I knew the view counter on the gallery was nearing twenty-two million and should hit it in the coming days. Actually, I had hoped to reach it before the end of 2012. The beards.org gallery view counter hit twenty-two million already this morning some time while I wasn’t expecting it. Therefore, I did not see which was the lucky twenty-tow millionth photo viewed. So I’ve just selected an image from Andy‘s album to commemorate today’s milestone.

This counter started at zero back on January 26, 2006. That’s when the gallery moved to the current software package. The true count is not known because of database glitches and other various subtractions over the years. There are also some legacy photo galleries within the site that remain outside the main, whose views are not counted in this total. We can say, however, that the true count is greater than the number displayed. And where can you see this counter? It appears here:

http://www.beards.org/images/index.php

Thanks for your interest in all about beards! Keep growing!

Thank you, everyone, for all the likes!  The beards.org Facebook page started on February 12, 2010.  Today we reached 10,000 likes.  It’s great to have you with us.  Your participation on the Facebook page is much appreciated.

If you haven’t “liked” the beards.org Facebook page yet, today is a great day to do it.  Click on the image to go to the beards.org Facebook page and then click on “Like”.

We just hit our next major milestone on the gallery views counter: 21 million.  The counter hit 21,000,000 at 1:04 PM Pacific Daylight Time today.  I happened to be online to see it happen.  The twenty-millionth photo?  It was the shot of Dale from our popular beard style sets feature.  Click on the image of Dale above to go to a larger view.

The views counter on the beards.org galleries hit twenty million on May 16th.  Before I wrote it up, a database table crash ended up knocking the counter way back down quite a bit.  So we hit twenty million again on May 28th.  This illustrates that the true number remains unknown, but we do know that it’s higher than what the counter shows.  Thanks to all for your interest in all about beards.

Keep growing.  Today marks the sixteenth anniversary of all about beards, the longest-running beard site on the web.  If all about beards has encouraged you to grow your beard, helped you to improve your beard, improved your view of beards, or had any other positive impact on you, please share by leaving a comment here or sending an email.  Thank you to all of the site’s friends for your support over the years.

The happiness for the new beard year did not even last one week for me.  My little sister was taken from us unexpectedly — suddenly and without warning.  The loss has been too difficult to bear.  Understandably, updates to beards.org ground to a halt.  Normally, I would see when the gallery views counter hits another million.  This time, I did not.  I figure, however, that it was most likely on January 9th.

Right now, I cannot feel any optimism for 2012.  But I have to carry on.  The sixteenth anniversary of “all about beards” is only days away now.  In my sister’s honor, somehow, I will do everything I can to make it the best year yet for beards.org and to surpass that each year that follows.

At approximately 5:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time on October 7th, the beards.org gallery views counter hit eighteen million!  It’s a worthy milestone.  Now, let’s get more visitors to beards.org and hit nineteen and twenty million in record time!

So which was the eighteen-millionth photo viewed in the gallery?  Well, the true number of gallery views is unknown and is actually higher than the current count at any given moment.  The number got rolled back a bit after a server hard disc failure some years ago.  Also, the number only reflects gallery views since the current gallery system was implemented on the site on January 26, 2006.  Also, when photos get deleted, their views are subtracted from the count.

The eighteen-millionth photo viewed is largely ceremonial, because the true number is larger and unknowable.  Yet it does provide a meaningful milestone since the seventeen million mark was reached.  We hit eighteen million views not long after today’s update of the beards of the world gallery.  So I was here to see the ceremonial eighteen-millionth winner:

Holder of the title of the eighteen-millionth gallery photo viewed is Justin.  He appears to be viewing the world through rose-colored glasses.  Click on his photo to see the larger version.  Congratulations, Justin!

Thanks, everyone, for your continued interest in beards and beards.org!

Oops!  The gallery views counter hit seventeen million…sometime.  It was about a week ago.  I missed it.  Oh, well.  Here’s a little belated commemoration of the momentous occasion!  Photo above is another preview shot from Scott’s beards.org photo shoot.  His beard feature will appear one of these days…soon, I hope!  Stay tuned.  Oh, and thanks, everyone, for all your interest in all about beards!

The hits just keep on coming here at beards.org.  On the afternoon (US Pacific Time) of March 25th, 2011, the gallery views counter rolled over to sixteen million!  We hit fifteen million back on January 2nd, 2011.  The counting only began back on January 26th, 2006.  So the real number is unknown but much higher.

I wasn’t here to see which was the sixteen millionth photo.  So I selected one of Andy’s photos to illustrate this post.

Thanks for your interest in “all about beards”!

On January 17th, 1996, all about beards made its humble debut on the worldwide web.  The little web site had embarked on its mission of promoting beards around the globe.  Today, all about beards is growing stronger all the time and remains the world’s longest-running beard web site.  On all about beards’ fifteenth anniversary, I’d like to thank all of the site’s friends, contributors, supporters, cheerleaders, and of course, beard growers for making all about beards such a success.  Keep growing.