Artemis Fowl FanGathering

"thankful for all the years we got, the memories made, and most of all that we never did get that Artemis Fowl movie we have been discussing for at least seventeen years. Imagine if Disney ruined it, after all that time spent waiting! Glad we got spared that."
- Meova

"I made lifelong friendships here - K12 and I even met up IRL! I'm friends with so many of you on Facebook and Instagram, and keep track of your lives. My "big brothers and sisters" here helped to kindle my love for writing and helped me to hone my craft. You helped me to grow as a person, to learn how to debate, and gave me a sense of community when the other kids involved in my day-to-day activities were often mean to me. I remember fondly the days when logging on to FG to chat with my friends would be the bright spot of my day. "
- HollyShort9

"Wow, has FG been a huge part of my life! I grew up in the middle of nowhere in a place where people hated to read, so for so much of my teenage years, you all were such good friends to me! I remember being so excited to share with you all when I left school and started university, then I graduated, then I got a job in my field on a short term contract, then I got made permanent, and now I've been here for 5 years. The whole time FG was there for me like a second home. "
- Cabaline

"this is such sad news but i completely understand why it has to happen. this site was my first experience with fandom and the internet in general, and i have such fond, foundational memories of this place. thanks for keeping the lights on for this long! i'll never forget my time here :)"
- lackingimagination

"it's been a wonderful and safe place for all of us as kids and teens exploring the internet, creating international friendships and seeing several age/friend groups grow up and eventually fly out, but always having had this spot to return to and indeed get a little smile. Thank you for keeping the lights on for so long! And thank everyone for making this such a lovely community!"
- Iris

"If I had never stumbled upon this site back in 2011 - my life would be completely different. This was not just my first place to embrace writing, but it opened the door to my art and graphic design/web design. Without the positive exposure you guys had on me - the interests I have now would have never grown and blossomed into what they are today. Heck, I'm finishing my bachelors degree this semester to add to my music degree. Finishing goals I've talked about years ago, here! I guess it's sure to say we're finally all grown now huh. <3 "
- Amber Root

"I just wanted to express my gratitude to Michael, and to all of you, for this wonderful community that's defined so much of my life and has made me so many lovely friends. I currently moderate a number of communities and am often asked how I'm so good at moderating and administrating them, and I always cite this place as a big place where I picked up those skills."
- p5ychic

"You guys have really helped me through some tough times, both when I was a teenager on here ranting and talking my heart out, and as a young adult returning to reminisce. It's strange to think that it's kind of the end of an era for all of us. I think many other of the slightly younger members on here might be of the same experience, Fangathering truly was my first encounter with fandom and fan spaces in general, and honestly nothing has ever compared since. You just can't get this degree of community anymore. I'll forever treasure the time I spent here - with the people who stayed and the people who left."
- Josephine Fowl

"I think for me, this place was a bit like Neverland, I could come and have happy thoughts, didn't have to think about the real world and all its troubles. I'm grateful for all the times shared and I'm so proud of everyone for how they've evolved."
- artymon I\/

"It was my first experience with fandom and was such a fun and safe place to grow up online and I am very grateful for that. It completely shaped my online presence, I still use the username I created for this site for my fandom accounts and still use the nickname you guys gave me as my name online."
- AFrules12

"nooooo D: i mean i understand but im sad. it's super sad. iris and i have been here on a nearly daily basis for years :( i still use DMs to write my trash romance light novel before i publish it. very sad turn of events but it makes sense. but still sad"
- Felina

"I've thought a lot about what to say here over the past few weeks, but I don't think there's much left that others haven't already said. Thank you all for an absolute unicorn of a website. Thanks for letting me be a part of keeping things running, and thanks Michael for keeping the lights on for so long"
- Battery

"I have too many memories of this place, laughing at our characters in RPs, at how witty people here could be - and learning from discussions on the forums, about other people, countries and cultures... In the meantime I've lived across the world, and visited almost every continent, but this was my little window in the people scattered across the world who cared about the same kind of fiction as I did. If I could put into words the feeling of the 2AM sleepy high-schooler me reading and smiling on this forum, that is what I would put."
- /b/

When asking how we should immortalize our memories here, one forum post was referenced more than any other. What began as a simple way to drop a random thought while counting after the person before you took on a life unlike any other in the forum.

I was shocked when we got to 1000, nevermind 40,000! And then carried on 1000s more past that. The post by /b/, recreated in full below, captures the essence perfectly. Though we'll never get to that magical [Secret???] target now, I know we sure would have if time allowed. 😆

---

And so it ends, not with a bang, but with

40.000

40k

40 thousand thoughts, or thoughtless clicks sometimes I'd admit, all in one place!

Last time I came back to hit the big 20k, was in 2011, three years after 2008 when I first came to this website. When I came here I was 17 and in the mood to troll people (as can be seen by my nickname coming from the trollest place of a troll website already). But after being around here I really fell in love with the place. I should be careful saying place - it's the people that made it (although the calming blue and the anime Artemis do tie the place together nicely!). In the years I've spent here, I've grown so much with the people that were here that in the end, I ended up being a better human being for having come here. And I'd like to believe I affected the place nicely - the :awesome: smiley is a remnant of the times I was here, and becoming a moderator and fixing a problem with spam bot attacks at one point come to mind.

But throughout those roleplays we did, the games we played, the movies we discussed, we grew together. We built on top of each other. We developed feelings, for the world, for each others' cultures, and for each other.

And after leaving this place I kept growing - I moved to a new country, I got a job, I changed careers completely, I got married recently, and I am planning children of my own in the future. But some new people were here, reading Artemis Fowl, finding friendships, learning about each other, and growing into their better selves.

And through it all, the clock kept ticking. Not the clock of time - but the clock of the Count. THE Count. The count to 40k!

A monument built through each one of us donating a second of our time to share in a monumental task. Memories, laughter, sadness, memes, and most importantly, palindromes and math gags from time to time - that's what the Count is made of. Like seeing a stone step in a church door, smooth from all the steps made on it, makes you wonder how many people went over it in order to chip away at something as sturdy as stone, so too does a thread with 2667 pages make you wonder - what had to happen for this to happen. What happened to the people who started it? Who are the people who are using it now?

But much like a church is the people in it bound together by an idea - so too are all the counters at this originally 20k project just people bound together by the love of Eoin Colfer's books. We started humbly, building to 1k, counting down to 0, and then starting the real deal, counting to 20k. 20k was arbitrarily chosen, as a number that is high, yet reachable. All our goals should be like this! 40k felt like the natural progression, the higher goal, double the amount!

Yet, for the next step, perhaps the crowning step, perhaps just another level in the foundation, a simple doubling will not do. Counting down back to 0 will not do. No, we need a symbol. A goal!

So here it is:

80318

Why this number?

Well, if you go to Eoin Colfer's Wikipedia page, you will find that he was quite a prolific writer not only of books but also of all sorts of art. In fact, if you add all of the years of the publishing of all of his works (excluding the ones that are not published yet, just announced), you will end up with a number that is really close to doubling of 40k - but just a bit more than that!

What a goal that is, to build a tower representing what brings us together, to contribute ourselves to a tribute to change and permanence at the same time, pillared around what brings us together. Why, that's a goal that I'd be willing to strive for :)

And so it begins, not with a bang, but with

40.000!

And remember:

Finally, as the person showing up day after day more than anyone else in our final years, it's only fitting artymon I\/ has the final word: