NaNoWriMo, the non-profit group that organizes National November Writing Month, is winding up operations and shutting down. A spokesperson said that it had been in financial trouble for some time. It had also suffered reputational harm after failing to read the room on AI and struggling with moderation problems.
According to NaNoWriMo, these controversies over content moderation and AI did not directly lead to the organization's demise. But they certainly didn't help.
"To blame NaNoWriMo's demise on the events of the last year does a disservice to all struggling nonprofits," a NaNoWriMo spokesperson, Kilby, stated in a YouTube video. "Too many members of a very large, very engaged community let themselves believe the service to be provided was free."
National November Writing Month is a great idea but I wonder at the endless overheads of a nonprofit. Internet communities, faced with a need to organize, often adopt inherently authoritarian structures (we need people to be in charge of us) while wrapping them in feelgood constraints (it must be a nonprofit) even as all the classic booby traps of fandom lurk about waiting to go off. Here's maybe a good example of how that sort of thing dies. From discussion is sounds like the lights were pretty much out already. There's a "megathread" on Reddit discussing alternative arrangements. Trackbear seems like a good technical tracking tool for writers.
Previously:
• Sf writers on writing, for Nanowrimo
• This affordable Kaweco fountain pen is a pleasure to use
