(this is an extended version of a post I made in reply to joy's 'more info needed' thread)

Thank you very much joy, john, duane, doc, jack, bobbi, jinks and robert for your kind offers to help with the cost of this website and for expressing your concerns about the future of the BB.
Julie and I would especially like to thank you, bobbi, for your wonderful gift, which will assure that bravenet continues to be the host for this site for the next year and thank you for being here while we were fighting a couple of nasty bugs that had us taking turns taking care of each other-and four teenagers and one dog.
We are feeling a lot better, we've beaten the bugs and life is back to normal. We went out and had some fun this weekend-though being that we're finally together just about everything we do is wonderful simply because we are together.
If any of you would like to contribute toward the cost of this site I will find out how you can send money to me and/or bravenet thru paypal-Andy set up an account for me, I'll ask him what you have to do to gain access to it...BUT, please don't rush-the hosting is paid up for a year now and I just paid for the forum and the photo album for a month-and I plan to do the same next month and afterward, too. So...things are looking fine for now.

Once again, thank you all so much for your patience, your concern and your wonderful offers.
I know the ads and the popups are aggravating and I will try harder in the future to make sure they aren't a problem ever again.
From the holidays onward it's been a very busy time for me-preparing to come to England, moving here and getting used to my new life here. And I still have to go back to finish wrapping things up in the States, at least for the time being-Julie and I would like to live there, but that's not going to be possible right now.
Doc, I'm sorry your patience was finally worn down. I hope you will still post here, this place wouldn't be the same without you!? I apologize to anyone who was driven to distraction by the ads, the popups and that dumb voiceover ad that kept yapping, agggh! I sincerely hope that it didn't drive anyone away forever.

This place was started out of my love for what we had at the old BB, though sometimes things got crazy there-but when it was good, which was often, it was worth keeping alive and that's what I wanted to do with this site-keep what we had there alive and well here... and contrary to what a few think this place has always been open to all points of view, it's never been a leftwing only or a rightwing only soapbox, though like any public meeting place at times it can sound like one or the other, depending on who's posting what at the time.
Yes, it's true that I tend to lean towards the liberal side of many issues but I have never deleted a post because of it's political slant nor have I ever banned anyone for their political views.

This site has always been the most inclusive 4th ID website on the internet. It's never catered to one side or the other of the political spectrum-you won't find a long list of anti-anything threads here everyday, here there is no official party line, not from the right, the left or the center.
This site has never been about gossiping about and nitpicking at other veterans and their families, either.
Since it's inception the people who post here have done more to help Nam vets and Iraq vets' families than any other private 4th ID website around.
When the 4th ID first went to Iraq there were a handful of Nam vets at the old 4th ID BB who welcomed their families with open arms-even as many other Nam vets tried to chase them away-most of those Nam vets who's first impulse was to help have been a part of this site since it began.

If I sound a bit defensive, so be it-I do care about this place and the people who have made it so special-I love this place.
My absences have not been due to a 'lack of interest' in this site or the people who post here. There have been some very good reasons for my absences-one was a profoundly sad event that hit me harder than anything ever and all but knocked out years of the gains I'd made against PTSD and it's spinoffs...the other has been a profoundly happy change in my life that has brought me back to life and helped me regain what I lost and then some. Thank you, Julie!!!!

I've missed this place, or more to the point, I've missed all of you and the fun we've had here. Thank you all for making this place what it is...and what it isn't!
Thank you to everyone who helped me make it through the worst of times...now is the best of times.

~bob and julie

i am so glad you are back here my baby, i missed reading your posts and reply's to other people's posts.
youre very welcome too my darling and thank you too for making me so very happy

ilusdm bob

hiya, bobionekenobi. i am glad to see you here. it was strange not seeing you here for a while. it was like watching a wendy's commercial without dave thomas in it.

-bobbi