The (official) end of NaNoWriMo

Two days ago, an email came out putting to rest what most users have known for at least a year: National Novel Writing Month is dead. Plagued with scandal, mismanagement, and a tarnished reputation, there was no way for the non-profit to recover. Yet the organization had been perplexingly silent since last November's event.

Nano Hello?

There were none of the normal "What's Next?" series, a revision and self-care focused social media and blog campaign that NaNo typically uses to follow up the drafting challenge. As we got into March, people started wondering what was going to happen for April's Camp NaNo event. None of the normal prep or hype posts materialized. Just radio silence.

That was, until March 31st, when Kilby's closing-up-shop email landed.

And somehow, with its dying breath, NaNoWriMo managed to stick its foot in its mouth yet again.

Below is a summary by Rebecca Thorne of the email and, more specifically, Kilby's YouTube video that was linked in that email. Rebecca highlights the problems in that video, so I won't dive into Kilby's glorious powerpoint presentation here.

Other ways in which the closing announcement was botched:

As usual, NaNo's email delivery was spotty, so only some people actually received the announcement. It doesn't appear to actually matter what your email subscription settings are. Whether or not you get any emails from NaNo is a crapshoot.
In some time zones, the announcement came out on April Fool's Day, so many were left speculating that this was an absolutely terrible joke.
Kilby released this video on a brand new YouTube account (presumably because anyone with the login information to the "official" NaNo YouTube channel has left the organization). This really fueled the narrative that this was not an official announcement. It's very easy to create a new YouTube channel, call it something that looks official, and say whatever you want to say.
At the time of writing, there are no social media posts from NaNo regarding the shut down. Nothing on Instagram, Facebook, or Tumblr, which were previously their go-to platforms. There is also no notice anywhere on the website itself. The Zendesk, which was Kilby's favorite method of communicating with users via a fiddly and condescending FAQ system, is completely gone. So, the people who received that email are the only ones who've been told about the closure.
All of this contributes to the community left in a state of "is this real?" which is not really the vibe you want to have with an announcement like this.

Goodbye

So, obviously this sucks. NaNo shutting down did not need to happen. There was a path through the grooming allegations where NaNo came out on the other side a stronger, more resilient organization that was a safer place for vulnerable people in its community. There was a world in which someone else took the reins and made the tough but necessary changes to the structure of NaNo that would ensure it survived. There's an alternate universe in which we were all still excited about the future of NaNo, and thus, still donating.

But instead, we got Kilby. We, the community, got blamed for the organization shutting down. We're not donating, so it's our fault. But what the hell has there been to even donate to in the last year. This thing's been running on fumes since last January. Why would anyone donate to a non-profit that has no programming? Especially after being condescended to in that signature Kilby tone?

This didn't need to end this way, but I'm glad it's ending for real. I'm glad the hollow shell of NaNo isn't being propped up as if it were a real thing anymore. I'm glad we can all put this behind us and move on to new, positive, supportive communities.