I can't believe I joined videosift almost three years ago.  I can still remember how I found this place.  I used to be a regular on Blue's News and in their daily "Out of the Blue" section, under "Media" someone had linked some geeky physics-y science-y video which I enjoyed tremendously.  Of course, it was on videosift, which I'd never heard of at the time. 

I was immediately drawn in by two things: (1) The channels, specificaly the science channel.  I'm an engineer by formal education, an amateur astronomer, a tinkerer, and a gamer, and I love the idea of content on demand.  This seemed like a great place to be... and (2) the burning desire to downvote videos.  That was it - those two simple things drew me in.  

At first I was amazed by how driven I was to get that bronze star, just so I could have access to the down arrow.  @dag, you're right up there with Napeoleon, who said "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon." Soon after getting bronze of course... well, do I even need to go on? Those of you with diamonds and other fancy bits by your names understand the point I'm making, no need to hammer it.  

What really has kept me around though is the community.  I truly believe that content on demand is the future of all media, especially now that we have the infrastructure to deliver it and a market which seems to be near or at critical mass. I believe that most sifters feel the same way too.  This, in my opinion is what unifies us.  That and the "bewbs" tag.   And I especially like the fact that videosift has been around for so long without jumping the virtual shark.  It really reminds me of the early days of the net when people who really cared about quality created and contributed ideas and (most) debates were handled with a degree of civiity which is rare these days.  It is a refuge from the likes of youtube comments, or the spittle saturated rants which flow forth from the "community" at the bottom of any yahoo news story. 

Just a couple days ago, I got my gold star! It took a lot longer than it should have, and this last week or so, I engaged in a heroic push.  I was very proud!  I showed this to my wife, who just smiled and said, "that's nice," the way our spouses or kintergarden teaches do so often. Sigh. 

Anyway... Hi, I'm Garamchi.  I'm glad to be here.  Long live the sift.