disalarming

Note: I’ve gone back and forth as to whether or not I should address my feelings about VegOpt, a forum, closing and all the reasons behind it, but Alice and I think it’s something that I need to get out in the open, particularly if people are brainstorming opening up a “replacement” VegOpt.

When Alice and I announced we were closing VegOpt in late 2009, we were incredibly surprised at the reaction we received. Some commented on the thread where we made the announcement with sadness and spoke about what a great place it was, others tweeted about it and said they would be sad to see it go, and there were even a few full-length blog/LiveJournal/Dreamwidth entries discussing its closure. While Alice and I were both appreciative of how much the members said they would miss a forum that we ran for three years, we were also a little puzzled by some of the reaction.

Alice and I both stated that the main reason for us deciding to close VegOpt was lack of time. While that’s true, an additional factor was lack of interest we both felt towards the board as well as from members. We spent three years running the place, from doing promotional work to get the word out, brainstorming fun events for members to participate in and occasionally keeping members in line whenever e-drama was about to break out. But once I started college and Alice began to work full-time and Sophie stepped down from being an admin altogether due to real life commitments, VegOpt started to feel like something we were all starting to grow out of.

I don’t regret devoting three years to the place. However, I personally felt I always had to be active or few others would be. And in the later months, that was certainly true. I had absolutely no time to do more than check the place periodically and the only threads that were posted in were the “Last Movie You Watched?” or “Last Thing You Ate?” and other similar threads, which weren’t exactly the most captivating to read. Inactivity was inevitable as the members got older and started college/work full-time, but a balanced forum shouldn’t have the weight of all of its activity fall solely on its admins if it has been around for several years and has a supposedly active community.

Alice and I also spent so much time putting together board activities that members suggested, such as Every Hour on the Hour, Interpret This, Book Club, Graphics Challenge, Chrismas Card Exchange and Secret Santa. We brainstormed ways to make events fun and creative and worked at incorporating all input we received from members during the planning stage. Yet none of these events took off, despite some of them being suggestions from members themselves. We understood that everyone was busy, as we were, too. But it was disheartening to see members say they would participate and then to hear nothing from them once the event began time and time again.

It does mean a lot to Alice and I that so many of the members of VegOpt said they would miss the place when Alice and I announced its closure. I think that speaks a lot to the type of community it was, which Alice and I had always envisioned as a friendly, welcoming one. But among all of the posts and tweets about its closing and the premature talk of creating a replacement board by people who weren’t even part of the community, Alice and I felt we needed to clarify the full reasons why we decided to close VegOpt and set the record straight. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that we loved the community for what it was and all the things members said they would miss about it – the friendliness, the open-mindedness, and how welcoming it was – would not have existed without the members that were part of of the community.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.