80 replies to this topic

[LinktheMaster]

This is truly awful news to hear, and my heart goes out to WB's family and close friends.

 

Wild Bill started something amazing 11 years ago - something that has profoundly affected a lot of us here.  He worked hard to start and maintain this site, and none of us should forget the impact he has made on us.  I might not have agreed with him all the time, but I always had respect for him and thought he was a good guy.  As someone who does web design, I've always admired his works and constant ambition to do new innovative things on the web.  That passion and foresight was something truly to be respected.  It's such a shame that this has happened.

 

Good bye William, and thanks for everything.

[Nathaniel]

William was PureZC's founding father.  This site would never have existed without him, so you have to be very thankful to him for all the times created here.  Many of us would have never met each other without him.  It's very hard for me to describe how I feel in words.  This comes as a big shock.  He was still so very young, and I could tell that he would have a very successful future, being the very smart guy that he was.  He was a guy who you know was going many great places.  It's very unfortunate that it had to be cut short.

[Jared]

Wait...what?! I'm so confused... His Facebook seemed so fine, his last post was a Bitstrip too! He seemed so happy and full of life. I hope we get more information soon...

 

Edit- Shadow, I'm so sorry for your loss. Your son was an amazing guy.

Edited by Jared, 28 October 2013 - 12:14 PM.

[sigtau]

I have few words to give, but I'll provide them regardless.

 

William and I interacted regularly on Facebook.  He was a very outspoken, intellectual individual, and one of the handful of members on this site I would've gladly shared a beer with.  It saddens me greatly to hear that his life was cut short in such an abrupt manner.

 

The man died young, and we all owe him so much.  Rest in peace, and my sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

[TheLegend_njf]

Died at 27? Wow.... That's scary in a way. It is sad because he's pretty much the guy who made PureZC possible.

Like some members are saying here, this seems sudden, but more often than not I heard of situations like that where it does happen so sudden. But again, until more information, what we can imagine would only be speculation.

So the how or why shouldn't matter right now. But what's more important is what has happened and what it means to the members here at PureZC. I know he will be missed even by those who never got the chance to know him personally.

Edited by NewJourneysFire, 28 October 2013 - 12:23 PM.

[Kite]

This is absolutely terrible news.

 

I fell out of contact with Wild Bill a few years ago since our interests and places for hanging out changed enough to where we just stopped talking to each other (though that was probably my fault). I also admit there were times where I got extremely exasperated with how distant he seemed with PureZC later on. But even despite how distant he seemed, he still cared enough about the community that he started and spent a significant amount of time crafting to continue visiting chat, answering questions that were shot his way, paying for the domain, trusting the staff enough to handle itself, playing the occasional joke, and such. I thank him for doing all of that since he had a whole lot of reasons for why he shouldn't have done that and he still cared enough to do it anyway.

 

I truly regret losing contact with him years ago since when I did talk to him almost daily, he was a really cool friend. He was actually one of the first friends I made on the internet and he introduced me to a lot of stuff that would have taken me longer to understand without help. Even the times where he just dropped back in for a bit after I lost touch with him he was pretty cool.

 

He will be sorely missed by me.

[DashSim]

Shocking. God... Wow.

 

Without him and this site he created, I would not have met my girlfriend, nor any of my close friends. Not one. Back when I was a 12-year-old who could barely spell, this was the first forum I ever joined, the first time I ever interacted with anyone online. I can't imagine how things would have played out for me without that. I would be a completely different -- and much worse -- person today without PureZC. And my gratitude and appreciation for the immense positive impact Wild Bill has had on my life will remain with me forever.

 

He'll never know the impact he's had on me. I didn't really know him personally. We talked on... AIM, I believe? a couple times when I was younger (where he was always nice to me, despite me being an annoying 12-year-old who could barely spell), and briefly in #PureZC maybe once or twice in the last couple years. My heart goes out to everyone who knew him in a more personal way.

[SpacemanDan]

I'm truly sorry to hear this. He's definitely had a impact on many people's lives through his time devoted to this community and elsewhere.

 

I'm honestly not sure what I can say that others haven't already. He'll be deeply missed. Rest in peace, Wild Bill.

[Ben]

William had a profound impact on my life in particular just through having started this community. He will be missed.

 

I wish I had more to say, but there's honestly too much to fit into just a post.

[ShadowTiger]

May we all have as easy a time in realizing how much he meant to us, and still means to us, and will mean to us in the future, as much as we all meant to him.

None of us are ever truly as far apart as we all believe ourselves to be.

[DarkFlameWolf]

Wow, he and I go way back to the founding days... We were more on speaking terms in the early years before our interests diverged and we just remained distant friends, but this is truly saddening. Peace be to him and his family. On a more minor note, guess i will never get to see his magnum opus: Conquest for Power. WB you will be missed!

[Sephiroth]

I logged in just this once to say that Wild Bill will indeed be missed. I spent several years myself in and around this community, and made quite a few good friends, and without this site, that wouldn't have been possible.

 

@Shadow: My condolences go out to yourself, as well as the rest of your family for this loss. My prayers as well go out to you and your family.

[Orithan]

I apologize if I'm causing any misunderstandings, but there is no disrespect intended and that I want to know for completely certain, even though I am 90% sure that this is true.

[Twilight-Prince]

I may not have known much about Wild Bill, but once I did find out what he contributed to this site, I now feel I owe him my sincere thanks for founding such a wonderful community.

 

Wild Bill, you will be missed, and we hope you're resting well.

[DCEnygma]

William and I knew each other pretty well back in 2004 and 2005, when I first started on this site. He and I used to talk all the time, and he helped me through some stressful times, especially when I moved to Indiana and left so much behind. I'd hope that our conversations helped him through some really tough times he was having with his family as well. We didn't talk much after that, but we would have passing words occasionally, and I was always really happy to see how well he had done considering how tough his life was back when we first met. It was very inspiring to me to realize that no matter how bad things seemed, you could always overcome them.

 

Indirectly, everyone is here because of Wild Bill. He created a community that introduced me all of us to each other, and for that I can never thank him enough. Though this is truly a tragedy, I'm extremely glad that I got to know him and am proud to have considered him a friend. Because of him, friendships were made, relationships were formed, employment was gained, and overall many people's lives have been made better, including my own. I know he can't see this, but thank you. I know I'll never forget.