I’ve gotten a few emails regarding the Discord and I just really want to be very, very clear. I am not now nor was I ever mad at anyone when I made the decision to shut things down. Honestly, it came down to several things. A lot of it had to do with having no way to know who was coming in or out, who was lurking or why and feeling very much like some people wanted to be there, not so they could be part of the community itself but so they could have access specifically to me.
I am an extremely shy person. I don’t like being the center of attention. Weird, huh? Why would someone so shy and reserved ever choose to become a content creator? I’m pretty much always the center of attention. But when I’m making files, its different. I can express my creativity without feeling like I’m under a microscope. Trying to run a Discord server where no one really speaks unless I say something first very much makes it feel like I’m the center of the action and all eyes are on me.
After my account was briefly hacked, there were security concerns as well and that’s perfectly understandable too! I wanted everyone to feel safe and comfortable but it seems like the only way to really do that is to put things behind a paywall. When you do that, people are less eager to join. It becomes a catch 22. Do you want to be exclusive or inclusive?
I am not against the idea of having a community or place for folks to gather and chat. I am against being the center of attention or the focal point of that chat. If there’s a way to keep things safe and fun for everyone, I’m all ears. Otherwise, please just know that I wasn’t upset at anybody and I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings either. I love you all. Thank you for making my little corner of the internet a fun and happy place to be.
I wonder if a community could be created with other contact creators. I think this would solve both of your issues. one, that you don’t necessarily want to be the center of attention all the time, and, two, that there may not be enough people that make having such a community feasible. If several Contant creators were bringing their fans to the same place, there’s more likely to be a minimum number of people participating to make it worthwhile. Oh, I know creating anyone thing is exhausting, so I’m wondering if such a place might already exist that content creators might agree to push all of their fans to. Just trying to be helpful. I’m not much for discord myself, I’m more of a Reddit person.