Sailormoon.org has always been, for me, an experiment. I initially wanted to see how well I could develop a system for sorting my image collection. Then I wanted to see how that same image collection could be shared with the world. When that became popular I became interested in finding a solution to ensuring that the images could remain available while keeping the hosting costs down. Eventually this led to my experiment in seeing how to create an online community. Dozens of small, but interesting, problems arose and were solved--with varying degrees of success. Along the way I learned a lot, had a lot of fun and made some very good friends. I also spent a lot more money than I had ever expected and spent a lot more time tinkering with the whole thing than I think was ultimately worth it. And, unfortunately, I had to endure a lot of abuse at the hands of some very spoiled and selfish children.
As my goals in life changed, it just became impossible to keep the site running in the way I thought that it needed to be. I could not afford, in time or money, to keep doing what I had been doing. It seemed better to close the site down before it fell into a state of disrepair. In my mind, having the site close when it was still relatively popular and people still liked it was a far better decision than letting it atrophy and become something that people resented. I still think we made the right decision.
On the other hand, I’m also a sentimental fool. So, lately, I’ve been feeling sentimental and wondering what would happen if it all came back. But, even more-so now than 4 years ago, I can’t afford to run the site. Even though hosting costs are a fraction of what they were 4 years ago, my salary is smaller and most of it goes toward my tuition bill. Then I was going back to finish my bachelors degree at a state school. Now I’m working on my masters degree at a private school--twice the money and twice the effort. Rather than having me put forth the huge amount of effort it would take to run the site, I’ve been trying to find someone else who would be willing to run the site in a way that I would find faithful to the old community and at least some of my goals.
I asked several people if there were interested and they all said that they didn’t have time or interest. Wise people. Then Jason, who had helped me with the Crescent code and has continued to use it on other sites over the years, IM’d me. Before he had a chance to say anything, I offered him the chance to bring the site back--he accepted. This bring us to where we are now.
Jason has a web hosting business, which means he is in a great position to ensure the site is available and quick. He is also a programmer and knows the Crescent code well. And, he’s an all around nice guy. Crescent is still very functional, even if it does have a little dust in the corners. And, of course, the image gallery is still the most comprehensive and best organized around.
The foundation for re-establishing the community exists. Jason seems to have the motivation to make it work and, much to my amazement, many of the old staff were willing to return. None of these guarantee success, and I’m not even sure what a good metric for success would be, but I think that we have the potential to create a positive, creative and viable community here. I know that many people no longer are “in to” SailorMoon the way they used to be, and that is fine. I personally don’t watch much anime any more. I simply have too many other things going on to be interested in it. SailorMoon was a way of establishing a point of contact for building the community, my focus and interest was primarily on the community, far more than the show. I think many of the current staff will agree with my assessment.
Our collective interests in SailorMoon were simply a way to form friendships and create a common thread that tied us all together. However fragile that initial thread was, the bonds that formed in the past (several marriages, some kids and countless lasting friendships) quickly overwhelmed whatever initial reason people had for visiting the site and joining the community. My sincere hope is that something like that happens again, with new bonds being formed and new friends being made. SailorMoon may not be as popular as it was when we started this whole project 9 years ago, but I think that the potential exists for the community to be every bit as vibrant and exciting as it had ever been in the past.
There will be good times and there will be hard times. For some people there will be a lot of hard work, for others there will be a lot of silliness. If the community is any kind of success, conflicting goals will arise and be resolved. People will join, people will leave. All of these are realities in any situation where people interact with each other. Ultimately the state of the community is up to each of the individuals who chooses to participate in it. If you choose to align your goals with the larger community things will go well. If factions break out and seek to work against each other then things will slow and fail. One person can make a lot of impact on a large community, for prosperity or for failure. Please keep that in mind as you seek your own goals.
Jason, I wish you the best of luck and a little sleep from time to time. Staff: thank you all for helping out, you are a brave, brave lot. Everyone else, play nice. |
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