I am proud to be part of a particular small web community.

For their privacy, I will not say which, nor how to find it,
but I do want to take this space to say
it is the sweetest, most supportive online space I have ever encountered,
anywhere, in any period of this digital era,
for as long as I have been alive to partake in it.

The community in question is cherubic in character
in a manner most remarkable for the internet:
profoundly caring, almost completely free of hate or toxicity,
and sincere in every encouragement and reassurance it provides.
Without the stalwart companionship of its members,
I cannot even begin to imagine where I would be. Probably dead.
Certainly not spearheading a one-person game development studio
in the thick of developing a 3D slope-runner platformer
with all-original assets.

While my relationship with any one such member is not all that strong,
I consider their collective a closer friend
than almost anyone I have ever known in real life,
after none but my late mother, my uncle,
and the taekwondo master who instructed me
through my childhood and teenage years.

I owe every single member, each by virtue of their membership,
immense gratitude, from the bottom of my heart.