How far has CAA come?

[Saint Kevin]

I started this thread because I wanted to comment on the 50 or so members that have joined in the past week. Yes that's right, since Omega Amen (the 1000th member) joined on the 31st of January, I have seen 49 other members join the forum as well. To all of the new people (you know who you are) I say: Welcome to CAA!

That is not the point of this thread though. I wanted to tell all of these new members about the way CAA started out.

I thought that CAA was growing fast now. But in the past eight months or so, CAA has grown from a roster of 98 members on 5/27/03 to the 1050 at the time of this post. Praise God for the wonderful things He is doing through us and through this site.

Ok, you guys can take it from here.

Older members, tell us newbs a little about how CAA started out. Everyone else, if you have benefitted from CAA at all, please, please, please tell the mods and everyone else who makes this site possible how truly thankful you are for their hard work and patience. Most of all, praise God and give Him all the glory, for without Him CAA (or any of us, for that matter) would not exist.

[Lluvia]

Hurrah! ^^; It's wonderful to see a community built under God to blossom - Thank you, Lord.

I am very grateful to whoever it is that mustered the bravery to create an anime community as well as a Christian community. (Ashley?) Thanks to you, I now have a forum to post unreservedly about anime and also Christianity without worrying about a horrifyingly irreligious or profane statement, otherwise something painfully offending to the Christian faith without something being done about it. Being at many other anime communities, I recognize it to be an all-too-common problem. Thanks so much!

[Ashley]

CAA history in a nutshell:

July/August 2001—God plants the idea in a line from Gilbert Morris’ Ramparts of Heaven. “Is it bad to walk in the forest? Of course not. But if its all you ever think about, then certainly."

August/September 2001- CAA officially opens. First address: http://www.geocities.com/canimealliance First real member (i.e. not a friend of mine) was Annette/ShiroiHikari if I remember correctly. Archan joins shortly, as does Gypsy.

December 2001/January 2002- reachest lowest levels of despair. Considers closing CAA down for good as a hopeless cause

Spring 2002- the MSN branch of CAA opens. First assist. Manager is Archan. http://www.groups.msn.com/caa

April 2002- Shatterheart joins as second assist. manager after a bold stand.

April/May-ish 2002- Gypsy joins as our third and last assist. manager at MSN

Summer 2002- I believe this is when the pilgrim’s progress idea started

Fall 2002- CAA celebrates it’s first birthday. Ronin themed.

December 2002- Shatterheart and I spend countless nights trying to upgrade the forums to “ikonboardâ€

[LorentzForce]

for me it was;

June 2003 - Noz posts CAA's link to AB. I was an active part of AB (too bad it's down now, I was a Forum Master... 2000+ posts it was... aww...), and as soon as I heard of a Christian + Anime + Games + Other techy stuff, the equation finished into = Join Immediately.

Shortly afterwards - Had some clash with everyone about NGE. It's a good thing it was solved in (can't remember now) about a week, if not faster.

After that shortly afterwards - CAA Life as it is. Often changed my sig and avatar, tried to help few people and stuff, and just hanging out.

[edit] i shake my fist at you Mozilla for giving me screwy fonts!

[glitch1501]

for me it was
joined November 20, 2003
sometime after that i did a wall for caa
alittle after that noz added the gamers section and graphics section
glitch1501= happy!^^
then i joined the naruto rpg
its fun
and now here i am

[Azier the Swordsman]

Makes me wish I had found this board a long time ago...

[Spencer]

I remember joining the old MSN forums, just cause my friend (Ashley's brother) told me to go check it out. Posted on the forums a little, and the rest, as they say, is history.

[water-bearer]

Well I personally haven't been here that long and tend to lurk around the forums and post only on those which catch my interest, but to all the leaders who made this forum work, you guys rock. This place where people can discuss things they enjoy and their faith is such a great idea. Kudos to you guys. ^.^

[Solid Ronin]

Fall 2002- CAA celebrates it’s first birthday. Ronin themed.

Yes it is true they themed it after me.......oh wait......shes not talking about me is she *everyone knots thier heads no*..........*trys to scrap up as much dignity as he can and leaves*

[cbwing0]

Here is the history of my involvement with the CAA:

November 17, 2003-While googling for a general anime site, I stumbled upon the link for the CAA. After reading through the philosophy, rules, etc., I decided to join, even though I considered them to be a bit harsh at the time. My avatar at this time was Fei Long from Street Fighter, although everyone said it looked like Forest Law from Tekken.

January Sometime 2004-Selected my current avatar of Anji the Destroyer from Rurouni Kenshin, which I plan to keep for quite some time, if not as my permanemt avatar. A little later I found the pic of Burning Gundam and Gundam Maxter for my current sig. Other than adding a occasionally cool quote, I probably will keep that.

Februrary 1, 2004-Reached 1,000 posts. This was a milestone for me, because I had never been a member of a forum that I liked enough to make 1,000 posts.

And finally...

Februrary 7, 2004-Posting here about my history.

The CAA has been a great blessing for me, as a place where I can discuss my favorite things in the world with lots of interesting people who also happen to be my brothers and sisters in Christ.

[Inferno]

yipee more members to talk to!

[blueraven]

0.o I don't exactly remember but I believe I was reading a friend's blog then clicked a link to one of her friend's anime site and then poofie found a link to CAA. I wasn't much for forums at the time so I'm not very sure of that was when there was the MSN forum? Just remember a website - with fish - I think heh. Then I finally joined the new forum back in June last year. I was actually encouraged to continue my interests in anime as well as found the support and comfort I'm sure nearly everyone here as found as well. Not to mention being able to make some great friends who already share two common interests and strength a few other friendships.

I'm very thankful to and for all of you. If there is one forum that I want to be a part of I can safely say its CAA. The people are real and they know what they believe and why.

[Rashiir]

December 2001/January 2002- reachest lowest levels of despair. Considers closing CAA down for good as a hopeless cause

Never knew that. I'm oh-so-glad you didn't.

[Fsiphskilm]

OOOoooo sure it

[cbwing0]

Could you tone down the optimism there Volt?

[Fsiphskilm]

HUH? But it's a joke..

[Saint Kevin]

It's all fun and games, until a server explodes. LOL

Lol Volt. You do have a point though, this isn't all fun and games. I just wanted people to realize that and say thank you. Thanks again.

Also cbwing0...1000 post in 3 months...yeah, color me impressed.

[cbwing0]

Also cbwing0...1000 post in 3 months...yeah, color me impressed

Thanks.

[Link Antilles]

Indeed that is a impressive feat, Cbwing0. I will make it to a thousand.... one day... one day, I tell you!

Anyways, yeah, this forum has had a interesting history. It's a awesome site I can tell you that.

[Fsiphskilm]

Heheh, hopefull if we do

[JediSonic]

"It's all fun and games until a server explodes.." Somehow, I doubt intentionally crashing it is the answer, though

Anyway, I have said before and will say again that this site totally ROCKS, and I am grateful to be part of a community of such great mods and users!

[Saint Kevin]

Sorry to leave you out, Volt, kudos to you too.

[Mave]

Dear CAA admins and mods,

I've never participated in any forum my whole life (coz I always thought they're too nasty to be worthed my time)......until I stumbled upon CAA. It changed my life...seriously, I'm not exaggerating. I wouldn't have decided to draw for God if I didn't join CAA.

I can't get enough of it and I feel very at home with the environment here. I'm surprised I've posted that much (Ok so 300 + posts isn't really much, but it's a lot from someone who dislikes forums in general). ^^ Thanks for your hard work and dedication. Even if "something" happened (ppl what's with the pessimism? ), I'll stick with you guys and do my best to support you all!

Thanks for persevering through all the trials and errors in CAA's history. You have no idea how much you've blessed the anime community! May I be able to bless you all in return.

James 1: 12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

[uc pseudonym]

I actually have barely been around CAA, I'm really quite new. However, with the explosion of members, I'm one of the older ones (age aside). I'm very pleased that we've grown, but I have little wisdom to offer.

And we're glad to have you to, Mave.

[Zilch]

I joined as Zell Dincht on the old MSN board when there was about 30 or so members. I remember Shatterheart saying he would change his name to Seifer and pick on me. That was over a year and a half ago.

[Da Rabid Duckie]

I'd actually been observing CAA for about a year and a half now, and I'd dropped in occasionally just to check on things but never really wanted to join. I'd been pestered time and time again by many people to join though, especially with my experience with anime. Be it my sister (who hates anime), friends, or a few other people *glares at Inky* I just wasn't allowed to forget about this place.

My responsibilities and heart, however, mostly remained with being an admin at Christian Spotlight's Guide 2 Games Forums (which is like the CAA, but about video games and commercially owned). It was ironic though, because I spent more time talking about anime there than I did video games. Over time though, I noticed more and more of my people coming over here (Kite and Master Dias, being two of many) so I felt it my responsibility to do so as well. I'm rather protective of my flock, so to speak.

But anyway, Feb 10th, 2004: The Duck joins CAA. So it begins, I guess. *shrugs*

[MasterDias]

I made a few posts at CAA's old MSN board under the screenname, wolf21. Once CAA moved over to these boards, I decided to use my currant screenname that I was using at Guide 2 Games.

MasterDias sounds much better than wolf21 anyway and actually reflects my interests.

Now if only I could get around to actually posting more.

[inkhana]

Eeeee! Duckie! *angry glare, then goes to hunt down his welcome thread*

Anyway, to be on topic, I joined CAA in I believe October of 2002. I'd have to check to be sure... That was indeed a dark day for CAA...XD

[Saint Kevin]

Glad to see some people still responding to this thread. Was hoping for a few more detailed accounts of CAA's past though. *Looks at Ink* *cough* speech *cough* *cough*
So far I think Ashley's timeline has probably been most helpful for me to understand CAA's beginnings, but I'd still like to know more.

[inkhana]

>*Looks at Ink* *cough* speech *cough* *cough*

Uh...what exactly were you looking for then...? I think Ash told pretty much all there was to it, so there's not much left but personal accounts of how we found the place...if you want to know mine...Google + "christian manga" keywords = CAA.