Absolutely! Even now, I certainly don’t feel exploited or angry about my volunteer effort. It was my first experience with any sort of online community and I’ll treasure it forever.

I do side-eye the decision to take minors as volunteers — as grateful as I was/am for the experience personally — because even circa 1996 that seems like a questionable idea. (Though in truth, I suppose if there had been an age limit and not a teen sunset program overseen by a nice adult volunteer, I suspect many of the teens would’ve just lied about their age. I know I would have!)

I wanted more space for my website and to give back/learn. This program provided that.

Over the two years I was a volunteer tree, I got an Amazon gift certificate, some GeoCities merch, and some stock that was at one point worth $20,000. I will always be grateful.