[FFML] [ADMIN] Owari

[Dennis Carr]

Well...this is it.  This is easily one of the hardest emails I
have ever had to write.  I'm getting verklempt putting it together,
even.

By the time you read this message, the FFML will be shut down.  All
further posts will be rejected during the time I need to pack up the
archive, and the list configuration itself will be deleted shortly
thereafter.  The ffml-admins, accordingly, will be closing soon.

For those interested, the archive will be available at
http://chez-vrolet.net/ffml in tar-gzip format; pretty much any modern
archiver will read this format (7zip and Winzip come to mind).  It
will simply be the packed archive of what was posted to this list,
possibly including the test messages, up until this very message you
are now reading - and it will be bundled in the way Mailman managed
it.  The tar-gzip format is just easiest for me largely owing to
familiarity as a Linux nerd. =^_^=  I will be unable to tell you just
how to work with this format, but I am confident that anyone who
downloads this archive will know what to do.  

As I write this, I am contemplating that this is the final message of
a once prolific email list that has now changed hands three times to
my knowledge: one from White Wolf to Phillip Mak, one from Phillip to
the mod team of the time to host on Yahoogroups temporarily, and then
over to me fourteen years ago on July 1, 2007.  

Fourteen years.  My gods, that's a long time to hold onto any single
thing on the internet if you're not a major content provider!  Hell,
the domain name is a bit older than that - and this machine started
off as a server on an old desktop behind a static IP out of my living
room!

Even better is probably the longevity of the list.  Something over 27
years since I joined, and it was 29 years ago I found my way online
with an email address that contained two exclamation points.  I never
knew quite when the list was created in the first place.  And yet,
this is the longest I have seen a single mailing list in operation,
even across multiple hosts.  Certainly there are longer-lived
lists....

And there's sort of an emotional attachment for me.  Many of the
stories posted here have helped me pull through some very dark times
in my life, and many other stories have spawned some creative
inspiration for me.  Yet, I never really expected to host this list -
but, well, here we've been for fourteen years now.

All considered, I truly feel like I contributed something. =)

Perhaps the...weirdest?  I don't know the right word for this.  But
when I "turned on the lights" here, the Pink Floyd song "Atom Heart
Mother" - particularly, the opening - just...started playing in my
head.  As soon as I hit the Enter key on my keyboard, it was right
where the band came in.  You'll know what I'm talking about if you
know the tune.  Perhaps "surreal" is a better word - a song that had
become the most *hated* by its performers, and there it is as an
earworm as I fed over three thousand email addresses into Mailman a
bit past midnight on July 1, 2007 in the living room of the apartment
I as in up in Everett, Washington.  Right now, as I post this, it's
"Fat Old Sun" from the same album for our earworm - and I suppose it's
not *too* inappropriate, given the hellish heat wave we just came out
of earlier this week here on the west coast. 

Somewhere in here is "One Perfect Sunrise" by Orbital.  If there ever
was a tearjerker of a song, that would be it for me.  It is a rather
beautiful song, was in fact intended as Orbital's swan song, and if
you've never heard it before I recommend giving it a listen.  You'll
find it on Youtube.

But, I digress.

All of us have watched fanfiction, as a medium, evolve beyond the
confines of mailing lists and Usenet over the years.  I know some of
us here have seen it evolve into a digital format beyond the scope of
'zines and mailed newsletters.  And you know something, I think all of
us - including those of us who have since either left the list or have
passed on - had a hand in that evolution.  One way or another, this
list - as small as it is on the internet - was a great thing.  And I
think it's safe to say that each and every one of us had an impact on
the world of fan fiction.  As large as epic masterpieces, as small as
the little spamfics, drabbles, and fleas we occasionally see.  Yes,
even the downright awful stories we sometimes see coming through had
an impact.  Some were nauseating, some were laughable, others moved on
and became great things.  Yet others were the jumping off point for
stories.  And in a few cases, they were the reason we would get
together at a Denny's or similar near a con site back in the day.

And as technology goes, we've been the last hold out for the Old Ways,
I suppose.  Take some pride in that. =)

And for me?  It's been a learning experience, and it has been one hell
of a ride.  And to be honest, I think my life would have turned out
quite dull if I had never discovered this list.

But now is the time to turn off the lights.  

It has been a privilege and an honor to host the Fanfiction Mailing
List here at Chez Vrolet Secret Labs for the past fourteen years, and
I cannot thank you enough for this honor.  For those who have posted
their farewells, know that I have read them all.

And thank you for being here.  I hope to see all of you out there on
this great series of tubes. 

May your own personal stories show a better day at the end, and may
you have everything you need.

Good night, sayonara, and blessed be.

Dennis Carr
PO Box 6
Bothell, WA 98041
dennisthetiger at chez-vrolet.net
http://chez-vrolet.net/~dennisthetiger
https://www.facebook.com/dennisthetiger/

That fat old sun
in the sky is falling....

終わり
Owari

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