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I'm really considering pulling the plug on BC. It seems many people are unhappy with my attempts to keep this a friendly place to read, write and discuss TG fiction.
Recent blogs seemed to be going well then people started quitting because of remarks in the blogs. So I pulled the blogs and now more people are quitting.
Yesterday, the park where I live told me that dogs are not allowed into their owner's own fenced yards without being on a leash. I thought this an obscenely arbitrary rule designed to make the dog uncomfortable for no definable reason.
Apparently, some people think my attempts to maintain civility are similar. Good intentions are not enough if someone feels that their particular donkey got kicked.
No one can talk me into or out of this, I'm self-directed. I've accomplished most of what I ever intended to do with BC. If I dropped the site, I could spend more time on Fictioneer and other projects. And Bob would rescue the content and help find someone else to host it. This has been a hobby but it's becoming a burden.
Hugs to all,
Erin
Comments
I hope not
Please, let the train keep rolling.
Karen J.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
By the way, Erin
It's all your fault that I've had the Aerosmith song Train Kept A Rollin' stuck in my head for the last eight hours! ;-) Now I suppose I'll have to go buy the CD!
Karen J.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I hope you don't, but if you do, I don't blame you
I have to tell you that BC has been an enormous breakthrough for me. I never had so many people reading anything of mine before, and it's helped me to write better as well.
I understand that it gets to be an enormous headache for you, but don't think it isn't appreciated.
In a few hours I'm leaving for the weekend, and won't have internet access. I'll be wondering the whole time what's happening here. It's become a HUGE part of my life.
Kaleigh
And..
If you decide to quit, Erin, and leave BC running, I don't know what that will mean for me. It's nice that you say Bob would rescue the content, but BC isn't just a website for me. I can run my own website; I've done it before. BC is what it is because you're there.
Kaleigh
Erin
We have to let some people go. They have their own paths to follow. What we do here will have no impact on their decisions, whatever they choose to do - Their decision is their own. Those of us who stay and carry on our site will be here to keep our goal and dream alive of a home on the web for us and that for enjoying the thoughts and words of each other. While we cannot make people believe to be nice, and not always play nice, the best example both of us can set for the rest is to stay nice and not give in. Let's hold the house against the storm and keep it going.
We do have a family here to take care. Let's not forget that. please...
Love
BigCloset TopShelf
Whatever you decide....
... I thank you for having the site here. It's existance provided me an outlet that taught me that while I'm not all that good an author, I CAN write a story that a few people find engaging enough to follow. Thank you very much for this.
Annette
I love BC erin
Please dont pull the plug. I appreciate all you do here Erin your attempts to maintain Civility are appreciated by me. I understand that. If you do, will you accept my work on fictioneer?
Closing the Closet?????
Erin
Please don't talk about closing BC.
My life is pretty much s**t at the mo and beening able to dive into a story here and forgetting all about my own prob's for a bit helps me keep going.
When you temporarily took the site of line I felt like ............. Well I can't put it into words. Lost I guess is the best discription.
Just being able to come here lets me know that I'm not alone, Even if no one in the real world knows I exist (Samantha that is)
SO please don't close the closet, It's dark enough here at the back of it with the doors open !
Samantha K
Hope
I hope that the train won't stop but I understand you must do what you feel is right. I may have gotten my introduction to TG Fiction at FM but my first story wasn't posted there, but here. It was here that welcomed me as a newbie and helped me. It was Angel and Karen Page that first edited my nearly unreadable story. I have grown as a writer here and would miss BC intensely. I've made friends here and learned much about myself. I think that BC is important but if everyone can't follow the relative simple rules of playing nice together you do something. I hope with all of my heart that some other way can be found so BC will remain here.
Hugs!
grover
It is the nature of the beast.
Many of the people who come here are inherrently unhappy. Here they get to vent, to dream, and to share the dreams and frustrations of others.
It is here that I began to develop into an author who is much more satisfied with her work than she was. I have felt nurtured and accepted here. I have developed some friends here, grown to admire others, and yes, much to my astonishment, found some who admire me!
This site has been a safe place for many. You have been much more responsive to the needs of your authors than any site I have ever visited.
Gwen Brown
Erin, You Have My Support
I have enjoyed reading all of the wonderful stories here and at Fictioneer! Thank you for creating this site.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Erin, Whatever you decide, I'm with you.
I know you said you can't be talked out of your decision, so I'm not going to try. All I will say is thank you for all you've done, both for the site and for me personally. You've made a home here for a lot of people and, just like most homes, there are squabbles now and again.
What keeps a home, a home, is that when the squabbles are over, and settled, the home is still there, and the family is still intact and loving. This place has become a home, Erin, for a lot of people from all walks of life. Moms and Dads, kids, even the occasional kitten of two, and what keeps a home together is the adults. They are the ones charged with keeping the peace, soothing wounded egos, and kissing boo-boos.
You've done a wonderful job here, but I think, at the cost of your own private life, and that's not good. If you feel you must shut down, then that's what you must do. I will miss the place, and you, but I, and all of us, will find new homes, settle in, and have a roof over our heads again.
I want you to be happy, and I want you to have a life. If backing away from the site is what it takes, then you do it and let the chips fall where they may. I love you.
Cathy
For what it's worth, I love you, sis, and I want what's best for you. Do what you have to do, Erin, and leave the rest to history
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
The Optimistic View
Erin,
How many NEW authors have joined here and posted their stuff in the last year? I'm going to be very surprised if the number isn't at least 5 times the number of authors who have announced their departures in that same time period.
While it is sad when an established author leaves Top Shelf, isn't it a joy when a new, talented author joins?
Authors threaten to leave, or actually leave, for any number of reasons, most of which I'm betting were never under your control in the first place.
One reason is changing interests -- something new comes into their lives and they haven't got time for some of the old things. Another reason is satiation -- they had something to say, they said it, and they're content with having said it. Another reason is frustration with their own progress -- they just can't get their stories to where they'd like them to be, so they quit. A fourth reason is jealousy -- some people have to be the focus of attention; when they see others getting more attention than them, they don't want to play anymore.
I'm sure there are many more reasons, too.
But, go back and look at the NEW authors, the NEW stories, the NEW readers. Top Shelf is an environment, and as important as we'd all like to think of ourselves, and while we ARE part of a community, that community is always going to be in flux for any number of reasons. Meanwhile, the ENVIRONMENT is what makes the community flourish. And, despite all the little disappointments, and the apparent setbacks, there is no way in hell anyone could ever convince me that this COMMUNITY is not flourishing!
Yeah, I'm pissed that you deleted some very good blogs, and I've told you so. And, I've also said that I thought it would be a better community if you hadn't done that in that way, BUT that doesn't mean that it's not a decent, vibrant, and growing community right now.
So, please, look at the POSITIVE. Look at the environment you've created that's allowed that positive to develop. The rest is details, and while the cast of players might change, the play will go on!
This is without doubt
the best site of it's sort on the internet, due largely to the efforts of it's web mistress. It would be a shame if it were to close although Erin has that right to chose.
As one of those involved in recent spats, I apologise for my part. It's a great shame that anyone has left, we are all adults and should be able to conduct ourselves with some decorum.
Thank you Erin for providing a necessary service to the community and for being so encouraging and supportive of everyone who has used this site.
Angharad
Angharad
Everything Is Relative
What you might consider to be fairly awful behavior, might be the best that person treats anyone all day long.
If a person yelled "Cocksucker, son-of-a-bitch, fucking whore" right in front of your pre-teen daughter, you still might readily forgive him if that person had just accidentally ripped the nail off his thumb while opening a box of canned goods as a volunteer at a homeless shelter.
This is a horrible medium for communicating. We don't know one another very well and are using mere words with almost no inflection or non-verbal cues. Yet, because the subject matter is so vital to us we are likely to form granite-hard and caustic opinions.
Some of us are on the high side of sixty. Many of us are barely of age to vote. We come from a wide variety of economic and social backgrounds and have diverse political views.
Many of us are writers, who put our hearts on public display -- only to be called a "Twat" like I was in a comment today on another site. We are prone to eccentricity and are just learning how to control our keyboards.
Tie all that together with the delusion and inability to control impulse that is rampant in our community and you have a fermenting stew.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
This is a community
where authors come to learn how to write better and gain friends. A friend is one that will speak their mind because that's what friends do and if a person doesn't like it, then take your marbles and go home. There are plenty of comments made to me that I don't like either, but it has made me a better writer, I think. I know there are plenty of people that don't agree with my political views, and so be it. But closing BC would be a disservice to the whole community. There are other sites to post ones works, but I won't have my name associated with them, because I don't like rolling in the dirt. I feel that it's wrong to blame Erin for hurt feelings caused by others and wanting to have the best TG site on the web is no crime. If you can't live with it, then go and bitch somewhere else. There are too many good writers here to have a fit because someone leaves. No matter how hard you try, you're not going to please everyone and that's the best part of freedom, the freedom to stay, or the freedom to leave, the choice is yours, but becuase you make a choice is no reason to close an entire site, that's selfishness on your part. I feel there are a lot of people that owe Erin an appology for doing a very difficult job and getting nothing but grief for doing it. I've said my piece, and just to show you how pissed of I am, I'll post another chapter next week, and Erin, please stay, Arecee
Thank you
I just saw your post and wanted to publicly thank you for the existence of the site. I have really enjoyed it over the last few years as a reader and very much over the last five months as a writer.
Thank you so much, without your hard work maintaining this space I know I would never have written anything. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to explore my imagination.
All my best wishes,
Hugs,
Alys
See, Erin even one of those who left apreciates your effort
I know stuff gets you down but overall this is a good place and generally getting better.
BC has ups and downs but as others said overall there are more new authors joining than those leaving.
Some come and go many times and I suspect will be back after a chance to cool down and vent their frustrations at life privately.
You have many helpful elves, use them and take the occasional break.
The recent events were just growing pains. I hope one or more of theses few who left will return someday.
Anglea said it well, this, IE text messages in the form of blogs and story comments are a crude way to communicate. I understand the vast bulk of human converation is not in the speach between two people but in their body language, facial epressions and tone. We have none of that on the net and it makes misunderstandings so easy.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Without Big Closet
I'd have no reason to get online, and to be honest, I might not be here right now. This site is an inspiration for me, and has been my only sense of support often enough that I don't know what I'd do if it weren't here.
Melanie E.
I tried to keep a stiff upper lip!
I am sorry, but I am just a child who needs a site like this badly
I will try to behave!
Gwen Brown
While I hope you decide to keep the train a rolling
It's your choice.I've been to many sites and groups within the Tg/ts community and of all those sights this is the only one where theres this much diversity and mainly everyone gets along.It's changed my views on the transgendered spectrum and made me more tolerant of the different groups within it.So thank you very much for the experience.Amy
Erin, it's your house ...
... and of course we have no right to ask you not to kick it down if you so choose. But I do love BC, as do so many others. Those who choose to leave (whatever their reasons might be) are far outnumbered by those who follow the house rules. They wipe their feet when they come in, put the milk back in the fridge when they're done, and remain kind and considerate to their house mates because they love living here.
As I said, it's your house. But to many of us, it's our home, too. Please think of the hundreds in our community who visit and enjoy their time here, instead of the few who make it hard for those who just want to entertain and be entertained.
I hope you decide to keep the site alive. If you don't, thank you -- for all of the time I've spent here, for the opportunity to share my writing with others, and for the chance to read some of the finest pieces of fiction online, on a site that truly came to be a haven for so many.
I am grateful for everything you've given us, and selfish enough to hope you keep BC alive.
*hugs* Much love, always,
Randa
All good things must come to an end
Erin, I have to confess I'm selfishly hoping you'll find it within yourself to keep running this show a bit longer anyway. As others have mentioned, it's by far the best site of its kind on this here series of tubes, and that's completely down to how you've run it. But if it's become more of a burden than a joy for you, I can understand that and wouldn't fault you in the least.
For what it's worth, by making this a comfortable, accepting place you've created a lot of joy for a lot of people. You deserve no less for yourself, whatever you need to do to achieve it. It's we who owe a big debt to you, not the other way around.