It's time for things to come to a close. This is a difficult page to write, and there's no question I'll leave much more out of it than I intended. But it's time for it to be written. Far past time, really.

There is a strong, clear point I want to make before going any further. This is not me flipping off the fandom, or the people who made the site worth running for a very long time. There are some people who will never be convinced that this is anything but; most likely some feeble attempt to "take my ball and run home." There's nothing I can say to those, they've already made their decisions about me, and so I'm not going to fight or argue over it. The simple truth is that I'm not going away. I'll be around.

And now the question of timing. Honestly, it's been something I've been thinking about since early last year, and it's been planned for several months. I thought one last New Years together would be a fair close. I left plenty of slack in case I truly needed to reconsider, but it just isn't happening. Regardless of how well or poorly you think I've done, for something around eleven years I've made my efforts to run the works in the best way I know how. My heart wasn't always in it, I admit, but I did it. I cleaned up messes, I resolved issues, I did what I could to keep an entertaining and fun place alive in an increasingly jaded and bitter internet. I feel like I've done my part.

So why not pass the site along to someone else? There's some obvious candidates. But The Moogle Cavern, at least on the content and structure side, has always been an expression of my interests and ideals. Even if it's just the forum aspect being carried over, why force my ideals onto someone else? How fair is that when they have their own designs and desires, interests and ideas? Why should they inherit the problems and stresses tied to the name, simply because I feel it's time to step away? And why should I be forced to give up the thing I've worked on for over a decade? Even if it's just a name when it's all said and done, it's the name I've worked under for a long time now. Perhaps it's a little greedy, but for all this time, and all this worry, it doesn't seem right to give it away... or thrust it upon someone else.

Recommend a place to go? No. A clear group of MC refugees would be another unfair pressure to push onto someone else. And I don't want people to sit together, waiting for me or someone else to make a follow-up site that people can flock back to after some pressure, as if this was a move for ego padding. I don't want to scatter real friends, but I don't want people to wait around in some artificial bubble, trying to carry on something that's been brought to a close. I will still be around, but I don't pretend to be some sort of beacon. Just a long-winded prat who offers up his opinion more often than he should.

Pulling down the board suddenly is a big shock, I understand, and I know some of you will be pissed for that. That's unquestionably reasonable, but I can offer content out of it should you require it. I won't be passing around full copies, not only for security reasons, but because I simply can't trust some people to not make things further complicated. The Oekaki is still up for now, please save what pictures you actually want. Hosted sites are not deleted, but I would strongly recommend finding a new place before the end of the month, if you haven't already. I'm sorry I couldn't offer more warning. Also, the machine behind the logo is completely out of coffee. It's awful all around.


I have to say, it's been a joy to run this site more often than not, and through it I've met some people I truly consider friends, even if I don't talk to them as much anymore. I hope that with The Moogle Cavern, I've somehow made some small impact on the interwebs, and the people that frequent it.

And there we are.




The Moogle Cavern
April 26th, 1997 - January 8th, 2008

-Kulock
Last Update.