I'm getting too old for this shit.

[Wendy Carter]

I think I know what should be done to restore KF to its former glory - pass the adminship of the site to @OwO What's This?. "She" saved the site before and has a vision for it, so I think it's well-deserved. Pass the crown from the king to king's personal advisor/concubine.

 

[Fibonacci]

A part of me sometimes still yearns for the simpler days of the Yuku incarnation of the forums where we all just sat around spamming the Chris board with What If? threads, laughing our asses off at The Room or Foodfight! on movie nights with CompyRex and BrooklynBailiff, or the day we found out Jace was a ruse all along and then we laughed at ourselves for a change instead of at Rika or ADF.

Whilst I've never been one to kiss Null's ass or try to fall into the cult of personality surrounding him, he really had done his best to preserve the freedom we enjoyed for so long. Even long before the Hack I couldn't recognise the forum anymore and found it futile to post at all seeing as new threads here now balloon 5-10 pages within matters of minutes. Every now and then a familiar face in passing, but the few who have remained, like CatParty and The Dude, are but spermlets in an endless ocean of semen. In some ways, the Farms has provided a larger variety of LOLcow to watch and I think that's fantastic; but in other ways, it's fractionalised the community into multiple clubs with wildly different perspectives and forced us as a whole into the international stage for better or worse.

I can't say I completely hate what the Farms has become but I've always missed the smaller aspect of the community of yesteryear. At some point when Surtur was still doing the Secret Santa, he messaged me asking if I would return to be the Helper again for that year. I declined after reasoning that the record amount of people signed up that year would have just been too much for me to handle. Community projects like that work well in a smaller group, but even then, we had had a lot of dropouts in the past with smaller groups and it was a mad rush to find people willing to cover those last second gifts.

More than anything, trying to keep this place moderated from the bottom up must be absolute hell. Null's primary focus in handling this place has been establishing quality control, which is where my main grievance has always been with him. I always felt the forums needed less moderating. Part of it has been an attempt to protect idiots from themselves, to curb the massive amount of powerlevelling that could go on. The other was to provide more accurate information, the kind of clarity and regular updates that we had initially lacked back when we had but a couple boards.

Null gave the forums a direction, something it never really set out to have. What is today is what it is. None of this happened by coincidence.

I may have retired myself to lurking, but whatever happens happens. My heart still resides in this community and if it has become a sinking ship, then I will join the band playing Juuuulllaaayyy as it heads towards the bottom.

 

[Tookie]

Consider selling shares of Lolcow LLC (or a new company in charge of the forum) to a number of people interested in the continuity of it. This brings confidence that the forum continues existing on its own momentum, both financially and by additional pairs of hands to do the maintenance it needs. Which means much less burden for you.

Selling shares of a company (even a private one) would entail a dizzying amount of red tape and it's highly unlikely much of anyone on this site could legally purchase any shares even if Null managed to fill out all the paperwork and avoid having a federal agency up his ass.

 

[nya001]

You ask yourself tough questions. Like someone said before, talking with a psychologist helps. It's easy for people to say do this or do that, but at the end do what is good for you. Being a martyr just to keep the website is not worth it if it's making you sick. Someone also suggested take a break - you have great beaches right next in Croatia and Greece, mountains in Bosnia, interesting things in Romania.

At the end you know what is best for you. Of course your users want to keep the site no matter how bad you feel and that's being selfish.

It seems to me you are feeling low. You mentioned the negative consequences of having the website, are there positive ones? Wish you the best.

 

[Brainworms]

Just take a break, I come here because politics explode everywhere else, and rereading old lolcow threads make me forget it all, then laugh, maybe we'll get a new diaper furry in the midst of this chaos

 

[4str4staleatherbelt]

You're unhappy with the site's growth even though I'm confident it's what you wanted with your efforts to up the SEO of the site and the things you choose to host (underage murder victims and mass shootings) for notoriety under some guise of free speech. You say politics is a problem yet continue to keep up the A&H board which was a problem with your old mods if i remember correctly and the board probably sees decent traffic which is why you keep it up. You're probably aware of this already but this place has become a job to you rather than a hobby and it's your fault. "Taking a break" like most people are saying will not solve these issues. They will only persist on the current path and likely become worse. I don't honestly see you being happy until the site is closed, not that i want that as i use it every day, some major changes are made to the site, or the keys get handed to someone else which isn't likely to happen.

 

[Tealeaf]

Selling shares of a company (even a private one) would entail a dizzying amount of red tape and it's highly unlikely much of anyone on this site could legally purchase any shares even if Null managed to fill out all the paperwork and avoid having a federal agency up his ass.

I mean, where I'm at buying and selling private company shares is as simple as writing up a sales contract and having it signed by the buyer and seller. Any complications come from private shareholder agreements, which are entirely optional (but in practice good to have). Of course, American company laws and regulations I have no idea about and might as well be a yarn of red tape.

 

[Spamy the Bot]

Selling shares of a company (even a private one) would entail a dizzying amount of red tape and it's highly unlikely much of anyone on this site could legally purchase any shares even if Null managed to fill out all the paperwork and avoid having a federal agency up his ass.

Too bad one couldn't just make a Non-profit Kiwifundation to preserve lolcows or something.

 

[Caramelized Squid]

You sound super burnt out Null. Take a break and see a therapist. Maybe get on some antidepressants, they're a life saver (as many have already said).

I don't know man, getting older sucks but if you take up hobbies and relationships at least it doesn't feel so monotonous.

 

[AmpleApricots]

IMO, I'd just kick the politics off the site (happenings, news section) and make this solely about lolcows and special interests. If that'd be fun though I dunno either. It'd really might be an idea to put more stress on special interest forums like the internet and technology one, as long as you can keep politics out of them (of either side of the spectrum) because there's basically no such place online anywhere anymore. It's always about politics, be it leftist faggot stuff or heiling hitler everyday. One thing I told you in a much earlier, similar post you forgot that the internet as it is will cease to be eventually. Is it through section 230 or anything else. This thing has no future. Not that I'm happy about it (in fact I used to be very unhappy about it) but I've come to accept a thing I cannot change. Also if you really don't wanna do this anymore now it's the time to get off that train. The more years pass, the harder it will get. You already have a reputation though and it is not good, consider that.

 

[Billy_Sama]

If you need to leave or take a break do it. With current events, its probably a good idea to focus on other things than something that burns you out.

 

[nya001]

I mean, where I'm at buying and selling private company shares is as simple as writing up a sales contract and having it signed by the buyer and seller. Any complications come from private shareholder agreements, which are entirely optional (but in practice good to have). Of course, American company laws and regulations I have no idea about and might as well be a yarn of red tape.

Good intentions but it doesn't really work like that, it's fairly expensive and what prevents the new buyer from shutting down the site the moment they control it? The company furthermore has its articles of incorporation etc. and they must be followed. It's not easy. And then what? He still will feel bad about the site, it's not a question of "who owns it".

Reverse example: somebody makes a forum, forum becomes an Obama-praising forum, even if they sell the website they still don't feel good about it.

 

[CrunkLord420]

Start a Space Station 13 server and let the autism consume you.

 

[Sm0kINHaZefEEliNBlaZEd]

The husband provides, the woman takes care of the home. I believe popular depictions of traditional families as “creepy” or “oppressive” is a deliberate effort to undermine this system. Unified, heterosexual households with one stay-at-home parent raise children which excel in every category of development.

I agree but you need to keep an open mind when dating. Don't dump a woman who is great in every other way except this. You will end up thoroughly regretting it. The goal is to find love, not perfection.

 

[Afinepickle]

Josh I've been here a long time but I've mostly been content to lurk, only de-lurking fairly recently so I can't say I've ever been an active community member.

That said I'd be sad to see this place go as it's pretty much the last bastion of the old 'I can say whatever the fuck I want' internet and while perhaps the idea of the Lolcow is dead in its traditional sense there's still plenty of instances on the site that I can see of folks just laughing at retards being retards without any kind of gay internet-celeb, troon or political drama/sperging attached.

Also hard agree on how fucking infuriatingly autistic and lacking in self-awareness some of the Section 230 takes were. I can understand wanting to just throw in the towel and call it a day when you see a portion of your own user base effectively calling for that.

 

[Least Concern]

Josh, if life begins at 18 - the age at which you're generally allowed to do shit in the western world - and then ends at 70, you've only truly been alive for ten years now. You've got much more productive time ahead of you than behind. Don't be so doomer about turning - horrors! - thirty.

I can understand wanting to re-evaluate your life goals. But who else in the world has the specific domain knowledge required to keep this place online? For better or worse, there are no Farms without you. This doesn't have to be your only goal or project, but I hope it'll still be something you can keep going. Nobody else can.

 

[Tealeaf]

Good intentions but it doesn't really work like that, it's fairly expensive and what prevents the new buyer from shutting down the site the moment they control it? The company furthermore has its articles of incorporation etc. and they must be followed. It's not easy. And then what? He still will feel bad about the site, it's not a question of "who owns it".

Reverse example: somebody makes a forum, forum becomes an Obama-praising forum, even if they sell the website they still don't feel good about it.

I don't think there is a Null 2 out there to take over and alone do everything Null does. The point is that there would be several shareholders that are beholden to one another, and would be able to together pull in the effort to keep the forum in working order. It's not about "easy," this I feel is something that is achievable.

There is no counterpoint to if someone feels the thing they made makes them feel bad. Burn it I guess? It still might not help with the bad feelings.

 

[Pandemic at the disco]

Shit man, I am sorry. I hope you don't ptsd from removing all that illegal shit. It would be very explainable to have burn out from doing that.

I suppose I want to say: do not blame yourself for Yaniv. At all.

Canada as a country actively created this loon. Politics aside, there are individuals who enabled that bastard. You can't fix the broken system of another country anymore than you can fix the justice system of your own country. At least by recording it you helped to hold him accountable, once he is. Records are important.

Rest assured though, providing a place where people could really talk about that guy is important. It is too bad you can't get some sort of grant or something because this place basically is a public service.

Have you thought about approaching free speech organizations and asking for ideas to be able to keep this place up while saving your own mental health? I am sure there are lawyers who would be interested in this place existing and if you got a couple of different places the world over to help, it might create a balance preventing Nazis or SJW from taking over. You need to chair a board or something, not do all this shit yourself.

Also it's too bad people don't all have to work to remove a couple of horrible things as part of maintaining their user name or something. It would help them appreciate the work.

Your own mind is valuable and so is free speech. I hope you try reaching out to organisations to help create some form of maintanece for this place before you shut her down.

I get feeling out of place and wanting to build your own small world because the rest of the world is broken. It makes sense to save your own health more than a value because if you lose that the site would be toast too.

Whatever you do, I hope it gets better.

 

[Witthel]

Damn, I never knew you felt this way Null, but I guess running a site like this being emotionally draining as shit should be expected.

If the farms get nuked that'll suck, but hey, life itself sucks.

 

[Pissapottyhippygirl]

It sucks when kids grow up.. spread your wings and fly, little lovebug