20 Years of BHZ

[homstar]

Happy 20th Anniversary, BHZ!!!!

So I'm not sure who's going to read this and when you will read this. Hell, if I knew 20 years ago, that I would be visiting this site at the age of 30 (that's 2/3 of my life, BTW), I would say you're nuts.

Why am I here typing this? I guess because August 9th always resonates with me. No matter how long it has been since I've been on this forum, thought about this forum, or even thought about Homestar Runner in general - I always will have that special place for August 9th.

I remember that day like it was yesterday - summer before the 5th grade, 10 years old. I came home from swimming at the local pool. Having recently been introduced to SB Emails from my high school sister, I was hooked. I knew of the BHZ website as a place to find easter eggs and secrets about the emails (which at the time was around Japanese Cartoon/Peak SB Emails IMO). I saw the announcement of a community forum to discuss H*R. I immediately signed up and browsed. I don't know how I can appropriately reflect on the following weeks/months/years - the BHZ community meant so much to me. I had friends who happily obliged to role-play forum parties and games (I won the first ever BHZ Survivor - just sayin'.), and I spent HOURS and HOURS, day after day on this site, while most kids my age were playing soccer and actually doing their homework. Again, there is no way to truly explain what this site meant. Even into my awkward preteen/teen years, when your friends change and social clout is the most valuable thing you can possess - this place was a steady constant. My safe place. In a way, this was the first social networking site I was a part of.

Here I am at 30 years old. I am married. I have grown and experienced so much. Most importantly, this last week I welcomed my first child, Otto. But tonight, right now, I can look back at that 10 year old. I can see his cringy posts and cringy interactions, in a time when everything seemed so simple and my only responsibilities were to make sure I had the most posts on the forum.

I hope you all are doing well. This place is a time capsule of sorts, and I'm glad that I can revisit these memories, take a walk around the block and look back at who I was and the friends that made me the person I am.

Thank you BHZ. Happy 20 years.

[Depressio]

What a great post! Hey homstar! I think we played Hearthstone against each other like 3 years ago. (Unless someone else has the username homstar). Congratulations on being a father. That's amazing!

I was 15 and working at Blockbuster when I found this place. I don't know what compelled me to sign up, but I'm so glad I did. From 2003 until the early 2010s, this place was my home. The Depressio username was pretty apt, because I wasn't a happy teenager. My upbringing was kinda repressive, and I was discouraged/shamed for liking weird or unconventional things like Homestar Runner. BHZ gave me a place to be myself. I'm glad you mentioned Survivor, because that was always so much fun for me.

Now I'm 35. I've been married for 5 years, and I live in a different country. I've made some dear friends here who I love and still talk to every day. I'm so happy I found this place. Happy 20th, buhuzz.

[Jengajam]

Oh wow. Happy 20th anniversary, folks. It really has been a long time. Feels like yesterday when we were coming here to find out all the secrets of new cartoons as soon as they came out. And then playing forum games and tournaments and discussing all sorts of things. I don't come here a lot but it always gives me nostalgia whenever I come by and see people still posting. I sort of mark a certain part of my adolescence and my development as a human as "The time when I was on the BHZ forums a lot making Flash cartoons" when I think of the years 2002-2005 or so.

Here's to 20 more.

[anakinjmt]

Wow, I didn't think I'd EVER come back here but I'm honestly super glad I decided to randomly check back here. I'm like legit going to cry. I've missed everyone here. This was the first place online I ever felt like home. I've gotten married, divorced, and gotten engaged again (to someone who is a true Homestar fan as well!). I have an 11 year old son that just started middle school today. I've had a lot of ups and downs but I always carried this place with me. In fact, my Xbox Gamertag and PSN Profile name are still BHZ anakinjmt. I never forgot my roots here.

[Mr. Teatime]

Hi guys! Lets see if I remember how the heck to post on this website.

It's so crazy to see this place still standing, all of my terrible posts and opinions from youth enshrined forever for all to see.

I'm also married now, but way more importantly than that, I met the Brothers Chaps!



Anyway I'll post some more later, probably. Seeya!

[Ratheronfire]

Man, 20 years. There were a lot of times where I found myself wondering just how long this site would keep chugging along for, but at this point I think it's safe to say it's not going away any time soon, if we can survive a multi-year outage like this and still come back as soon as it's over. My life hasn't had quite as wild of a swing as a lot of yours have, but I'm a full time software dev working on games in my free time, so that's something I guess.

I'm also married now, but way more importantly than that, I met the Brothers Chaps!

Was this when they were demoing the Trogdor game at PAX East? My friend and I stopped in for a bit when they were running a demo with Matt playing in-character as the Strong Bad puppet, but we weren't able to meet the brothers in-person unfortunately.

[Bonkava!]

I was on this forum before I hit puberty and now I'm married and a working professional. It's a bit surreal being here again now that I know most of you by your real names, I'm trying to remember which username goes with which person. Even HomeStarRunnerTron, ever against the social media revolution, reached out to me on Facebook to let me know the forum was back up. I am really truly grateful that we had this space to all grow together.

[SnD FrostEy]

Homestarrunner was a great influence on my work, and this was a great place to find others who liked it. It certainly feels like this site has slowed down after SBemails when SBemails basically stopped, but it has a place in my heart. It was also a great place to get feedback on Flash animations.