I went away for quite some time. In response to the HN discussion you quote, quite a lot of people got in touch, and as a result I ended up making a few quite good friends, and many more contacts.

After a while I submitted a few things, and commented on a few things I was pointed at, but I didn't ever come back and read in the same way that I had been doing.

And it remains thus. I submit things I think the community might be interested in, and I dip in occasionally. But my participation is not as it once was. During "lock down" I've been commenting about once a day, I look at the "Front Page" most days, and "newest" most days, but I don't comment much. Looking at the trends and what the community usually finds interesting, and especially looking at the responses to some of the comments I make, I don't feel that I have a lot to contribute.

Hi Colin, you gave your juggling talk at my high school sometime before 2009. I already considered myself both a juggler and a programmer, but your talk inspired me on both counts, and taught me something about being cross-disciplinary in the things we enjoy and pursue. I've been a professional software dev for 8 years but I still think about your talk, your software, and your website. Thanks for encouraging young people like me.

Hi there ...

That's a lovely comment ... thank you. Feel free to email me and we could perhaps arrange to meet and have a coffee sometime. Contact details in my profile.

But equally, feel free to stay anonymous if you prefer!