I'm Retiring But the Site is Not in Site Updates

Ha! Right on.

Thanks for sticking things out. You did the right thing.

I am in awe how you have handled this. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for what you have done .... from the beginning of creating Prosebox until now.

Great news and thank you for all you've done! 👏 You created a great place and managed it well. My best to you.

Well, you know all my thoughts on the journey so I won't melt anyone's brain rehashing it here. But if the cardboard cut-out of you I keep in my living room, and sometimes sacrifice a twinkie to, doesn't tell you how much I appreciate all your efforts, then let me just say straight to your face: I appreciate all your efforts!

But as a couple of people have already pointed out, we probably would not have reached this point without a slap in the face, if you will. If I had updated with, “Everything is great. Oh but I could use some help.” - I really don’t think we would be where we are now.

Heh, I just said almost this exact thing to someone I was leaving a note for. I'm glad to hear that things are moving along, and that you've found a team that you can trust. As many have said, I am forever grateful that you created this space for us. Enjoy your retirement!

YAAAAAAAY! Thanks so much for hanging in there and really considering other options. Also, I hope we still see you around as a regular part of the community (If not, that's cool too, I totally get it). Thank you again, SO MUCH, for everything and for creating such an awesome site. Take care of yourself!

Look. You have every right to close your shop at any time for any reason, just as I have a right to close up shop when I retire in a few months. I don't think you waffled. You announced you were closing your doors. When the idea of passing the baton was introduced, you kept an open mind (hey! Your next diary name!). You didn't ask for money so you aren't cheating anyone on a financial level.
Everything has a life span.
I get that people are disappointed but the level of hate-filled comments shocks me, ESPECIALLY from those open-minded, peace-loving middle-aged women writers.
I don't think you are part of a conspiracy.
I think your critics are way out of line. Their free site is changing. Life is a series of changes. They really need to get over their self-important stuff and they need to stop believing every wild theory they think up unless they can back it in hard fact.
Thank you, Simple Mind. If I had read some of those notes, I would have kicked those nasty witches off without another word. You rose higher.
I am delighted that PB remains. If others want to go, I doubt I'll miss them.

Thank you for everything! I hope this works out for all of us and your stress is relieved as this moves forward.
💞

Good news! I'm glad. :) "Your death therapy cured me, you genius!"

Wonderful news and I'm really looking forward to welcoming the new team on board... Thank you for all your work, and the handover rather than just shutting everything down.

If I had updated with, “Everything is great. Oh but I could use some help.” - I really don’t think we would be where we are now.

I disagree an alarming amount. If you had written an updating saying you wanted to step back and give up the site, and were looking for people to take over, you would have gotten the same response only without everyone scrambling for their fucking lives. CLEARLY people don't want Prosebox to go down in flames. I think this was handled incredibly poorly, man.

But I'm happy the site is staying so thanks for passing it off to others.

I'm really happy to read this. Thank you.

Great - I didn’t hear anything back from anyone about assisting in the new PB, but I can definitely help if it’s needed.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for accepting help and keeping the site alive. I refuse to return to OD after the screwing we all got, and I've been journaling online for more than half my life at this point, so I was pretty concerned about what was going to happen if this site disappeared.

Hooray!

Hopefully you'll have a well earned rest now. You deserve it!

I'm sorry people reacted so negatively towards you with your first announcement. I was so sad to hear the site was closing because I have grown to love this community. And I'm so happy to hear that it will not be closing after all. Thank you for creating this place, and thank you for being open to someone else running it instead of just closing it. I appreciate you.

you will still write here, right? :) im glad it all seems to be working out for everyone. thank you for taking the steps to see if someone could take it over!

I've loved my time here, and completely understood your reasons for wanting to give up running the site. I'm glad it will still be around.

Thank you for giving me a home when OD collapsed. xoxo

Yay! Best news ever! Thank you!!

Oh thank you so much! I'm so relieved, and happy things are turning out this way.

Yay! Thank you for your YEARS of taking care of this site and keeping some of us sane!

You've done us good over the years, so we can forgive the waffling now. Looking forward to the future of sharing my feels.

THANK YOU for all of your hard work and I'm glad someone will be taking this creation of yours over, but I'm never going to forget that you're the one that helped to give us all safe harbor when OD crashed and burned. hugs!!!!

The benefit of ripping the bandage off is that it's over in a moment even if it hurts. I didn't begrudge the way you let everyone you were going to retire. It is your right to retire and feel good about the community you started here. I'm really happy to see someone else will carry on with the site.

That’s great news! I am so glad it will all work out for everyone.

I know I have very similar breakdowns like this. As in everything is over and I can't go on. So I understand. I am very glad you were able and willing to find a replacement. Good luck to you!

I know I have very similar breakdowns like this. As in everything is over and I can't go on. So I understand. I am very glad you were able and willing to find a replacement. Good luck to you!

Thank you. Thank you so much. This place is home.

Thanks for the last five years, they've been really great here and you were an excellent site admin. I hope you find nothing but peace and happiness. And thank you for NOT being Bruce and actually handing off the site. That took serious balls to not have an ego about it and realizing this community deserves to stay afloat. Rock on.

Yer a good egg. Don't let anyone tell you different.

I recently had a dream where everyone had waffles instead of heads. Perhaps it was foretelling!

This is all ass backwards - you don't owe us, it's us that owe you a deep debt of gratitude for saving us when OD went down! Can't thank you enough for this selfless effort. I hope the new guy does well with the site - because of you, he has a lot of goodwill surrounding him.

Well, you know how I feel about things and I do understand about you giving up the reigns. You will be missed. Thank you for not closing the doors. I was actually thinking if you had I would have had to search for a site that would turn out to be lacking in many ways. Thank you for being here for us from the beginning and giving us a place to write and make some really awesome friends.

I wish us all the very bestest of luck.

Hope they're up to it! It's good to hear there's two of them though; maybe two can handle what was too much for one. Best of luck to them, and you!

Seriously, as soon as you're free, I hope you have a vacation scheduled.

Couldn't be happier at the news! Thank you so much for providing such a fantastic place for us all to be part of and for being open to passing on the baton!😊

Thank you. I think this is the right choice and hope that the new management team feels encouraged and energized. I hope that in your retirement you find your happiness and revitalization. Thank you for creating this site. Thank you for making it unique. But most importantly, thank you for realizing it did not need to die.

It's been sad and stressful this week (First World problems and all that) but I truly am grateful to you for starting this site and keeping it running, and I'm glad that a hero has flown in to save the day. I am sure your life will be happier without carrying all of us on your shoulders and I wish you the best.

Really pleased to hear this. Thank you for lending your experience to the new team and hanging in there to help with the transition!

You have no idea how relieved I am to hear this. Thank you so much for your transparency.

<3

Thank you so much for everything :)

You are amazing! A true gentleman and a one of my favorite humans. You should know by know if you ever need to be slapped, we are happy to help. 😁

Week shit....Yeah ya fumbled the ball such is life man. Indeed glad this place is staying plus grateful for you cause ya gave birth to it.

LOL meant well .... :)

LOL meant well .... :)

Thank you

Thank you so much for all you’ve done for us - you put an amount of time and effort into this that I am probably underestimating, and I profoundly appreciate you doing it. You gave us a place to go and stay connected to each other. You took it on when you didn’t have to, and I can’t imagine it was an easy task. It has been wonderful. I’m sorry that so many unappreciative, entitled blowhards gave you grief over stepping away.

Sounds good to me.

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pskettios ⋅ just now
I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to you but I wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for everything you’ve done. You provided PB as a life raft when we needed it. I’ve loved this site, it’s so much more modern and good than what we’d been used to. I’ve been comfortable here and it allowed me to keep reading my circle of friends, some of whom I’ve known since I was a teenager.

Thank you for your time, passion and commitment. It’s okay to admit you can’t do it anymore. Thank you for passing it on. I truly wish you the best! I’m sorry I didn’t thank you sooner, we owe you a lot.

I was hoping that being reenergized would keep you in the chair, but I'm glad you found a way to get off the hotseat without taking everything down with you. All the best.

And thank you.

I was hoping that being reenergized would keep you in the chair, but I'm glad you found a way to get off the hotseat without taking everything down with you. All the best.

And thank you.

Very happy talks have went well and a transition is in place. Thank you for being open to considering it. I don't think it was handled poorly, you had a very human reaction to an overwhelming situation.

I don't think you're "waffling." I think you're handling things well.

I personally don't love how you handled this, but I do appreciate your willingness to change course and do what's best for the community. So thanks for that.

Sad that it wasn't us you went with, but excited for things to come! Happy retirement.

I am extremely grateful for the wonderful gift that is Prosebox. Thank you so much to you SM. You have created a fantastic legacy.

Sending you love and hugs and big slappy high fives xXx

I'm so glad!!!

Thanks for creating this corner of the internet for us.

Whatever is happening behind the scenes, I'm glad you've been able to reach a spot where you feel confident and comfortable with your decision.

So SO, glad to hear the site will be saved!!! My only concern is that your friend may make drastic changes causing the site to become radically different. Ever heard of kiwibox.com? I joined in 2008 and loved it. Two years later it was sold to someone else and they completely changed everything and I mean everything. It became everything it didn't use to be. I hope the guy will keep in mind that if we didn't like PB as it is, we wouldn't be here in the first place. Also, I'm sorry if I came off as rather harsh but yeah, you did need that slap in the face, LOL. It was frustrating for a while but I'm glad to hear, like I said, that there is hope for survival. :-)

I hope you feel the love here. You built such an amazing site for us. Thank you for seeing the need and working so hard to maintain it. Most of all, thank you a million times for caring enough to pass the torch, even though just shutting the site would have been easier for you. Your legacy will live on. May we all grow old together on PB! Congratulations on your new freedom!!

Okay, so we're not riding on a Deathstar! Good on ya man! If Emily is on the new team you've chosen well!

Yes. Sometimes you have to hit bottom to get back on course.

I am glad you are doing what is best for the site and the community.

I have nothing but respect and gratitude for all you've done. You gave us a place to go when OD was closing down, you've kept it going, and I can only imagine how much work and time it has taken. Thank you for all of it.

Hey, sorry we all freaked out on you earlier.

We are fragile, passionate sorts... the kind of people who will, without provocation, dump our brain feed right onto the internet for people to read. You know the type.

Anyway, kudos for passing on the torch, or baton, or colorfully festooned Talking Stick, or hot potato, whatever you want to call it.

Also, disregard any rumors that someone was going to hire Simon Pegg to infiltrate your domicile and start impersonating you in order to keep things running, that was a joke, I'm sure, and nobody can prove anything, ya hear me?! o_O

seducing me made me burst out laughing.

Lord knows I've had enough some days and thought 'Fck this $it!' I always felt better after a nap.

This is exciting! But like any sort of management, I'll have to see how the new folks are. I hope they are as swell as you, and thanks for all your hard work :)

Thank you. Thank you! I can only imagine what one iota of the work involved in this site is for you, so thank you for everything you've done, thank you for supporting this unique community so mightily, thank you for getting this torch passed on. Thank you.

I wasn't one of the people that freaked out (okay, I might have freaked out internally a bit), mainly because I prefer to wait until things are final before REALLY freaking out. I think people forget that not only are you, you know, HUMAN, but you have also been doing this in your spare time, FOR FREE. I've known you a long damn time, and I knew you had to have been just done to even think about writing that first entry. It was super out of character. Sometimes, things just get to be too much. ❤

Thanks much, will you be sticking around as a diarist?

I will just say : Thank you ! You gave us a home and it still stands. :-)

Now this is the proper way to extract yourself from a situation while still fulfilling your obligations.

Well done, Sir. I'm very glad to see you exit on a high note by doing the right thing.

While I, too, am sad about the way this happened, I am glad that a positive outcome has been reached and you've found some good people to hand over the reigns too.
I also want to say thank you for all that you've done. You created this site when we needed you and it the most, you gave us a place to call home when we were all lost. I could never thank you enough and while I'm sad that you're stepping away from the role you have, I hope you stick around here, in general. If not, all the best going forward <3

You're still the best for rescuing us from OD! Ha. Good luck for your future. And thanks.

You were the one who threw out the life jackets when OD died and for that I am eternally grateful. And now I see/read that you are turning your "ship" over to a new commander and their staff. Again your heart, soul, body, and brain are thinking of others. Thank you Simple Mind and hope to see you as a regular writer here. God Bless you and yours and again thanks!

Best news!!! Thanks so much for all your (continued) hard work!!

Thank you for starting this site and I will be here to see new management take over and for PB to continue to flourish.

Thank you for all the work you have done for us.