all about beards is on Facebook now.  Click on the image above to visit the beards.org page on Facebook.  Visit our page on Facebook and become a fan!  Support the bearded cause and help add more beards to the world.  Click on the image above and become a fan of beards.org on Facebook!

On January 17, 1996, all about beards first appeared on the worldwide web.  The site started out on web space provided for AOL members.  The host name was members.aol.com.  On January 20, 2005, all about beards officially moved to its permanent home at beards.org.  The legacy all about beards site on members.aol.com was left up for sentimental reasons until AOL pulled the plug on it on October 31, 2008.  All that remains of the AOL site’s legacy is that the official site contact email address is still the original AOL email address that has been used since the January 1996 launch of all about beards.

Today on the site’s fourteenth anniversary, the site is bigger and stronger than ever, with the momentum ever increasing.  More importantly, the site has encouraged and inspired countless men around the world to experience the unique adventure of growing a beard with great success.   The site remains dedicated to “growing better beards worldwide”, “adding more beards to the world”, and increasing the acceptance of beards everywhere.  I’d like to thank all of the beard growers and supporters everywhere whose beard-growing contributions have strengthened all about beards and advanced the bearded cause around the world.

The gallery image counter hit eleven million views on January 6, 2010!  We hit ten million on October 25, 2009.  It would have been nice to hit eleven million before the end of 2009, but this is still close enough!  The eleven million number, however, only represents the number of beard views since the counter started from zero on January 26, 2006.

This time, I wasn’t at the keyboard to see which photo was number eleven million.  In consolation, I’m illustrating this post with a previously-unpublished photo of Christopher.

I wish you much happiness and happy beard growing in 2010!  All about beards celebrates fourteen years on the web this month!  This continues the site’s reign as the longest-running beard site on the web.

On the first day of this new year, it’s a good time to stop and give thanks.  I am so thankful to all of the contributors from around the world who help make beards.org a shining showcase for beards, inspiring men around the globe to experience the joy of growing a beard.  Thank you, all.

Looking back, all about beards had some pretty lean years.  The message history for the all about beards Yahoo! group that’s been used to announce site updates since 2001 is telling.  Here is how it appeared at the end of 2009:

The numbers represent the number of site updates announced each month.  By 2001, the supply of content dwindled down to a trickle.  In addition to the lack of new content, other problems impeded the site’s growth during those very lean years.  2001 through 2004 were especially barren because the beards of the world gallery did not debut until November of 2004 (originally called the bearded visitors gallery).

Eventually, digital cameras came to the rescue.  The proliferation of digital cameras worldwide made it easy for beard growers everywhere to send in photos for the gallery.  The beards of the world gallery has become the beating heart and pride of all about beards.

Thanks, everyone, for growing your beards!  And by all means, keep showing off those beards here on beards.org!  Send ‘em in!

Have a wonderful 2010!  Happy new beard year!

The gallery views counter hit ten million at 7:41 PM PDT on October 25, 2009!  Which was the prize-winning ten-millionth photo?  Well, Dave wins another one:

Click on the photo above to see the larger, gallery version.  One of Dave’s photos was the winner at nine million views, too.  Thanks again, Dave, and all of the visitors to beards.org!

UPDATE:  I should add, of course, sincere thanks to all of the participants in the beards of the world gallery, too!

At 1:59 PM PDT on August 1, 2009, the view count for the galleries hit nine million!  Which was the winning, nine-millionth photo?  It was this one of Dave, in one of his rare goatee appearances:

Click on the photo above to see the larger, gallery version of the photo.  Next up: ten million!

Great beards should be photographed.

The documentary beard project formally has a home on beards.org now.  The first photo album is that of Brian, starting out with twelve photos.  There will be much more to come — in Brian’s album and others.  Click on the image above to go there.

Three months and one day after hitting seven million photo gallery views, at 17:20 PDT we hit eight million!  Luckily, I happened to be around at the time to watch the counter hit eight million.  Which was the lucky eight-millionth photo?  It was this one of Steven from our featured beards section:

Click on the image above to see the larger version.

After a much-too-long hiatus, the beards.org documentary beard photography project resumed activity yesterday with another original beard photo shoot.  Dale, with his amazing beard growth, kindly agreed to the beard photo shoot.  Here are some preview shots from March 20th, 2009.

all about beards made its first appearance on the web on the 17th of January of 1996. The site’s original objective was to promote beards in a positive manner. Thirteen years later, all about beards is the longest-running beard site on the web and the site remains dedicated to its original mission. We have come a long way, but there’s much more in store. With an eye on a bright future, our thirteenth anniversary year promises to be the best yet!