Ten years. I can still remember when Chuck started this stuff on YouTube and the links would get posted on SDN. Actually, IIRC he still posted on SDN at the time. And while I never interacted with him very much, he was one of the better known posters on alt.startrek.vs.starwars back in the day, and like many ASVSers made the leap to SDN when Mike Wong picked up the free version of phpBB.
For the record, I was, and still am, a poster at the Spacebattles web site forums, and we had a...
complicated relationship with ASVS and SDN. Given that whole "invasion" thing back in 2000.
(That I've also been a mod and, briefly, a Senator on SDN shows how that hatchet eventually got buried.)
Anyway, I bring this up because I actually feel disappointed in myself for not talking to Chuck back in the day, because his work, and seeing what kind of person he is through said work, has been a true blessing in my life. He has given voice to thoughts and concepts, expectations, that I never knew I felt or had until he made me think about it. I have taken his credo on creating fictional material - that what you write should entertain, inform, or inspire - to heart. His emphasis on tolerance when, for years, people seem to have been letting tolerance fall by the wayside, is an inspiration, and stem from an optimistic view of humanity that I share. Not blind to our faults, not ignorant to how far we can sink, but understanding how we can be so much better than we sometimes are and encouraging people to reach for those heights.
If you think I'm gushing too much, or sucking up in some way, or if you think I'm spot on... that's just fine by me. We are, after all, just viewers with an opinion.
To sum this up: Chuck, thank you for these ten wonderful years in which you have entertained, informed, and inspired me. I look forward to ten more.
(Heh, we'll need them if he's ever to get to Legend of Korra's finale
).