It's Hubski's second New Year, and I am happy to say that I don't have a fever this time.

It has been another good year.

The community has continued to grow, and so has the diversity of ideas and conversation. One thing that tells me that we are doing something right is that despite time and changes, many faces are still with us. I can still look forward to social critiques and perspectives from NotPhil, new music and strong opinions from cgod, and a sprinkling of art, ideas, and Blondie from alpha0.

insomniasexx has learned to code, and forwardslash created our first plugin. kleinbl00 and I still disagree on functionality, caio still supplies math and poetry, and thenewgreen started giving us #tngpodcast.

Of course, these are just a small slice of the personalities that have continued to make this an interesting place to be.

Just as important as those that remain are the good people that have come aboard this past year. cliffelam has been a refreshing counter to my political beliefs, thundara has brought some of the most varied and quality content, and theadvancedapes, lil, and JakobVirgil have reinforced my belief that people sharing their own writing on Hubski is a good thing.

I didn’t intend this to be a folksy shout-out, but that is how I feel about this past year. It has been a good time hanging out with these people in a small but growing space. It is possible that such a personal retrospective won’t make as much sense in future State of Hubski posts. However, I do hope that everyone’s individual experience can be as personal and rewarding if they seek it. In fact, that’s my goal.

Thanks to everyone that’s made this second year a good one.

In what felt like a Holiday surprise, syncretic (whether intentionally or not) opened the tap on a flow of new users this week. Welcome to all of you. This shake up has helped us to identify some things that we are doing well, and some things that we could do better.

It’s clear to me that everyone wants something just a little different from Hubski. I don’t expect that to change. However, when you take away the differences, I believe we have much in common when it comes to the type of experience we are looking for. Our goal for Hubski remains to be a place where people can have fruitful conversations over thought-provoking content.

As many of you know, thenewgreen has been an invaluable part of team Hubski for some time. Over this past year, b_b has also stepped into a planning and community outreach position. We have no payroll, but if we did, there are others that I feel like could be on it based on what they’ve given to Hubski. sounds_sound in particular has devoted a lot of time and consideration to our development.

In related news, we have another programmer coming on board! A proper announcement is forthcoming, but someone that has been close to Hubski from the beginning is going to join in the development team, which will double in size! There has been recent talk about an API, and because of these extra hands and expertise, one will be built this year.

The State of Hubski is good this New Years Eve of 2012. Thanks for being a part of that!

Happy New Year!