The Whys and Wherefors
I've been doing the work of the D'net, essentially, since my election as Liaison, in April of 2006. That's a year and a half of working to facilitate communications in the cavern.
In that time I've been vilified, celebrated and ignored, to varying degrees. I have carried the banner, tried to drum up support, and worked my ass off. And, in the end, I was trying to do it all myself.
The community would talk about what a useful and wonderful thing D'net was...and then forget it existed. Every few months, someone would say "We need someone to coordinate meetings/information/communication with the DRC"...and someone else would dutifly point out the D'net, sitting patiently in the corner, like Lucy van Pelt with her Doctor is In sign.
8 times out of 10, nothing would ever come of people noticing the D'net existed. Our useage was at less than 1%. The only thing people did do...is use us as a giant corkboard.
It didn't help that the DRC, and Cate, who were so enthusiastic about the D'net, never once stepped up to use us, no matter how or what we offered. If the DRC wasn't going to play...then no one else wanted to.
And then comes the Guild of Messengers. Just an 'umbrella', not a 'replacement'... but already people are looking to the 'Guild of Messengers' for things, and planning how the GoM is going to be run, and multiple different people trying to coordinate the various groups into the GoM, and people starting to organize & plan the same things the D'net has been offering to do for a year now, like we don't even exist.
And I looked at it all and said "no."
I don't have the energy to start from scratch, again. I don't have the energy and the heart to try and reorganize and rearrange and try to convince the community *again* that we really are needed and here we are, and won't you please utilize us.
Let someone else take the reins. My spirit has been broken.