Please allow me to (re)introduce myself...
spyderbytes
Posts: 23
I've been around this place since DAZ was just a Zygote. That doesn't mean you know me. These days, especially, I hide in shadows whenever possible. Bad habit, that, but that's beside the point. The nearest claim to notoriety I ever had in this community was as the founder of the big-i.com website. Big-i, for those who aren't ancient or who have memories like mine, was the first community website that was not funded by advertising or even its own marketplace. Thus, we were in a position to speak freely about what was happening in the commuity without fear of losing our funding. It was a grand experiment that very nearly succeeded on a much larger scale than it did, thanks to the tireless effort of an all-volunteer staff. I was just the "moneybag" with access to free hosting and enough knowledge of PHP/MySQL to make a community website happen. 
I've been absent from this community for a bunch of years, now. Mostly because of health issues. I have end-stage COPD, and have to use supplemental oxygen (always when I sleep, and increasingly at other times as well). I'm also a T2 diabetic, though I manage that without medication (through diet)... or very nearly manage it at least. Not to mention chronic pain. I've learned to live with all that pretty well, though. It's the newest addition of AMD (age-related macular degeneration; did I mention I'm ancient?) that has, ironically, finally brought me back here. As they say, sometimes you don't know what you've got till you lose it (or begin to, in my case). I must admit there's something frightening about slowly (I hope) going legally blind.
One thing I've discovered, since my return, is just how very much I've missed being involved in the process of making art (whether anyone else would call what I do that or not). It feeds the soul in a way nothing else can. And so I'm planning to stay around here as long as life and/or eyesight allow, this time. Not to mention it just feels good to be back here and see at least a few names I recognize from the olden years. This place still feels like home.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2026 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Welcome back! You'll find lots of exciting updates since you were last here, like Iray and dForce. Give yourself some time to learn the new technology. Have fun again!
Welcome back.
welcome back :)
Welcome back!
I really wanted to say something more profound than that, but today seems like one of those days when my writing/thinking/speaking skills are not in top form... okay, that’s misleading... that’s pretty much every day... perhaps I should have said “but I didn’t want to offend you or say something unusually stupid”.
I’m sorry to hear about your health issues... actually, I’m sorry to hear that you have health issues, the other way sounds that I’m sorry I read about it and now I’m bummed out because it brings about a realization that we are all mortal beings confined by the fragile existence of our physical bodies and that we all face an uncertain future and... uh... ok... that’s a worse explanation... let me start over...
Hi...
I should probably stop there, but I feel it would seem rude... You see in general I like to cheer up people and random animals I encounter... usually I just end up getting bitten or the animals run away... that sounded more like it’s the people that bite me, but most don’t... it was just a few nuns and that one hairy guy who was howling at the moon... most just stare at me or if it’s in a forum type environment, discreetly ignore me... which at this point you are probably trying to figure out how to do... Some of the top methods of avoiding further interaction with me have been to feign speaking a foreign language, collapse to the ground and pretend to be dead, or point in back of me shriek out something about “A bear!” and run away... that doesn’t work as well in a forum, but don’t worry, you don’t have to respond, I’ll just assume you didn’t because there was a big chunk of dried pudding covering up the part of your screen where my post was...
I know it’s presumptive of me to assume you have pudding on your screen, but these days, who doesn’t?... Anyway...
I hope you stopped reading this a while back... most people nowadays can’t handle responses longer that twelve characters and feel jittery and placed on the spot by more than fourteen... but you said you are ancient and I thought maybe you might not mind a long response because back when I was a kid we were taught to write longer letters and to make conversation... but now in retrospect maybe if you are really ancient, I shouldn’t be hogging up your time with a long reply... which technically started out as a greeting but diverged into whatever this has become.
Wait... how ancient are you?... are you are like some sort of vampire who was actually born in 1412 and has finally turned his back on immortality because people are really stupid and you are tired of seeing the same repeated mistakes and constantly witnessing over and over follies of mankind?... no... probably not... Not a lot of vampires get diabetes... unless maybe you only bite really plump people, but I’m not sure if that’s how that works...
Anyway... now that you are regretting having started this thread, let me assure you that the majority of the people on these forums will not respond to your posts like I just did... this was just an unfortunate accident that I noticed your post and decided to respond... to be honest, the only reason I clicked on this thread was I initially thought you were the devil, like in that Rolling Stones song “Sympathy For The Devil”... and I had a few questions I wanted to ask, but apparently that will have to wait...
Well, I should probably wrap this up... What is a good way of ending a greeting post?
Nowadays it’s probably a three letter or less abbreviation like SYL or something... (wow, I just looked that up... it’s real... according to the internet, it’s “See You Later” or “Savory Yak Lard”)...(I was thinking “See You Later”... though now I’m curious about the yak lard)... but being that you said you are ancient, I feel like it should be something more old timey... like maybe “May this post find you in the best of health and devoid of cholera and wolf bites, sincerely...” But since I don’t know how ancient you are that might not be accurate... I suppose I should just say “glad to see you are back and have a great time here with this wonderful community and all the wonderful people (but obviously not me) here!”
Well, I should go and look into that yak lard now... Bye!
most importantly, there s a AM squirrel in the store. he'll try to sell you nickels for a nickel,
beware his cunning and dont try to take his nuts
OMG! You're here! From one ancient soul to another - welcome back!! :D
Laurie
Thanks for the WB, everyone! @MacGyver, you had me in stitches (in a good way). Let's just say I'm ancient enough that I still render my own yak lard (in addition to images). Let me know, and I'll send you some, if you like. Actually I'm not as acient as all that (unless you find 63 extremely ancient). It's just that youngsters seem to poke me once in awhile to see if I'm still alive or if they need to sweep me out the door and into the street.
Laurie, I answered your PM. Yours was the first name I looked for upon arrival. Glad you're here, too! Love your avatar, BTW! I need to come up with a new one of my own.
Heck, 63 ain’t ancient... I have underwear that are older than that... I did take them off a corpse, but that’s a long complicated story... anyway, I’m looking forward to that yak lard... See Ya Later!
Well I sure did.
Welcome back (out of the shadows) :)