1000 Forum members

As Arctic sea ice declines, more and more people learn about it and want to know more. It explains the relative success of this blog ever since its inception in 2010. The spectacular, iconic image of Arctic sea ice loss, as well as the realization of its potential consequences, automatically leads one to think about AGW in general, and the economic system and culture causing it.

Increasing traffic to the blog inevitably led to noise in comment threads, decreasing the focus on Arctic sea ice. And thus, in February 2013, with the help of early commenter Fred (who also inspired me to set up the Arctic Sea Ice Graphs website ), I decided to set up the Arctic Sea Ice Forum where commenters could start discussions on every issue related to Arctic sea ice.

Now, three and a half years, more than 1400 topics, almost 85 thousand comments and over 30 million page views later, the 1000th member registered to the Forum yesterday! I had expected the forum would soon become viable, but never thought so many people would take the time and make the effort to register, read and contribute.

With separate categories on everything related to the Cryosphere (Arctic sea ice, Greenland, Antarctica, glaciers) and AGW in general (science, weather events, politics, renewable energy, individual action) an amazing amount of info, knowledge and thought has been collected by the community. People watching Greenland glaciers, others creating their own graphs and maps to track Arctic sea ice, yet others posting links to news articles on renewable and sustainable technologies. The list goes on and the forum is still growing steadily. It gives me hope that together we may be able to overcome all hurdles and solve the predicament we're in.

Thank you, everyone! 

Comments

[Protege Cuajimalpa]

Congratulations Neven! And thank you and all, for all this work!

[Seaice_de]

Thanks, Neven, for keeping the website alive!

[NeilT]

Neven, there can be all the power and momentum in the world. But without focus and direction it is worthless and works against itself.

Thank you very much for doing this and giving us a place to talk and share.

[D]

Thank you, Neven, for making it work. Are donations continuing to cover the costs of running it? Obviously, it is a labor of love but bandwidth and servers aren't free.

-Fish

[ljgeoff]

Yep, your site is my first stop in the morning -- to read comments and then head over to see new posts on the forum. Thank you, and what D said; let us know if you need anything to cover costs.

[Neven]

Thanks, Fish and Geoff. I received some very large donations last year, which were a huge help (as I'm still building my house etc). If it wouldn't have been for those donations I wouldn't have been able to juggle all the balls (work-build-blog-live).

This year there have been fewer donations, but maybe that's for the best as I'm considering going on a sabbatical after this melting season, and I'd feel guilty if I received too many donations.

Like Neil says: There can be all the power and momentum in the world. Without focus and direction it is worthless and works against itself.

Thanks for those resonating words, Neil.

[John Christensen]

Thank you as well from me Neven - it is such an invaluable contribution that you are providing with the forum and this blog!

[D]

Neven, I can see why you would want to take a break since this isn't your full time job. The blog can hibernate all winter but what happens to the forum? We have a wonderful combination of wizards, elves and hobbits working their magic on the forum but as soon as you go the trolls will show up.

-Fish

[Neven]

I would keep an eye and remain active on the Forum, of course.

[FredT_2]

Hi Neven,

(I had somehow lost my previous credentials, so I created a new_2 one to come back and join the concert of congratulations.)

This forum and community are here because your wonderful posts attracted so many people, anxious to know what's happening up there in the Arctic, willing to know more. Long life / lang leve to this blog, to the Forum and their readers / actors, and to the Arctic!

-- Fred