From My Mind to....

The Rest of That Story

To date, I’ve completed 2242 reviews. Two-thirds of those reviews were completed within the first four years of my membership. Like many members, life’s events determine one’s participation here. It ebbs and flows. In my case, a divorce, a re-marriage, a business that bloomed and other events that consumed my personal time took precedence over WDC.

Blasphemy, you say. Necessary, I say.

Still, I missed the camaraderie of members I “grew” up with on site. Some of those folks disappeared or went dormant like me for a period of time. New members came and stepped up with their participation. While I never really stopped coming, I did step back.

My hiatus from reviewing tells my story. In my Notepad, I have a page on which I’ve listed all my accomplishment and achievements, and when they occurred—promotions, activities that are tracked on one’s Community tab, every 100 qualified reviews, and so on. Honestly, that list helps keep me focused on maintaining my participation on WDC.

The list also tells me how important reviewing was to me in my early days. As a Newbie (my first six months), I completed approximately 700 qualified reviews. I’d completed 1400 within my first four years. Then I slowed way down, completing fewer than 100 reviews during the next eight years. But I believe the quality of my reviews remained high, having received half of my Reviewing MBs in those four years. The remainder of my 63 Reviewing MBs were awarded in the past four years.

In the immortal words of Will Sonnett, “No brag; just fact.”¹

I’m trying to point out that we all have lives and WDC ranks at some level on the spectrum—sometimes higher; sometimes lower. Life affords me the opportunity at present to have a higher participation factor. I really missed the site during my middle membership years. I checked in daily, posting in some Help files and completing an occasional review. But I missed the interaction and camaraderie.

That’s what brought me back. And I’m here to stay.

Do you have ups and downs in your WDC participation? What brought you back?

¹ A favored mantra from The Guns of Will Sonnett, an American Western television series set in the 1870s that was broadcast in color on the ABC television network from 1967 to 1969, starring Walter Brennan.

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