June 1, 2004 is a day that will forever live in dandy infamy: The debut of Dandyism.net. This year “The Passionate Spectator” columnist Robert Sacheli smugly looks back on the latest year that was.

Membership in the Junta is not unlike being part of the French Resistance. We wage noble campaigns against massed forces of philistinism. For strategic efficiency and mutual protection, we operate from separate geographic bases. We also take frequent cigarette breaks.

In addition, we’re always advancing on new territories. Dandyism.net’s fourth anniversary marks a year of widening global influence. If life were a black-and-white ’40s movie — a happenstance most of us would relish — you’d see our expanding reach portrayed on a map with pulsing arcs radiating from D.net’s central command to far-flung and exotic locales.

Forum members now reside in Slovenia and Jamaica, Bogotá and Warsaw, Madrid and Melbourne, Helsinki and Erie, Pennsylvania. After bouts of intensive bicoastal socializing with Michael and me, Ryan Wittingslow of Sydney became our first antipodean intern.

D.net (the abbreviation is also new) has spawned copycats in such hotbeds of dandyism as Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Northern California. The Junta a parlé en français for our interview for John Dodelande’s Paris-based blog. In December, Shiny Media of London dubbed us one of the top ten men’s style sites in the world.

We also became provocateurs sans frontiers. Crowning Lapo Elkann 2007’s Dandy of the Year unleashed a torrent of multilingual abuse, huzzahs, and suspicions of our sanity. We now know the word for “idiot” in five languages.

Recurring new feature “Who’s the Dandy?” pitted gents from Milan, Paris, Manhattan and London in sartorial cage matches, causing partisans on both sides of the digital divide to fling down primrose gloves. All this operatic emotion over grooming, pocket squares, suit cuts, and dalliances with transsexual hookers — that, faithful myrmidons, is what we call entertainment.

Our relentless campaign of self-promotion was capped by the news D.net had won the inaugural Fabbie Award as Best Men’s Fashion blog. Since the nominees were announced, the Junta’s editorial meetings had focused on whether caring about the award runs contrary to the nonchalant code of the dandy. Now that the semi-glittering prize is ours, we realize those hours could have been better spent on developing D.net’s signature articles, such as “Pukka Up,” my forthcoming look at seersucker dinner jackets and the culture of empire during the sunset of the Raj.

There is no need to worry that these multilingual accolades will lead us to rest our spectators on our mahogany desks. We were self-satisfied when we began this journey four years ago. Under Christian’s and Nick’s leadership, we pledge to continue the fight against philistinism until all men — but only men — have the freedom to proclaim, in the language of their choice, “Je suis un dandy.”

That, brave comrades, is the anniversary message the Junta wants to convey.