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I'm neither a writer nor particularly familiar with the space, but NaNoWriMo looks like a dying company. Looks like there was a scandal of some sort last year

I'm neither a writer nor particularly familiar with the space, but NaNoWriMo looks like a dying company. Looks like there was a scandal of some sort last year that led to a community purge of sorts including shuttering their forums. Their FAQ still references this event extensively, withholding any details. [0] Add the super obvious cooperate sponsorship blog spam [1] (including the apparently removed promotion of their new AI partner [2]), and this looks like a zombie organization that has pivoted to squeezing the remaining value out of their userbase. [0] https://nanowrimo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/4403966090900-All-About-NaNoWriMo https://nanowrimo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/4403966090... [1] https://blog.nanowrimo.org/ https://blog.nanowrimo.org/ [2] https://archive.is/49R8u https://archive.is/49R8u

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
"Our discovery that some spaces were being used in unintended ways" Euphemism for an alleged grooming incident involving one of the mods of their community section for minors.
- Avshalom 2y ago
  add-sub-mul-div is being downvoted here (probably because of the last couple years of bad faith accusations of "grooming" against the lgbtq+ community poisoning the well) but "alleged grooming incident[s]" is the thing that happened: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/1ae3038/writing_discords_forums_and_a_decades_worth_of/?share_id=ekCWxk2T4lHNs-Xf6zZmL https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/1ae3038/writing...
lacker 2y ago
They aren't a company at all, they are a 501c3 nonprofit. https://nanowrimo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403979579412-What-kind-of-company-is-NaNoWriMo https://nanowrimo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/440397957941...
- hiatus 2y ago
  That is just a tax classification and says nothing about the entity. They are in fact a corporation (just look at their 990 to see this). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/651282653/202343049349301414/full https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/651... edit: your own link says "what kind of company is NaNoWriMo"
marssaxman 2y ago
I've had friends participating in this, off-and-on, for about as long as it has existed, but this is the first I have ever heard that there was an organization associated with the event! The meme seems reasonably self-spreading, in that people who want to write a novel in a month seem likely to also write about the fact that they are trying to do this, so it seems that NaNoWriMo, the experience, might well continue on unchanged even if the organization were to collapse.

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago

"Our discovery that some spaces were being used in unintended ways" Euphemism for an alleged grooming incident involving one of the mods of their community section for minors.

Avshalom 2y ago
add-sub-mul-div is being downvoted here (probably because of the last couple years of bad faith accusations of "grooming" against the lgbtq+ community poisoning the well) but "alleged grooming incident[s]" is the thing that happened: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/1ae3038/writing_discords_forums_and_a_decades_worth_of/?share_id=ekCWxk2T4lHNs-Xf6zZmL https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/1ae3038/writing...

lacker 2y ago

They aren't a company at all, they are a 501c3 nonprofit. https://nanowrimo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403979579412-What-kind-of-company-is-NaNoWriMo https://nanowrimo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/440397957941...

hiatus 2y ago
That is just a tax classification and says nothing about the entity. They are in fact a corporation (just look at their 990 to see this). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/651282653/202343049349301414/full https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/651... edit: your own link says "what kind of company is NaNoWriMo"

marssaxman 2y ago

I've had friends participating in this, off-and-on, for about as long as it has existed, but this is the first I have ever heard that there was an organization associated with the event! The meme seems reasonably self-spreading, in that people who want to write a novel in a month seem likely to also write about the fact that they are trying to do this, so it seems that NaNoWriMo, the experience, might well continue on unchanged even if the organization were to collapse.