Shall we congratulate Andrew, one of our amazing co-founders, for becoming a Privateer?

woooo! ~10K dance~ :D

CONGO RATS

Way to go Tim! (jk)

AWESOME!!!!!
About freakin’ time!

Come on in! We have the champagne chilled and the caviar ready!

The mansion warmly welcomes one of those who built the kingdom!

Total Lurve Fest!

Right on!!! We lurve ya, man!!!

A much deserved “You finally made it!”

Congratulations!

Way to go Andrew! about time!

Congo rats, to you! Whoo hoo!
I discovered Fluther because of a Q you asked. Thanks for the great site and the great times!

Congratulations!!! I guess this shows you have an equal amount of leisure and work ;)

CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS!!! Fab site, obviously because its creators are so fab!!
Have a super time in the 10k masion, I’m still at the gates, can’t even peep in the widows yet!! Make sure you throw us a bit of cake on your way out :)

The mansion runneth over with Congo-rats!

Congratulations, Andrew! Wooooo!

About time, Andrew! (chuckles)
Oh! And Chip and Becky say congrats, too.
I beat you, I beat you! Neener-neener.

10K lurve hugs oh my!! way to go!

you’re officially (almost, but in reality much more than) 10x as awesome than I could ever hope to be! :)

Congratulations Andrew!
You should’ve been there a long time ago for creating this place!

@Beta_Orionis You made him that way.

Clearly the awards system is working if it can push a user like Andrew to reach 10k lurve in order to become a Privateer ;)

Congrats, Big Man. I still remember the days when we were competing back and forth, neck and neck in the high hundreds.

I tip my hat to you, sir.

How did so many lambs get there before the big Sheep??? No matter, congrats, good job and say hello to everyone there for me!

@rooeytoo There are now 42 Privateers, so 41 lambs.

@all Maybe if we didn’t have these stupid lurve caps, I would have gotten there sooner. :)

Well, it’s about time! Saw you were close but I missed the moment.

CongoRats to you, Fluthermeister!

Congrats Andrew! Cake for all! I second the “thanks for the site” remark.

@andrew I have some cake in the frizzer for when you get to SF.

Well, I guess Andrew has no reason to keep the site up any longer…

@EmpressPixie shhhh!

Congrats for making this site. Well deserved.
As for the points, mmyahh!
Perhaps it’s time to don the thinking cap again, so as to revitalise the place.

You could always tap the collective .

Hells yeah, congrats!

Thanks for everything, Andrew!

The site will be going down permanently now that Andrew has 10K lurve. Write your farewells.

I knew it!

You’re my favorite curly-haired guy! Thanks!

Oh, i wish you did, j0e. What I wanted to do was make every question on the homepage point to this one, but lc convinced me not to.

Woohoo! Congrats!
lurve for birthing Fluther!

The site will be going down permanently now that Andrew has 10K lurve. Write your farewells.

lol4rl!

This is why this site truly ROCKS!

Wait. I take it all back! No lurve for Andrew! It was all a scheme to get to 10K. Booooo, hiss.

Congrat a saurus!

haha, have you seen the banner at the top of the page

I assumed he could slip some lurve into his stash with a behind-the-scenes database query and should be at 20,000 already. :)

New User: “Hey what a cool new site, I think I’ll donate a million dollars, oh wait…it’s closing down. oh well.”

Awesomeness. It only seems right that you have 10K. Now what about Ben? He’s slackin’.

Awesome!

Except now the site says it’s shutting down.

Now who am I going to mod?

Way to go @andrew!!!

The site shut down is a joke right? I mean I just found this beautiful site where the interwebs does not bore me anymore!!!

If it must be this way @andrew then this is for you.

@Andrew: Marina, Chuckie and I have changed the sheets on the second-best bed. The master bedroom is getting too crowded, but we have a nice duvet, fresh (unbottled) water in a pitcher, and the collection of O’Henry short stories for you in the guest room. If there’s time, we’ll pick some flowers.

Good times!!! Thank you for Fluther!

eye laaa youu

How could this not have happened earlier? You should have more lurve than everyone. Hell, both you and Ben should get 20 lurve points for every GA or GQ instead of just the 5 or 3 we mere mortals get. Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS!

Ahoy, matey! Thar be thanks galore for this treasure trove site o’ yours! Arrr! :D

Congratulations! I sacrifice a goat in your honor.

Congratulations, Andrew! Fantastic! You are now required to celebrate uncontrollably for the duration of the weekend. (Ben should be an adequate chaperone)

Oh boy, that must be the Chardonnay talking

Howza Bout Dat! 10K is big! Does that come with the traditional back-rub from Ben? casheroo said it did

Hurray!!!!!

Dozens of hot n’ fresh chocolate chip cookies for everyone!!

Nice.

Congratulations, @andrew! Thanks for your clever answers, your thoughtful moderation, some darned interesting questions, and of course, for creating this lovely place.

Since a goat has already been sacrificed I will simply say thanks and congrats!

@AstroChuck Yes, gone are the glory days of us as the Fluther gods. Here are the sad days of celebrity name anagrams. Shame.

And, once again, Mazel Tov!

Congrats to the founder for reaching 10K! I’m surprised you didn’t reach it sooner.

Mods, can we place him under investigation? As the founder, he might have access to a point-gaming function the rest of us peasants don’t

@Saturated_Brain Yeah. That’s why it took me this long. Those last 200 are a real slog.

A very sincere congo-rats! Thanks for creating one of my favorite things ever.

Congrats Andrew!

Congratulations, Andrew!!!!

@andrew, you’ve stepped down from the absolutitude of Fluther Olympus, where lurve is measured in infinitudes, to play with us here in the relativitude of the Fluther neighborhude. You have now reached the reward of lurval decimillitude, and so you receive our congratulatitude. But you have always had our gratitude of greatest magnitude. Good going, dude.

Congo rats! If it wasn’t a party before up there at 10K, it certainly is now!

Don’t forget to bring the guacamole.

@gailcalled Don’t worry, brought a bunch of timber. I’ll build an extension. There’ll even be room for PnL when she gets here.

@andrew: Thanks for the “heads-up.” I’ll tell the staff. Milo wants to know whether what’s-his-face is coming with you?

Oh no, Basil informs me he’ll have no part of a ‘country cat’. His meows, not mine.

Milo here: Basil, have you read Frost’s beautiful poem? If not, this might change your mind.

The Need of Being Versed in Country Things

And I must say that I am feeling slightly more affectionate now that I am reminded that you are called Basil. Gail grew it this summer, but I liked the fresh catnip best…plenty for both of us.

Congratulations. None is more deserving.

…......and…....... the…...... Fluther Noble Peace Prize…........... goes…..... to…... An…..dreeeeew !..... prize is the standard 10K FD….... [.. recall… those are Fluther Dollars !! ]

Congratulations, Andrew! And it’s about. damn. time. :D

Are you the Andrew McClain who got 10,000 Lurve?

YOU’RE A RAPIST!!! <skreeech>

@gailcalled Basil wants to remind you that it’s Basil, as in the british name. He’s a paunce like that.

I’m going to have a lot of cupcakes to make…but YAY CONGRATS!

How did I miss this???
congrats

@andrew Basil was my grandfathers name. Cool name for a cat.

Andrew made it to privateer! CONGRATULATIONS!

Looks like @loser and @Likeradar will be joining the club soon!

congrats!

This is a joyous day indeed.

Andrew, I love you. Congratulations.

Congrats Andrew for the 10,000 milestone.

Can-do Andrew! Happy 10 K!

@Andrew: MIlo here; Basil is from the Greek “basilikos,” meaning (and I can’t believe this) royal.

And now that I think of it, we have Basil Fawlty. How is your cat’s gait?

congrats
i thought you reached that long ago

@Simone_De_Beauvoir No- like most good party hosts Andrew has been too busy in the background to partake in the fun. :)

A bit late to the party.

A big ol’ congrats to the omnipotent one! ;-) Yay!

@andrew Hey Mr. Bigshot 10,000!

Now that you’ve reached your goal can you get back to work and fix the jumping around thingy when you’re posting an answer and somebody else is typing? (please) :-)

@janbb Flickering has been fixed. Jumping around hasn’t. :)

Thanks for answering.

Congratulations Andrew! although what business you have here, I don’t know. Get your ass in gear, dude!

Also, I’m not sure I understand the reference to pirating in the question. Do I want to know?

@daloon: http://www.fluther.com/awards/#privateer

congrats

CongaRatas

I was late to this party because I was holed up at a party in a wood paneled apartment, but now that I’m back – congratulations! It’s definitely about time, my good sir.

FI NA LLY!

Congrats, Andrew, on your wonderful accomplishment, I’m surprised it took you this long!

Congrats!!

Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

Hey! You turned the lurvometer while I was in bed with swine flu. Congratulations, to a wise and fun founder, who always handles the slings and arrows of being one face of Fluther with grace.

Btw, who’s Andrew?

I was out in the middle of the Mojave Desert (Hesperia) when this happend, so I have a good excuse for being late.

* * * Y * A * Y * * * CONGRATULATIONS ! ! ! GOOD WORK ! ! ! * * * Y * A * Y * * *

Yeah, I’m late. So what? @sccrowell’s terrible habit of always being late to everything (yes, including our wedding) has regrettably rubbed off on me. But, at least, I finally, made it here, because…...well, because I was fucking forced to do so. You may have read Andrew’s recent confession that he really didn’t want to let me join fluther but that he finally relented due to @sccrowell’s continuous pleading. Well, now Andrew threatened me that if I didn’t get over here and post something, he would cut off my wings, toss all my lurve to the sharks and eliminate both me and my fluther account. I don’t fear Andrew. Hell, I can make circles around him in my wheelchair, but he does have a set of keys to this place and can easily lock me out. But, I am not quite ready to say goodbye to all my friends here. And I didn’t want to just disappear without notice (as I did on that seven month hiatus) and have jellies concerned, all the while Andrew just sits back and acts oblivious. Yes, that would be a stretch for him, but he is indeed a fine actor. You, of course saw him in that True Value or Ace Hardware or whatever the fuck commercial he did that he proudly highlights in his potfolio.

OK, I’m just messing with Andrew a bit. We’ve gone back and forth a few times here on fluther and on @Blondesjon and @sakata’s radio show (by the way Andrew, I recorded the same bumper you did and mine was unanimously chosen far superior). But the truth is, besides liking Andrew a lot, I respect him for his accomplishments and owe him much more than just my gratitude. Andrew and Ben make these waters so warm and inviting that it’s as comfortable here as it is visiting family. And family is the way I look at both gentlemen.

On a couple of occasions, in response to the question what does it feel like when you log on to fluther, I posted….......fuck it….I’ll take up as much space as I want to (and by the way, thank you Andrew for not imposing a length restriction because if there was one, @dalepetrie, @daloon and I would all; probably be somewhere else talking politics, being self critical and rambling on like an old fart, respectively). That post follows…..

When I log onto fluther, it feels like I just walked into the local warm and cozy diner. Bendrew is there to greet me at the door with a smile, a big “good morning” and a copy of the newspaper. The aroma of frying bacon and fresh coffee fills the air as I look around and see the usual friendly familiar faces with a couple of strangers in one of the booths. I order the usual (tall stack of pancakes and some coffee) and settle into my seat just outside the direct firing line between Blondesjon and eponymoushipster. As usual Astrochuck is running around like the six year old he is, throwing out bratty but very clever quips. I glance over to Harp, who as always provides a calming influence. All my favorite friends are here sharing stories, experiences and knowledge. In one corner, the discussion is about politics, in another it’s religion and across the way its all about relationships. Suddenly one of the strangers, now feeling comfortable among the group stands and says, “I have a question perhaps you can help me with: Is oral sex really sex and if I do it with someone other than my girlfriend, is that considered cheating.” We all bust up in uncontrollable laughter. Yup, another day of learning and laughing and sharing it all with good friends.

That is exactly how fluther feels to me. Of course, I should point out that one inaccuracy. It is not Bendrew that greets me, and everyone else, at the door. You see, Ben doesn’t come out to play nearly often enough. He’s tucked in the little office just off the kitchen constantly on the computer, worrying over every fluther hiccup. It is, none other than Andrew that greets everyone at the door with that big warm smile. And he is not acting….he is sincere and he absolutely loves this place, as much as I, and I’m certain, you do. And he loves to come out and play and throw in his two cents. And he never comes across as a bossy owner/founder…only as a freindly and sincere jelly treating all the rest of us with kindness and respect. Of course, the same is true of Ben, tho he doesn’t frolic in the surf nearly as much as Andrew and the rest of us do (I guess someone has to wear the serious owner face…..I mean, can you picture a group of serious investors handing Andrew $600K….come on).

And the fluther that Andrew and Ben built is, to me, much more than an interesting and fun site to visit. Most of you folks have jobs and get out and enjoy physical activities, getting together with friends, going to the beach, amusement parks, concerts, etc.. That stuff is all behind me now, not that I didn’t pack in a lifetime of fun, before becoming relatively immobile. I love music, but hate television and just can’t stay comfortable long enoiugh to read a book. So other than sleeping, playing with Sherry or the dogs and cats, or trying to exact some precision carving on a piece of pipestone, or soapstone, fluther is pretty much my life, and frankly, I am grateful it is available to me. Fluther does a wonderful job of providing relief to the difficulties and challenges of my day, where my biggest daily decision is whether I dare head to the bathroom for a fourth time and then reconciling the effect all that effort will have on me relative to weakness and fatigue.

Tho I’ve not participated as much lately, I have in effect used the questions you all ask, to record my memoirs, the memories of my life. As is he case with the pipes I make and share, fluther is a significant facet of my legacy. It’s hard to say (actually , I won’t say), how much longer I’ll be around here, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone. As Sherry and I stated in our interview : “Thank you for making us feel welcome from the start and for being such great friends. We appreciate and respect the time and effort that Bendrew, the moderators and each and every one of you put into making this such a remarkable site. We hope we have, in some small way, made a positive contribution to this fine community. Thank you all for making us think and making us laugh. You have enriched our lives…we lurve you all.”

Congratulations on hitting the 10K lurve milestone Andrew. You are a good sport, a mighty fine actor, a fabulous fluther founder, a helluva nice guy, a fluther friend and fluther family. Thank you for allowing me to join the community….I am deeply indebted to you, and I lurve you very much. Now, am I off the hook, and will you remove those ridiculous, whatthefluther-specific restrictions you put on my lurve total so it doesn’t increase….I received 34 GAs on my congratulations to @YARNLADY and saw all of maybe ten points!

See ya….Gary/wtf
PS: Have a nice safe move back to San Francisco….Los Angeles will never be the same without you. Don’t get all caught up in that office with Ben and Tim….we expect you to continue to come out and play on site with the rest of us. See you, my friend.

@andrew You must have a whatthefluther-specific lurve restriction, because with truly genuine, amazing comments like ^^ that one, he should be at 100K by now.

@whatthefluther Dang it, Gary. You made me cry again! I lurve you, man.

@augustlan , I just found this question and after reading @whatthefluther ‘s post which I might add was extremely difficult due to the tears and mascare that were/was <———
(where“s gailcalled when I need her) blinding me and can barely see.

@andrew , I will be back in a couple minutes, I need to wash my face and rinse my eyes out, but, while I’m away. Would you please think about forgiving me?? Pleaseeeee???

So late. I’m sorry.

Conga Rats! Conestoga Rats!

@whatthefluther Oh man, now you’ve got me all emotional. You’re a very brave guy, and I think your characterization of various flutherites are amazing! I’m sorry you’re not going to be around much. I guess this is another instance of sometimes not getting what you want in life. Even so, you have a great attitude—perhaps the most gracious I have seen in a person facing what you are facing.

You have been a chronicler of fluther, who, I doubt, will ever be equaled. I have enjoyed your eye for detail and your generous descriptions of others. I’ve also admired your story. I still wonder how you managed to woo your wife and share your marriage with who knows how many virtual guests.

Anyway. I just wanted to thank you. You’ve given me a private word from time to time when I really needed it. It means a lot. I may be an atheist, but I can still say “go with God” and be pretty sure that you’ll know what I mean.

Congratulations, andrew!
:D :D :D

I’m late to the party.

Ah, shit. I’m late. No wonder the guy hates me D:

Congratulations! Now get Ben and Tim up in that clubhouse! When I get there, I want to be able to nag, bitch and moan to all of you that I still haven’t received my “fresh guacamole” you’ve promised me.

Well, it looks like I missed this party by more than a few days, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to wish you many many

^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,. CONGO RATS! ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,^,.’^^,.’,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,^,.’^^,.’,.’^,.’^,.’^,* .’^,^,.’^^,.’,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,^,.’^^,.’,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,^,.’^^,.’,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,^,.’^^, CONGO RATS! *.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,*.’
^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,* .’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ CONGO RATS! ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,*.’^,
^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^^.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ CONGO RATS! ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ ^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^ ,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^, *.’^,.’^,.’^,.’^,.’ ^,.’^,.’^,.’^

(Don’t worry, I will only steal your signature congratulatory line for this thread and this thread only. You are free to feel safe using it and not feeling like that guy who shows up at prom with the exact same patterned vest as someone else.)

You and Ben have put together one mighty fine website here and built up a global community of people from many different walks of life. In fact, this site is pretty much the best thing I have seen on the internet in a long time due to the variety, entertainment and utility it provides. This site gave me a chance to explore people opinions about a variety of things I was interested in personally and has given me a lot of laughs late into the night.

Even when I don’t have time to stay and play, I find myself coming back day after day just to see some questions and remember the great conversations I have had here. I’ve shared my experiences on this site with several people and now my wife is someone who checks the site regularly and keeps me informed of some of the happenings and hilarity.

You’ve handled the seeming tidal waves of growth on this site like a pro and been able to put together a great crew of fantastic mods who are always there for the community when they need to be. Not only that, but you seem to take it all with such grace and style that any website owner should portray. I’m proud to be one of the half a million people who frequent this site each month and hope to be here when there are a million.

But this thread isn’t about the site. It’s about your accomplishments, Andrew!. In addition to being an all around great webmaster, you seem to be a pretty solid actor/athlete who is into Water Polo and Working Out

I hear that you were also in a movie but I can’t understand how a guy with hair like yours was ever given a role by the name of “Moe Flater” – guess they must have needed a lot of mousse and gel to get your afro to be mo’ flatter.

So, now that you have conquered tv, film, and the internet, what is next?

Aww geez, I just realized that there is no way that I will get this thread up to 2,500 characters without sounding like a stalker with a crush on Andrew. (If I didn’t already sound that way!!!) I guess I’ll leave the super long posts for people like Gary (WTF) and dalepetrie and daloon… Those guys seem to whip out text walls faster than I can even read the initial question. Hmm, actually, I just double checked and it looks like I am getting close to the mark. Go big or go home, right?

@fireside….Very nice, lengthy and great links! Welcome to the VoV (Victims of Verbosity). The support group meets the third Wednesday, every month. This month’s meeting is at Dale’s house. See ya there….Gary/wtf

@whatthefluther Wow… that was probably—no, definitely, the best, most thoughtful, and touching 10k speeches you’ve ever made. It was amazing. c’: