Important Announcement

[twigged.livejournal.com]

After 10 years and nearly 25,000 recs, it is with mixed feelings that I announce crack_van's permanent closure in January 2014.

I know that this community has different meaning and purpose for many of our members, but I have always tried to stay true to its original purpose, of providing an easy introduction to new fandoms. This has become increasingly challenging with the migration of fandom to other platforms: many of the largest and most active new fandoms have limited visibility on LJ, and a good number of even our longest running fandoms have empty or near empty sign up sheets month after month.

This has not been an easy decision; over the past couple of years I've considered revamping the community in various ways, moving to another platform, etc., but ultimately I think any such change would only result in more fragmentation.

I want to thank everyone who has participated in any way over the past decade, especially those who have recced again and again, and pimped this community to others in their fandoms. There are too many of you to try to name individually, but your dedication has not gone unnoticed by anyone who frequents this community.

I would also like to thank my co-mods, past and present, stopawhile and arsenicjade. I could not have asked for better partners and friends.

Comments

[listeningirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this amazing resource. It's been a fantastic ten years. <3

[(Anonymous)]

This is going to sound selfish but all I ever wanted to do was write a story that one day someone would want to rec on Crack Van. It seemed to be to be the gold standard of reccing sites.

Maybe if I had spent more time doing a little reccing myself rather than worrying about having my own ego feed I could have contributed to the long life of this wonderful community.

I understand the struggle to keep abreast and ahead of platform trends—maybe this model was never going to survive—but maybe it'll be reborn another day in some other fashion which suits the form of the day.

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

I have enjoyed the posts, even if I haven't commented a lot. So many recommendations.

Thank you, and I'll be sad to see it go.

You might want to do some posts - news or something, every so often so that LJ doesn't delete the com for 'inactivity'.

[(Anonymous)]

Dammit. Forgot to say thank you. Can't stop thinking about myself. Thank you for a decade of hard work and for building this phenomenal resource.

[kasman.livejournal.com]

Could you please add this one to the Dark Angel links: http://virtualda.livejournal.com/

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear the wonderful rec resource will never be deleted even though I can understand why the van is being retired. You've kept it going a long time - thanks for all the pleasure and all the memories!

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

Before you go, I'd like to join the chorus of people thanking you for your work during the past 10 years. Because of a long illness, the past year wasn't one of my best, but spending time reading the stories recced on this site made an awful time a lot easier to bear.

I enjoyed driving the van on two occasions, and I'll be sorry to see it take its final journey down the road, but you're right - the world of fanfiction isn't what it used to be. Fewer people are writing and fewer people are reading. Very sad, but just as in life, things go in cycles.

Thank you again.

[umino-gaara.livejournal.com]

I'm sad that this is ending. I've found so many good fics through this site. I'm happy knowing that you at least have no intention of deleting the site. There is still so much for me to look through.

[amethyst-rei.livejournal.com]

Aw, hell. This is THE go-to site for recs. I can't even imagine this community not being active anymore. Talk about heartbreaking.

Thanks a lot for keeping this community up and running for so long. I've discovered so many wonderful fics because of this place (not to mention fandoms!). Anyway, thanks for all the hard work.

(and thanks for not deleting this community. i would have had a major breakdown otherwise. this comm is a goldmine, active or not!)

[aegeis.livejournal.com]

Farewell, crack van. Thank you for all the wonderful fics, vids and art. I'm going to miss you tremendously.

[slavelabour.livejournal.com]

Thank you, mods, for all the work that was put into this comm. And thanks to everyone who drove the van!

[brynnmck.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to thank you all for your efforts at keeping this going all these years--it has been an enormously wonderful resource for me, and you have brought me many many hours of joy!

[houseboat10.livejournal.com]

I was never more than a lurker in this community; too afraid of the technology to try a drive, yet I find myself teary eyed as I flip through the closing posts. Thanks to all of you who worked so hard for so long. I admire your courage, persistence and attention to detail. Good luck in your ventures to come.

[(Anonymous)]

From DA
I am seriously bummed. This was my way into fandom and I always came back for few idea and recs -I understand the reasoning you give, but I am just so SAD! A very BIG Thank You for all your hard work ( 10 years -wow ) and for not burning down the site - I still will end up using this in the future.

[skeptic7.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all the work. I come to this site every time I want a recommendation on a new fandom or to see what is good about an old one. Its gotten me to a lot of stories I wouldn't otherwise see.

[seularen.livejournal.com]

thank you, thank you, thank you. this was truly a pillar of the fandom community.

[irishkate.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ever said thank you - but Thank you for all the work and being a great resource.

[littlemissnovel.livejournal.com]

You seemed to have a great run on here, and I am sad that I discovered this so lately, but thank you for leaving all the great recs here :)