I guess we will still be dealing with Evil Corp. In case our resolve falters, I just thought it would be useful to keep this post from MCherry as the reason we all started up our Rebel Alliance (yes I know, mixed metaphors):
Tuesday, 14th May 2019
I wrote this earlier to Cam. I’ve been trying to find words for all of you but this is all I’ve got for now so I’m sharing publicly:
“I’m just gonna ask: please don’t do this.
This forum isn’t like anywhere else on the internet. Publicly accessible and for the most part pretty damn friendly. Where else are you going to find music heads of all ages, shapes, and sizes, mingling together and sharing their knowledge, sharing pieces of their lives? You have a gear question? Head on over to our gear threads where people will try to answer and won’t judge you for your set up or your budget. Wanna shoot the shit? There’s any number of threads looking for a tangent or try the Cafe where discussions range from venting about a job, sharing a family tragedy, or just communing with good-natured folks. How many people have been walked off the ledge in the Depression Support thread? I don’t know but you read through that thread and you know that it’s happened, that this forum has helped them. That people feel safe enough here to share their fears and their suffering, that this community will listen and not judge. Read through the Welcome thread and you’ll see a recent post from Edit: valued member1 who explained that when he first joined, this forum was an escape for him while his wife was dying in the hospital. Did you read through the Record Store Day thread and see how this year a group of us banded together to buy Edit:valued member2 his must-haves because he was too sick to go himself? The PIF thread you know but did you also see the Random Acts of VMP Kindness thread where some have shared how they’ve benefited from fellow members with gifts out of the blue? The daily challenge threads, the what’s spinning, so many small communities linked here together. Yes, some of these things happen in other places. But not all these things in one place.
I get that the forum has grown into something that may not match what you guys are today but you should still be proud of us, of what we created. Like any fully formed being, we bite occasionally, but there’s so much more good here than bad. So much more. If staff needs to take another extended time out, please do that instead of shutting us down in two days. Two days isn’t enough time to wrap this up, to end what we’ve become. Spin this off as an unofficial forum, make us admins, give this place to us. Anything. Please. Please don’t do this.”
