I mined my first Dogecoin back in the early part of 2014. Not early enough to to profit from the initial value surge that doge saw in 2013 but still early enough to be in on all the fun. I mined about 100,000 Dogecoins before it before the ROI wasn't feasible. Mining the coin was fun, but being a part of the Dogecoin reddit community was much more so.
Sponsoring Josh Wise
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The dogecoin reddit community was very giving, uplifting and inspiring. Through Dogecoin donations we were able to sponsor a NASCAR racer! Josh wise was in need of a sponsor, and after a reddit user casually suggested that we sponsor him... it happened! $55,000 was raised for Josh and on May 4th, 2014 he competed in the Food City 500, with a Dogecoin car wrap, where he placed 20th.
The Fall of Dogecoin
The Dogecoin subreddit was just a fun place to hang out and celebrate some of the goings on in the community. There were a few other charitable donations that were made on behalf of the Dogecoin community while it was thriving which made it even more the merrier.
Unfortunately Dogecoin fell as quickly as it rose. As with many Alt coin currencies, Dogecoin was not immune to the pump and dump. As time went on, the price of Dogecoin fell, and so did the spirit in the community. I'm not saying it is a dull place these days, but it definitely doesn't have the magic & excitement that it did in 2014. Mix that in with a few scandals (i.e. Moolah.io) and you have an all but finished alt coin.
I really enjoyed the Dogecoin hayday and do hope that it picks back up in the future. I'll hang on to my 100k coins just in case ;)