Slipped right past me, but the "Official" web site for Harbour Lights was opened for visitors on August 11, 1998.

We now have around 4,700 registered visitors.

Our logs show between 550-600 unique visitors each day with 3,500-4,000 page hits.


0 :>) St. John of the Internet

And what a fine year it has been, John. Many thanks for all that you do for HL and LH fans everywhere! Looking forward to a great 2nd year.

Dave

Gee, would it be "happy birthday to us"???

Congratulations, John!

And thank you for all you do (I know that's a lot!)

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-Art

Congratulations to John and to Harbour Lights for a great year connected to the internet!!! Thanks also to Paul Brady for his wonderful photographs that grace the pages over at HL.com!

Thanks to everyone for all the hard work!

-Todd

That date will not slip by me too often. Looks like I share the same birthday with the HL web site.

Thank you John and Harbour Lights for providing such a great resource for Harbour Lights collectors.

Allen

"Time flies when you're having fun!"

Just think, in another six weeks or so the reunion of 1998 will be a year old. It seems the older I get, the faster time goes by.

Bob

Thanks to St. John especially and to the other 'Saints' who devote so much time and energy, to LighthouseKeepers.com and to all who participate in these forums. Each person who participates adds to the collection of knowledge, wisdom and experience reflected in these web pages.

Happy Birthday HarbourLights.com! That must be what happened recently to my forum preferences; they expired!
[This message has been edited by LamarB (edited 08-21-99).]

Lessee - if I remember right the first anniversary is 'paper'. Somehow that doesn't seem fitting for the cyberworld - how 'bout 'pixels' instead. :-)

While 8/11 is the first anniversary of the HL-dot-com site as the 'Official' HL site, JC has been doing an HL Web site for several years now. (starting in '96 was it?) Only last year was his work brought under the Harbour Lights corporate wing. What started mostly as a Secondary Market page evolved into an educational venue extraordinaire.

I remember the first time I bumped into John on-line was in '96 (I think) I sent him an E-mail inquiring 'what's this Assateague variation thing?'. He pointed me to the answer contained on an early edition of the HLCIC (Harbour Lights Collectors Information Center) - the site that through John's tireless efforts eventually evolved into HL-dot-com.

Folks, you don't know just how hard this guy has worked to put this little virtual community together - and not, I suspect, at inconsiderable out-of-pocket expense. Starting as a small but hardy band on AOL the on-line HL community has grown to what it is today. The group has grown as the Web has shrunk the geographical distances between us, and JC's Web sites are at the hub of it all.

I personally cannot say enough in the way of Thank You, John - its a real pleasure to know and work with you. Harbour Lights couldn't have a finer Webmaster and the HL collecting community couldn't have a better advocate and friend. Kudos for all you've done and Happy Anniversary. And, to reiterate Todd's remarks, thanks to Pablo for his marvelous photography - there seems to be nowhere he won't go, or nothing he won't try to bring us the great shots we enjoy.

Rgds,
__
/im
[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 08-22-99).]

I agree totally with everything that Tim said about John and his efforts. Plus John is the best person to have as your friend. John Chidester is a good man and that explains a lot about what he has done for others. I first found John on line in 96 when he started his website. I was the guy bothering him every day to fix it so I could go there and not crash my computer. I have a Mac and use Netscape for my browser and something in the combination of his site and my computer didn't jive. He worked and worked until he figured it out and fixed the problem for one Hoosier on a Mac.

A lot of people of the core group who met at the AOL chats on Harbour Lights are Cruise Director's and Saints. I used to e-mail the log of the chats to people and of course I had to mail a copy to Saint Rod who didn't belong to AOL but wanted to keep up with what was being discussed. These are the people who have helped John in his efforts to get the information out to everyone about Harbour Lights as well as lighthouses in general. A lot of really good people have joined in on this adventure along the way and a lot of it has to do with John Chidester's leadership. "Sharing" is what it is all about and John Chidester believes in sharing to the Max.

Pablo says, "Thanks for the nice compliment, Tim!" Tim is one of the people who has shared his wealth of knowledge and talent in building this "virtual community".


Paul L Brady

This for you Bob M, it is sunny, 78 degrees on the West side of Indy and I collect Harbour Lights, it just doesn't get any better than that.

A SPECIAL thanks to John for all the work he has done and to every contributer who has helped to make this, if not the best site on the web at least the most fun site to visit.

"the lightkeeper"

Hey John,

It's come a long way hasn't it.

A special thanks to all the core members who have helped keep the HL site and forums alive growing and extremely interesting.

There's no need to repeat the kudos that everyone is giving you. But, man you have earned them.

With you 'til the end (which I hope and assume will be in the far far future).

The Old Man of the Sea
which thamks to you is now.......
The Ancient Mariner

Thanks! I really enjoy the Collector Forums. Hoping for many more anniversaries.
QC

Happy 1st Anniversary to www.Harbourlights.com. Keep up the great work John

Keep The Light Burning

The Flame

It's only been a year?
That's a WOW!
I know all you oldtimers had the previous forum site but I just discovered HL websites a week before the HL site was created and you converted to this Forum site.
Thanks and Congratulations to John and all the Forum members. I can't believe all the stuff I've learned about LHs and HLs here in a year!

[This message has been edited by rscroope (edited 08-23-99).]

Ya, me too!



...unique is certainly the operative word there.

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-Art

Congrats to St. John and all who contribute.

This "lighthousedude" is glad to be a part of it.

Thanks John - and thanks to everyone who helped along the way.

Kathy

Thanks to John and all the other Forum directors for answering promptly all the newbie questions.

I've learned so much since I discovered the link in February. It is great to know that there are so many knowledgeable & helpful lighthouse people out there!

Donna

Reading Tim's post almost makes me want to cry. 500 or so of us are all newbies, compared to John and his core group, who've made this all possible. Thanks so much!

MOMBO

Congrats St. John. Sure glad you decided to take on this challange. As one of the newer newbies I sure have recieved a great deal of wonderful information and met some great fellow HL junkies as well. Keep up the incredible job.
Dale

Congratulations St. John, on a great year. It's truly obvious that this is a labor of love. I've been surfing for over 3 years now, and HL dot Com is most pleasing, most informative site on the web, bar none. Keep up the good work, we all depend on you!

John thanks so much. You continue to work very hard for HL and in turn for the many people who visit this site.

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Bob



[This message has been edited by Bob St Clair (edited 09-14-99).]

Part of the concerted "save great posts before they sink off the deep end into oblivion" effort.

John, a big thanks from me also! I enjoy reading about my hobby as much as the hobby itself. Before the Forum, I was looking for fixes for my addiction. This forum fixes the fixes.