I don’t think I’ve written anything in quite awhile because I’ve been riding the coat tails of Naughty who published the first political blog in Stickybun history.  Props to you buddy, while I may complain about bill C-61 that’s about as far as I go when it goes to understanding politics.  But at least I can say I voted which I’m sure is a lot more then the rest of you did.  Regardless who frigging cares, I’ll leave Naughty to talk about our eventual economic disaster, I’m here to bore you all to death and perhaps let some of you reminisce about a few years back.

I was surprised to see the other day upon looking that Hotstickybun will enter it’s 5th year of existence in 2009.    It’s funny to think that on that momentus March 22nd 2004 when I released the website I never had any idea I would build it to what its become…yes, you’re correct, I built it into a steamy pile of bull shit.  Five years and now a record 8 different versions I thought I would take a trip down memory lane for those of you who have managed to make me stick it out and reach 10,000 uniques monthly (yeah yeah I know it’s nothing compared to other blogs but I’d feel guilty promoting this website with all the attacks and insults on minorities, women, and generally anyone who annoys me).  Let’s begin…

2004 – The First

Originally dubbed as “Voyeurs House of Filth” the website started out more so as a community amongst friends. Back in those days numerous people were living in Edmonton which resulted in ridiculous weekends and more importantly crazy Wing Wednesdays. At the time the website was nothing more then a place to post pictures (highlighted by our first ever Madden Bowl party), videos, and a place to get to know the 6 or so of us who made up the entourage that lived Edmonton life.

2005 – Experimentation Begins

After the fairly decent success and feedback I received on the initial launch of hotstickybun my mind began to wonder what if the website could grow into something more. Thus I began to add things like a message board and enlisted the help of some friends to write up some blogs. I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll say it again that there has been nothing I have ever written that garnered as much attention as Jmoe’s Trop Ten and Trav’s rants. To this day people still talk about them. Unfortunately at the time in early 2005 I was heavily interested in Macromedia Flash and stumbled across a website called cartoon smart which taught the finer art of tooning in Flash and thus spurred this version, which was quickly dismantled because the pain in the ass it was to maintain.

2005 – Third Times a Charm

This version of the website finally got my head wrapped around using a programming language and database to control all of the content which made life a lot easier. While I started pumping out more articles others who were writing before hand stopped which made updates sparse. This version touted the introduction of videos from our antics and the highly sought after hockey fights of one Matt Walker.

2006 – Video Video Video

It wasn’t until late 2006 that I introduced what would be the fourth version of hotstickybun and ironically still one of the better ones I feel I did. It was this version that introduced me to the grungy feel of design and since then I have replicated a lot of work after it. Gone were the other bloggers which left me to handle all blogging, I opened up to ask if anyone out there wanted to help contribute to the website but at the time no one would even consider writing an article , strange how things change with people writing blogs almost daily now. While I had included video in the last design this version of the website pumped out more custom videos then I could keep up with thanks to Flash Video (the same video you see today), sadly with the amount of multimedia being produced I needed an easier way to add it to the website.

2007 – The Worst One Yet

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I designed this one, I think I rushed into it wanting to introduce the new video sub section which ultimately led to one shitty user experience. The only good thing about this website was how it introduced me to a program called WordPress which I still use till this day and ironically install on most client websites as a CMS.

2007 – Pink Anus Pudding

Experimenting with some new colors and going after the web 2.0 look (don’t ask, it’s a nerd term) I kept the condom logo in play and added some more vibrant colors. Nothing overly changed within the guts of the website, there was still photos, forums, videos, and my blog but while I was somewhat satisfied with how it worked out I eventually got sick of the mess and clutter of everything I was trying to accomplish.

2008 – Grunge Is Back in Style

Once again I came up with a grunge look which focused more on my stuff and my work and less on trying to entice people to join the website to help contribute. It was at this time I soon realized the message board was dead, It didn’t take long for me to figure out that people come to my website to either read my blabber, check out my pictures (cause I wont post them on Facebook), or view any videos I might have added. With the explosion of Facebook there was no point to have a message board or any reference to MSN, Email, or Skype for that matter because people just dont use it anymore. Communication consists of either posting on someones wall or sending them a text message. Thanks to wordpress plugins I was able to expand my tastes a little and got to showcase what I was currently listening to music wise, latest photos, digg articles, my twitter updates, etc.

Which Brings Me To Today

And what you see here. While I can flat out say this website isn’t entirely finished it will be probably pretty soon once I finish the handful of projects I got on the go. I’m somewhat relieved to have some other people contributing again (even if they dont last) as it gives me time to catch up on some things and bring in some new ideas. What new ideas you may ask?

Well maybe not a new idea so much but more so something brought back into the fray. For anyone who remembers a few years back I was in the business of designing t-shirts and logos for the eventual release of what would be a Stickybun store. The problem I had was finding a supplier and printer for the eventual finished product, something which I have since located. Needless to say the first print turned out relatively well and I’m quite anxious to see if there is any steam behind this.

As always I’m always listening to ideas so if anyone has any ideas of something they would like to see feel free to shout out a comment below. In the meantime let me know what you think of my first print.