Happy birthday EP.
Sixteen years of activity for a website like this is no mean feat given how much the internet has changed in the last sixteen years. EP has survived the rise and fall of multiple social networks, a sharp decline in the popularity of things like chat rooms and message boards, and massive changes in how people share games as well as content in general (Kazaa Lite was still in popular use when I first registered here, Youtube was still many years from existence, and as a site we even predate the creation of BitTorrent by a month!), and it's kind of amazing to me that this place is still going, even if the message board arm of the site isn't as active as it was all those years ago.
By the time I registered here my siblings had already kind of drifted away from gaming as a hobby. And very few of the friends I've made outside of this place over the years have been big gamers. So my history with gaming as an adult has been largely tied up with this place, and I don't doubt that I would have drifted away from the hobby long ago had it not been for people here.
More than that, though, I feel happy to have been a part of the community here for all the lovely people it has introduced me to, and all of the interesting lives around the world it has allowed me to glimpse, if only for a moment. I barely post at all myself anymore, but I still check in from time to time, and when I saw this thread, I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of the great people I've met through this site over the years for all of the fun times. You've made this a really nice community to be a part of, and it's no exaggeration to say that I wouldn't be the person I am today without all of you. <3
Also, I would appreciate if someone could change my name back to Elin. I always forget that it's currently set to this, and get stuck at login. :'D