NaNoWriMo To Close After 20 Years (theguardian.com) 15
NaNoWriMo, the nonprofit behind the annual novel-writing challenge, is shutting down after 20 years but will keep its websites online temporarily so users can retrieve their content. The Guardian reports: A 27-minute YouTube video posted the same day by the organization's interim executive director Kilby Blades explained that it had to close due to ongoing financial problems, which were compounded by reputational damage. In November 2023, several community members complained to the nonprofit's board, Blades said. They believed that staff had mishandled accusations made in May 2023 that a NaNoWriMo forum moderator was grooming children on a different website. The moderator was eventually removed, though this was for unrelated code of conduct violations and occurred "many weeks" after the initial complaints. In the wake of this, community members came forward with other complaints related to child safety on the NaNoWriMo sites.
The organization was also widely criticized last year over a statement on the use of artificial intelligence in creative writing. After stating that it did not support or explicitly condemn any approach to writing, including the use of AI, it said that the "categorical condemnation of artificial intelligence has classist and ableist undertones." It went on to say that "not all writers have the financial ability to hire humans to help at certain phases of their writing," and that "not all brains have same abilities ... There is a wealth of reasons why individuals can't 'see' the issues in their writing without help." "We hold no belief that people will stop writing 50,000 words in November," read Monday's email. "Many alternatives to NaNoWriMo popped up this year, and people did find each other. In so many ways, it's easier than it was when NaNoWriMo began in 1999 to find your writing tribe online."
The organization was also widely criticized last year over a statement on the use of artificial intelligence in creative writing. After stating that it did not support or explicitly condemn any approach to writing, including the use of AI, it said that the "categorical condemnation of artificial intelligence has classist and ableist undertones." It went on to say that "not all writers have the financial ability to hire humans to help at certain phases of their writing," and that "not all brains have same abilities ... There is a wealth of reasons why individuals can't 'see' the issues in their writing without help." "We hold no belief that people will stop writing 50,000 words in November," read Monday's email. "Many alternatives to NaNoWriMo popped up this year, and people did find each other. In so many ways, it's easier than it was when NaNoWriMo began in 1999 to find your writing tribe online."
Completely avoidable (Score:3, Insightful)
There's no excuse for an organization that serves young people to not have more stringent protocols in place to avoid these issues.
As to the "classist and ableist" discussion points, I'm not saying that the "get woke, go broke" mantra applies here ... I'll just mention that the last NaNoWriMo event I bothered going to (near Dallas, TX in 2018) featured a spirited discussion/group therapy session about the pain of being misgendered, which ground the actual writing discussion to a halt. That is when I realized that this organization was no longer for me. The more any organization moves away from the center toward the extremes of ideas and discourse, the less people are going to want to donate to keep it afloat.
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
Looks like ultimately it was systemic / cyclical lack of money that brought it down as it had been running in the red for ~5 years.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nanow... [reddit.com]
Also... well... "creatives" tend to be sensitive and dramatic and feel deeply so purity tests, accusations and implosion in arts spaces are not rare and a constant threat. 26 years is not a bad run
Re:Completely avoidable (Score:4, Informative)
Everyone involved are "creatives". The writers wanted AI banned, the board didn't, so the board chucked some buzzwords at the writers which didn't work.
There's no "purity test" or "sensitive and dramatic" writers. They simply wanted no paeodophiles and creative writing to be actually creative.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
That may have offended your delicate sensibilities, but it isn't what took NaNoWriMo down.
The collapse started when they allowed a child groomer access to youth on their forums, and then proceeded to silence anyone who brought up concerns. The writers spent eight months compiling a case that finally got the FBI involved and NaNoWriMo's response was to close the forums and pretend it wasn't happening. They lost a lot of donors and members over that.
The AI thing was just a final straw. Running an event tha
Re: Completely avoidable (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
There's no excuse for an organization that serves young people to not have more stringent protocols in place to avoid these issues.
So what is the excuse for the Catholic church?
Re: Completely avoidable (Score:1)
Who said they have one?
Cf "whataboutism"
Re: (Score:2)
We have Godwin's law... maybe we need a law that every discussion involving pedos devolves into blaming the catholic church.
Re: (Score:1)
When they're the largest pedo organization on the planet, they deserve the blame.
Re: (Score:3)
Due process is important, no matter how unpopular it is.
Re: Completely avoidable (Score:2)
The more any organization moves away from the center toward the extremes of ideas and discourse
How is being misgendered an extreme idea?
It could be the pain of being misidentified as being pregnant, miscarriage, dealing with an unpronounceable name, pains of assuming you speak Spanish because you look Hispanic, or hearing problems or whatever. These are normal awkward random sidebars that come up when groups of different people get together.
It's eye rolling sometimes, but I don't see what makes you say extreme.
Spitting on creators (Score:4, Insightful)
Kilby Blades effectively said that hiring a ghost writer is the same as writing. All she had to say was "We request that your wordcount reflect what you wrote." It isn't surprising that a group of writers entering a writing challenge have strong opinions about people submitting stuff they actually wrote!
I've heard a rumor that she was disrespectful to the volunteers. Events like this depend so much on volunteers, you really need to take care of them.
Does the organization matter? (Score:2)
Let's be real: response to AI (Score:1)
One of my daughters got seriously into it (but then, she's intending to sell novels, and she's got at least six looking for an agent). She "won" (went over 50k words in Nov) a number of years running.
What broke them was their refusal to absolutely *ban* chatbot-written crap.
They read the writing on the walls (Score:2)
There's no way to police AI content.
Therefore, what the point in a competition where some people use AI and some don't.
I've quit playing online games that are easy to cheat with AI.
A lot of people are going to have trouble with the fact that humans are no longer the smartest things on the planet.