An insider's perspective ...

Ill tell you, it has been one hell of a week!

No really, it has. It really all started late last week when I received a notice that one of my favorite Star Trek forums was up for sale.

Ive been a forum member of TrekUnited since late 2007. As a matter of fact, TU was the first forum I joined after I came out of the proverbial Trekkie closet.

I was thoroughly naïve and completely new to any type of outward expression of Trek fandom. While I wrote a little fanfic before joining the site, I never told anyone I was a Trekkie.

For people who are and who have been comfortable with their fandom, you may not necessarily understand the fear a person can have about actually telling their loved ones about it, but trust me when I say that it can be pretty emotionally traumatic.

Seriously, it can!

The term Trekkie itself carries a very particular pre-formulated ideal depending on the person who hears or reads the term.

If the person is a Trekkie or even a fan of another genre, there is usually a positive connotation when one identifies oneself as a Trekkie. Theyre seen as genuinely loving, accepting people who strive to be tolerant of all others.

If the person isnt a fan, the term brings with it a negative image of something so geeky/nerdy that to even be remotely thought of as a Trekkie frightens them.

I was actually in the latter half of these people for most of my life : before I came out, of course.

Most of the society I was involved with looked down their noses at Trekkies. Why? Well, I choose to believe its because they seriously dont understand how a group of people could be so infatuated with a television show. Because they dont correlate their passions for their hobbies as being the same thing.

I have known people who are completely and utterly passionate about knitting or scrapbooking or sports. I know people who take cruises with other knitters, scrapbookers or sports fans. But yet, they dont seem to get the same look of disgust as when I say my hobby is Star Trek.

Whatever.

The good news is, Trekkies have pretty much realized thats how things are. But better yet. they really dont give a damn.

The first time I ventured out onto TUs site was (yes, I found my introduction thread) Dec. 18, 2007.

It was about four months after I told The Hubby that not only was I a Trek fan, I was a big Trek fan. It was also about a month after we had decided to go to my first sci-fi convention :

:Yep : you guessed it :

FedConUSA.

The whole sordid story of how FCUSA imploded can be found on numerous stories and blogs (including here at Airlock Alpha and my own blog) so I wont go into it again here.

But, you see, FCUSA was owned and operated by the same man who owned TrekUnited.

It is the home of my first blog.

After FCUSA canceled, I was seriously considering disassociating myself with the site due to its affiliation with the owner, Tim Brazeal. However, people I became friends with at TU - - people who werent affiliated with FCUSA -- asked me politely to stay. I warned them that I wasnt about to pull any punches in my blog and that I wasnt sure how that would be taken by the owner of the site I was blogging on.

But I have to give the administration over there a lot of credit. Not only did they ask me to stay, they fully supported my ability to blog and say anything I wanted - - no matter how negative - - about what happened at FCUSA.

So I blogged about it, and I blogged and I blogged. And my blog began to branch out to tackle other subjects.

I was lucky enough to meet Michael Hinman, who read some of my blogs and asked me to come and write for him here at this fantastic site.

In a way, if it werent for TrekUnited, I wouldnt have had this opportunity.

I love TU so much, as a matter of fact, I was in the midst of discussing with The Hubby what offer I could make to buy the Web site on Saturday evening. It was during our phone call that I noticed one of the posts on TU revealed Tim Brazeal had entered into an agreement with an unknown buyer and that the announcement would be made after the purchase was finalized the next day. So I told The Hubby things werent going to pan out and then tried to wait patiently to see who the buyer might be.

I was more prepared than ever to say my final good-byes to TrekUnited when I discovered that the site had been sold to Russ Haslage, founder of International Federation of Trekkers (now known simply as The Federation) along with Jennifer Ramsey of Ramseys Replicas and Doug McIntyre of Star Trek Cruises. TU is now, for all intents and purposes, a part of The Federation.

Ive only met Russ and some of his counterparts over the forums, but I've had the distinct pleasure of personally meeting Jennifer Ramsey last year during our wonderful Star Trek Cruise experience.

I couldnt be happier with the outcome over at TU.

Russ and his non-profit association appears to be very well organized, and since the group is more than just a social site, Im looking forward to the opportunities to find new ways to express my fandom and be able to help people at the same time.

Its exactly why I became a Trekkie to begin with. To show people that Gene Roddenberrys vision of a world based on tolerance and celebration of diversity was possible. It just begins with the individual.

One of my favorite lines from any Star Trek show was spoken by the character of Jean-Luc Picard. To paraphrase it, he says, Thats what it means to be human -- to strive to be better than we are.

TrekUnited has had a shadow hanging over it for as long as Ive been there. I am more hopeful than ever that the shadow has moved on and TU can move forward and finally outwardly express the positives that I have always known were there.

There are some really amazing, wonderful, hardworking and loving people at TrekUnited. I am thrilled that they can now say that the worst is over.

I look forward to many more years of socializing at TrekUnited and Im thrilled beyond belief that I will get to meet more wonderful Trekkies now that its a part of The Federations family.

Once again --

Live long and prosper!