woolworths111 was with E2 for about five months. He joined here in September of this year, and asked to have himself removed today in the catbox.
It's pretty standard to talk to a member and ask for motives, reasons for leaving, encouragement to stay, offering of help/guidance. I did all that with private messages.
His responses, which I have his permission to repost:
Meh, just a general sense of dissatisfaction. Plus the way this site often seems to be little more than the internet's biggest in-joke, one which it is impossible to comprehend unless you've been here since 2000.
/msg IWhoSawTheFace I did take this site on as a challenge, to help with my writing after discovering it on sam512's website; I hate myself for giving up. Ah well.
And thanks for your offer of help. It's alright.
That's fine. And I probably will come back occasionally; I enjoy reading the database. And the Ed Stories.
Thankyou. I'd like to say that I still think this is a great site, best web community I've ever met.
He didn't pull an Asamoth. His nodes and his homenode information remain here, intact. I told him that a lot of people leave E2 for various reasons, and that later they'll come by just to check in. Some resume their writings here, others never do. He was fine with that.
I didn't want him to leave without anyone saying goodbye, and making sure that his last few messages were at least somewhat positive and upbeat. How we treat people when they threaten to leave means almost as much as it does when we welcome them to E2 at the beginning. It could mean the difference between someone who's pissed off at the "don't let the door slam on you on the way out" attitude and someone who has his voice heard by a sympathetic ear.
woolworths111 strikes me as a stand-up guy. His photographic artwork on deviantart.com pleases the eye. He has a good sense of aesthetic. He also strikes me as a loner. It is not surprising that he didn't have much interaction with us while he was here. He's probably used to walking his own road and picking up tools and talents as he goes alone; an autodidactic sort. He probably didn't ask for mentoring.
He came here for good reason. He read sam512's writings and was hooked. I know that feeling well. I first read mitzi when I got here, and thought, holy shit, this place is fantastic. Read a bit more, realized this felt like home. If you've ever read sam512's Standing on a mountaintop in northern Siberia under the rapidly descending bulk of asteroid McAlmont, with a calculating expression and a baseball bat you couldn't help but feeling the same way.
He was frustrated by the inbred nature of this place. He's got a point. It exists here. I wish he'd indicated to someone he'd like to play more. I like the inside jokes. I like the recursive, self-referential nature of conversations here. But not everyone does.
His last two comments were telling. He'll come back to do more readings of good E2 stories. And he still has a high opinion of this site. I don't think he was writing this because he thought I wanted to hear that. It seems to me this was his real feeling. We should be honored.
I wanted to give you his comments because it's as good for us to hear the bad perceptions of E2 as it is the compliments.
We live. We learn. Hopefully, we get better.