I’ve been participating in Internet memes since the late 1990s, starting with (I believe) the original Friday Five. I also participated in Blogger Insider, where bloggers were paired up and then “interviewed” each other; Baker’s Dozen, where people posted twelve items and one photo about their week; Free for all Friday, where bloggers “gave out the keys” to guest posters for the day; Thursday Threesome, which gave out a different three-word phrase each week for free association; the Alchera Project, a monthly writing meme; the If Project, another regular writing meme; and at least two different image-based memes (image creation, not digital photos - this was in 2000 when digital cameras were not nearly as prevalent). The most recent was Thursday Thirteen. I’m sure there have been others along the way.

Each of these was subtly different from the others. Some had a different theme each round, some didn’t; some required visits to other peoples’ sites; almost all had a central site for getting the original code and for listing off member posts. Each of them had things that I enjoyed, things that I didn’t really use or pay attention to, things that mildly irritated me, and things that I felt were missing. So when Thursday Thirteen’s creator announced that meme’s retirement this past week, I decided to finally do something myself: put together a community that combined things that I really enjoyed.

Enter Iterations. Since each week may be just slightly different from previous weeks — variations on a theme — Iterations is an excellent name. There are two levels of participation, so that people can “stick their toe in” and see if the community works for them. Take a look around, read the content that’s already in place, ask questions, and pose suggestions.

And don’t forget to check back on Wednesday!