RIP: NaNoWriMo, 25 years of service

[thewayne]

National Novel Writing Month, held in November, has thrown in the towel and is no more. They put forth the challenge of writing 50,000 words in that month and offered a word count tool to measure your progress and awarded badges for the accomplishment.

However, the last few years have been turbulent, a questionable sponsor came on-board and then a flirtation with AI with a very dubious endorsement by the organization caused a large boycott last year. A general downturn in arts sponsorship over the years, and now no NaNo.

It's possible someone else will come up with a new name and organization, if so, we can only hope they adhere to a stronger code of ethics.

https://gizmodo.com/longtime-writing-community-nanowrimo-shuts-down-after-ai-drama-2000583619

Comments

[richardf8]

When you're accusing disabled people of ableism and privilege, something has gone terribly wrong.

[garote]

Yeah I gotta wonder… who wrote that announcement, and how did they follow it up, if at all??

[thewayne]

No idea if there was any blowback and consequences from that.

[disneydream06]

I'm not a writer, but that's sad news. :(
Hugs, Jon

[garote]

I was around when it started… Had no idea it had turned into a whole production with money behind it. Honestly in retrospect it seems odd that it did.

[silveradept]

It was definitely on a downswing, from the various scandals and the general feeling of not providing enough value to people who wanted to participate in the community and do the challenge. Other entities will take up the torch of providing challenges and communities, so now it will just be a matter of finding them on the Internet.