On this day five years ago I joined ZooChat, and the world has never been the same. I had finally found an outlet for my passion for zoos. Through this forum I’ve gotten the chance to speak with some awesome people, be part of great discussions and communities, and learned so much more about a subject I care deeply about. I like to think I’ve made my mark here with things like Thread of the Year, American ZooChat Cup, best of all 14 Years of Zoochat; a thread about everything but, as well as my contributions to the Chicago and Milwaukee zoo communities. It’s been a fun ride with hopefully many more years to come. Thank you to everyone who helped make this experience so great. 
Of course, many long time members know that I didn’t have the best start here. I was 12 when I first joined, way too young to be posting on a forum like this, so as you can imagine I I wasn’t looked at very positively by much of the community. I like to think about my time here five years ago and I realize how much I have grown. I’m a firm believer in making fun of yourself, so to commemorate this occasion I thought it would be fun look back at the past at some of my, uh, early days of zoochat. My non existent grammar was bad enough, as was me revealing private info about the 2016 US pangolin import, but there is a specific thread I remember where I was absolutely lambasted, rightfully so I suppose. I went back to the vault for this one. So please enjoy 12 year old me getting grilled by a bunch of Europeans
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3 zoo visit (including 1 revisit)
Of course, many long time members know that I didn’t have the best start here. I was 12 when I first joined, way too young to be posting on a forum like this, so as you can imagine I I wasn’t looked at very positively by much of the community. I like to think about my time here five years ago and I realize how much I have grown. I’m a firm believer in making fun of yourself, so to commemorate this occasion I thought it would be fun look back at the past at some of my, uh, early days of zoochat. My non existent grammar was bad enough, as was me revealing private info about the 2016 US pangolin import, but there is a specific thread I remember where I was absolutely lambasted, rightfully so I suppose. I went back to the vault for this one. So please enjoy 12 year old me getting grilled by a bunch of Europeans
.3 zoo visit (including 1 revisit)
