I was a member of There.com since it was in Beta; was a clothing designer & founded two groups. Like most of the people on this site I had invested a lot of time in There and made a lot of good friends - had a lot of fun. I got addicted to There.com.

 I guess I didn't realize that I was literally addicted to this world until they pulled the rug out from under us with very little warning (one week). It was then that I literally began to experience stages of loss. I went through denial - didn't want to believe that There.com no longer existed. There.com was different than any other virtual world out there. I never really bothered to explore the other worlds until they slammed the door shut on us all. That was when I discovered that There really was unique - there was no other world like it. I'm still in the process of exploring whats out there to see if I can find something thats a close match to There.com - but so far no luck. I found one site that claimed to be designed specifically for ex There.com members (ThereNewWorld) - turns out it's just Utherverse with a different name slapped onto it (an XXX rated virtual world). There were several things that made There.com special in my opinion that so far I haven't seen anywhere else. I could list them all, but if you're a Therian you already know what I mean. I started to make a list - that list started to get too long. But I think the four biggest things that differentiated There from other worlds were:

#1. Beauty.
#2. Ease of use.
#3. World Continuity.
#4. Fun.

 You could really connect with other people in There.com in very meaningfull ways.  I don't really feel that same connection with people in other virtual worlds. However, I will continue to search and explore all of these worlds and out of them I will select ONE (well - ok maybe two). So far my search continues. But I think Blue Mars has the most potential. It's still in Beta but there are a LOT of Therians in Blue Mars and we have pretty much been given the island of Pavonis as a refuge. Some of the "OG" Therian developers are there too & hopefully with them there (with US there) we can help guide Blue Mars in the right direction and give it a little bit of Therian influence. Maybe one day we'll have ONE virtual world which incorporates the best aspects of all of them (SL; BM; There; IMVU; Utherverse; Twinity etc.). Each one has it's pro's & cons - but I still have to say There.com was the most fun. And I'm still waiting to see another world with hoverboards - first one that does it will settle the debate as far as I'm concerned. You can't create much more fun than what we had in There.com - especially without hoverboards.

 BTW: My name in There.com was "Liquidbraino", in Blue Mars I'm "Liquidbraino Therian".