A few days ago, Robin Wolaner, the CEO of tbd.com, a social networking site for the 40+ crowd, announced that the site would be closing on July 13th. Rather than simply letting the site go dark, she decided it would be better to let everyone know what was about to happen, so that all the members could move to other sites, or exchange contact info so they could keep in touch, and generally say goodbye.
I don’t want TBD to end yet, but people seem to be heading for the exits in droves already. I’m being completely honest when I write that the end of TBD may be the most emotionally significant event that’s happened to me since my youngest child arrived. It’s important to me to have this place as a sounding board for my ideas and to get positive feedback of the sort so freely given here. I haven’t felt this sense of loss since, well, I don’t know. Probably not since my dog was run over in 1979.
But enough about that…
There’s something I want to accomplish before it ends, and if I can accomplish it, then I will cry tears of bittersweet joy and loss.
I realize that by articulating my goal, I may make it impossible to achieve, or rob the moment of its spontaneity, but I cannot explain my feelings about the site without using it as an example. Therefore I feel that I have to share this desire with you, as I have shared so much with the TBD members over the past year, and they, in their many ways, have shared so much with me. Like all things on TBD, this is not something I can do alone. Nothing significant accomplished on TBD is done alone; it’s the dialog and interaction that makes it what it is.
So here it is.
Every once in a while, someone will post a question or a discussion topic, or someone will post a response to something, and I’ll make a joke or my best attempt at an insightful comment about it. And then, an hour, or a day, or in one case a few months later, I’ll get a personal message (the TBD equivalent of email) about it. The PM will say something to the effect of:
“What you wrote was so funny/enlightening that I had an epiphany/I spit coffee/soda/milk all over the screen and keyboard/woke up the neighbors with my laughter/pulled a muscle/wet myself.
“Thank you/I needed that/You made my day.”
I want to earn one more of those before it’s over. Just one.
It’s not going to be easy, given the diaspora of TBD members to EONS, facebook, ning, and others, but I’ll be watching for the opportunity. And I’ll be archiving my PMs and collecting contact information. These are people I don’t want to lose.
What about you? What do you still want to accomplish before the end–whatever end you’re facing?
