Thanks Mike

WhyPhilWhy? · Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2002 7:22 am

As many of you regulars will know, we almost lost this bulletin board at the start of the year. Looking back over the 2002, a season that I suspect not even the most optimistic of you really believe would end in an appearance on that one day in Septmeber, what would we have done without Nicks?

Mike asked for help, and in the tradition of our great club, a group of us volunteered to assist with the moderating. Having undertaken that "privilege" a number of times this year, I can only marvel at the resiliance that it must have taken to do it on your own. But as I say, Collingwood is about being a member of a team and standing by your mates. Its really been a small sacrifice to make.

That's not to underestimate that role that Mike is still required to undertake. He still own's the keys and undertakes the administrative, behind the scenes activities that can be so frustrating that only a 'sys admin' can truly understand.

And yes, there are other excellent fan sites, but none that have the same atmosphere as Nick's. When other's get overly boisterous, or a bit too blokey, we know that we can usually rely on Nick's (I said usually) to be an island of calm, where you can post your thoughts on the Pies fear or favour. Yes, we argue on Nick's, but generally (I said generally) without fear of personal attack.

Thanks Mike - along with our magnificent team and coaching staff, you illustrate what being a memeber of the Magpie Army is all about.

Floreat Pica

"I am disrespectful to scum! Can you see I am serious!"

CQ · ambitious that Joined: 25 Jul 2000 Location: melb

yeah agreed whyphilwhy!
i dunno how u did it on ur own mike!

good onya!

TARKO TARKO MAN!
I WANT TO BE A TARKO MAN!

@shLicuria · Joined: 12 Jul 2001 Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia

yuuuuup. mike is a CHAAAMPION!
lv ya mikey!

lv frm me who lvs paul

Tyson Lane Forever
and A Day.
I miss you tubs.

WhyPhilWhy? · Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2002 8:55 am

Mike,

It was most remiss of me not to thank your partner as well. Only our families know what its like to live with a Pies supporter, and this season has been a roller coaster.

Please tell your special someone that we also appreciate the sacrifices made to allow you to support Nick's, and therefore us as well.

"I am disrespectful to scum! Can you see I am serious!"

molloymagic · Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2002 9:42 am

Imagine who I heard on ABC radio here in Tassie yesterday talking about the grand final but Mike. The announcer even gave a plug for this great website. I thought how cool is this to hear this site mentioned on the radio.

Great to hear you on the radio Mike. Did you have to wake up early to do it(as it was a morning talkback kind of show). I laughed when this lions supporters phone was playing up and they had to cut short his chat.

GO THE PIES!!!!!!!!!.

Jarrod Molloy RULES!!!!
*2002 Joint V.C*

Kristin5 · Fiery Redhead Joined: 19 Apr 2001

My thanks too, Mike. I'm sure none of us know just how much time you STILL devote to the maintenance of this site...I realise us moderators were supposed to take a fair amount of the load off, but sometimes I wonder if we've really been of any assistance at all. It seems to me that you still spend a lot of time here - so I just want you to know that your hard work is appreciated by all of us.

"I'm sure people see me as a screaming redhead with a big pair of boobs, but I like to think I've got things to say." Geri Halliwell, former member of the Spice Girls

Danzy Rocks!!! · Joined: 12 May 2001

Thanks heaps for keeping this site going Mike. You put so much of your own time and effort into Nick's, when you don't have to.... Mike you're a champ!

DANNY FANS UNITE!

www.geocities.com/danzy_rocks30

Mike · Joined: 20 Sep 1996 Location: Lilydale, Tas.

Thanks everyone and thanks for the topic WhyPhilWhy.

It really is a labour of love; I realised that when I tried to pull the pin on this site for the second time at the beginning of this year. Both times, I'd run out of money and energy and needed to stop, but both times, when it came to the crunch, I couldn't do it.

The first time I just bit the bullet and ploughed on, but then, when it happened again and I realised (again) that it was going to be just as hard to stop as it was to keep going, it finally dawned on me that unless I did something to rectify the underlying problem then it was going to keep happening.

So I asked for help and the response was overwhelming.

Kristin is right. I do spend just as much time on the site now as I did before, but there is a big difference. I can now take a week or two off if I need to, even during the season, and know that the BB will still be moderated, the scoreboard will still run, the site will still function. I couldn't do that before and I can't describe how much difference it makes - even if I don't take that time off.

Nick has been a casualty in all of this. Most of you here don't even know him now because he stopped running his site when I tried to pull the pin the first time. We had a very limited amount of money and I had to make a choice and in an effort to make the money I was spending on Collingwood do the most good for the Club I stopped buying memberships for Nick and I. We are in Tassie, rarely get to Melbourne to see the footy and all our memberships were doing was boosting the numbers by two. I figured that the money spent on this site did a lot more good for the Club than our two memberships so I stopped paying for them. This site had kept us all going through those dark times in the second half of the 90s and there weren't many alternatives then so the site was probably more important then than it is now. If we stopped now it wouldn't be missed for very long - it would have been then. But Nick had always been a member of some sort and it hurt him to give that up, so he gave the whole thing away and buried himself in his music. He's still there.

It will always be Nick's and he'll be back one day.

You're right WhyPhilWhy, Deborah needs to be remembered in all of this too. Although she's a pie, she's not a football fanatic, so she's had to be very understanding. We've had our moments in all of this, but have come through it much stronger.

After all it's a case of love me love my family, so she hasn't had much of a choice

...Deborah just read this and said "That's right, most blokes have a mother, you have the ****ing magpies" (she did say it fondly though).

cobood · Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2002 6:09 pm

Top thread Whyphilwhy.... and you have expressed my sentiments exactly...

Mike thank you soooooooooo very much for everything.... for this site.... for allowing us to share our trials and tribulations with fellow magpie fanatics by keeping it opened...

This has been trully an amazing year all around.... and we all look forward to many more years of Nick's Board and Magpie Supremacy.....

Many thanks also to Deborah for sharing Mike with us...

Long Live Nick's Bulletin Board.....

BE LOUD...BE PROUD
(September.... we WERE there)

[This message has been edited by cobood (edited 02 October 2002).]

Millane42 · Joined: 18 Aug 2000 Location: Sydney

well said frankie!

"Grinners are Winners.."

stik35 · Joined: 22 May 2001 Location: VIC

Yes thank you Mike,
This is a place I come to visit every day.
I would be lost without it. Especially between seasons.
If only my partner were as understanding as yours.
Julee

If you bleed black and white you'll never walk alone.

Brown26 · Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2002 1:53 pm

Ho wmuch time does Mike spend on this? Well, I'm a night owl usually, and he seems to out last me a fair bit of the time, 3am, 4am, 5.... DO YOU SLEEP AT ALL!!??

lol, tahnks Mike, never underestimate the contribution you make to so many of us, and tha club!

- Ben

Pies for Premiers 2002, 3, 4, 5, 6....

Donny · Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2002 5:48 pm

Yeah, thanks to Mike for all the hard yakka.

I first found Nick's some years ago, not sure when but Nick was quite young. Shortly after, I couldn't afford to keep the net and pay TV as well so the net went.

A few months ago I took up a few different 'free first month' offers. The first site I visited was Nick's. I was pleased to find it still existed and was bigger and better than before. I have had such fun and made many cybermagpiemates in the process.

The scoreboard chat room is a real life saver for this Magfan and provides a way for me to enjoy the games with fellow one-eyed's and to feel part of the great Magpie Army.

Thanks to all who help Mike on this site and all who send/sent me emails especially Tara, Sheree, Joffa, Mike, Clokey, Rach, Lisey, Craig and CarlaBux. And thanks for BB messages from Tara, Craig, Di the Pie, Pam and Pattie.

Donny

GO THE MIGHTY WOODSMEN !! ALL THE WAY IN 2003 AND BEYOND !!!!

Clemo · clemo Joined: 24 Mar 1998 Location: Mentone

Mike - as always, working for the CAUSE. What would we do without this institution? Yep, that's what it is !

_____________________
Collingwood Forever !
clemo@magpies.net
http://members.dodo.net.au/~clemo

PieClive · Joined: 12 Jul 2002 Location: Canberra

Just want to add my two bobs worth.

I don't post much here but am a regular visitor to read peoples' thoughts relating to the Great Club.

Congratulations on a great site - please keep it running.

GO PIES 2003 !!!!!