DNN Thanks YOU, Part 7: Special Thanks

By Hurt Reynolds, Last updated Tue Jan 26 2010 10:55pm

We close this first series of "DNN Thanks YOU" articles by recognizing a handful of people for their special contributions to our success from DNN's inception through the end of the 2009 tournament season.

At the top of the list are Women's Flat Track Derby Association board members Crackerjack, Hydra, Miss Jane RedRum, The Ruffian, and Loco Chanel, and executive director Bloody Mary. They've all shown us terrific support, trust, and cooperation in our efforts to cover and promote modern roller derby.

Also from WFTDA, Stats Committee Chair Ms. D'fiant, PR Chair Chica Loca, Rules Chair Endless Justin, and Games Chair Grace "The Commish" Killy have been generous with information and insight. Because they've trusted us to respect embargo dates, we've been able to provide high quality reporting on new WFTDA initiatives and developments.

Special thanks also go to:

$3 Bill, the driving force behind widespread use of live streaming video with integrated score, period clock, and jam clock shims.

Moose Ondaluce, for pioneering the use of video on DNN and creating the initial data entry UI for the "Derbymatic" bout database (which drives the upcoming bouts and recent scores features on DNN).

Vince Wheel and the L.A. Derby Dolls RaD Team, for showing us a thing or two about production values.

Bone Crawford, Derbymatic's database architect and data management wizard.

Grand Poobah, Curator of Bouts for Derbymatic, and an unparalleled human detail-tracking *machine*.

Slugs Bunny, for creating the "DNN v 2" aka "classic" DNN logo.

Master Bates, for creating the general "DNN v 2" look and feel.

Assaultin' Pepa, for creating the current DNN logo and providing additional graphic design support.

Lisa Lawless, for jumping in via virtual parachute to rescue our server from traffic oblivion during Nationals 2009. We look forward to her future guidance as our systems administration guru.

Suzy Snakeyes, for helping with a whole bunch of content prep when we'd reached total overload and were starting to bleed from our eyeballs.

Geoffrey Saucer, A.T. Hellion, Assaultin' Pepa, The Statisfier & Mo Pain, for opening their homes to us during major events and tournaments.

The Sportsplex, Feasterville Trevose, PA, for setting aside a chunk of parking lot for the DNN Mobile Unit, and for just generally being awesome toward derby.

Ivanna S. Pankin, for believing in us early and supporting us often, both financially and morally.

John McFadden, for his kind words, enthusiastic encouragement, and sound advice.

Busta & Tara Armov, for marathon boutcasting above and beyond the call of duty at The Big One, Battle on the Bank, and Declaration of Derby.

B-Train and Strych9 from Wicked Skatewear, for keeping us in clothes and refreshments through tournament season.

Hellarad, for being so ignacious.

And the following people who coordinated our major event coverage efforts:

Count Smacula, Tatsu, Scott Farrell, Brad Example, and Howie Felterbottom - Four Corner Feud.

Hymen Heaven and Eddie Spaghetti - East Coast Derby Extravaganza.

$3 Bill, Ms. Treat, and Rockerboy - East Regionals.

Wet Spot, Apron, and Garrison Killer - North Central Regionals.

Death Skull and Sissy Splaysek - South Central Regionals.

Brad Example - West Regionals.

Paul Williams, Hymen Heaven, and Eddie Spaghetti - Nationals. Paul Williams in particular was a freakin' superhero in pulling together every aspect of the event.

Last, but certainly not least:

Mercy Less, co-founder of Charm City Roller Girls, former WFTDA PR chair and architect of modern derby's only national TV deal to date, former WFTDA board member, DNN feature interviewer, and so much more. She is the genius nobody in derby has adequately acknowledged, let alone leveraged. She knows how to do everything better, and is often kind enough to share those solutions with us, even though we so rarely execute effectively on them.

To all of you, and so many more who've helped in ways great and small, DNN Thanks YOU. Here's to many more years and many, many more thanks!