- 7,309
- 28,661
- Joined
- Dec 8, 1999
July 18th is a special day for many of us on NikeTalk.
Though the occasion is best known and honored as Nelson Mandela's birthday (and, if you haven't already, check out the original children's book we published in his honor with Room to Read), July 18th, 2012 was also our own little version of Independence Day.
On this day three years ago, we officially relaunched our community on the Huddler platform. The circumstances surrounding our move were less than ideal, to put it mildly, and we were regrettably unable to provide our fellow community members with the seamless transition everyone deserved.
Here's an artist's rendition:
We were, and I suppose we technically still are, forced to compete against a hastily re-branded version all of the content posted to NikeTalk on its previous hosts. In facing this nightmare scenario, we could not have asked for or even dreamed of such a resounding demonstration of community and solidarity. When we moved three years ago, "we moved" doesn't just mean the site's management team pointed the niketalk.com domain to a new destination. When we moved, we moved: literally thousands of people stopped posting on the commandeered version of our old forums and started posting on our current forums. To experience that sense of unity and shared purpose was a profoundly humbling and affirming experience.
Many of you remember why a platform change grew so increasingly urgent for us in the months and years leading up to our transition, but, today, I'm far more interested in focusing on what we were moving towards than on what we were running from.
The last three years have been eventful, to say the least. In that time, the technical team has added our mobile site (now an expected and essential part of the experience), overhauled the post editor, incorporated @ mentions, introduced expanded image gallery functionality, changed data centers (the team's ability to pull this off in a way that was nearly transparent to the end user was nothing short of astounding), and rolled out dozens of update releases. In NikeTalk's 12 years on our previous platforms, we contributed just over $200,000 to charity. For comparison: we've already distributed more than $100,000 to worthy nonprofits in our three years with Huddler alone, and we're just getting started.
Our decision to relocate here is validated anew with each passing day, but, thanks to you, I'll never forget that first day - July 18th, 2012.
Together, we moved forward as a community towards a brighter future of our own design. The staff and I are all proud and honored to continue this journey with you, and with our friends at Huddler and Wikia.
Thank you all for your continued support!
Though the occasion is best known and honored as Nelson Mandela's birthday (and, if you haven't already, check out the original children's book we published in his honor with Room to Read), July 18th, 2012 was also our own little version of Independence Day.
On this day three years ago, we officially relaunched our community on the Huddler platform. The circumstances surrounding our move were less than ideal, to put it mildly, and we were regrettably unable to provide our fellow community members with the seamless transition everyone deserved.
Here's an artist's rendition:
We were, and I suppose we technically still are, forced to compete against a hastily re-branded version all of the content posted to NikeTalk on its previous hosts. In facing this nightmare scenario, we could not have asked for or even dreamed of such a resounding demonstration of community and solidarity. When we moved three years ago, "we moved" doesn't just mean the site's management team pointed the niketalk.com domain to a new destination. When we moved, we moved: literally thousands of people stopped posting on the commandeered version of our old forums and started posting on our current forums. To experience that sense of unity and shared purpose was a profoundly humbling and affirming experience.
Many of you remember why a platform change grew so increasingly urgent for us in the months and years leading up to our transition, but, today, I'm far more interested in focusing on what we were moving towards than on what we were running from.
The last three years have been eventful, to say the least. In that time, the technical team has added our mobile site (now an expected and essential part of the experience), overhauled the post editor, incorporated @ mentions, introduced expanded image gallery functionality, changed data centers (the team's ability to pull this off in a way that was nearly transparent to the end user was nothing short of astounding), and rolled out dozens of update releases. In NikeTalk's 12 years on our previous platforms, we contributed just over $200,000 to charity. For comparison: we've already distributed more than $100,000 to worthy nonprofits in our three years with Huddler alone, and we're just getting started.
Our decision to relocate here is validated anew with each passing day, but, thanks to you, I'll never forget that first day - July 18th, 2012.
Together, we moved forward as a community towards a brighter future of our own design. The staff and I are all proud and honored to continue this journey with you, and with our friends at Huddler and Wikia.
Thank you all for your continued support!
Last edited:
