I really didn't have all that much contact with Luuv over my time at ASMB or here. I regret that now, even though it's my nature to let people be unless they take an interest in me. However, despite not being that well acquainted with him, I've got huge respect for the way he dedicated so much time to all of us, even the miscreants and weirdos. He didn't have to put this community together. He could have said "forget it" once ASMB went under for good, but he stuck through it after all this time. (Let me also acknowledge the contributions of the other staff, but this place was Luuv's baby).
In the end, I wish I'd been able to tell him that I appreciate the amount of time he put into this place and ASMB. I kind of took his presence for granted because he was such a constant. I never really recognized the work he had done until the tail end of the ASMB experiment, where he was really the only member of site staff who seemed to even take an interest in us. I hope somehow we'll be able to continue on with the ideas he was trying to implement, be able to continue his legacy. I wish I'd taken the time to thank him when I'd had the chance, but you never anticipate something like this.
Another thing that makes this hit home is that he was my dad's age. That kind of rocked me, sort of made it real in a way.
I really hate using the words "I" and "me" so much when this really isn't about me. I know I'm kind of rambling now, but if anybody gets anything out of this, it's that I'm grateful for the work Luuv did in all his time, both before and after I started showing my face around the community.
Thank you, J. Michael Crow. You were one of the good ones. I should have let that be known while you were here to know it.