It's a hazy memory now, but I recall that some time in 2001 or early 2002, I searched the internet for Halo "cheat codes", "glitches", and "tips and tricks". My Altavista search (I was definitely no Yahooligan) turned up HBO's "Tips and Tricks" page. A few Warthog Launch and "Blood Gulch Vehicle Collection" QuickTime .mov's later and I was hooked. I started visiting this site religiously, consuming everything Halo. Having been released in a world before online multiplayer, Halo was a game where we had to create our own fun beyond the bounds of the product in our hands. Outside of the occasional LAN with friends in my neighbourhood, I spent most of my time replaying the Solo Campaign. I tried and failed many times to perform the "AotCR fall" or to jam my Warthog into the door on the Silent Cartographer. To this day, I have only successfully performed the "Keyes Bump" once.

Later, I started delving into the "lore" and both devising and reading up on fan theories. Cortana was definitely up to no good.

Then Halo 2 was announced. The chief jumped out of a damned space station. From that point onward, I embarked on a several year long journey of consuming every scanned magazine, forum rumour and vague press release. I started imagining what amazing things the next Halo game could give us... and then I began posting those ideas on the internet.

I will never know exactly what my first "internet post" was. But whatever it was, it won't top my first post on the HBO forums. After consuming every square inch of print in OXM Mag's April 2003 sneak preview on Halo 2, I came to a clearly startling realization: Bungie had read something I posted not 3 weeks earlier, implemented it into their game and then released that information to OXM! They stole my idea!

That was not an "ironic" post. I meant every word. While I never did provide anyone with the "[PrintScreen]", I did immediately get flamed by Shishka. Welcome to HBO.

I'll fast forward 16 years.

Several thousand posts later, I can look back and realize that my life online—prominently featuring HBO—has made me who I am today. Today, I'm a lawyer. More specifically a litigation lawyer. Yes, I argue for a living; both in writing and in person. Many of you would not be shocked. It is no coincidence, considering I spent my youth "debating" in "megathreads" on HBO. Whether I was fighting about whether "BXR is a bannable offence" to generally discussing philosophy and morality on IBO (or HomeLan), I cut my teeth on logical reasoning in this community.

But this place gave me more than the chops to make a living. It was a strange thing in the early 2000s to "make friends online". For the first, maybe decade, I told no one about my "online friends". My family and friends had no clue who I was speaking with over that Xbox Live headset, or who I was "chatting with" on the computer. At the time, I had felt that no one would really understand that I could truly make a connection with other people through a computer.

Times have certainly changed.

I made many lifelong friends here. I may not see or speak with them every day (frankly, only a select few have actually met me in person), but I like to think that if we were dropped into a room (or connected by a headset), in a moment, we would immediately fall back into old routines.

To all of you, who are too many to name. Thank you for being there. The forums here may have gone from a roar to a dull whisper, but I think we all carry this place around with us in a special part of our heart.

As for the one who connected us all, I must name you personally: Thanks Claude. You were our collective "internet dad". You were the Guardian of this community and the fact it could exist and remain such a long-lasting positive space for so many of us is a testament to your dedication and character.

-Shaun