#1: Valerie Mates (valerie) on Mar 24, 2024

In puzzle 38393, Jota asked, "Who of the active players have been here the longest?"

I wrote a quick program to answer it.

The first question is: What is an active player? For this program, I defined "active players" as "anybody who has logged in in 2024."

The site doesn't keep records of when people created their account, and anyway you can solve puzzles for years without ever creating an account, so there is no info in the database that tells us when anybody first found the site. So, as a best approximation, I looked up the date when a person first posted a comment and the date when the person first created a puzzle, and sorted the list of "People who have logged in in 2024" by when each person entered their earliest comment or puzzle.

Interestingly, there are 875 users who have logged on this year, but only about 444 of them have ever posted a comment or a puzzle.

This is what the program came up with. The bumps on 1/1/2014 and 1/1/2015 were caused by restoring the database crash, because all puzzles posted during the crash are dated January 1st of the year when they were posted, and the comments from during the database crash are lost.

I am always amazed by how long people have stuck around here!


So! Here is the list of all users who have logged on in 2024, who have ever posted a comment or a puzzle, sorted by the date of their first comment or puzzle:


2004:
2004-03-24: Valerie Mates (valerie)
2004-10-27: clay deardorff (clayd531)

2005:
2005-07-12: Kelsey (kelsey)
2005-10-08: Jay Bee (jaybee)
2005-12-20: Leigh Cousins (pog)

2006:
2006-02-17: Linda Lee Martin (DOGMOM)
2006-03-06: Tara Pibel (tarap56)
2006-05-17: Norma Dee (norm0908)
2006-07-27: Kris (Aphrodite0385)
2006-10-15: Gitte Olesen (granny40)

2007:
2007-01-01: Robin Closs (clossr)
2007-01-31: Lucilla Schiaffino (guspilla)
2007-03-20: Zapman (Zapman)
2007-03-21: Dee (dulcimer)
2007-04-07: Jane Butcher (Jane-o)
2007-05-01: Naomi Millar (sailormewtwo)
2007-05-24: Sheri Harden (Sheri13)
2007-06-01: Imo (popacatapetal)
2007-06-10: Julian Goodman (jjgbone)
2007-07-07: JoDeen Mozena (Ozymoe)
2007-07-26: Holly Lynn McDaniel Evans (hollybob7)
2007-08-18: Barb Edwards (babarann)
2007-09-28: George Christian (advisorgee)
2007-10-03: Stephanie Walker (CallMeSeverus), Tom Siebert (tsiebert)
2007-10-12: Travis Rusin (tapsrat)
2007-11-03: Tom La Sota (tomlasota)
2007-11-04: Ailsa Hebert (Bazette3)
2007-11-10: Kaoru Pearson (markaoru)
2007-11-12: Kevin Sobiski (biskit)
2007-12-16: Jenny Hart (jhart111)
2007-12-22: Christine Freer (cfreer)
2007-12-26: Sheryl Glasser (sherylgl)

2008:
2008-01-02: Agneta (aggge)
2008-01-28: Megan G (mhgpgh)
2008-02-04: Paula (fuzziebear3)
2008-02-12: Maria Pimenta (Maria)
2008-03-03: Nancy Sands (nsands)
2008-03-14: Meg Smith (mamadragonfreak)
2008-03-21: joanna yong (jyong)
2008-04-09: Tabitha Treadwell (TabT)
2008-04-18: cpc (cpc)
2008-04-19: Nancy Abate (Nancy A)
2008-04-22: Lauren (laure)
2008-05-06: Brooke (PianoGal02)
2008-06-21: Jota (Jota)
2008-07-08: Nadya Sorotskin (nadya), Peter Badore (pbadore)
2008-07-15: Victor Cervantes (IQVictor)
2008-08-22: ray waleski (Enigma)
2008-08-28: peter sandford (pspeter1), Javier García (javimlung)
2008-08-30: Georgia Wren (teachno11)
2008-09-13: david bryan (bdaved)
2008-11-06: Heike Oehlmann (hoe)
2008-11-15: Joseph Jessen (gijoex2)
2008-11-20: Byrdie (Byrdie)
2008-11-29: Rachel (Tulo2)
2008-12-23: Sheila Clancy (sclancy), Danny S (ynnad1010)

2009:
2009-01-19: Steve Johnson (swjohnson12)
2009-02-06: Aydin Z (aydinz)
2009-02-24: michelle johnson (blubrd420)
2009-03-09: jewel crown (jewel)
2009-04-20: Leimamo Kubo (Leimamo)
2009-04-27: Gator (Gator)
2009-05-16: gregg licht (lgreg)
2009-05-17: Kerri Kemp (kerri_kemp)
2009-05-19: Barbro Lindmark (babban2), Mike Kam (ZL.oft)
2009-05-20: KD Guidry (KDGraves)
2009-06-23: Kai-Uwe Zickerick (conzick)
2009-06-27: Alexis P. (Palexis)
2009-06-28: Claudia (clau_bolson)
2009-06-29: lynn fullerton (lynnch)
2009-07-02: Aaron Schmitz (calcnerd)
2009-07-08: sunny (sunnynacho)
2009-07-21: Vicki Catherine Woods (vickicwoods)
2009-07-26: Reino Hardy (Palkia17)
2009-07-28: Wombat (wombatilim)
2009-08-10: Ingrid Lyberg (IngLyb)
2009-08-14: Terje Bammu (Bammu)
2009-08-20: Paul Zrimsek (pzrimsek)
2009-08-24: Emiliano (sevuse), iklo (iklo)
2009-08-30: Jacco (lolapalouza)
2009-09-09: Juli Simmons (jonis)
2009-09-21: Karen D Stivers (kds17)
2009-11-07: abby (bingo)
2009-11-24: Brian Bellis (mootpoint)
2009-12-01: BabsHoney (BabsHoney)
2009-12-10: John Macdonald (perlwolf)
2009-12-11: Beth Greenwald (bethgreenwald)
2009-12-16: marjorie rex (mamo)
2009-12-19: joyt (joyt)
2009-12-23: Travis Brandt (ziztex86)
2009-12-31: Norma G (dudette)

2010:
2010-01-18: S Woodworth (motherdearest)
2010-01-21: Joe (infrapinklizzard)
2010-02-15: Billie Patterson (bpat)
2010-02-18: Al LaPointe (Kancamagus)
2010-02-19: RAGHIDA ALLAM FRANCIS (raghida)
2010-03-03: Lena Rohner (lella42)
2010-03-10: David R. Felton (drfelton)
2010-03-12: Susan Eberhardt (susaneber)
2010-03-15: Elizabeth (maureren)
2010-03-16: Carol Brand (KarylAnn)
2010-04-07: Eve Fillenbaum (fillenbaum), David Bouldin (dbouldin)
2010-04-14: Stina Beck (Stina)
2010-04-22: amyfaith (amyfaith)
2010-05-01: Bernd Herrewer (isnogood)
2010-05-07: Gary Calvin (garycalvin)
2010-05-16: Dianne Hamilton (dlh46)
2010-05-20: Taren Klaupert (Taren)
2010-05-30: Mathew (keiimaster)
2010-06-02: Alicia Snyder (prinny)
2010-06-11: nounours (nounours)
2010-06-17: Thales (shoseyov)
2010-06-27: Susan Boyer (belllady)
2010-07-05: Jeff Trescott (jtrescott), Robin Wheeler (RoWheeler)
2010-07-14: Adam Reida (asreida)
2010-07-15: Larry (a97virago)
2010-07-26: Meira Bracha (mbracha)
2010-08-05: Jeff Mesko (jeffmesko)
2010-08-10: Martha Valdés (maval)
2010-08-14: Amy Weiner (amyjw)
2010-10-06: valerie o..travis (bigblue)
2010-11-06: Claudia Shipton (cshipton)
2010-11-15: Colin Buchmueller (Kartharsus)
2010-11-27: Maggie Tripold (maggiet)
2010-11-28: Jean Jennings (jejennings)
2010-12-10: Mark Clemons (MarkClemons)
2010-12-12: Douglas Head (doughead)
2010-12-14: Rosie K (queenandbooks)
2010-12-18: Vaggelis Kamaris (evag7651)
2010-12-20: Abbey Lane (Abbey Lane)

2011:
2011-01-02: Janet (jltho)
2011-01-03: Karen Sakamoto (baddemo)
2011-01-05: Gary Webster (glwebste)
2011-01-15: C. McGurk (ohpamaca)
2011-01-16: Kristen Vognild (kristen)
2011-01-24: Judy Baumann (JudyBee)
2011-02-05: Ivelina Stoyanova (evest0108)
2011-02-12: Judy Baker (AKSJMom)
2011-03-09: Marie Westling (marwe84)
2011-03-17: karl (keicher)
2011-03-18: super grandma (dbenninghoff)
2011-03-22: LoloJean (LoloJean)
2011-03-29: Shari Robertson (sharir)
2011-03-31: Rhinoceros (Rhino)
2011-04-01: marlouche (marlouche)
2011-04-07: Raymond Fuller (rfuller4)
2011-04-28: Donna Passons (Golferette)
2011-05-26: Paula Pardington (paula)
2011-05-28: Robin Lynn Houze (robinhouze)
2011-06-03: Larry Horn (pbn123)
2011-06-06: Lollipop (Lollipop)
2011-06-22: Bruce Yanoshek (yanogator)
2011-07-08: Felicity Jenkins (felicity924)
2011-08-14: Thad (thad)
2011-09-08: Ray Sthay (RayJ3rd)
2011-09-24: Andrew Schulz (LPguy)
2011-11-10: Crazyteeth (crazyteeth)
2011-11-17: Pat Qwaddle (donihee)
2011-11-18: Charlie F (kaleidoscopicepic)
2011-11-28: Daniel Cummins (dnkcummins)
2011-12-10: Kurt Kowalczyk (bahabro)
2011-12-11: Scarlet Noelle Masen (ScarletPrincess)
2011-12-26: Ronda Polack (bowsocks)
2011-12-29: Vicky Elieson (vest)

2012:
2012-02-22: Marianne Menkveld (marianne)
2012-03-22: David Calhoun (dvdclon)
2012-03-24: Sherri Scott (SherriS), Glenn Crider (playamonkey)
2012-03-27: Sherrill Lawrence (sherrill46)
2012-04-01: Mitch Nelson (holy_mn)
2012-04-08: Barry Watson (bwatson)
2012-05-04: Julia Stanfield (stanfield.julia)
2012-08-16: Andrea Blum (ablum)
2012-08-23: Joe Calhoun (jcalhoun)
2012-08-28: Daniel Korn (talechaser)
2012-09-12: Emimonster (emimonster)
2012-09-19: K Shively (kes57)
2012-09-21: Courtney (Spardog)
2012-10-13: Julio Parra (Julio Parra)
2012-10-15: Christian Heckmann Engelbrecht (CEngelbrecht)
2012-10-17: Irvin Taylor (irvintaylor)
2012-12-01: Tina Wismer (twismer)
2012-12-22: Alison P Deem (Indigo1)

2013:
2013-01-01: Claudia Jantzer (claudia50)
2013-01-13: Karen Scholl (karenttrouble)
2013-01-17: Gaynor Sorrell (gesorrell)
2013-02-11: Dana Smith (danapotter14)
2013-02-15: robyn dicks (robyn)
2013-03-02: Harry Plantinga (hplan)
2013-03-03: Kathryn Shattuck (LogicLover)
2013-03-11: laurpol (laurpol)
2013-03-18: Erin (Taptain)
2013-03-27: John Harper (John)
2013-04-18: Daniel Prevo (drpre)
2013-06-10: Bill (PopPop)
2013-06-18: Tami Matsumoto (tamimats)
2013-06-26: Lori Barsoda (Barsoda)
2013-08-07: Shawn Sheppard (morn)
2013-08-09: Michel (Michel)
2013-08-27: Adichi Bell (adichi)
2013-09-09: Edie Porter (Edie)
2013-09-12: Susan Nagy (SusanNagy54)
2013-09-19: Kathy Cain (kathycain)
2013-09-25: Janice Moule (jmoule)
2013-10-03: TLEV (tlev)
2013-12-09: Minnie Fuerstnau (Minnie F.)

2014:
2014-01-01: linda soter (dolphin3701), Janez (Janez), Courtney (TheArcticFox), Sandr Doucet (doucets), Jonah Kramer (jredbarn)
2014-01-04: Heather M (AuntieH)
2014-01-11: Rosemary Waigh (Rosemary)
2014-01-17: judy ellen reed (puzzled)
2014-01-26: Amanda Lyn (Mandi14)
2014-02-08: RB (rb2013)
2014-02-18: Belita (Belita)
2014-02-24: Sandy White (paper5)
2014-02-26: Laetitia Bailey-Mortimer (laetitiab)
2014-03-03: Gylinda B Ryan (Nanya)
2014-03-10: Dave Widener (Bartfish)
2014-03-16: Debra Weber (lweber5011)
2014-03-18: teresa lopez (ibelgu)
2014-04-06: AM (adrian)
2014-04-18: uzuwave (uzuwave)
2014-04-21: Paul Strube (slashdotcom)
2014-04-28: Susanna White (maggi)
2014-05-27: Isabella Russell (Shimeree)
2014-05-28: Leanne Timberlake (cameocat)
2014-06-07: Diana Hamilton (ddmm)
2014-07-02: Meg McClelland (meg0210)
2014-07-04: S Stahl (sastahl)
2014-07-06: Matt Milner (blindguy74)
2014-07-10: Kathy Roth (clydie)
2014-07-21: Atasever Gedikoglu (atasever)
2014-07-26: Frank Camp (marakesh)
2014-08-05: Elizabeth J (dizzyanna)

2015:
2015-01-01: Darkas (Darkas), KaReN (KBCE), Hanhong Xue (macroxue), Deb Rysavy Lien (d_lien), Sue Drummer (sdrummer), Jedi Mike (Jedi_Mike)

2016:
2016-01-01: Jeanette K (Cuddlebearjay), Wayne Lien (wlien), Christopher Morse (camorse), Jill Tallmer (yidl)
2016-05-23: helen johnston (helenaj1), Matthew Lynch (TurtleBeoulve), Katie Holmes (katiesspamaddy)
2016-05-25: kuching (kuching), Bill Eisenmann (Bullet)
2016-05-27: Courtenay Footman (Courtenay)
2016-05-28: derby (derby)
2016-06-09: Lizzy B (lizzyb), Leah Drakeford (Leah225)
2016-06-26: N. Franklin (kaytris)
2016-07-05: Brenda Barnes Jamieson (bbj)
2016-07-14: Gary Pfingsten (garyp)
2016-07-22: Leo M. (LarsFox)
2016-08-17: Thomas Cocozza (tcocozza)
2016-08-21: Garden Pretty (DotyRoberts)
2016-08-23: Jsco (jsco)
2016-08-24: Joe Fischer (joefish)
2016-08-28: Eric Sorlie (big8dog88)
2016-10-02: Gus Haeckel (ghaeckel)
2016-10-06: Mary Abrams (tntmary)
2016-10-22: Spot (Pspaughtamus)
2016-10-23: K.D. (dimassis)
2016-10-30: Alexander Ragan (atragan)
2016-12-01: Sue Loucks (mathysue)
2016-12-14: Andrew (sylvetrix)
2016-12-30: Bananas (Bananas)

2017:
2017-02-24: mima (ziggiebop)
2017-02-25: andrea (andrea)
2017-03-30: Melodey (Melodey70)
2017-03-31: Lenore Wilkison (Fidelio)
2017-04-29: Louis Gilbrook (LouisGilbrook)
2017-05-05: Dave Kendall (dkthedj8), Alan Lafond (Cural)
2017-05-08: Seth Mizrachi (Smizorac), Ali Sunrae (Sunrae)
2017-06-02: Turd Ferguson (TurdFerguson)
2017-06-09: John Haemmelmann (madddog413)
2017-07-02: Deborah Hall (Deb)
2017-07-16: Liz Walls (walls1276)
2017-07-17: Koreen (mom24plus)
2017-08-05: Jana Thomas (janalynnjoyce)
2017-08-14: Proud (Proud)
2017-08-22: Sarah Koenig (homemaker)
2017-09-14: Phill Ash (phlash)
2017-11-16: Rebecca (rp)
2017-12-07: Deniz (bulgu)
2017-12-10: Nordy (FulhamRev)
2017-12-13: Eccentric Hat (eccentric.hat)

2018:
2018-01-08: Ben Ford (revelator41)
2018-01-26: Steve (StevieB)
2018-01-29: Brian Malfant (bmalfant)
2018-02-15: Philip (Philip)
2018-02-18: William Wolfe (BillWolfe)
2018-02-22: Joanne Firla (JoFirla)
2018-02-24: SBrainerd (SEB)
2018-03-13: William Durham (PoorColdBoy)
2018-03-24: Dan Tomlinson (goode2shoes)
2018-04-03: Paul B (butterp)
2018-04-23: jerri Hansen (bmsnmom)
2018-05-02: gobragh (gobragh)
2018-05-04: Kelly Scott (kmscott4)
2018-05-10: Jesse Jones (jjphoto)
2018-05-29: Ruth Walker (walkgirl)
2018-07-01: Devon McCarthy (RainbowStreak)
2018-07-04: Elise P (CamiSoke)
2018-07-24: donna walden (dwalden)
2018-07-26: Gonzo99 (brbudd99)
2018-08-08: john gibson (hoot757)
2018-08-28: Matias Prieto (E1M4t1P)
2018-09-03: E (starry)
2018-10-23: Xaiven (27rayxw)
2018-12-12: Molly Jane Browning (incognito)
2018-12-26: Bry (brownfin)

2019:
2019-01-07: Barbara Hämäläinen (Bazi)
2019-01-20: Deb Gera (davdebpep), Car Geis (cgeisler)
2019-01-23: Lauren Wilkinson (Lauren)
2019-02-20: Anna Wulick (annam42)
2019-03-06: Archane Nightspirit (Archane)
2019-03-09: Mike B (Mikey_B)
2019-03-25: Dianne McCallum (dvcmcc)
2019-04-04: seulki (sleepground)
2019-04-12: Cynthia Lathrop (cindythia)
2019-04-18: Elizabeth L (smily888)
2019-04-22: Emily P (zenobia158)
2019-05-09: Michael Eddy (meddy)
2019-06-05: Maleah (Maleah)
2019-06-10: Cyrnus (cyrnus)
2019-07-20: Bas (Basch)
2019-08-21: chuck high (chuck high)
2019-09-13: Andrew Schultz (blurglecruncheon)
2019-10-07: Wim Bos (WimBos)
2019-10-21: Yaramy (YaramyGd)
2019-10-25: Rebecca Powell (rsp55)
2019-10-26: robert ciosek (bobciosek)
2019-11-01: Adam (adds3000)
2019-11-13: Nicole Pastor (Bearster)

2020:
2020-01-10: David Buchman (Dr. Bucky)
2020-01-13: Greg Bernath (mamooth)
2020-01-19: Pat King (tapgnik)
2020-01-22: galen brownsmith (marphod)
2020-02-05: David Howard (dlhoward)
2020-03-11: Hannah Ingram (blueberry)
2020-03-23: Michel Plourde (micplour)
2020-03-30: Bevin Bush (brbush)
2020-04-16: Ashley (Queen Ashley)
2020-04-28: Lori-Alyn Claster (Lclaster)
2020-05-10: Heather Loertscher (heatherkay)
2020-05-27: Hans Wurst (logicalfool)
2020-06-04: sarah lovell (hound)
2020-06-06: Prosas (prosas)
2020-06-08: Ryan Panganiban (tsanuri)
2020-07-04: Gonzalo Herrera J. (gherrera)
2020-07-18: Eric (Kelalatir)
2020-08-01: Chel Chase (Coxy)
2020-09-21: Bruce Beckett (Bruce Beatlefan)
2020-09-26: MichelleMyBell (MISavage)
2020-10-22: Tom Morgan (trademark)
2020-12-20: Anthony (Justonalark)
2020-12-22: Yonah Kondor (yokon965)

2021:
2021-02-12: Lee Ann Rucker (Jamoche)
2021-03-12: GERDA Taw (Gerda12)
2021-04-16: Stephanie Bruno (stbruno)
2021-05-05: Wojciech Piechowski (wojt)
2021-05-17: Jacob (maseuz)
2021-05-22: Sara Wilson (janelarson1)
2021-06-06: James Bilton (p43)
2021-06-16: D Kramer (DsMum)
2021-07-11: Henny Phan (M432)
2021-07-13: Carl Albach (albach)
2021-07-20: John Menninga (johnmenninga)
2021-08-10: Julie Bay (jb)
2021-09-11: Sherry Maxwell (argenta)
2021-10-06: BRASH ATAOM (BRASHatAOM)
2021-11-04: Theresa Bonvegna (tmbonvegna)
2021-11-22: David Peel (Thysertes)
2021-12-08: Megan Bowdon (MegglesRuth)
2021-12-16: Zeljka Proctor (Seka)

2022:
2022-01-24: Audrey (Audrey)
2022-02-16: Jessica Martel (jrm9086)
2022-02-23: Momo (beebsnew)
2022-04-02: Nerwa (justawombat)
2022-05-18: Griffin Fredrickson (notslayy)
2022-06-02: Jonathan Wagner (jwagner)
2022-06-10: Rissa Moore (rissawise)
2022-06-18: Scott (McEncheese)
2022-06-19: Eunho Cho (Kep1er07)
2022-07-04: Leigh Douglas (Lillibet)
2022-07-11: Susan Silver (ssilver61)
2022-07-16: Pam Tucker (grammypam)
2022-07-23: Jeff Poretsky (lonebear)
2022-08-02: Michelle Alvarez (sjelli)
2022-08-31: Jordan Farbowitz (jfarbzz)
2022-09-20: Claire Fitzsimmons (MaryClaire)
2022-10-04: Kitty Eyes (kittyeyes)
2022-10-29: Elsie Wilson (ewilsonm)
2022-11-13: Melody Arab (melodyarab)
2022-11-18: kaitlyn cyr (cyrious)
2022-12-28: Reb Thomas (rebbers)

2023:
2023-01-03: JP (mill1523)
2023-01-23: Chuck Hernandez (slidingbilly)
2023-02-01: Gene Velasco (gwvmd)
2023-02-28: adarkcloud (adarkcloud)
2023-03-04: Kent (kent)
2023-03-07: Brian Davis (BrianD)
2023-03-30: Sam (cementuh)
2023-04-06: Stephanie Hellmer (whatthe)
2023-04-18: Kitty Kat (ledeyoung)
2023-05-16: Berkles (berkles)
2023-06-05: Tom Otero (lockebyproxy)
2023-06-06: David Pollack (pollackd)
2023-06-19: Corrine (guffy192)
2023-08-11: Andrew Goss (TJDevil02)
2023-08-18: Gregory N. Baker (gregorynbaker)
2023-08-20: Louise Morin (Loum31)
2023-09-04: Mike Helwig (mhelwig)
2023-10-04: Mary Childs (mlchilds), Olivia McMahon (olivia rose)
2023-10-11: Noah (Chipnanimus)
2023-10-12: Annalyn (Annie)
2023-10-22: Rick Racz (rickracz)
2023-10-25: Tonia Bergh (Tonnie)
2023-11-08: Ella Hustwitt (Dragonfyre)
2023-11-29: Gisi (Gisi)
2023-12-23: Belle Jaussaud (wardbackq)

2024:
2024-01-08: Stephen Narwold (stevish)
2024-01-13: Jane Larson (janelarson2)
2024-02-18: Rachel Tanenhaus (tikva), Morgan Moffitt (Morgan)
2024-02-20: Marco (marc0x1A4), OldMan (PeteJ)
2024-02-23: Andrew Greene (amgreene)
2024-02-28: Adahn (Adahn)
2024-03-04: Nick R (nkrnnrk)
2024-03-12: Lori (Francesca N Furter)
2024-03-15: Juha S (juhaz80)
2024-03-20: Nick R (nickreinerink)
2024-03-21: lisa waldstein (lwaldstein)
2024-03-23: Barbara Smith (barbsmith59)

This is very interesting. Some old friends and some I don't remember.

I have often wondered if we lost some members due to the pandemic. There would be no way of knowing.

Norma: I have wondered that too, and also I've wondered about people who used to be regulars and don't log in anymore. Are they okay? Did something happen? For a lot of people, there is no way to know. I actually have a half-finished posting that's been sitting for a month or two, asking for ideas about how to get in touch with each of us if someone disappears. Like for example maybe people could enter their contact information into a list, and some info about who to reach out to if they stopped logging in, so that we could contact someone to ask if that person is okay. Anyway, I think there are some options that would be at least a start on setting up a way to contact people. (That topic should probably go in another thread from this one.) Also, I've wondered if we gained some members because of the pandemic -- people who had free time at home and found this site and stuck around.

Yonah: Did you really join in 2020? It feels like you've been here for much longer!


Adding to my original posting: I keep thinking of more ways that there may be exceptions to the list:

1) If someone's account got deleted for inactivity and then either they re-created it or someone else created an account with the same username, that would make their information in this list incorrect. (Note that it's been years since I last ran the program that deletes accounts for inactivity. People asked me not to run it, and I think that makes sense. Before they asked, when we used to have frequent problems with reaching our host's limits on our database, I probably did occasionally run it, to free up disk space in the database. Years later I am not sure anymore if I ever actually ran it, but I think I did.)

2) The site stores people's most recent login date in several places that may each have different information, and my program looked at only one of them. I'm thinking of recently when Kristen's last login date changed *backward* to December of 2023 for a while, even though she had very recent postings on the site. Also, I think people who don't check the checkbox to stay logged in may not have an accurate record of their last login date. So I am not sure that the program is looking at accurate information to decide who has logged in in 2024.

3) Random trivia: If you are, say, #20 on the list and someone comes back who has been away for a long time, you could end up moving down in the list.

I found a bug in my program where it was only counting people who had both posted a comment *and* created a puzzle. I fixed the bug, re-ran the program, and updated the original posting with the corrected listing.

Thank you very much Valerie! I knew you would be the winner!!!

LOL Valerie. Maybe you knew me by my previous name...
[[scans names above...]]
... Holly Lynn McDaniel Evans?
(just kidding!)

P.S.- I'd say that a ~50% engagement rate is pretty good! Maybe we could solicit more engagement by posting a puzzle of the name of each newcomer? :D

Jota, as the partner of the person who started the site, I don't think I count. If you want to call someone the winner, I would say it's Clay Deardorff (clayd531), who has been here since 2004 and is still logging in twenty years later, which is decidedly cool!

Holly/Yonah -- Interesting idea! Originally when I ran the program with the bug in it, it looked like only about 225 of the 875 users had ever posted anything. Fifty percent of users sometimes making a posting really is pretty decent! Among the people who don't post, I wonder how many of them read the comments vs. how many may not even know that there *are* comments that they could look at. I've thought about having the comments be displayed automatically whenever someone solves a puzzle, so that the person doesn't need to click on a button to see them. I think that could draw in more people to join the discussions.

That sounds good!

I was wondering if the site kept track of date of acct creation - I was looking for mine the other day. I guess this answers that. I made an account much sooner, I think, but I definitely was a lurker/solver only for quite a few years :^)

Weird - I didn't find myself on here (unless I'm blind), so I looked at my created puzzles, to find the first one was in 2017, and din the comments I said it was my first creation after "solving thousands", so it must have been several years before that.

Do I really exist, or has this all been a really awesome dream?

Bill - You are there, just hard to find because you share a day with someone else. It's this line:

2016-05-25: kuching (kuching), Bill Eisenmann (Bullet)

So you definitely do exist!


Chel -- I keep intending to add Account Creation Date to the user database. It wouldn't have the date for when anybody's current account was created, but it would at least track it for future new people.

I remember searching for pbn puzzles online and found some by a couple of guys in Europe They wanted way to much for some poorly done puzzles and I remember gloating and saying never mind. I found this free site which already has 196 puzzles and it's growing every day.

I remember searching for pbn puzzles online and found some by a couple of guys in Europe They wanted way to much for some poorly done puzzles and I remember gloating and saying never mind. I found this free site which already has 196 puzzles and it's growing every day.

So I am, Valerie, thank you. I must have scrolled a little too quickly.

It's nice to exist.

In the movie "The Jerk", a young Steve Martin is so excited when the new telephone book came out. Running around, waving his arms, and shouting "The phone books are here! The phone books are here ! I'm SOMEBODY!"

Bill, until now I'd thought you were here back when Jan was alive. I didn't realize you had arrived (or at least first posted a comment or puzzle) more recently than that. Anyway, those lines with multiple people are hard to scan!

Norma: 196 puzzles!!!

At the time I thought it was a lot of puzzles. Little did I know.

196 puzzles *is* a lot of puzzles!!

Haha, that story sounds familiar Norma. In my case I started first on Conceptis's site, and after some time they significantly reduced how many puzzles were online for free.

Conceptis is all about the money. I remembber when checking out a book store for new pbn puzzles that I saw a new Conceptis book. I was in a hurry so didn't look through it. I got it home and discovered that it wasn't new at all. They had combined their last two books into one. Both of which I had.

This is so much fun! Hard to believe how long people have been puzzling along. Thanks Valerie for the interesting post and for the upkeep of WPBN.

I'm just outside the first 100...I feel like such a noob!

David, I'd say fourteen years is impressively long!

14 years this Sunday apparently :)

That would be 14 years from when you posted your first comment or puzzle. If you didn't post anything right away, you could have been on much longer than that.

Valerie, responding to #15, I'm sure I was here a good long time while Jan was alive, because I remember being terribly saddened by the news of his passing.

I think I had a different identity for a while, and for some reason I had to change it.

And thank you yet again for carrying on! I really don't know how different my life would be without WebPBN and all the great members.

My name pops up in April of 2008 because of the search parameters. I joined a year or so before that. My teenage son (at the time) had joined and I was making sure the site was safe. Jan calmed all my fears and I became hooked. it was a while before I posted a comment and much longer before creating a puzzle. My son posted several puzzles in the early years. I chose my name based on his. he's dragonfreak so I'm mamadragonfreak.

and i cried when Jan passed away.

Hugs, Meg!

thanks Valerie. <3

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