Well, I guess I'd like to start off by saying one very deep and heartfelt "Thank You". Those words don't really do it justice, but they will have to do (slipping in a better-suited foreign phrase would just seem tacky, even to me
![:)](https://forum.malazanempire.com/public/style_emoticons/Malazan/p.gif)
). Thank you, Hazel, and Bill, for the years of hard work you've put into this place. You picked it up in something of a state, and expended an unreasonable amount of time and money on it to get it to where it is today: one of the best fan-forums on the internet. You've definitely gone "above and beyond" what anyone could have expected of you, and living up to that is going to be, to say the least, bloody tough. If it wasn't for this place, I wouldn't have met dozens of excellent people, not least of which I count the both of you. You've done a brilliant job with this place, and the BBQs are epic. So, thank you!
To everyone else: with any luck, little will change in your experience of the forum. If anything, there should be
less downtime, and faster recoveries if/when the site does crash. We will be conduct the move as soon as possible, exact dates will be announced once we've coordinated them with our new host, who is doing me a considerable personal favour in his offer to host us. As Hetan has said, you guys are (generally
![:p](https://forum.malazanempire.com/public/style_emoticons/Malazan/p.gif)
) excellent, and I'd like to hope that even though our home is changing, you lot won't change at all, despite my ascension to the pinnacle of this Benevolent Tyranny over the Scary Mob.
Obviously with the site moving to my ownership, so does the responsibility for meeting what costs we have. That is, things like the forum license, the domain registration, so on and so forth. While these costs should be down compared to what they were in the past, they are still not insignificant. The other admins and I will pull together to pay what is needed, but - with no pressure or obligations, though that shouldn't be needed to be said - we would like to remind everyone that there is 1) a paypal donate button on the front page and 2) purchases through the Amazon links give us a small cut. If possible, and you feel like it, please give back to the site through these methods, and help us fund its continued excellence.
Finally, I'd like to express my appreciation for the rest of the Admin team: Abyss(great feline overlord, Winner of Rep Wars small and large), Anomander, Bubba, Cougar, Grief, Imperial Historian, the oft-neglected IPB3account (don't discriminate just because he's not a real person), and RodeoRanch (the Pants-less).
Similarly, a huge thank-you to those forum members who do extra little bits and pieces around the place which would otherwise fall into our "to-do" pile (which is Of Doom, btw).
And of course, a huge thanks to 'Xae' - he's our new host and is facilitating the shift for us too. It's massively appreciated!
Hmmm...I think I might have overdone that a bit. Ah well. I'm the new King, I can do that.
P.S. The thread is now open for replies.