I just saw a post recently that they are permanently closing their forums.
I only know a little bit of the scandal, but if you don’t—apparently there was a moderator who lured minors to an adult website.
People started complaining and so, the Board closed the forums to investigate, and that was about a month ago… and no I just saw a post where they said it’s now getting closed and that if you want to save anything, do so now.
Anyone know of any other writing forums to hang out on? This one, obviously. Lol but any others?
Edit to add: it hasn’t been confirmed by anyone other than a single ML, according to others, the official word is they’re still deciding. Still back everything up anyways cause it’s likely, but hasn’t been confirmed at all
In terms of other communities, Absolute Write, WritingForums.com, Scribophile (geared more towards publishing, not really community)
I’ve never used the NaNo forums and I do know about the scandal. Some enthusiastic people on IG were boycotting NaNoWriMo or deleting their account from the site the moment the scandal came to light which…personally, I thought that was a bit much of a response Reminded me of the time when people started to burn Harry Potter books. They didn’t have to delete their account.
All it took was 1 monster to mess up everything. And given the way that many people act against other groups having their “1 monster”, I’m actually surprised at how mild the response was. I guess this is less upsetting than X.
Yeah, I saw it as a post from a moderator (or someone?) and I panicked lol.
No kidding.
Like, a single moderator is a disgusting human being and you just go into full chaos mode with the whole website? It’d be understandable if they hadn’t done anything, which I suppose - at first, they didn’t (I think is what I’ve heard) - but after the multiple complaints, they are trying to do something about it.
The HP book burns and piracy is also outrageous. You can agree that J.K is a terrible person, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pirate her books or burn them either. It reminds me of a scene in the movie Cinderella Story where Hilary Duff’s character walks into the ball in a beautiful gown and the mean girl says, “Love the dress. Hate her.” The over-the-top people would respond with, “I hate her, so I hate her dress.” Even if they loved it secretly.
Yeah don’t worry, they’ve also put out another statement reminding people the forum’s fate hasn’t been decided yet
Just want to touch on this - it was a fair bit more than just Mod X. It was also abuse of power, mishandling issues, financially preying on people below the poverty line, lingering issues over moving to Discourse, a sponsor scandal last year (Inkitt), MLs allowing or participating in bullying in regions, AI images being allowed in 30Covers30Days, overly US-focused approach to everything… I don’t agree with the forums being nuked, and I don’t agree with a lot of the things people are saying, but there was a lot more than just speculation about Mod X :')
Edit: I forgot, but there’s also been a lot of very valid concerns raised over child safety on the platform.
It was crazy. They made an entire post on it on IG and said things like deleting account to not support the website…and I’m over here thinking like “That’s not how it works”. If they were donating, they can say “we’re gonna stop donating” and that makes sense because donations show support, but deleting your free account off a free website does nothing because on the same day, I saw a bunch of unaware people newly joining NaNoWriMo.
I bet the people who rode that chaotic train and deleted their accounts now regret it.
about those same people...
These same people were the first to create an entire “IG movement” with their posts and all-CAPS to unfollow a single user who was making posts against LGBTQAI+ people. These movement people, honestly, are a bit over the top. I can see what they’re trying to do and they don’t give bad messages out, but I don’t think they need to scream at people in all-CAPS and try to push other people to do the same. When you’re pushed, you can jump to conclusions.
When screamed at, it’s easier to decide that people that act like jerks are worthless and deserve ridicule. It’s what’s done with most aggressive protestors: THEY are the labeled problem by their opposition, so it doesn’t really gain support for either side, but further entrenches both to their views.
Now, I stated this generically and calmly, but the way you’d more often see this expressed it’s:
You’ve seen these damn [insert labels]. They are literally out to get me over a common opinion. And then they have the audacity to tell me that no one is out to get us or our way of life when they do these things that are out to get me.
I just came across this months later, seems Nano is frequently in hot water these days. I don’t know many other writing forums like this, but if you’re on Discord, I know of one or two (including my own ) that are decent. I joined Writers’ Flock recently and it’s been really good so far. Mine is the Night Owl Hotel if you’re interested.
Reminded me of the time when people started to burn Harry Potter books. They didn’t have to delete their account.
