Announcing the Closure of Rokkenjima.org

07th News Blog Discussion
#21

Thanks so much for everything you’ve done. Thanks for memorably welcoming me to this community. I only joined in November, and for the past couple of months I haven’t had time to post much, but I’ve continued to lurk, and ponder things. I have a few things I’d still like to post about, so I’ll make sure to get that in before the deadline in two weeks. :grinning:

I imagine that running a community like Rokkenjima must be really difficult. You have the intersection of the eroge community’s ideological diversity and the broader anime community’s sensitivities, and you need to constantly organize things to minimize the impact of spoilers. That’s in addition to keeping on top of everything that’s happening like you have.

I retain a faint hope that someone you trust will be able to completely take over the financial and administrative responsibility for this site, but recognize that it’s not a job anyone can handle. I’ve encountered many people like you in my lifetime and they’re always memorable, someone who is an absolute cornerstone of a community. Whether it’s here, Kazamatsuri, or elsewhere, I just hope you continue to feel driven to further the communities around you and aren’t discouraged by the frustrations you’ve encountered. …Of course, you should not let yourself ever feel pressured to do so. For the foreseeable future, you’ll want to repurpose any time you would have spent on Rokkenjima on yourself, I’m sure. Relaxing, wasting time, hanging out with people, making time for the little things, and above all shutting out noise and just letting your intuition guide you.

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#22

Thanks for dealing with all of our crap creating and looking after such an amazing community, I understand why you have made this decision Aspi.

I also want to thank the rest of the community for being so welcoming to me and in such a short span of time I have made some really awesome friends :smiley:

If I can help in anyway @Karifean and @MagusVerborum to helping the creation of the new community I would love to.

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#23

Thank you for this wonderful place. It was a great year I have spend here. I have many fond memories, and found a great deal of friends through this place. I’ll see you again either on Kaza or in a discord chat or on twitter. Hit me up if you’d have me whenever MG releases the next Higu chapter~

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#24

Just so there’s no ambiguity, please understand there is no “New Rokkenjima”. I’m not convinced there’s anyone out there in the world who could inherit my overambitious dream and really do it justice. So I’ve decided to remove myself the equation, and let you guys each decide where you want to go on your own. I’m sure many different people will be trying to make their own communities to fill the gap, or recruiting people to join their pre-existing 07th community, and that’s great. I don’t plan to endorse any one community as the “place to go”, I’m leaving it up to you guys to decide. That’s why I’m closing the Discord, so people can make that choice for themselves.

With that said, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who gave a little bit of themselves to Rokkenjima in the hopes of making it a better place. To those of you who contributed to the discussions, submitted art, organised events and gameboards, and worked towards making your fellow forumers happy. I may be the conductor, but you guys are the orchestra; it’s through your efforts that Rokkenjima became such a wonderful place for everyone. It’s been a bumpy ride, and not all of it was lovely, but the few precious moments we were able to create together are something I’ll treasure forever.

My heartfelt thanks in particular to all the staff who joined me on this journey.

To @technololigy who thanklessly dedicated herself to keeping the hardware and software running smoothly at all times.

To @kyuketsukimiyu for accepting all my crazy demands for all the website themes and logos, and keeping her cool during the great theme war.

To @epika for keeping on top of all the latest 07th News, thank you for giving the 07th Expansion fandom another chance.

To @Karifean; we had many disagreements to the end, and sometimes I felt like we couldn’t work together, but you always stuck by me in the end. We’ve been through a lot, but I thank you for all you gave for Rokkenjima.

And to all the other mods who came and went, especially @U4ea, who I genuinely felt understood my vision more than any other moderato. I’m sorry that things didn’t work out in the end.

And special thanks to @Usagi. I know your relationship with Rokkenjima over the years has been rocky at best, but you were the one who understood my plight more than any other. It’s thanks to your support that I’ve found the courage to stand here today, and do what I need to do.

We still have a long 6 weeks left until close. I want to fill these last few weeks with lots of fun memories with you guys, I think that would be the best way to send off Rokkenjima. What do you say?

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#25
#26

Thank you so much for all your hard work guys, especially you @Aspirety, as much as I hope someday you decide to once again open this forum, I wish you lots of happiness, and thanks for sharing your need to close the forum with us, your Rokkenjima family.

The months I spent here in Rokkenjima were the most blissful months of my life. Through this forum I was able to meet many wonderful people and reach new interpretations of 07th works thanks to the great discussions we had, as well as play many fun games with the gameboards and the Festival of Mayhem.

In the end, that’s all I have to say:

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#27

I don’t really know what to say other than that I accept your choice. This is the only forum I’ve ever been a part of and I enjoyed the experience greatly. Lets make the last few weeks of Rokkenjima some of the best.

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#28

I’ve not been a part of this community for long and certainly was not that much active, but I’ve been keeping an eye on Rokkenjima everyday ever since I first found it even before joining, and certainly have a lot of memories. There was also that wonderful week I am glad I could take part in; it was so much fun! So, once again, and like everybody has already said: thank you.

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#29

After creating my Kaza account I didn’t create a Rokkenjima account for over a month because I was worried that it’d interfere with my activity on Kaza…big mistake.
Still, there’s nothing to be done. I’ve only been here three weeks, but it was fun.
Farewell nerds. And farewell to everyone other than Magus, too.
Let’s meet again. When something else cries.

But in all seriousness, it’s been fun, and let’s go out with a bang.

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#30

I haven’t been active here for quite a while, but it’s been a lovely forum. I had some absolutely wonderful discussions and made some great friends here, I’m sad to see it all disappear and for others to lose the chance to share in that. But servers aren’t cheap and if there isn’t the financial backing for it, then that’s that.

Thanks to everyone who made this place what it is, mods, users, contributors. It may have had its ups and downs, but the community has overall been a force for good and brought a lot of happiness to people, myself included.

This is where things get more contentious. If you just want to read happy farewells, skip the rest of this comment. I’m going to be harsh, but I think it’s important to be direct about this.

.

Still here? I think deleting the Discord server is petty and egotistical. I get it Aspi, it doesn’t live up to your perfect expectations and fill the void in your life you needed. Ok. So pass it on to someone else. Don’t give truth to those accusations about you imposed your vision onto everyone else. When you decide to destroy a community just because it isn’t how you want it be, you place yourself above that community and make it all about your own ego. It’d be a petty act of spite to everyone in that community.

I know this is harsh, but I’m tired of massaging egos and if I’m going to get banned, I may at least do it trying to defend the community.

I propose a vote on who becomes the new Discord server owner. It could be anyone in the community, mod or not. Before anyone thinks this some kind of personal power-grab, I won’t accept any nomination (nor would I win the vote anyway).

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#31

While I can agree that the Discord server should remain, since I don’t see anyone in the community there not joining the inevitable new one, I think making assumptions about people’s intentions and their emotional state like that is going too far and unnecessary. No need to make it any more personal than it has to be. The point could’ve been made just as easily and effectively that there would’ve been little objective difference in keeping the current server and simply reoragnizing it/renaming it, rather than making a new one.

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#32

Hello everyone, under normal cirumstances I don’t really post anything on forums, but I’m on Rokkenjima for over a year now and enjoyed reading through a lot of threads on a daily basis. I had a lot of fun here and I want to thank everyone for contributing to this community. It was a fun ride and hopefully it won’t just end here^^

I actually planned on giving this community a nice little gift at some point, but I won’t be able to get it done until February 28th, so I hope we’ll find another place to stay. Oh, and I have to say that I’d like the Discord server to stay. Funny enough, I’m not on the Discord server as of writing this (because spoilers [I didn’t read Chiru yet]), but there are several other fandoms with Discord servers that I am part of and that works pretty well, so I’d recommend it.

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#33

Hey everyone. I’ve also not been very active, mainly because preparing for the priesthood tends to take a lot of time. But I’ve been here from the start, and it’s been an absolute blast getting to know the lot of you.

On a related note, a priest tends to see people more so during times of loss and suffering; it’s part of what it means to love them. While this isn’t as grave a parting as most, I’m sure there’s going to be painful moments for some. If any of you need someone to talk to, shoot me a PM here or on discord, and I’ll be happy to talk.

Let’s enjoy the next month and a half!

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#34

I’m working closely with @Aurora now on a new server called Akujikishima for those of us who want to stay in touch and talk about WTC and other Ryukishi masterpieces~ Of course there are other 07thExpansion servers out there (and I’m sure more will pop up in the meantime) but we’ll be trying to keep things in the same tone as it has been in the past. I would love to have anyone there who wishes to carry on the fellowship that has been displayed here. This isn’t an official ‘passing of the torch’ per se but it’s something that I personally want to do and I want anyone who’s interested in this to let me know when they can.

We still have a good amount of time with Rokkenjima and I hope the last months will be the best. Onward my friends! :wahaha:

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#35

Thanks Aspi for keeping this up so long. My biggest regret over the last 2 years is that we weren’t able to take a more active role in this community, but the love for the series we’ve seen here and places like it is the only reason we’re still doing what we do. I first stumbled onto this site at a low point during the Steam translation, and following along with the Tea Parties after so much time away from the various Umineko forums has been a real pleasure.

Get some much-deserved rest when this is over, but I hope our paths cross again.

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#36

Thank you so much @Aspirety for all your hard work!! I am so happy I got to be a part of Rokkenjima and meet so many wonderful friends, and to see there was still a love for 07th Expansion alive and well. I was able to have such a fun time writing a few posts what I could, the Mayhem, fun chats and memes in the Discord , and so much more!. In addition to learn about the Umineko concert and other events from the site I appreciate so deeply as well!

I’m so so grateful to you and all other staff for creating and mainting this community and website and that I was able to experience this lovely fragment. Of course all the bonds and friendships created in this community fragment will last beyond into the sea of fragments, and I’m sure we will all continue to be connected in some way as a community, even in our hearts. Of course I plan to keep in touch with everyone I met too! I’m so grateful I was able to meet and be with everyone here.

Thank you so much Aspi!! Otsukaresama deshita! (Thank you for all your hard work!)
Let’s make the twilight of Rokkenjima a wonderful time before the curtains close.

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#37

Thank you Aspi. I wish I could’ve experienced my first readthrough of Umineko on a forum like this (as opposed to debating on my own). All the best on your future endeavours.

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#38

Thank you so much for everything. I haven’t been quite active thse past months, but surely visited the forum everyday to check it for new interesting posts. When first discovered this forum, I was very happy to find out such a warm place for all 07th expansion fans.

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#39

Oh, such a pity.T_T When there are still SO many things I’d like to talk about. Umineko is the first story - and I read a lot of stories - where I can still discover new things even after thinking about it for several years! It would be nice if the community had a place where it could continue the conversations :slight_smile:
Thanks for your work until today!

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#40

I have a lot to say, but no time to say it, so for now, let me just say… thank you.

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