Today and the history behind it

Guess what!! Today is the one year anniversary of the unveiling of the IDD blog!!! Yay!!!

So, what do you think of the first year?  Thoughts? Questions? Anything?

O.k. on to the real article for the day.  I thought that maybe we could celebrate our first anniversary with a post to tell our readers about the history of IDD and how it got to be where it is today.

All the credit for the orgination of a board/forum/fellowship/group of girls to encourage girls that don't date goes to Siobhan, Anne, Emily and Rebecca(not Rebecca/Jak).  When I asked them about it this is what they said.   Once we thought we had a brilliant idea. We were tired of boy talk among girls.  We decided to start a forum which is named after and themed upon the subject of dating(or, more correctly, not dating). The idea is not unlike that which Pippin had in Lord of the Rings. The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm. It's the last thing they'll expect. Then we can talk with other girls our age who are more serious about marriage and families, and not just into recreational dating.  I Don't Date was started in 2002 with the idea of providing girls with a forum where they could discuss life and preparing for marriage and motherhood with other like minded girls. A board where we can talk about things other than boys, who is dating who, etc.  Four girls got together to give IDD it's beginnings, and as word spread the forum grew quickly into what it is today.  And thus the creation of IDD.  The original IDD forum was launched in the world of cyberspace on February 26th, 2003.

On July 15th, 2004 I Don't Date was blessed to receive it's very own domain at I Don't Date.org (this is not a link, because the domain isn't there anymore, keep reading :)) and the forum moved there.  For many years IDD was a small group of girls growing ever so slowly watching members come and go.  Everyone on the board knew everyone else and we could be ourselves online.  We were goofy and serious, funny and had awesome discussions. We shared in the joy of new courtships and weddings.  Shared prayer requests and there were always plenty of cyber shoulders to lean on in a time of crisis and enough hugs to brighten any face at the end of a rough day. 

2006 rolled around and due to demands of life the administration team had dwindled down to Siobhan who had just become too busy to give the time a board of that size required.  We of course didn't want the board to close and that is when Maureen stepped up to the plate. She volunteered to take over the administration duties.  Due to the administration change the contract we had with the domain ended and thus resulted in the most recent forum move.  On March 27th, 2006 the forum opened at http://s12.invisionfree.com/I_dont_date. Since that time the administration team has grown.  Maureen is head administrator, Sarah and Katie are co-administrators and the moderating team consists of Deb, Krista, Rebecca, Sarah and Valerie.

A year and a half later Maureen broached the idea of starting an IDD blog. We tossed the idea around for a couple months and then let the idea go.  We didn't have a clear picture at to what to do with the idea.   In April of last year we brought the idea up again and we immediately came to agreements on what we wanted to do and how to do it.  We felt that there was a need for a a place online for girls of all ages to be encouraged in  the "Waiting" stage.  We felt that we should feel that need and expand the borders of IDD to include the blog. A little over a month later on May 1th, 2008 we introduced the IDD blog to the world.