JoeBattlelines Turns 11 Years Old!

JoeBattlelines birthday

 

Today is JoeBattlelines.com’s 11th anniversary of going online!

It was 11 years ago today that the domain “JoeBattlelines” was registered with Network Solutions and that Sgt.Savage.com officially changed hands.  Who knew that a simple offer of help with a website would result in over a decade of being a website admin?  In internet terms, eleven years makes both me and this site practically a fossil!

It was back in 2003 that I reached out to Brian “Savage” Peterson, owner of SgtSavage.com to ask if he could use any help with the website.  The reply I got back wasn’t at all what I expected– he apparently was familiar with my work at the now-defunct RingofCollectors.com and told me that I had 24 hours to come up with a domain name because he was turning the keys of the site over to me.  What followed was a hasty brainstorming session with my friend Thad and the result was “JoeBattlelines.com”.  To this day I don’t remember who came up with the name or why– I just remember that this was the best option we had.  (Back in the day you couldn’t use “G.I. Joe” or any Hasbro copyrighted term in your site name w/o express permission.)

It was a real learning curve experience for me.  I’d only helped create content for websites before but any experience that I had in managing the “behind the scenes” technical aspects of a site was entirely self-taught.  Heck, JBL’s oldest archived design was created by Brian Savage Peterson!

I won’t lie to you– the site isn’t nearly as prominent as it once was.  Part of this is due to the shifting patterns of the fandom, first toward newer website and then to Facebook groups.  There was also a period of burnout that hit this particular site admin starting around November of 2008 which lasted for a few years.  In that time, the site languished as only a ship without a rudder can.  It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I decided to blow the cobwebs off and re-stoke the boilers to build up some steam around here.

If you’re reading this, thanks for sticking with the site.  Thanks for following the topics in the forums, the event coverage, and the rambling reviews of a guy who discovered G.I. Joe back in 1982 and who never lost that love of those Real American Heroes.  Thanks for putting up with an update schedule that can only be described as “inconsistent” at best.  JBL has never been the biggest site, nor has it been the most talked about, or the most promoted, but it’s been here for far longer than I’d ever envisioned and it’ll be around as long as I’m able to keep the lights on.