"The countdown to midnight felt like New Years Eve to me." —Mike Losness

Within ten seconds of going live, Losness' "Insurfnia" section had been viewed 30 times. In an hour, 300. Nate Tyler's section wasn't far behind either. And Mikala Jones' "Subterranean Homesick Tubes" section was pulling a seriously high rating. People were rushing the place.

The first minutes felt like Black Friday at WalMart. A rocket trying to clear the atmosphere. Shaking under the pressure. As if struck by tropical lightning, one click of the mouse and Innersection was finally ALIVE! 

To be honest, we didn't really know what we'd find behind Door #1 when we clicked the mouse for the contest to go live. The website is brand new. We're still working out the kinks and bugs in the system. And we're so grateful to the pioneering surfers, filmmakers and fans who are sticking with us through it all (thanks, guys!). 

It's pretty fun, huh? All these sections. All this surfing art. It's gonna be hard whittling down to a top ten. And picking just five..that's almost too painful to consider.

For now, this first week is us just getting to know each other. We're really stoked on everyone using their REAL NAMES on the comments. Isn't that nice? Please try to continue this trend. Let's be real about this. We've kept the comment box short, for readability, but if you have more to say, just comment twice. 

COUPLE BITS OF NEWS:
RATING: There's a been a bit of confusion on how to rate. Just click the stars next to the section. Whatever you leave it at to watch another section, that's your rating. It goes into the average. You can change it as much as you like (which is why it seems confusing), but whatever you leave it by the end of the week is what counts towards the surfer's final average. One rating per user. 

CLICKABILITY: If you're sitting at home clicking over and over on your own section, you can stop now. We see you. It's a little embarrassing, actually. When 200 users view a section 4,000 times, it's obvious you're trying to win with something other than your surfing and filmmaking. Number of views is not our primary filter for deciding our Top 10. In fact, a bigger factor is the feedback we see in the comments. And we're not talking about your mom (though, she's nice too). A good review from Shane Dorian, Chris Malloy and Brad Gerlach is worth more than your little brother staying up all night hitting refresh on the player. Please...it does not look good. 

SHANE DORIAN & CHRIS MALLOY: our official expert judges are taking this very seriously. They're giving us full notes on every section, and commenting online for you to see. They are doing this purely out of their love and respect of surfing and filmmaking. Their input into our Top 10 selections is invaluable. 

OTHER VOICES also carry some heavy influence. So far, we've seen great commentary from pros like Jason Weatherly, Jamie Sterling, Timmy Curran and Brad Gerlach — all great judges of surfing — not to mention Surfing Mag photo Editors Pete Taras and Jimmy Wilson, Reef team manager Heath Walker and so many keen eyes. All these guys study surfing for a living. Their feedback has been top notch. Thanks guys. 

JAMIE O'BRIEN'S SECTION: No, that wasn't the "Who Is JOB?" premiere. BAd luck for hobbiest filmmaker Aaron Howard who happened to score a bunch of great Jamie O'Brien footage at last year's Padang event. Great surfing...iffy filmmaking...and poor strategy (a Rolling Stones song! Is that your idea of underground music?). Aaron was within the Innersection rules to post, just as Jamie has full rights to pull it down. Hopefully there's no offense taken on either camp. Future poachers, take note. 

DISQUALIFICATION: Speaking of getting removed from the site...there have been some comments about footage that's been seen before somewhere else. That's a big no-no. If it's out there, prove it. If you can provide proof that a wave has been seen before (either by sending us a link, or telling us at what point in a video), that surfer will be removed from this Round. 

TOP TENS: Feel free to email us your Top Ten list, putting them into order and explaining why. There's a few features we've now seen that we need to build into the site, but...what's that old nugget? "You gotta go to know." Something like that...it's been a long 24 hours. Thanks for joining us. 

One last thing...Innersection will not be held liable if your boss catches you watching surfing at work. So try to keep a some porn or Facebook open in case you need to cover up fast.

Is anyone else addicted yet? —NM