Dear Members of Stranger,

I’m sure you’ve all seen that the site is falling. In my eyes, it’s been going downhill for a while now. I tried my best to remain interested and give it my time and attention, but truth be told, I lost my muse long ago, and it’s extremely difficult to run a site you’re not really having any fun with. Yet despite this, I persevered because I know how many of you love the site, and it’s community, and for a while, I managed to keep things a float. But now, with the loss of a good chunk of our Staff members, I don’t think I can keep it up anymore. My muse is gone, my energy and will for this site is gone. I know there is many that would volunteer for the job of Staff, but you must realise that we had a smooth system, and the members that were Staff had been on for a long time. One was even with me for over a year. It would take a lot of time to retrain members and sort out who was good for what position. And time is something I’m short of right now. I just started my new job as an art teacher; I start getting ready at 9:30am and get home as late as 8pm. These are long days. And by the time I’ve eaten dinner, finished up with any work that needs to be done, like my lesson plans and preparing the media for the next class, I only get to the computer at around 10:00pm. Sometimes later. I’m exhausted. That’s at least three days a week when I don’t have time to log on. Not to mention University is just about to start up, and my timetable has me going all week. I will only have weekends available if I manage to squish all my study into the week. Now I imagine running one site will be hard work, but I’m prepared to do that with my new fantasy site, because there, I have muse – it’s fresh and I’ve got the will to do something with it. Stranger is not providing that for me, and that’s the time when I have to say to myself “well, it’s an obvious choice, isn’t it?”… And it is. It really is. I know everyone has feelings for the site; I do too, but just not the same ones now. I have a fondness for it in memory, for what it once was. Right now, I feel nothing for it. I’m ready to move on, say it had a great run and close it down, rather than let it slowly and painfully drag out to the bitter end. Because we all know it will be very, very bitter. This is not a punishment for the OOC issues that have been plaguing the site. This is my choice as Administrator to make the call and say that the site is on its last legs. If you can’t see it, just take a look at how many members we’ve lost, and really ask yourself has the activity IC and OOC been rising or falling. You know the answer, and so do I. I do hope with all my heart that we can continue over at my new fantasy site. I was going to be selective about who I handed the URL out to. I think it’s pointless, as anyone will be able to find the site when we begin advertising and joining top sites. I was also going to have a fifteen minimum age. But now, I’ve been thinking about what I owe you guys. There are many people on this site that are below the age of fifteen and were not involved in any OOC issues that have been loyal, good members. So I’m going to change that rule before the site opens. I’ve decided it’s not about age that determines someone’s ability to be mature. I’ve decided it’s up to me to filter out the childish annoyances that may plague the new site. I will be the one deciding who’s mature enough, not an age minimum. Therefore, I hope those of you that were disappointed in not being able to move on to the new site previously, and then also losing Stranger now, will be able to feel a little better. I know this will be hard, and that many of you will see this as my fault, as this being my bad decision. I fully accept that. But I will not change this. I can’t afford to burn myself out, I have always tried to keep everyone happy, but I have to take care of myself. Do what’s right for me too. Perhaps Stranger will come back one day, but for now, it’s closed. I do plan on bringing it back eventually, I just don’t know when. It needs time to rest, to recuperate. My realistic wolf muse needs time to heal, and my fantasy wolf muse needs to be explored. I’m very sorry to those at are upset, angry, or just plain lost now that Stranger is closed, but I do hope that moving onto the new site will ease some of those emotions. I hope to see you all there. Stranger will be open until the new sites opens. When it does, this one will close, and the link will be distributed.