The sad death of SSS

To be found here: http://www.spankingwriters.com/blog/2012/12/17/the-sad-death-of-sss/

Thanks for telling us ordiale.

I only posted once or twice on the SSS, because I was scared off by the message that anyone might be able to get your e-mail address by means of a post there.

I was, however, persuaded by Alex Birch to enter their short story competitions which were judged by a panel of good authors, whose careful and considered comments gave me great encouragement.

All websites eventually come to an end, and I suspect that the extra functionality of other sites like this one meant that the early ones like SSS couldn't expect to survive long.

I sure hope this one doesn't!!!!!

I've got so many links to websites...Was it where there was a map of Assville at the start?

That's what I do miss, there were great stories there, and you could have a look at many previous competitions.

YES!!!

Note that SSS wasn't really a website (although it did have an auxiliary website). It was actually a Usenet group. Most Usenet groups are totally unmoderated, but the spam problem (originally confined mainly to adult groups) required SSS to post through a 'bot, which was constantly updated to filter spam. All this was a constant expense, both in money and in administration manpower.

There are many reasons for the demise of the Usenet in general and of SSS in particular. If I had to pick one main villain to blame, it would be Google Groups. Google Groups served for years as a huge "on-ramp" for spam, which flooded most groups beyond recognition. As a result, on most groups one had to wade through dozens of spam messages to find a single "real" posting. Google had no way to advertise directly on the Usenet, so they apparently had made the conscious choice to deliberately kill it.

I'd be lost. I mean that from the heart. This site has kept me on the go during my time of need. Although with the great help of Febs, this place seems to get stronger every day. Sites such as this one should be treated as a living space. Lived in, and kept neat and clean.

Neat, ok. But clean? Surely not...

I'm not sure about neat either, there's empty crisps packets and sherry bottles all over the place.

As for sss, it's really needed to be put out of its misery for some time now. Personally, I don't actually attribute its demise to the emergence of other sites such as this though. I'm a subscriber and active contributor to a number of text-based usenet groups and they're still thriving.


You can have a look at 9 previous competitions here too:

http://www.thespankinglibrary.org/challenges/

Now Februs you misunderstand me deliberately! There were authors I didn't find anywhere else.