The End of an Era
Posted by MaryJun 14
A great travesty has occurred. An announcement has been made by the forum owner that the Doctor Who Forum (DWF) will close for good at the end of July.
The DWF has been the central base of operations for Doctor Who fans for 13 years now. There are other Doctor Who sites and forums out there, but none as large or as active as the DWF. It was there during the dry years after the ending of the classic series. It was there when the announcement came to relaunch the series in 2005, and it has been there through the announcement of three doctors, four assistants, and every episode, season and special in between.
The site primarily is a discussion forum, however there are also areas where information is posted, collected and archived about every facet of the Doctor Who world from actor information, Doctor Who trivia, DVD releases and reviews, to books, audio episodes, and conventions. There is also a place for fans to post their fan-art and fan-fiction. There are even sections for news and discussion about the spin-off series Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. It’s a massive, active forum.
Needless to say, the site’s closing is a crushing blow to its members. There is a real sense of community there among the active members, and even lurkers like me love to hang out and follow along with the banter, inanity and in-depth discussions of fellow Whovians. Of course not every thread is perfect, and because the site is so huge there is always someone who will complain about something. However inspite of the odd complaint, it’s an invaluable resource for both information and camaraderie.
The biggest tragedy for me about this whole thing is that on July 31st, the 40,000 strong community will be set adrift in cyberspace, and all that history and information will be gone in the blink of an eye. The reactions, the debates, the arguments, the information collected, the stories written and shared, in essence the heart of the Whovian community will be wiped away, lost forever. Imagine the devastating impact if the initial creator/owner of Wikipedia decided to shut Wikipedia down without passing it on to someone else. All that information, data, collaborative efforts, history and community would be just gone, never to be seen or accessed again. (ok, I know that the original owner did wash his hands of Wikipedia because it wasn’t going the way he wanted. However at least he handed over the reigns to someone else. Here, the DWF owner, for whatever reason, is just up and closing the doors.)
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about produsage communities and productive collaboration. However in all I’ve read, I’ve never come across a discussion about what happens when these sites/communities close down, the impact that has on the immediate members of the site, as well as (especially in the case of fandom) the impact it has on the larger online community/fandom that site was a part of.
I have no real pithy or insightful concluding thoughts for this post, except the say that when a site like the DWF is thriving and vital, it gives a false sense of permanency and stability to its members, to the point where you forget the insubstantial and transient nature of cyberspace.
