Ending the site that has a music title with a new title entirely.
Seems about right.
Though considering that my last post to Endless History happened in 2019, the writing has most definitely been on the wall for quite awhile.
The pandemic happening, everything else, and eventually culminating in my mother’s death, as well as the recent fallout regarding the Falcom community have finally put the nail in the coffin to this decision I’ve been toying with in my head for the past year or so.
Before everyone freaks out, I have no intention of killing the domain. So Geofront, Kiseki Crack, etc – I will continue to maintain these sites. I will also ensure that the articles on Endless History are archived and preserved in what will be a really lengthy project. So it’s not closing immediately.
Last year, I killed account creation to the site entirely after a backend hack happened. This is what started my thinking on this entirely. I had wanted to potentially bring about some new editors and writers and turn it into a multi-user site, but to be honest, this site is my baby and I’ve not been able to really reconcile with such an idea.
I will probably shut down comments on the site entirely and delete all users except for the editor accounts. The next steps will be to archive the site as it is and eventually change it into a static page with all of the WordPress backing removed from it.
The History of Endless History?
Endless History has been an incredibly important part of my life. I will never forget the great friends and connections I’ve made through it. I would not be the person I am today without it. Not only did this bring me into a great part of the Falcom community, it has also helped me on a professional level. I am a front end web developer now and doing things I never thought I’d be doing. I’m even now working for one of the companies I saw as my dream job when I was in college. How cool is that??? Also, before my current job, I got to make my mark in with high-end fashion company (Neiman Marcus – I even have a really funny story about it that has to be told someday) and if you have a Ford vehicle and your financing is through them, you have also run across my work at least once in the wild.
This is all because of a fan site I started running when work was slow and when I was done with my homework. You guys who have supported me through visiting the site and just keeping up with it helped encourage me to get to where I am today.
I started Endless History in 2009 while I was working the third shift at my job and taking classes at school at the same time. I had the time and I was on the schedule to be there when news broke and was able to get things out to people right away. Despite the rumors people attempted to push about the site, I did not run ads or earn a dime on it. The one time I asked for money regarding the site was to get to AX in the middle of my contracting hell after getting laid off from my job.
It wasn’t long after that, however, when I felt that I was forced to “grow up,” so to speak- but I don’t mean to be offensive with that statement. I simply got a permanent job during hours (literally a 9-5) that were incompatible with reporting Japanese news. (Where most of the action happened when I should be sleeping.) Instead of trying to make Endless History my job, I chose to keep it free and ensure that it remained a fan-first project. I’m proud of the fact that it has remained that way from start to finish now. Unfortunately, that also meant I still needed to support myself and my lifestyle.
But I digress. I’m sure you guys are tired of me talking about the history of Endless History and want the details.
The Shutdown Process
The first step will be shutting down most WordPress driven automation of the site. I will eventually do a site conversion and remove the entire WordPress framework, but that will only be after I’ve been able to create an appropriate means to allow a person to browse and view the archive of articles on the site. In a perfect world, I want to make sure articles retain their old URLs to preserve the good SEO I’ve earned from the site as well and make it so that articles are still easily accessible from old links on the web.
Then it will be removed from being the landing page of the Esterior.net domain. At this point, esterior.net will officially become Esterior Network and it will become a directory for the sites hosted on the domain and I assume Endless History will be moved off to something like endless.esterior.net. (Hey, Ribose. Finally getting a little closer to that secondary domain I wanted but couldn’t get.)
I do intend, one of these days, to get Akashic Records running, so I won’t be completely put of the running on Falcom sites. It’s just way more complicated than I ever imagined it would be and since I’ve never built a page on a python server… well… there you go.
If you are still here with me on this lengthy post, thank you. I will still be doing stream things, trying to remember to write on my personal blog, and maybe throwing myself more into video editing for tiktok and YouTube. You aren’t getting rid of me. Just that old aspect of me.
tl;dr
I’m closing Endless History. For a variety of reasons- while it made me who I am today, it’s not who I am anymore. I feel that I can do what I do without the title and be who I am with it. It’s an outdated means of expressing who I am.
The important thing, however, is to remember that I’m not going away. I have my personal blog which is in dire need of being updated. In things outside of messages like this. I have a lot of stuff I want to say, but I’ve not had a lot of time to say it all.
General Thanks to Those Who Have Supported Me
I really want to compile a big list of people who have been amazing to me with the site. This will be a long list, because this site’s been around for a very, very long time.
- Tom / Wyrdwad – My man! You were right there when I decided to talk about launching the site at Otakon that year! You were always a great source of support and advice when I started with everything.
- Kurt / Discoalucard – You were also at Otakon when I unveiled this site, and your support with that has always been very very appreciated.
- Silvernine – You and Falcom Collections! It was great fun running this site alongside you. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you with backup stuff anymore down the line regarding wallpapers.
- Jess Chavez – I still sometimes miss those days of AIM duty when I was working on the site and you were working on FC – at the same time, I’m sure we’re both glad we’re not at that point in our lives. 😉 Glad to see how things have gone for you and happy belated birthday.
- Dan / Varion – I know we’ve not talked in a very, very long time, and I’m not sure you’ll actually see this, but please note that you were part of what kept me going, especially in the IRC channel with everyone else.
- Hatsuu – Getting to help pick around in on SC while you were working on 3rd was a good part of my fond memories regarding stuff in this era of things. I also will never forget falling into a trap over Cold Steel and I still laugh a lot about it.
- Yotaka – I mean, you’re still my fastest mod on twitch. You have heard a lot about how much your support for the site and everything has been multiple times.
- Aliseyun – Thank you, of course, for helping handle the site and articles while I was out an AnimeExpo. And thinking the world was ending during an earthquake? Maybe.
- Guan – Don’t worry. I’m still planning for Floofy Express. I can express everything I want to say when I see you then.
- Ribose – You and I have become really good friends outside of the fandom, but I do have to give you specific props for helping me handle the twitter account during Anime Expo 2019 while I was trying to manage everything else for media.
- Bumpmaster, Pasokon Deacon, MisterJRPG – Getting to participate as panelists with you guys (and Ribose, of course) at MAGFest, and I loved being on stage with you guys, talking about music and Falcom. I can’t wait for the next MAGFest that I finally get to visit down the line and meeting up with you guys again.
- theswweet – You have been a huge inspiration for me and the work I’ve done on here! Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. <3
- Alan – I can’t really express how much I appreciated when you jumped in after the things that had happened at AnimeExpo in 2017. I don’t think I ever got to tell you in person how much that meant. Thank you so so much.
- Sean – As always, thank you for letting me rattle your ear off on questions for things that I probably shouldn’t have known yet. You have helped me find answers to some of the completely stupid situations I’ve seen out on the internet and try to give a voice of reason to them.
I am quite sure I’ve missed more than a few people, but 10+ years is a lot to go by. I’ll have to just reach out to people down the line and give them personal thanks.