RIP WB Forum

[bazzy]

The WB forum has been deleted without warning. An email explanation followed.
I had been creating this site as a neutral place to talk about WB and other contests, I wasn't trying to replace their forum. I am sad because-- though I didn't contribute much recently-- I regularly checked in to read it. 
Thoughts? Feelings to process?

[hannahhop]

Hey Basil!
It's good to be here. I was shocked with the news that WB closed down their forums. I felt like the forum was the "heartbeat" of their community. They mentioned in the newsletter that less than 9 percent of participants engaged in the forums. I don't disbelieve them. I am sure that overwhelming the majority want to just write and see if they can win a writing contest. But I think that the people who did were some of the engines that encouraged the community spirit especially through debrief. It's hard for me to see how Mixtapes will replace that engine (esp. it seems like a popularity contest as well, people just gathering their friends' works... which always existed but at least a new person could have a "equal" place to engage on the forums).

It seemed as there were more and more people on the team, there was more and more moderation on the forums and they tightened a lot of the rules. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way where I started engaging on the forums less. But it wasn't a "dealbreaker" to me. I've been moving towards other contests (and been thinking about stepping back from contests in general) because I want to experience different things. It would be interesting to do a contest again and see how the changes impact my enjoyment. I think a huge part of the fun was interacting with other writers on the forum and feeling like, while we competed, that we were all in the same boat together.

I'm sure their team sees the worse of worse of posts that they have to crack down (things that I don't even know are happening because my life is not tied to WB the way that the team is), but as a consumer, it seems like an over-reaction to me.

If I ever do another contest there, I will report back! (esp. because I cannot reflect on WB's site anymore ha ha). I didn't sign up for any of the summer contests, and I am on the fence about the fall contests (leaning towards not doing them unless I get a rush of motivation to pay to write more stories for a competition).