IT'S 15 YEARS AGO... HAS IT MATTERED TO YOU?
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 3:54 pm
15 years ago Ash & I began what would become the initial CH website in September of the same year. It seems like 115 years ago and for those of you who've been with us since the beginning you know how huge CH is now compared to what we were then. We had a freeserver website that was a handful of pages and informational-only. It was the birth of the Encyclopedia which became its own, standalone resource a few years later. The first Forum opened on a different free-forum site, then moved to Invisiboard, and then finally came here in 2008 (I shudder to tell you the man hours it took the mods to move the old forum posts here).
We opened the Marketplace in 2006 so Keepers and Collectors could trade and sell to each other. After the collapse of eBay it became a refuge for many sellers until they could get back on their feet with their own site or moving to other sites like Etsy or Bonanza. After the collapse of Etsy the Marketplace again became a refuge for sellers who didn't have an alternative right away.
Now, of course, we have many community-minded tools and places for everyone:
- Marketplace
- Forum (here)
- Encyclopdia
- Paranormal News Network
- ParaEcho
- Nabu
It seems so strange because when we first came on the internet there was nothing about this path on the internet. There was plenty of material when it came to the paranormal and supernatural, or even haunted objects, but there was a void of any information related to what is now known as "spirit keeping". We took a lot of grief in our early years, we went through 2 Witch Wars related to sellers on eBay, and have continued to be the big, blazing target for any negativity and nay-saying for newcomer sellers on the scene even today. It seems the way to cut your teeth in becoming a seller is to badmouth CH. The list of ridiculous accusations are enough to spawn the world's biggest eye roll with accompanying exhale that could move mountains.
Ash & I started this, devoted our lives to it, and continue to revel and enjoy the passion we have for working with spirits, magick, and the paranormal every day because it's what we love, it's what we do, and we'd be doing it whether we had this website or not. We love the community atmosphere, we love the notes people leave us or write to us in HD because it invigorates us to strive to make you all proud to be a part of not only our community but the whole Spirit Keeping community. After 15 years we're reflective and we wondered if CH never existed, if we never started this 15 years ago, what would it be like today?
What about you? Has the presence of CH mattered to you? If so, in what way? Feel free to make it as long or short as you like. Ash & I have enjoyed being reflective after all this time and it's been enriching
We opened the Marketplace in 2006 so Keepers and Collectors could trade and sell to each other. After the collapse of eBay it became a refuge for many sellers until they could get back on their feet with their own site or moving to other sites like Etsy or Bonanza. After the collapse of Etsy the Marketplace again became a refuge for sellers who didn't have an alternative right away.
Now, of course, we have many community-minded tools and places for everyone:
- Marketplace
- Forum (here)
- Encyclopdia
- Paranormal News Network
- ParaEcho
- Nabu
It seems so strange because when we first came on the internet there was nothing about this path on the internet. There was plenty of material when it came to the paranormal and supernatural, or even haunted objects, but there was a void of any information related to what is now known as "spirit keeping". We took a lot of grief in our early years, we went through 2 Witch Wars related to sellers on eBay, and have continued to be the big, blazing target for any negativity and nay-saying for newcomer sellers on the scene even today. It seems the way to cut your teeth in becoming a seller is to badmouth CH. The list of ridiculous accusations are enough to spawn the world's biggest eye roll with accompanying exhale that could move mountains.
Ash & I started this, devoted our lives to it, and continue to revel and enjoy the passion we have for working with spirits, magick, and the paranormal every day because it's what we love, it's what we do, and we'd be doing it whether we had this website or not. We love the community atmosphere, we love the notes people leave us or write to us in HD because it invigorates us to strive to make you all proud to be a part of not only our community but the whole Spirit Keeping community. After 15 years we're reflective and we wondered if CH never existed, if we never started this 15 years ago, what would it be like today?
What about you? Has the presence of CH mattered to you? If so, in what way? Feel free to make it as long or short as you like. Ash & I have enjoyed being reflective after all this time and it's been enriching