Oh my, this is a shock to me. The bbs has been my online home for years, I’ve learned so much from all of you. It feels like getting the rug pulled out under me. As was more eloquently put by many others, also I was very willing to pay a subscription fee until I learned about Substack.
It’s a tremendous loss for all of us. Do send me a PM if you wish to keep contact.
Converting BBS member’s links into affiliate links that pay BB (without any disclosure) has been going on for years. Everytime someone referenced a product at Amazon with a link, BoingBoing secretly took ownership of the link for its own profit by automatically re-writing the link with BB’s affiliate tag, without any of the FTC required conspicuous disclosure of the affiliate links.
I don’t know if they have continued to do so or not.
I’ve just seen this statement by @orenwolf over there in the General Moderation topic:
Not sure what to make of it.
That goes for me as well, but I find it hard to believe I can manage keeping in contact.
Before this closes down - maybe forever, maybe not - I just want to thank you guys. We all changed through the time, and sometimes the community was part of the reason we did. Sometimes we had to take a step back, sometimes we had to engage strongly. I will miss this.
I’m already over there at the sub, and I started commenting. It feels a bit like the old comments section, without GIFs and links and (most) reactions and so on. The ‘chat’ is weird and I can’t see it replacing what we had, but maybe it will grow on us. Like ■■■■■ mold, marvellous moss or a beautifully braided beard. We’ll see.
That’s that, and now for something I need to say before this shuts down.
I want to single out two people on a personal note, publicly.
@anon29537550, at least since 13th of March 2020, when I finally had a better understanding how the SARS-COV-2 pandemic would hit us, you have provided the community with a lot of information and, more importantly, context on health matters. I would like to say you helped me to stay sane, but I had to concede defeat at a point. I broke. But you helped. And I recovered. You - and many others, not to be forgotten - helped with that, too. (FTR, I got a diagnosis during the worst of it, and it yes it helps to have one. And to see - e.g. in the neurodiversity topic - that there are others who can relate, and I can relate to.)
@anon61221983, several years ago, I turned to you with a question. I did some research myself, and then, when I still wasn’t sure, I asked you as a vocal member of this community and as a historian if you would think a certain historical figure would still make a good role model, under your standards. You helped us name our child that day.
That’s how important this community was to me.
It may not have changed my life per se. But it sure as anything had a strong influence on some aspects.
Thank. You.
There are many more whose paths I crossed here, but yours are the first two handles who come to my mind when I think of how important this community was to me.
But only as a full community, not just the two I singled out right now, we were the BBS. And it was good.
Just look at it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
Ginda wish it had 1987 & 1988 too…
I’m not sure what I’m going to do.
I just want to thank everyone for the experiences I’ve had here. I made some stumbles, including a time-out, and I’m all the stronger for it. I won’t name names because I will inevitably miss someone, so I’ll just say: we’ll see.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone.
Let others follow, if they can!
Let them a journey new begin.
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.
Thanks for the fun, folk. I can’t see myself subscribing. /waves
Random thoughts:
As somebody to the right of the average boinger I’ve found this place useful to try to understand far-left logic, even if I disagree with it. It’s definitely been mostly an echo chamber, but one I will actually miss.
It has been amusing to see anti-BB management views being widely shared and agreed with in this thread that I got mocked for having a couple years ago, though.
It looks like https://premium.boingboing.net/feed will give you a “read more” link at least. We’ve reached out to Substack to get a proper fix however.
Here’s an interesting article that may shed some light on what’s going on.
Or not, who really knows.
I’ll at least try out the 7-day package when I have time next week. Hope my nom de plume is available.
Otherwise, will miss everyone, though I have been a lurker with multiple years between posts at one point, it was an enjoyable time reading the discourse. (unintentional pun, sorry)
I’m sorry to keep feeding a fed horse (hey, remember that?), but are we going to get some kind of statement like the one that Wonkette did when they moved to Substack? If the BBS is going to go read-only in the next 24 hours, now would be the time.
ETA: I don’t mean in terms of content. I just mean something from the heart. Something reassuring.
If you have to click on a separate link in each article to read the whole thing, there’s not a lot of point in using a feed reader. A lot of sites use that as a way to force clicks & ad revenue, but premium content shouldn’t have that barrier to entry.
I’ve seen sites do that, but I have a simple fix: I stopped reading them. I won’t be making the move to substack either.
This isn’t advice or a threat to BB or anything, I just recognize that things change, and sometimes they change into things that I don’t want.
This is certainly an obfuscated title for “we’re shutting down the forum”. Pity, and I hope we’ll meet again
It’s been a lot of fun giving and receiving smiles over the years. Be safe out there! 
