Hi.
My name is Doug and I'm a Pbase Addict and this is my story:

I remember I used to take pictures and think, "This seems harmless enough." It seemed like fun. It never affected my life. Never interfered. I took hundreds, even thousands of pictures and still made it to work every day. I was meeting all the responsibilities of my life with no problems. I loved learning about others with my same photo hosting service. Pbase. Love Pbase. I wanted to share my love for Pbase and the pictures I could take, with others like me. Pbase users. Then, one day while browsing the site, I saw something called PaD (Picture a Day). Cool. I began to "lurk" in this group. Watching, waiting, observing, absorbing.

I noticed a phenomenon begin to emerge within this PaD thing. People were commenting on each other’s pictures and even voting. I found myself intrigued. I had to know more. There were even rumors of Pbase Meetups and Challenges. They used terms like “Favorites”, “GMV” and “SPs”.
This was almost more than I wanted to know. I considered, for just a moment, if I needed to get Chertoff and Homeland Security involved.

I began to study their culture. Interesting! Each of their kind attempted to produce beautifully arranged photo compositions each day. It was almost too beautiful for words. Here was a group of like-minded people with a goal. To make lovely pictures using rudimentary tools (cameras) and placing no other restrictions except that everyone use the same tools. What a concept. I was hooked.

I tried it. I posted a PaD. No page views, no comments, no votes. I had been rejected. End of the world? I think not. I quickly rendered another picture. Caught up in my addiction, I had ignored commenting on other’s pictures to get “tracked back” and noticed also.
I then began to stalk the world around me in search of the perfect subject. Landscape, domestic, portrait, candid. I just began shooting everything. Nothing was safe from my prying lens. I needed a shot for my PaD and, dammit, I would have one. I, in other words, fed my addiction. I had to get the image processed, cropped, resized for the web....my head was spinning. I was on a binge and loving every minute of it.

The result was good. Oh, sure I went through my own bout with shame and remorse. I had relapsed and ‘Pad’ed again. But, you know what? I don't care any more. Hey, it's just a freakin' web site and a digital photo. If people don't understand, I give up. Leave me to my addiction and get your own life.

Even today, as a member of this group, I feel the acceptance and love of its members. It is you, the PaD devotees who validate my wretched addiction and make it possible for me to get up each morning. I get my motivation from the experience, strength and hope of all of you.

Thank you for allowing me to share. I feel a lot better.