Thread: Little Tribute To The HF (this one's for you Larry)

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Being a "haunter" is a unique position because the name itself doesn't necessarily define a specific person.

Loving Halloween, enjoying the discussion and finding like interests in people make a Haunter, a Haunter.

If you read my ScreamHaunt post, you'll see a screenshot that Larry put on my post.

Before I tell you about my passions, I want to say a couple of things.

I know many of you, many of you know me. There's no doubt that you'll always find people on these sites that don't care for one another. You'll find it in your place of employment, you'll find it in your neighborhood and you'll find that the most important aspect in life, is learning from thy self.

This will probably be one of the deepest posts I'll put on ANY site on the internet so brace yourself.

Like Larry, I have a vested interest in the net, I actually became motivated because of my admiration of Larry.

Being heavily involved in the internet isn't as easy as you might think. Even if you have a site that has 50 thousand members, there is a vast difference between websites. Some are about money, some just let everything go and some people put 5 hours a day, 7 days a week into their websites. Some spend thousands of dollars in server costs, script costs, update costs, you name it.

When you become involved with people, it opens up a whole new ball of wax. Just like in a government, it's a rat race. Multiple personalities, misunderstandings, lack of eye and body expression etc.

I don't know how Larry keeps his brain from leaking from his eyes. Although it would make a really nice single use Halloween prop, I don't wish that on the man LOL.

Ok..............so let's talk about Halloween and trust me, I'm going to backtrack because when I first joined this place, it was a happy time in my life.

Oh and back when I was here, I seemed to always help others, thinking little of myself. Karma is without a doubt incredible. One day you're in the driver's seat in life, the next day you crash and those you help always find their way to you.

I've always loved Halloween. Back in the day you could TOT until people shut their porch lights off. As a kid, in Rye New York, I stayed out until midnight at age 10. You could do that back then.

At age 7 I had a Haunted House in my basement. Long story short, my stepfather got angry with me and tore it down. I had sound, lighting and props that I put together, whether I built them or incorporated some store bought stuff into it. It was something I'll hold onto until the day I die.

After numerous family issues, I still did the TOT thing but kind of just left the continuous passion I had towards the season die off, or put it on hold if you will.

One day, way back then, the first day I was a HalloweenForum member, I remember it fondly.

I'm saying all of this because I respect the man behind the machine, I'll try to lay that out as best as I can here.

I was working Ambulance, in between Police jobs, I had left a department and actually just threw in the towl at that time. I decided at that time that having a badge was a horrible position to have. A proud position but just had to let it go for awhile.

As an EMT, I enjoyed being a hero, because most people were thankful to see you. They didn't want to always kick your teeth in for doing your job.

I happened to be messing around on one of our computers. For the EMT's on here, shout out to you LOL. When downtime comes, you find yourself just playing around on the computer.

So I stumble upon this HalloweenForum.

I was like "holy sheesh". As a new member I kind of just didn't understand the entire "album thing" he had going on here LOL. The structure allowed you to create an album, but you had to link the album to your posts. It was kickXXX at the time, but as always, some folks just posted tons of junk to the album which took away from the HF vision. The album was removed. I imagine that with that technology back then, it was more costly for Larry to keep the pics on his server. Forgive me Larry if I talk out of school here. I'll stand corrected if you correct me.

I messaged Larry asking for help. He got back to me several times until he wound up having to tell me to ask for member to member support on the issue. Bottom line, he had hundreds of members all badgering him about this and that, I was adding to his stress level LOL.

Once I got established, the HalloweenForum was the place I spent the majority of my online time on. I can still remember the house I was living, in, the music I was listening to and certain members that I thought were completely interesting on here.

Back in the day (not saying that it's not this way now) this place had the answers to everyone's questions. You got your Halloween fix and also got support for whatever problem you had. It was NO WAY near as big as it is now.

It wasn't the actual engine of the site, but the members that inhabited the site that made it special and from what I see, continue to carry on that tradition.

There were times when Larry tolerated some immaturity from me and many others that I'll never forget. He had a lot of experience dealing with these types of sites.

There those of us that did our own thing at some point. I'm one that never forgot my starting point.

At this time in my life, my present engagement deals with marketing Halloween and Haunted Attraction items.

When it comes to people, I've dealt with people that assault children, I've dealt with people that steal, I've dealt with drunks, jerks and liars. YES, there are times when you just can't put your finger on someone that's bad news. Some of the nicest people in life, have been proven to be some of the worst people you could imagine.

Larry has always shown incredible restraint, he's always been there to help people and he truly loves the industry and not just some clown trying to make a buck on it.

Man, I remember CrazyMJB. He was a forum explosion. He was one of those folks I signed in to see what he said next. I really liked that kid. He had more energy than the energizer bunny. MoonStarling was a tremendous part of this site too. There are so many others that I truly miss.

As I look back I think "man, where did life go so fast"

There is much I won't say because it's private to those involved, but I will say that some of the greatest internet times in life, I had here. It was my starting point and taught me about taking Halloween to another level.

I apologize to those I lost contact with.

FYI: Please, don't take this as a butt kissing post. Larry and I have been friends for a long time and I respectfully say that he'd clip my wings as fast as a bird takes a dump on a windshield if he had to. I just admire the man because he inspired me.

I wish he wouldn't have though because I was happier before I joined 500 websites and tried to take on the world.

Ut Oh, have to run, the facility wants me to go nite nite now LOL!

Well Said Friend...Well Said!

mama muffy