State of the Sanctum ... Ten Years Later

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State of the Sanctum ... Ten Years Later

JamesMartin

JamesMartin

Sa souvraya niende misain ye
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Afternoon Sanctum,

The Sanctum's tenth birthday has arrived.

This is a strange post to be writing, because as many times as I look at the Calendar, it really does not feel like it has actually been 10 years. In April 2016, I was barely 22 and had only been roleplaying on forums for a year (almost to the day). I just so happened to be writing with a mod when the site we were using, Dream Realms, went down without warning. In the ensuing chaos, a month where the site admin was MIA and we had no idea if we would ever be able to recover our work, we realized that even if it did come back, it could never be trusted again. I was almost entirely along for the ride, looped in only because I was writing a couple of stories with Mia and we intended to continue.

It took a couple of false starts. One guy (who, for the record, we never actually invited into the process) trying to self-appoint head honcho by making "Night Dimensions Roleplay" while the rest of us were planning. A proto Sanctum on free forum software that we quickly realized was inadequate—and finally, we just took the plunge. I bought the domain, Mia bought the software, Otys designed our starting theme and Kane set us up on a cheap hosting service. I'd like to take credit for the name, but truth to tell, I have literally no idea who actually suggested it, though I do know that Unfinished Tales was the first forum named (my fault) and thus began our years long battle with unintuitive name schemes. We brainstormed new rules to fix what we hated about Dream Realms—PM roleplays that had led to a rash of rule-breaking, a no-tolerance policy on side characters under 18 that seriously limited creativity and a general culture that was unconcerned with writing quality. I don't look back on my old writing with much fondness, but the rules are the first thing on this site that I know that I wrote and while they have been edited over the years as policies shifted or were added, the original meat was already on those bones.

All told, what surprises me most is not how much has changed but how little has. Most of our forums date back to the site's first month, we have retained the same chat, the same theming, the same colour schemes (including our original nobility colours) the same monthly challenges, even many of the same users. Not that weird currency system (Thank fuck). My... let's say irreverent tone while writing these announcements has also not changed. Aging doesn't have to include maturing. While other sites, like Dream Realms and Guilty Pleasures, eventually fell to drama and neglect, the Sanctum is still going strong.

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Which, of course, we owe to all of you. This site has succeeded beyond our wildest expectations, going from a couple of dozen writers invited by word of mouth to thousands of writers writing tens of thousands of threads for well over one and a quarter million posts. Our staff has consistently been the best to be found anywhere and while our original team has mostly moved on, I like to think that Otys and I would have made our younger selves proud.

Probably not. Younger James was a dick. @Otys, how did you not strangle me?

But I'm not waxing nostalgic because of my old age.

This month, our site event is Cheers to ten years!!!

Share your favourite Sanctum memory as a reply to this post to receive a special badge, courtesy of our resident Mermaid
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No call-outs please. Unless they were banned, then fuck 'em.

But also, you didn't think we'd actually let this day pass without something to announce, did you?

First!!

For our generous donors who want to look a little extra snazzy, I present our new Nobility colour, Formal:

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Rejected names: Penguin, Tuxedo, "Oh God, I spilled my Cocaine."


Second!!

For a long time now, Blackboard has been our most-used non-default theme. But even Blackboard has colour and some obvious theming. Beyond that, a ten-year anniversary is represented by tin, symbolizing durability, flexibility, and resilience, which gave us a bit of inspiration.

For those who want a truly plain, truly greyscale theme, I'd like to present And give credit/blame to @Jumbled for

Monochrome!!

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Anyway, I have gone on more than long enough.

Thank you all for ten incredible years, and I hope that you'll stay with us as we write out our next chapter.

If you have any complaints, you always know who to blame,

James​
 
My favorite sanctum memories are the friends I've made along the way. Cliche I know but 100% true! I have made so many connections and friendship here that I don't know who I would be with out this place anymore. Countless stories have been told. Many bonds have been formed. I love the sanctum because of the space it give me to be creative and make friends. Thank you for being here so consistently! Here is to ten years and hopefully many many more!
 
The monochrome looks nice in the preview. One second...Oh yeah I can work with this.

Congrats on 10 years. Amazing you've guys kept this site running this long and keep it active/the mods are active (unlike other rp sites). I suppose the mod team being pretty much original (from the start it sounds like) + friends helps.

Oh yes, the preview of what it looked like in april 2016-april 2026...MUCH BETTER.

Memory....hmmmm. Favorite memory...I'd say it was when I was going to quit the site altogether and two different people, a person who is no longer active here called OuterStacey messaged me to ask if I wanted to rp and then Domwhi asked me in November 2021 if they were too late to see if I wanted to rp and I gave it a shot and made a good friend along the way (Domwhi). Then I made another friend when I reached out to RPGuy19 in 2022 and then Styx in 2025. I don't do good with RP in general, both attracting interest or long term partners aside from them but am grateful for the fact that I stuck around to make them my friends and have a good story going with Styx. Also seeing all the new site themes being made and badges (and the invention of the Outer Sanctum even if I haven't done anything in a year since my partner I was rping left).
 
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Gods, I've only been here 2 yrs, but I've got so many memories to choose from. Think I'll go with one from the very beginning though, when I wasn't even a fairy yet and my profile picture was a word count.
When I found site, I was addicted. I floated around for a few weeks straight, hiding mostly in chat. And, I mean straight, with little to no sleep. So, when I finally slept and woke up to the site down, I legit had a panic attack thinking it had all been a dream or something. There wasn't an emergency Discord yet, so the only thing that saved me was finding Mephi in my discord contacts. Still, what a heart attack. Chat tried to make light of it by saying I was why the site went down. (Course, we all also blamed James.) That helped cheer me up too. Jumbled still jokes sometimes when the site hiccups, asking if I'm awake or not.

I really love this place. I honestly don't know what I'd do without it at this point. I've made a lot of friends and grown into myself here. Hopefully all that continues.
Thank you all for making this site so amazing! Keep being weirdly wonderful, and may all your muses sing for you!
 
Time is such a funny thing, isn't it?

Favorite Sanctum Memory:
Someone "old," Someone new, Someone green, Someone drinkable - they know who they are, probably. I'm choosing to strictly comply with the 'no callouts' rule above. First day here I was blown away by how cool chat was, and the interactions I had with the chatters. I'm qualifying Someone "old" with quotation marks because it's only comparatively true in terms of age of forum account.

Bonus favorite memories:
  • Porting over a thread from an old forum and reliving the memories
  • The many times I had been told "NO FIGHTING"
  • Listening parties
  • When Someone Coulourfoul made me make my RT
  • Site hosted D&D

Stay awesome, turtledoves~
 
Gods.... do I pick one?


How?

Well there were quite a few as I've been here too long lol 😭

My favorite memory, honestly, is when @JamesMartin said I was a Saint! 😇👼
(Don't say the B word!)

Oh! And our first D&D game! Gosh! That was a fun game and I am entirely glad the site has welcomed the TTRPG genre into the fold!

I have to say, I didn't think the D&D stuff would take off like it has and I've truly been humbled by my players. I am so proud of how far it has come but my players truly make the game as great as it is.

Here's to you, Dungeon Delvers!!
 
James accidentally gifted me to himself by appointing me as staff on his birthday ˙ᴗ˙

kiddingggg~!
It's actually September 29, 2024 when I discovered the joys of div coding after @Jumbled managed to wrangle management into installing it on the site. I'd been dabbling a little here and there with the basic bish BBcode, but the div capabilities really opened up a new world for me and I've been tinkering, learning, and rolling around in it ever since with renewed vigour~

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Thanks team for building a wonderful place in which we can all spend time enjoying this hobby, creating art of all kinds, and making frens :rainbow:
 
@JamesMartin You were on my list. Not top of the list, but you were on it.

Yeah, joke aside - it has been a wild 10 years.
Definitely a life-altering decision when Mia asked, "OK, now what?" and I said, "I don't know, let's just keep everyone together, get your partners, they get their partners, and we take it from there."

Ten years is amazing. It's been an amazing journey with lots of new friends, lots of things learned. We wouldn't be here without you people - our users.

Favourite moments... a lot, but I have a funny one to share.
This one guy who hit the "Report" button on my Warning message and then threatened legal action if he gets banned.

Here's to 10 more.


I'm here for the badge, actually.
 
My my my, what many memories are there to pick from a decade of history that I've been around for 60% of?

I will say that while I had many websites I had tried to roleplay on before, 'tis true that I would sometimes turn around the next day and find the server to be gone. Found some janky ones you could only do PM roleplay in, but had definitely left myself with only one writing partner (who I eventually invited to this site as well) that I had met from some group on Facebook. However, the pandemic was TRULY a dark time for me, and with truly no escape from the four walls of a home after experiencing a lot of loss, the only thing I had within my grasp was writing, and I was happy to find this site amongst the very list that we still make sure to vote for to this day. I have verbatim told people that writing on here saved my life, and I don't regret a word of it. Which still seems kismet as I have one of the highest referrals #'s on the site. I take being a Corrupting Influence VERY seriously!

The stories have been magical, but even better have been the people. Shoutout to the writing partners that put up with my brief but never permanent hiatuses, longtime friends I have made, the laughs & comradery in chat and on communal forums like this, and to every unwritten story and new writer I haven't met that I have yet to craft a new world with. Also, thanks to everyone on staff for this space and the integrity around it.

Post Script: I am also here for the badge, and look forward to the eventual Girl Scout Sash to brandish all of them that technology will somehow adapt to create! LOL
 
My favorite memory.

Saying hello. Odd to be sure, but it’s the truth. I decided to start writing on forums when I stopped roleplaying tabletop. I looked at a lot of sites. I won’t give names, but it was a lot. What really stood out were the rules. I looked for them, read them, and left. Then I found Sanctum, and I read the rules. I joined immediately.

But I had never written on a forum before. It was roleplay, right? But was it? Not to me, what I saw was writing, creative storytelling, descriptive world-building, and more. Believe me, the only person putting in that kind of work in a story is your DM, and they typically have tons of manuals to help them do it. So, I decided that this was a writing site and that they were collaborative authors. In this sense, everyone was writing mini books in my mind.

I was horribly intimidated, so I did nothing. I read, and read, and read some more. I wanted to know how to do this properly. I spent three months doing nothing but reading your stories, and I still do. Wink I was captivated and all the more intimidated. So many styles, so many ideas. It was like a library that never ended.

To the meat of my ‘saying hello memory.’ I finally, after so long, decided to post hello in the forum chat. I was so nervous, I’m an older guy, and this was all new. To me, I saw amazing authors with unlimited imaginations. That’s when it happened. I was bombarded with friendly, welcoming people showering me with greetings and answering questions faster than I could type them. It’s thanks to this community and these rules and stories that I have never even attempted to join another forum, and hopefully I never will.

Thanks, Sanctum, and happy 10th
~Redfren.
 
My favourite memory thus far was returning after a good while haitus, seeing two of my former writing partners online and poking my head into chat to get immediately pounced upon by both of them. It was great to immediately feel like I was back home. The Sanctum was my second RP forum I joined (the first shall not be named) and I was sooo glad for it. The other sites I've been on have all shut down and I've seen those people make their way to Sanctum as such has happened. The move to other platforms always felt off. One day I may more completely return to writing and RP and I know where I'll be when that happens.
 
Congratulations to Sanctum for celebrating 10 years! 🥳🎉
I have not been here for 10 years, I joined 2020, but at least half the time? And I really enjoy it here! Thank you to all awesome admins and mods for creating a roleplay site for us all ♥️ and all fun events, challenges and movie nights🍿

I actually have many memories here from Sanctum, now that I think of it. I joined mostly to improve my English and found amazing people on my journey, some who still today are close friends. Some are sadly not members anymore, but most of them are still here ♥️
My best memory is probably when I "tricked" @Valentine to join here, mwihihi~ but then also meeting two other amazing partners (sadly not here anymore).

I've been on countless other Scandinavian roleplay websites, all fell to drama and neglect, as James so nicely put it. So I'm more than happy Sanctum is still going strong and thriving! 🎉 Especially since it was the first non Scandinavian roleplay website I joined and I'm still here!?!
Yay to 10th anniversary and I hope for many more years! ♥️
 
The Winter Court said:
Happy 10th Sanctum - I picked a grand time to come back. Just in time for the party!
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I hope you know last one to arrive buys the beer.

I don't know why that is in the rules for a writing site, but it is.
 
JamesMartin said:
I hope you know last one to arrive buys the beer.

I don't know why that is in the rules for a writing site, but it is.
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Whelp guess I'm heading out for the beer run - get your requests in now.
 
The Winter Court said:
Whelp guess I'm heading out for the beer run - get your requests in now.
Click to expand...
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I joined the site after Guilty Pleasures shut down. I joined and then poofed for maybe a year before coming back and actually tried to write anything. Over the years, I have found amazing partners and some of them have even become my best friends who I talk to every day. The staff and community here have always been so helpful and incredibly welcoming.

My favorite memory on site is probably when I did my first writing challenge and seeing how many people voted for my story. I didn't win however, it made me realize that other people enjoy my writing outside of just my partners.
 
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