The State of IC

The recent lack of updates and my continuing absence have pushed me to write this. I'm writing this with the intention of starting a discussion in the comments for this blog, so please take the time to read it all, and I would love to hear your thoughts.

So IC hasn't updated since September. This happened last year around this time, too. University has taken all my time away from IC, like it did last year. Even when I do get the chance to work on the site, I'm rushing to get something done in time. Whether it is or not, my work feels sloppy and rushed. I'm not writing this to complain, I'm writing this because I want to change this.

Of course, there will be times that I can go back to working on IC, during vacations or holidays, but even then, family and other factors prevent me from really sitting down and focusing on IC as much as I would like to. And even then, I wouldn't like to have IC be something that sporadically lives and dies down again or something that I can only focus on every now and then.

Obviously, this can't go on anymore. I could keep at this for years (I would if I chose to), but it would be a losing battle, simply because there are things going on in my life that come before IC.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to be able to keep working on IC as I had for all these years. I have so many plans and ideas in my head and on paper for what I would still like to see for IC, in what directions I would like to take it. The "re-launch" over this past summer was a step towards those ideas.

I definitely don't regret it, if that's what you're thinking. This site started waaaay back in 2006 as a fan site, restarted in 2008 as a web-design enthusiast's community, and has changed in so many ways since. The site was in constant transformation. Members came and went with time. Every member brought something special to the community when they came and took a piece with them when they left. This site has affected so many people in so many different ways from so many different places. I've learned so much from running IC and meeting everyone that would come and go over the years. I'm not sure if many webmasters could say the same. I'm truly blessed for being able to serve everyone throughout the years.

This past summer was one of the best times I had in a long time working on IC. Part of it was the near-impossible goals I set (updates every day), part of it was rebuilding the site closer towards my vision, but most of it was because it gave the community new life and activity I wasn't able to see during university last year.

I hate to leave projects incomplete, especially the switch to Drupal, which still feels like it was just getting started. But that's the flaw of the perfectionist, nothing will ever be "finished," and he or she will miss out on other opportunities unless he or she accepts imperfection and moves on. I've been trying to avoid this for a long time now, but perhaps it's time for me to move on from IceCaves.net.

Not necessarily move on from the Internet (gasp), but really only IC. I don't know if I'm letting anyone down or not. Mostly because what made IC special was that its community wasn't completely dependent on the website itself. The community stayed connected through Twitter, Gmail chat, and personal blogs. If IC were to die (as it currently seems to have), then the community continues to live on. It might not have the same name (or awesome website for that matter), but it won't be completely disbanded either.

So is IC closing? Most likely. It's certainly possible for someone else to keep it up and running especially now that we've gone to Drupal, but perhaps the better option would be to close it. There would be a lot of complications and conflicting expectations if the site were to simply transfer over to someone else's hands. If IC were to continue, I feel like it would have to be from scratch and under a different name. There should be no confusion between my vision for a community and someone else's.

But what do you think? I know a lot of you might be sad to see IC go (if not, that's ok, haha). After all, we have been around for what feels like forever. I would like to know what you think, if you think IC could live on without me (consequently someone else instead), and/or any ideas you might have for keeping the community together without IC.