Decatur Metro: Three Years Young
Decatur Metro | September 26, 2010
When Zoo Atlanta’s Mei Lan turned three, she was surprised with a giant “cake” made out of ice, bamboo and cinnamon. When the Atlanta Constitution turned three in 1871, it celebrated by killing off its main rival, The Daily Intelligencier.
Unfortunately, I can offer nothing as refreshing or dramatic on this, Decatur Metro’s third birthday.
The site has certainly come a long way in the past year, with the most obvious change being the introduction of business sponsors and/or advertisers. Each of them deserves our thanks for supporting DM and recognizing the power of locally focused online advertising.
Three years, 3,368 posts, and 36,710 comments later, I could have never predicted where this site – conceived on a whim – would take me or any of us. Whether we’re saving owls, hosting City Commission debates, going 500+ comments deep on a potential Dollar General, eying the street, having in-depth and decent debates about healthcare reform, transportation, or local development, or just being beyond ridiculous, it’s a great joy (a large majority of the time) to helm this venture.
My heartfelt thanks to all who read, comment and submit news tips and pictures. As I’ve said previously, it never would have lasted this long without the support and companionship from readers and other bloggers and journos.
But of course, the largest thanks continues to go to my wife for enduring the time-suck of this hobby-turned-occupation, as well as being an excellent sounding board for countless ideas, concepts and aggravations.
Here’s to the next 365 days! May they be even more inspiring, challenging, nerve-racking and rewarding than the last.
Photo courtesy of the AJC
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Happy BIrthday DM!!! I’m not sure where I’d be without your blog either, but I do know that if it weren’t for you I may have finished my dissertation already.
Bravo, DM. From this side of the screen it has been a lot of fun as well, and has become a primary source for my conversational fodder. Thanks for keeping it entertaining, informative, and out of the gutter. I’ll bet that hasn’t been easy.
Happy Birthday, DM! It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but you contribute so much to our community with this blog. Thank you so very much — from a faithful (and slightly obsessed) reader.
Congratulations!
So you’re “old media” now?
Happy birthday from yet another faithful reader. Some of my favorites are Free for All Fridays.
I read EVERY comment!
Happy Birthday DM!
You’re my top site visited!
Keep doin’ what you’re doin’, DM. You don’t look a day over two.
Happy Birthday– keep on rockin’ in the free world!
Ditto on all the above !
Happy Birthday Decatur Metro !!
Happy 3rd! I love this blog.
Great Blog! Thanks for all the hard work and creating a platform for our community to stay informed and debate important issues.
Happy bday!!!
We should get together and throw a birthday party!!! Or at least some sort of get together for the DM regulars to meet and greet.
Location would obviously be the Brick Store.
Next Sunday night?
Happy DM anniversary!! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to say “I read on Decatur Metro that….(insert local news tidbit here)” every day!
Well, you may not be able to kill off a municipal rival (the Daily Intelligencer had it comin’), but there’s nothing stopping you from taking out a few of your brain cells with a celebratory beer or other beverage of your choice.
Congrats on the great work, you deserve it!
Thanks all! You make it all worthwhile!
atlpaddy: Man that poor Daily Intelligencer. The only Atlanta paper to survive the Civil War, crushed like a bug!
DM Rocks !
DM is big time – Google put a cake on their search page for you!
Congrats- you have become a community cornerstone!
What can I add to what’s already been said? Hope DM’s next year brings you more inspiration. satisfaction and rewards. Cheers!
Congrats! You’re my go-to for all the news that matters ( well, ‘cept for the WSJ and CL
) and the first online source I read every day!
Geez, feels like we’ve been arguing about, ahem discussing, schools, kids in restaurants and best hamburger for a LOT longer than 3 years.