Dear Examiner,

It all started with you. Know this. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be the writer and journalist I am today. Therefore, I felt obligated to express my gratitude towards you with this letter. It’s the very least I can do.

You were the beginning. I began my exciting journey as a journalist in January 2014, and you were right there. You welcomed me with open arms onto your platform as a 23-year-old college dropout trying to find his way. I had no previous experience writing for a platform such as yours, but you willingly took me in anyway. My good writing skills have always garnered me compliments; this time, however, they garnered me something more: an opportunity.

You afforded me the luxury to write about any topic of my choosing; I happily chose NBA basketball as my topic. Henceforth, I was given an appropriate title: Detroit Pistons Examiner. After applying and completing mandatory introductory trials, I became an official Examiner in February 2014. I was ecstatic to be part of the website.

For most of my time spent with you, you gave me self-publishing rights. This does not mean, however, that every post was perfect; I’d be lying if I said that. The truth is, many, if not most, of them did have their flaws. This was to be expected. But you trusted me. You allowed me to make my mistakes on my own and learn from them. I am not ashamed to say that I constantly went back and made corrections to posts, even if I knew they were no longer being read by my audience. I just continued perfecting my craft, and you let me go at my own pace while doing so.

At the same time, it should be noted that you didn’t just throw me into the deep end of the pool and tell me to swim; you were right there by my side whenever I needed a helping hand. You offered your services, suggestions and support to me and every other Examiner on the site. I readily soaked in all of the information you provided me with like a sponge. It didn’t cost me anything, either. You provided to all your Examiners free of charge.

Of course, it helped that I am a bit of a perfectionist, too. I can honestly say that I wanted to get better. I really, really did. I was finally in my lane and there was no looking back. My sights were set on going forward and becoming the best writer and journalist I could possibly be. You gave me the foundation with which to grow and expand, but I had to do my part as well. Guess what? I did it and look at me now. I hope I’ve made you proud.

This next sequence of events still blows my mind. Just eight short months after getting started with you, I accepted an invitation to write for AXS, a partner site directly affiliated with you. I now had two platforms I was writing for. What made it even better was that now I could expand my topic range beyond just the Detroit Pistons and the NBA. Great!

I also took advantage of my position as an Examiner to reach out and connect with other Examiners on the site. One of them reached back out to me and suggested I try to write for another sports-related site called Sports Out West. I took him up on his suggestion and joined the site. Once again, I was not only expanding my topic range but also my writing experience on various platforms. Nice!

Perhaps, the pinnacle of my experience as an Examiner came in March 2015 when I was invited to attend a local charity event. The charity event was being held to raise money for The Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, which is a public charter school for disadvantaged youths in the Metropolitan Detroit area.

The event was held at Cauley Ferrari, Michigan’s only authorized Ferrari dealership; it was hosted by NBA player Andre Drummond of the Pistons. Drummond brought along with him two other Pistons players as well. I got to take pictures with all three of them while I was covering the event. So, because of you, I got to spend an evening surrounded by nice, expensive cars and high-profile professional basketball players. Wow!

It’s been more than three years now since I took that first step with you. What’s even more surprising is that it’s already been one year since you left me, or shall I say, since you left us. Sheesh! Where did the time go?

Less than two weeks before becoming defunct, you made the fateful announcement to all of us that you were shutting down operations. Effective immediately, you stopped taking any new submissions. You also advised us to take the necessary steps to preserve our work. We were to receive our final monetary payments through PayPal, in accordance with the Examiner payment policy.

Any questions or concerns we had were to be directed to the appropriate email address. You wished us all well and thanked us for all our contributions and efforts as Examiners. In your own words, you ended the farewell message with the following statement: “It’s been a great ride.” This was really happening.

You officially shut down in July 2016. For me, it was the end of the beginning. An important chapter in my life and career had come to an abrupt close.

The AXS site, on the other hand, would remain active and unchanged. For those of us already contributing to AXS, we would continue to be able to do so and would receive additional information about that in the coming days. However, while fellow AXS Contributors I knew were actually able to stay on the site, I eventually learned that I, myself, had been let go.

For about two weeks or so, I had only the Sports Out West site, which I was still very grateful for. I was first told about the SOW platform through Examiner, so it was as if Examiner left me with something, even though it was no longer in existence. How clutch was that?!!??!

Fortunately, it was not long before Odyssey came calling for me. It was my work on SOW that got me the invitation to join Odyssey. The timing could not have been more perfect. I was back in business on yet another quality platform in August 2016. Yes!

So, in conclusion, you’ve done more for me than I ever could have imagined. I didn’t even get around to mentioning everything else you’ve done for me within this letter, but that’s okay; we both know. I am very proud of my writing resume today. I am also proud to say that it was you who set it all off for me. Now I have two words that I’ve been waiting to say to you this whole time: thank you.

I will never forget you. Believe that.

Sincerely,

David