I'll log in one more time to say thanks as well. The Forge was a great and wonderful thing and changed the way I think about and look at games (and other things!). Thank you to everyone who built, maintained, contributed to or otherwise was a part of the Forge.
I lurked, I read, I learned a lot. I admit I've been essentially inactive for a couple years here. But I did a lot of reading, and it's one of those situations where the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know.
I'm still chugging along on a few projects of mine, but I think one of the biggest things I learned here is that there's No Silver Bullet. That's an old programming aphorism that suggests that no one solution can hope to solve 100% of the problems you face. No language, no development style, no anything. I tried to make a universal system, and failed, and then learned that it's *impossible*. Targeted experiences -- games meant to evoke certain styles of play, certain stories -- are amazing, and it's been awe-inspiring watching the Forge and its diaspora cultivate a genre that had only begun to understand what it could do.
Ron, Vincent, Clinton, Simon, and all the rest -- well, I don't have the audacity to call you friends, because I wasn't really involved here. What I can call you all is teachers. I don't use that phrase lightly. Not evangelists, not apologists, not lecturers, but teachers. I mention one of the biggest things I've learned, but here's what comes in at number one: I didn't learn how to make games. I didn't learn what's successful, what's the "right way". I didn't learn the best way to roleplay. (I learned that those are the wrong questions, too.) But what I did learn is how to *think* about RPGs, and how to make my own conclusions and shape my experience the best way possible. That's what the best teachers show you. Don't be a slave -- to tradition, to conventional thinking, to "the right way" -- think for yourself.
I just wanted to say that The Forge not only changed my vision of the hobby forever, but also gave me hope when I was struggling in the dark. So thank you all, for everything and more (and Ron, sorry about that post, I know you dislike "Bye" topics but I couldn't resist).