Dear readers,

One of the reasons I started Cyenne almost two years ago was because, having decided to start writing about gambling addiction and poker machines, I took a look around to see what else was being written… and I drew a blank. There was nothing like this blog anywhere else on the internet.

Since then, I’ve written and published over 220 articles for this blog, and many more for a number of other websites and publications. I like to think that I’ve been able to shine a light on topics that people generally don’t want to think about: gambling addiction and the shenanigans of the industries that profit from it.

It’s been a long haul with a lot of ups and downs, and there’s no end in sight. Cyenne is here for the long haul. Along the way there have been some highlights:

* being the only one to call Clubs Australia’s bluff over the AFL joining in the poker machine anti-reform campaign, and being proven right the very next day while every newspaper in the country was wrong;
* exposing the introduction of “ear-phone” poker machines into NSW, which resulted in the banning of this technology in Victoria for at least the next 10 years; and
* making a vodcast for FAHCSIA which gave me a chance to tell my story in a whole different way;

… just to name a few.

Through it all, I’ve also made more friends that I can count, through this blog, through Twitter (which I originally joined just to promote my writing, although it has become so much more than that) and through my interactions with people who’ve read what I have to say and been moved to contact me to talk about it.

I’ve touched on my own struggles, my experience of addiction and my on-again, off-again fight against depression. I’ve done what I could to expose the lies of the industry whenever possible, and handed out a few plaudits along the way too.

It’s been a heck of a journey, and I know many of you have been part of it for quite some time. Thank you for reading, for taking the time to read what I have to say. Writing the words is one thing; knowing that they’re out there making a difference, however small, is something else again.

And still, almost two years later, there isn’t another blog like Cyenne anywhere on the internet.

So now I have a favour to ask of you. Voting in Australia’s Best Blogs 2012 is now underway, and Cyenne has been nominated for the competition. If what I’ve written has made a difference to you in some way, made you think, question, wonder about things that you may not have considered before… then please, take the time to vote, and vote for me. There’s a great big button over there on the right; one click will take you to the voting website. My blog is on page one.

I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done here. I hope you feel the same way.

But either way… regardless of whether or not you vote for Cyenne, most of all I want to extend my sincerest thanks to you, for reading, for commenting, for being part of the process. Writing isn’t the same without readers. You help make it worthwhile.

Thank you.

Cheers,
Tom Cummings
15/04/2012

ps: While (if!) you’re voting, take the time to scan the list of blogs for any others that you know and like. Give them a tick too. All good blogs deserve recognition!