*** 20th Anniversary of DetroitLionsForum.com ***

[-Deborah-]

If you'll recall, our Forum evolved from the Forums at Freep.com. This was back in the mid-to-late 1990s. When the Freep shut down their forums, we moved to World Crossing. This allowed us to enjoy the same user interface we knew. A few years later, in 2004, World Crossing announced they were ending their free Forum service. They planned to charge each member a fee to post at their site. Figuring that would be the end of our Lions Forum community, I sought out affordable software and hosting and registered DetroitLionsForum.com.

We've been at this "place" now for 20 years!! Many of us have met for games, viewing parties, or just to get together. We've celebrated milestones in each other's lives. And we've grieved together when we lost beloved members. We've argued a LOT -- over football and heavier topics. And some silly topics as well.

Now that the internet has evolved and information is so readily available on other platforms, it can be challenging to keep a conversation going. We are distracted or we are on our phones and unable to type up long responses like we used to. Hitting the Like button is sometimes all we have time for.

But seeing some of the joyous reactions to this terrific season has been heart-warming. This is the best Lions season of my lifetime and I actually have hope that we may string a bunch of successful seasons together for the near future!

Anyway, I changed the logo at the top to mark our 20th Anniversary of the current iteration of the Forum. I am grateful to everyone who is part of this community.

Happy 20th, everyone!! 🎉

[edindetroit]

Wow, twenty years! I've been part of it for 17 years. Thanks for running this and putting up with us knuckleheads Deb.

[-Deborah-]

I moved your post from the Admin thread, Ed. Hope you don't mind.

[-Deborah-]

By the way, what inspired me today was reading this article in the Free Press today ("Go ahead, root for the Lions on their Super Bowl quest — it's good for you, science says")

Interesting tidbit from the article:

A 2021 study out of Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom analyzed data from 790 middle-age and older U.S. adults and concurred with previous academic research on the positive connection between fan affiliation and social well-being. But it found that whether the sports team was a consistent winner made little difference. Counterintuitively, teams that performed poorly in the win-loss department had committed fans who reported better social life satisfaction — perhaps from commiserating on what is wrong with their team.

People define themselves in big part by the things they are attached to, and, for many, that includes their sports team, said Edward Hirt, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University-Bloomington, who has studied the social psychology of sports fandom.

"The true fans don't really like fair-weather fans — they think they are trying to get something and they didn't earn it, whereas we earned it; we suffered," he said.

"For somebody who's a fan of the Lions, who has been waiting 30-plus years for that playoff win, it's feeling pretty damn good. They have stuck with the team through a lot of lean times, and feel like they are owed the chance to relish the team's victory this time, and maybe let that run keep continuing."

[Sanders Fan]

We owe it all to you, Deborah. Thank you for keeping the forum up in an era where forums have been dropping like flies. The kids use Discord now.

I will tell you what. Almost every week without fail, when I go grocery shopping with my wife on Sundays and wear my Lions gear, I will get people who say nice things. I live in New England too. That makes me feel like the Lions are being rooted for by people everywhere and not just in the Midwest. People really like this team. I think it started with MCDC and just percolated everywhere.

[Mainevent]

Yes, 20 years and Deb with 20 straight years as Forum MVP.

[whatever_gong82]

Deb needs to be added to the Pride of the Lions at Ford Field!!

[jaadam4]

Excuse me people. Deb might have her name on the letterhead but without me this place is SODLF (Same Old Detroit Lions Forums). I was MCDC before MCDC existed. You guys all need to add me to your Christmas card mailing lists and tell your grandkids that you knew me / have been beaten by my fantasy football greatness.

The more I think about it I should be Brad Holmes. I need to be an NFL GM. Please feel free to talk about how cool I am.

You're welcome

[kayrone]

wow, that's crazy! Thanks for all you do for this rag-tag band of misfits, boss-woman

[jaadam4]

Yeah Deb's pretty bad ass for this place. I was literally just talking about how long we've all been coming here a few hours ago. Great job Deb.

[jaadam4]

I'm still awesome tho

[Marko69]

Very well done indeed, Deborah. Great stuff and it is indeed a superb forum. Especially during the season with Gameweek, Gameday and GBU threads. Very much appreciated what you do to keep it all going, not just for the Lions but for those psychopaths over on the UofM forums

[CGVT]

Wow, twenty years! I've been part of it for 17 years. Thanks for running this and putting up with us knuckleheads Deb.

17 years?

[Cody_Russell]

Congrats. Fancy new site header.

BTW. Under “What’s Going On”… does anyone notice how it says there’s hundreds of guests? Is there a security concern relating to that or is it a nothingburger? Curious if anyone that specializes in IT/ technology would know… I can’t block cookies if signing onto the forum. Yes, I’m overly paranoid about this type of thing.

[-Deborah-]

I appreciate all of the thanks, but I really didn't start this thread for that. I think we have done something kind of special here and just want to acknowledge it and all of YOU!! I truly appreciate everyone.

[-Deborah-]

Congrats. Fancy new site header.

BTW. Under “What’s Going On”… does anyone notice how it says there’s hundreds of guests? Is there a security concern relating to that or is it a nothingburger? Curious if anyone that specializes in IT/ technology would know… I can’t block cookies if signing onto the forum. Yes, I’m overly paranoid about this type of thing.

Cody, they're spiders from different search engines. I think it's ridiculous how many they send out, but nothing to be alarmed about.