And so we are 12 years old today and there are thoughts

At roughly 9.46 am on the 21st of February 2008, I put up what was our first post.

After having had the chat with PJ and Chale, there was no way of knowing what we had started.

We chatted a lot around all sorts of topic and it is fair to say, a lot of what we were going for is not necessarily where we are, although the values, centred on opinion, things that matter, still persist.

Over the years we have gotten a lot of things right, some things average and very little wrong. The view is that, without the ability to verify something, don’t share it.

And in a post-fact world, this is harder. This is why it became a deliberate thing to not be the first with the news, but the most accurate. You, the reader, deserve no less.

First picture of Toni Braxton in Zimbabwe PIC: 3-mob.com/Rebel TV

At 12, the reality is, I do feel like we are still a startup in intent although the move is now to become more grown-up. We will always look for content that matters, that touches, they excites and helps. We will get it some times and other times we won’t. But what we can tell you is that we will try.

Some of the cool things that you will see on our socials is the work of our super social butterfly ninja star Anci. I cannot tell you how incredible she is, her reasoning, patience and, ability to see things from a different space with an infectiously positive attitude. Bless her.

What you will also have noticed is our intent to do more video both viral, sourced from elsewhere and from within. We will be ramping that up with stories we think matter. This does not mean we are moving away from pushing for a reading culture. The Book Club is a testament to that.

We have some exciting new trajectories to be announced over the next few months. This includes podcasts that we will be rolling out. There is more.

We are also excited about our fourth Nama nomination. It is always an honour to be recognised although this is not the reason why we do what we do. We love information and sharing it. This is why we posted 2,033 articles in 2020 alone with just under 1,100 of them being in the arts and a bag of them in sport and other issues.

We are aware that things are tight. But just because things are tight for the country, it does not mean we should not invest in ourselves. We will always strive to do so, and encourage more work to be done. I do want us all to get better. To do better. To be better.

Without you, we are just babies screaming at the son. Now we feel like babies screaming, but not into a void.