The past week has all been about the winding down of contributoria.com – or ‘un-launching’ as I’m starting to think about it following the closure announcement.
Just like ‘launching’ a new online product or platform, ‘un-launching’ requires a surprisingly similar checklist of tasks.
The difference being, there isn’t the excitement of anticipation or the adrenaline rush of getting those final details ready and nervously sending it all out into the world – there really is nothing quite like launching for an all consuming experience!
No, with un-launching, there’s just the tasks.
My overriding priority has been to make sure everyone involved in writing for the site is paid up to date. All the writer payments for published articles are in the system and being ably handled by the Guardian’s accounts people.
Additionally, arrangements have been made separately for those writers who would have been commissioned had the site published as usual in October.
There’s been a lot of enquiries to answer from people involved in the site.
There’s been press statements and interview requests to deal with.
And there’s been an awful lot of people to thank as Contributoria had many friends and supporters who helped us massively over the past two years. (I think I’ve just about finished that….apologies to anyone who feels that I’ve missed them out.)
I’ve paid tribute to some of the amazing group of 5,000 writers with a last post highlighting some of their excellent work on the Contributoria Medium collection here today.
Plus I’ve attempted to bring together some of the reaction across social media and other publications to keep a record for the future in the Storify below.
That is, I think, all folks. Thanks for being part of it.
Dim Sum Digital 