Relocation? Or gafiation?
Jan. 7th, 2024 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kathleen_daileyI was idly looking up a fan writer whom I used to follow a number of years ago on LJ. I was happy when I found that they had a DW account, but when I clicked on the profile I saw that their last update was 350 weeks ago, which somehow sounds even longer than "almost seven years." The writer's DW and AO3 accounts haven't been deleted, so I have to hope and assume that they're still alive and thriving.
I don't know why, but I feel a real sense of loss when I find that someone I remember from years ago has disappeared from this corner of fandom. Maybe the person hasn't really gafiated--maybe they're active on other platforms, and maybe their personal website has just moved elsewhere, without a redirect. (Or, most likely, given the quality of their writing, they've gone pro under another name.) But when a Google search turns up nothing useful, they may as well be in another universe.
I don't know why, but I feel a real sense of loss when I find that someone I remember from years ago has disappeared from this corner of fandom. Maybe the person hasn't really gafiated--maybe they're active on other platforms, and maybe their personal website has just moved elsewhere, without a redirect. (Or, most likely, given the quality of their writing, they've gone pro under another name.) But when a Google search turns up nothing useful, they may as well be in another universe.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-08 02:09 am (UTC)Your mention of Usenet reminds me that over the years I've searched everywhere for a writer I knew on the newsgroups. We were on a mailing list together for years, and then one day she and her email address were just GONE. I never knew her real name, and no one on the list or anywhere else knew how to find her. I still think of her decades later and wonder how and what she's doing.