Saturday, August 6, 2016

Why I'm No Longer Using WriteOn


Slightly less than two years ago, I talked about this writing site that I signed up to, named WriteOn. It was great for quite a long time, and when I did a WriteOn vs Figment vs Wattpad post, I chose it as my favourite (which reminds me, with all the updates that have happened, that post is really out of date, but I'm probably not the right person to write the updated version). And then two months after it was out of beta (slightly more than a year ago), the place started changing, and not for the better. But still, I really believed in the site, and I continued to use it until one or two months ago, when I just stopped. Unlike Figment, which I just stopped using for no particular reason, I can identify three reasons why I've stopped using WriteOn, and I thought it would be good to have it down in a post.

For the record, WriteOn has introduced me to some awesome writing friends, and email is amazing (not to mention chat groups) because that has become how we keep in contact). So yeah, the site was incredibly helpful to me at one point in time, but now... I think it's more toxic than anything. Anyway:

Reasons why I'm leaving (in no particular order): 

1. Support has more or less vanished.

I have seen the official accounts a few times, but unlike the early days, where the mods were present and interacting with everyone, support seems to have more or less vanished. I know I can't expect a high level of support all the time, but considering the fact that there has been at least one thread talking about where the mods might have gone, I think it's safe to say that a lot of the users miss them.

2. A lot of (the) members (I know) have left.

Brackets are needed because the site is probably adding new members every day, and I'm just not seeing them. But yeah, a lot of the people that I know have either become a lot less active, or have left and it's a bit of a shame. I mentioned that one member who gave awesome feedback has gone, and well, a lot of the other members from that period of time seem to have left too, which doesn't really give me a reason to stay.

3. The Forums are getting/are already toxic

I started using the site less and less because of this (it started from one toxic member, who thankfully was left, but it seems like nature really does abhor a vacuum), and well, I visited the forums recently and was pretty shocked at how hostile the members are to each other. It's really just two camps of people, but the feud seems to have started on a different writing site, so I don't understand why it was brought here in the first place. Both sides seem intent on holding on to the grudge, and I feel like while one side is genuinely clueless about how they're contributing to the problem, another side seems to revel in making waves, and well... I really don't need a toxic environment.

What am I using right now?

Well, I occasionally post chapters on my Dayre (though that isn't the primary purpose for it), but surprisingly, the writing site I am most likely to be on is Wattpad. I'm still very terrible at it (and don't know how to use it properly), but I have managed to make a few friends, and well, friends are basically what anchors me to sites/apps, so I'll probably be there for a little while. I'm not very into forums right now though, because of the whole toxicity thing. But I guess I'll probably be back one day.

(Although truth be told, I haevn't logged on for about two weeks because I've had exams.)

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