

[Rose]

I add my thanks, too. Over the years, I've seen other forums and newsgroups degrade or peter out...this forum and website continue to improve and grow.

Thanks, again, Don.

Rose

[Island Girl]

I am not sure just when I discovered winnipesaukee.com. You had just redesigned the site with the nice logo when I first ventured on.

I quickly became addicted to the forum and my Island Guy and I read and discussed all of the posts for a long time. The forum and photopost saved me in the last two years when I didn't know what I was going to do with myself.

Giving me space to post pictures, and my webcam has given me unbelievable joy. I know I have told you all this in person, but the world should know of your great kindness as well as expertise in keeping this site up and running. Winnipesaukee.com is a family site without the crassness that floods other sites and forums, a place to make new friends... so many I have made.

So many of us communicate daily through this virtual space. We may not always agree, but we all keep coming back for more.

You already know that you just have to let us know and we will help in any way we can.

Happy Birthday, Winnipesaukee.com.... and many more

[KBoater]

Congratulation on 10 years. I have come to appreciate the forum and photopost when I’m away from Winnie. Recently I had been confined to a chair. My laptop became my window to the world and my mental health remedy. Winnipesaukee.com has been a huge part of that. Thank you for all the enjoyment you have given me.

[lakegirl]

Don... Thank you so much for creating such a wonderful place for people to go and enjoy the lake all year round. Your work here has on several occassions left me speechless. Your dedication to this site is remarkable.

I never would have discovered photography if it wasn't for this site. I really can't thank you enough. Keep up the good work and Happy 10th Birthday.

[trfour]

I know that if Webmaster Don has anything to say about it, this website is Golden!! Viewed and anjoyed around this great world everyday!!
I sooo enjoy and am delighted to be a part!

Thank you Captain Don!

Love,
T.

[Outlaw]

Thank you Don.

Happy Anniversary !

[Rinkerfam]

If there's one thing I'm guilty of, it's taking this site for granted. I visit at least once a day and am mostly ignorant of all that goes on behind the scenes. Let me take this opportunity, albeit a little late, to thank Don for everything he does!
Happy B-day Winni.com

[Pepper]

Don, the others have said it so well. This site is Home to so many of us, in so many ways. My deepest heartfelt thanks for providing us with so many venues in which to express ourselves, and especially for the love you have put into this site.

Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!

[ApS]

Ten years?

I may not have even been computer-savvy for ten years. Good going!

Of course, that doesn't mean that recent members (including my next-door neighbors here) can't "go-back" in Winnipesaukee time.

The Olde Forum ("New" to us back then) informs us of Winnipesaukee trends . Try www.winnipesaukee.com/oldforum for a trip back -- and an archive of most of our Webmaster's efforts to keep it topical and family-friendly.

Congratulations.

[SIKSUKR]

Everyone has already said it best.I look forward to reading the forum every morning.I've learned so much lake history from McDude,viewed so many beautifull photos from Island Girl and others,was informed about local happenings from Upthesaukee and Rattlesnake Girl,met new friends like Pepper,sat at the Tiki Bar with SP,even had dissagreements with APR and others,and so on and so on.This place keeps the mind stimulated!!This is one great forum Thanks Don for your hard and very successfull work!!

[GWC...]

Ten years?!

Wow!

Time sure flies when you are having fun.

Thanks for providing an outlet to maintain some degree of sanity, although my sanity may be a subject of debate by some forum members.

Happy 10th anniversary and many more...

[Mee-n-Mac]

Would have thunk it ? Congrats and thanks for a cool place to hang out. Or wait, maybe it's the hot place to hang out ! Yeah, the hot place, that's it. Or maybe it's da fat place to be. Errr .... no wait, fat is what I am, I mean phat, yup that's what it is Keep it going for another 10 and I'll have it figured out by then !

[Wing Nut]

Congratulations, Don, on maintaining the site for us to use. I am a web developer for a major corporation - I know what's involved from the technical side, and you've done a great job even with some of the open source stuff.

But what's really great is that you have created and maintained a site that brings a community of people together and actually forms its own community as a byproduct. Not many sites can boast of such success!

Keep up the great work, Don!

[Just Sold]

Don,

In the short time I have been a member here your site has brought me back to the place I love, Winnipesaukee. This site and the members of it have opened so many forgoten memories for me that I cannot thank you enough for creating and keeing it going for these past 10 years.

Because of your site I have made contact with a number of people with whom I enjoyed many a summer day with in my youth and would have not probibly ever run into anywhere else.

Your site has also introduced me to so many wonderful people here on Winnipesaukee.com via the Forum and PhotoPost. Some of those freindships have expanded beyond the Forum and PhotoPost but, it is this Winnipesauke.com site that is the root that brought those freindships to bloom.

You have made this web site with its wonderful forum, photopost and its many other features a destination for so many even when they cannot be at the lake. Your vision made it all possible.

Words cannot say enough Thanks for your tireless efforts over the last 10 years.

A toast to Winnipesaukee.com and you Don for the next 10 years and beyond.....

THANK YOU DON Z.!

[arthurc]

Congratulations on 10 years of wonderful info, fun, etc. You have done a masterful job

Arthur

[nym3007]

Happy 10 years Don!!!. This has been my home away from the lake. Living here in NYC I only get 3 weeks each summer to see the Beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. I have read this site since about I would say 2002. I have read the forums each day about 2 times per day and sometimes more. I also love the new webcam and the photos that these wonderful members post everyday. I hope that this site stays for many more years to come and once again congrats on 10 years!!

[Lakegeezer]

Hard to believe its been 10 years. Don, great job, and thanks for the effort you have put in to keep the forum useful. You maintain a good balance between an open forum and censorship. There was a tough patch where you had to approve all entries, but the new software with registration seems to have solved that. Hopefully you can make one of the forum fests so we can thank you in person.

[DRH]

This is one of the best web sites I have ever found, and it's the first one I bring up every morning. Many good friendships that would not have otherwise started did because of the Forum, and over the years I've always enjoyed meeting "Forum Folks" and putting faces with screen names. Just think how many of us might never have experienced Waldo Pepper's lobster rolls had it not been for the Forum! (Not to mention that we might never have met the wonderful "Pepper" herself!) Most of us have never attempted to run a web site, least of all one that includes a tremendously popular and active forum, yet we can imagine the time and dedication it must take to do it as well as you do, Don. Congratulations, and we all hope you'll continue the excellent work you've been doing here for the next 10 years!

[RLW]

Originally Posted by DRH

Don. Congratulations, and we all hope you'll continue the excellent work you've been doing here for the next 10 years!

Why the heck stop at 10 years just keep on going. Be like my Dr. when I ask him when he plans on retiring and his asnwer is: "When you see my name in the obituaries is when I plan on retiring".
I believe all the good words have been spoken by all the others, so all I can say, the best to ya and please keep up the great work.
RLW

[Silver Duck]

And, thanks for the many, many hapy hours I've spent on this site!

Silver Duck

[trfour]

That Don has created here, just adds sooo much flavor and is sooo " Fabulous !".. Let us all keep this thread going in thanks to Our Great Captain, Don Z! I think that he is a treasure,... and I have been around the block, a few times!

Love,
T.

[fatlazyless]

Thanks for all the creative genius and long hours that makes this website what it is. There's thousands of websites on the internet but this one is way up at the top of the heap.

[trfour]

Long before I joined as a member of www.winnipesaukee.com , the photos and posters of this Wonderful place and my daughter talked me into getting a computer. I had two learning curves to deal with. Webtv, Old camera. Computer, new camera... Lots of love inbetween!

Today, there is no greater place that I would rather be!

Webmaster Don, has created a monster, and we all love him for it!

Love,
T.