One of these people I know pretty well because we've been in pretty constant contact via email for most of the life of the blog. The other person I've always been fond of because we're college neighbors more or less.
Added to the departure of Beaker Ben earlier this month, it's given me a real sadness. Our hits have been rising since school re-started in many parts of the country, but it's still remarkably down from even last year.
I've told people who have written me that I'm committed to trying to keep the page alive as long as it's a going concern, and I stand by that.
Fab
This depresses me no end. But I understand it. Ben was the one who said here a few months ago that he thought there was a kind of burnout that came with this page (and the earlier one) having been online for nearly 10 years. What else can we say? Nothing has changed. It seems worse overall.
ReplyDeleteI thought last year at least I was in a better head space, and I have enjoyed the hell out of this space. But this semester I just feel hopeless again. It's not as lively or as fun here. If you really want to know what this place used to be, get into those RYS archives. That unhinged nuttiness is what I think was "us" at our best. Now we're just all barely hanging on.
I would like to know who's leaving, but respect their desire not to do it with fanfare.
But tell me it's not Cassandra or Cal!
OR Kimmie. Or, God save me, Frod.
DeleteNot me (and I'm flattered, and a bit alarmed, to be mentioned in such august company; among other things, my forte seems to be more commenting than writing original posts, which has its uses, but requires somebody else to get the conversation going).
DeleteI do feel some of the same fatigue (more with the conditions under which we work than with CM itself, I think, but the two are connected, and its hard to escape, or plot escape from, one while paying full attention to the other), and I might be checking in a bit less frequently, but I think I can manage that without Ben's cold-turkey approach (though I certainly understand that as well).
It will be what it will be, I think. We've had some great new voices (hi, Rosemary!) pop up this summer, and have heard some more from longtime readers/commenters (e.g. Frankie), and have seen a smattering of thirsty and other questions, and some comments, from entirely new names (at least I think they're new; it could also be that my memory is failing). So maybe the conversation will continue, and continue to evolve, with a revolving cast of characters, and maybe some of us will hop in and out.
But that only works if we've got mods to keep the lights on and the trolls out, so, as always, thanks, Fab, for all you do. I was a little worried to see the gray banner with the gray, unhappy (or at least not happy)-looking sun up a few days ago; at least the sun has now turned yellow above, and is smiling next to this post.
P.S. I, too, am curious, and appreciate words of farewell (or at least "so long" on the way to, um, let's call them sabbaticals -- academics take sabbaticals, right? Or used to when tenure, and funding for such things, actually existed?), but also respect people's privacy. Maybe it's easier to drop in now and then if one has never officially left?
Deletekeep it going Fab! please!!!!!
ReplyDelete