15 years ago today I started this Between the Lines blog. I won’t be able to celebrate as epically as last years 14 year blog anniversary where there was a total solar eclipse, but this is a big one nonetheless.
15 years…

The purpose of this blog was to provide a central place to answer Autodesk product questions and technology topics in easy to understand straight talk and be indexed in search engines so people could find the answers easily in search engines. As one of the top participants back in discussion forums I found myself answering the same questions over and over because participants were looking for answers post their questions without noticing the past threads, but with the blog it showed up in search engines, newsreaders, integration with social media, and email notifications. It was an unofficial experiment, and the experiment went very well reaching 20,000 readers in a day and at times in the the top 3 web pages in all Autodesk web pages. It was also a way to put another face on Autodesk employees and have a two way conversation. There were posts on technology, life, adventures, photography and April Fools jokes.The readers in many cases became good friends. I hope to provide another annual meetup at Autodesk University this year for readers and social media participants to meet in real life over a beverage and make life long friends.

Thank you to each and every reader over the 15 years. There has been thousands of comments and millions of unique views over the 15 years. The blog has been active all of the 15 years even when on vacation, sabbaticals, surgeries, divorce, and life. My life in the 15 years has evolved a great deal as I started this when I was in my 30s living in the San Francisco Bay area, then through living in Utah, and now back in Portland Oregon with my kids all grown up. I have been proud to publish guest posts of several people who then started their own popular blogs and successful web sites. The goal was to showcase information, advice, fun, and resources.  I have blogged from all continents except the Antarctica end even blogging from deep in the Amazon River, remote parts of Africa, Bali, Iceland, and many other remote places where I could find a weak Internet signal or satellite phone connection.

I have no plans to stop and hope you wont stop reading it either. If there are topics you would like to see a post on or you want to provide a guest post related to Autodesk products please email me.

Thank you,
Shaan