My Lords, ladies, gentlemen, aliens, cats, dogs, vermin, stick insects, and ACB -

I'd like to wish the website, the forum and all of us peculiar souls a brilliant tenth birthday. Some of us can recall nearly ten years ago, and indeed, I wish I could remember yesterday with the same lucidity as I relive some of our memorable early days. So we've grown older and greyer, but no matter; as long as we've had this place, we've had somewhere to go, a place where it's alright to leave the outside world behind, somewhere to meet.

Long may that continue. Thanks to everyone from Kes, David, psichonico, Qwerty, Wakey, Walshy, Maud and co...to whoever still posts here now. It's been fantastic so far.

Oh, and me. Thanks to me, too, a little bit. Nearly forgot...

Happy birthday, dond.co.uk!

It's enough to make you bury your head in your hands... 10 years. Ha.

Actually yes, ten years. A decade. I'm 21 in five days. Only 21? No, old. I'll be lucky to clock up more than forty, and I do feel middle-aged. I do get tired, I still can't work again. Do I care? Not really, but that goes for everything, when I sit down and reflect on this deceptive prison, inhabited by seven billion fellow deluded non-entities.

And I'm here, wishing a piece of a web which doesn't exist a happy birthday. But I do try to be flowery about it, you know...

A bit late to the party, but happy birthday to the DoND.co.uk

Welcome back Psicho, it's been so long since we've seen you around here! Hopefully you've been well!

Eight years! Welcome back, squire!

Woohoo!

The website has only just existed for 10 years? I myself (in previous guise) joined February 2006 but was under the impression the forum exsisted for months previously (perhaps to coincide with the start of the show in 2005). You learn something new every day! (Even though its took me 10 years to realise)

...and it's taken me almost two years to stumble across your reply, Mr formerly-Wakey1512...

I was under a similar impression when I found the forum in the early weeks of 2006. I was searching for video footage of Nick Baines' (or Bain's, I never was sure) spectacularly awful 1p win, and I think I found it, but I also found the whole idea of a forum rather bizarre. How did it work, were those real humans behind the usernames posting messages to each other? Hold on, they're watching Deal or No Deal and writing on here as it goes along, to update the other humans who are also watching Deal or No Deal on the progress of today's Deal or No Deal? Crikey, I thought. Sounds like the place for me.

He says, knowing he actually joined a full six months later.

Anyway, the forum's approaching 12 now. This website itself is older than I was when I signed up.

This place is still going? Kestral or h2005 still paying the rent?

Still, after Robot Wars and Crystal Maze there will be a revival before long I guess...

Yeah, I think H is still financially involved. Having been a rare visitor myself in the last year, I've gathered that not much happens here any more; we had a resurgence in 2013, with a fairly regular group of maybe 10 people, but pretty much as soon as the show reached the end of the road, the place became a wilderness again. It seems like there's a new post every three months or so, in the Contestants forum, but not really anything else.

I'm reading through some of the online games we played back in 2006 at the moment...it's cringe-worthy, at points, but hey, for the most part we had a good time of it.

As far as the kestral is concerned, I've no idea what his involvement is nowadays but he appears to have flown the nest some moons ago. Like the vast majority of those who once propped up the bar here, I suppose...

Credit goes to kestral for this one because he's the only one who's ever had financial involvement - and it's still him funding the website as far as I'm aware!

Oh, wow, that's a surprise! All credit to him then, as you say David. As it happens, I've been searching around for a particular Deal or No Deal game that was created by an ex-forum member ages ago, and in that pursuit, trawling through threads on here, I've been to website after website (well, link after link) and found myself at a dead end more often than not. So for him to keep this site going for 12 years is very impressive.

Hat off to you, 'Kes'.