NaNo '23 - Part 3

 I don't mean for this blog to become a NaNoWriMo drama channel, but can I just say how relieved I am that they shut down the forums? Here's a link to the most recent announcement from the board. This is what needs to be done to fix the mess. If you can't moderate the space effectively, the space shouldn't be available to people. If you can't keep children safe or keep racism off your platform because you don't have mod coverage, you shouldn't have the forums. This absolutely needs to be resolved before the forums can reopen in any capacity.

What I can't understand is how it even got to this point. There are so many passionate WriMos--people who believe in the organization and its mission, people who want to help others write, people who would gladly give their time to support the cause. So, why is it so hard to find and keep moderators on the forums? Good moderators, I mean. Not ones who abuse users, their fellow mods, and staff alike.

Other forums exist peacefully with volunteer moderators. Why can't NaNo manage it? Why didn't NaNo accept the help when it was offered?

Because they have a track record of being a fly-by-night, minimum-viable-product organization. They started as a group of friends doing a fun challenge together. The challenge expanded over the years, became a non-profit organization, grew some forums. But like many cool ideas, it grew more rapidly than the organizers were prepared to handle. When it was just a small event, they didn't need worldwide moderation coverage. They didn't need to worry about the Municipal Liaisons' ethical conduct with attendees. 

But now the MLs basically run all NaNo events that aren't virtual. There are nearly a thousand MLs that represent NaNo around the world, yet HQ was still acting like it was just this fun, quirky challenge and everything would be fine. There's no oversight over these MLs. There's no checking in on the events the MLs organize. There's no accountability if something goes wrong. 

I don't think this is how HQ would have drawn it up if they had known what the event would turn into over time. But "this is how we've always done it" mentality is hard to overcome. 

It's all such a shame. I still have hope that NaNo will come back stronger than ever, having learned from its mistakes. But let's just say that there's a lot of valid skepticism in the community about that being possible. 

I swear, my next post is going to be about my actual writing projects.