Long time users know that YWS initially grew very fast, and in May 2005 (after only six months of being online), the site hit nearly 9000 posts. But for the year after that, the site stagnated. By April 2006, posts were barely above 5,000, with most of those being in the Lounge or Randomness. Thus, I made the decision in May of 2006 to close the site.
Fortunately, the site reopened in late July 2006. Since then, YWS has grown rapidly, and this time the growth seems a lot more substantial. So this past January, nearly 8,400 posts were made. This time around, most posts are being made in the literary forums. The Lounge and Randomness are now secondary to the site these days, which is the way it should be.
Also in January, the site saw 312 people register. Bare in mind that number will decrease as I delete users who never activate their accounts. But in the end, it'll still settle around 200, which is a record.
So YWS seems to be on a very good track, and it looks to me as if it has finally hit critical mass. Expect a lot more new users, and expect some changes. As always, keep in mind that you were once a new user and that newbie bashing is grounds for a ban on this site.
Fortunately, newbie bashing is not big on this site (and definitely not at all with the long time members... it's mostly coming from newer members strangely enough), and the community atmosphere of YWS is still here. It'll be a challenge keeping that together as the site grows, but I think that it'll be managed.
In any case, YWS is growing, and may not be a small site anymore in a year or two years time. At current growth trends, we could have 8,000 members by the end of this year, and 30,000 - 50,000 by the end of 2008. That's kind of crazy to think about, but may not actually happen.
It's like a little kid....only...hopefully it'll never die? (again?)
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