Hats Off to 2015 - A Look Back! (Part 1)

Well, even though it hasn't been a full year, I did join FiMFiction in 2015 and I figure the New Year is as good a milestone to mark as anything else. Plus, considering it's Isaac Asimov's birthday today and my main project is all about a friendly robot, I figure this is a good enough day to mark the occasion.

"These mutton chops are Three Laws compliant."

"...Grandfather?"

Hush, Turing Test! Ahem, where was I...

So first of all, thank you to everyone who has supported me and my work. That includes all you readers, commenters, and everyone who added any of my stories to a bookshelf (unless the bookshelf was named "Stories that Are Not that Great But I Have a Bookshelf For Them Anyway For Some Reason"). Since coming here, I've made some good friends and had more success than I frankly expected. I've been a closeted Brony since Season 2 (ftr, the first ep I saw was "May the Best Pet Win"), but only after being awed by the community did I decide to play my talents and try to do something creative. And it has worked out really well. Here are some statistics:

-Stories Featured on FiMFiction: 3 out of 5
+The Reality I Choose: Over 5000 unique views; Ratings - 675 up, 11 down; 144 comments
+The Iron Horse: Everything's Better With Robots!: Just shy of 3000 unique views (48,131 total views!); Ratings - 411 up, 9 down, over 1000 comments
+The Iron Ho-Ho-Horse: Everything's Merrier With Robots!: Honestly, I should just count these stats toward the main story.
-Stories Featured on Equestria Daily: 1 ("The Iron Horse")
-Highest Rank on the FiMFiction Box: #2
-Followers: 137 (Rank #2200 on all of the site)
-Steady Romantic Relationships Held: 0. (Hey, I like to keep a perfect record! )

But I also owe a big thanks to several people who really helped me out this year and a few other good pals around the site. So, a big thanks to:

GaPJaxie - For mentoring me and being my first editor!

GenerousGypsy, Knight Templar, and E3gner - For being my current editors after GaPJaxie had to quit due to RL reasons.

ArtichokeLust and JFalk - Technical consultants whose advice has helped shape numerous details in "The Iron Horse." (Ex. Artichoke is the reason Turing Test has a Farraday Cage, while JFalk was a huge help with getting Talon Turing's character and many other small details down right.)

Lise Eclaire and misskoifishpony - For being sweet and for letting me try out my editing chops on some of their work.

HapHazred - Head of "Hazardous Writing Materials" writing group and fellow internet drinking buddy. Without one of the group's contests (about history), "Running Free Across the Plain" - a story which isn't that popular but remains close to my heart - would probably not have been written.

Other people who've been good buddies and provided some awesome conversation and commentary on my stories (brace yourselves, it's a LONG list):
-Meep the Changeling
-Listie the Scribe Maid
-Mocallis
-Kenshinryu
-Jixstun
-The Infinity Doctor
-ViktornovaMk2
-Lightoller
-PsiGuy60
-FordPrefect
-bahamutay
-KingKang
-sailing101
-The dragon hunter
-Lancerlot
-PoisonJoker09
-Deynarth
-EverfreeSparkle
-CommanderDarklight
-Keyblade Hero
-Shepard of Peace
-kztxl7
-shagohad12
-Shadowkeeper
-MachinenPistole-40
-Soft Shell
-Willfire
-Schroedingers_Katze
-Reese
-3phantoms
-Sh4dowWalker96
-SirShadestrider
-BringBackSonicSatAM
-Texus
-Lord Shaxx
-Gobeman
-GordonFreebrony
-Captain Olimar
-TheDriderPony
-lebowski42
-Sir Derps A Lot
-Dusty Old Qrow
-The 72nd Hunter
-Shadow Bolt
-Dragonofshame
-Ringcaat
-DiscoPanda84
-mastermenthe
-ScopeEva
-winter smith
-Stormcaller
-CheesewedgeFTW
-StarChaser01
-Maxes Altho - NavyBrony
-caloricmango
-Zephyrion
-Nerd-With-A-Pencil
-Nightweaver
-Dipti
-Princess RTFM
-aura overload
-Blue Blaze {COMET}
-sidetrack
-Black Hoof
-seki108
-Seirs
-Book Burner
-Stainless Steel Fox
-Conner Cogwork
-Wysteria
-wierdplatformer
-TitaniumDragon
-Hakuno
-Wilford Warfstache
-arancaytar
-Steel Resolve
-bobby125
-Discordia Matrix
-Starlight Nova
-SirScribe
-Alondro
-Tracking Target
-The Great Derpsby
-Ant-ithul-e
-Ganondorf8
-Softy8088
-DarkPinkie
-Fwelin
-klikkat
-The Fan Without A Face
-BigLurker
-Wanderer D
-bloodwolf432
-MrAskAPirate
-Misdirection
-Emperor
-TerraZeal
-p61blkwidow
-Sylvian

WHEW! I had to go through a lot of comments to find the folks out there with particularly helpful or insightful or just plain sweet comments (and it was a lot of you!).

Once again, thanks to you all for making this a great 2015.

Comments

[Sylvian]

How the heck am I on that last list!?

Needless to say I am honored to be on a list of people who've given "Awesome comments or conversation" about your stories!

I hope you have as awesome a year as the past one! And I hope your new year has already been a good one!

Here's to 2016!

[JFalk]

Glad that my comments were useful!

Can't wait for the next chapters and stories!

Happy 2016!

[Reese]

You're welcome. :)
And yes, a happy 2016!

[Ganondorf8]

Your story of an alternate Equestria where Sunset was the alicorn princess instead of Twilight still speaks out to me. I wish it could have been mentioned in the show during the finale as it would have been really cool to see. Still, your story was one of the best ones I've ever read, and perhaps a possible sequel of some kind could come into existence in the future.