{"id":278,"date":"2016-06-03T10:22:01","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T00:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=278"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:33:24","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:33:24","slug":"closing-the-veil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/06\/closing-the-veil.html","title":{"rendered":"Closing the Veil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Despite the evocative title, this has nothing to do with death or the other side\/other world, though it does deal with loss of another kind.<\/p>\n
Back in 2012 I was given ownership of the Pagan Veil, a social network for the Pagan and Occult Community with a slight Aussie focus. \u00a0Four years on and I am avoiding even looking at my own website \u2013 because one of those times I look at it, will be the last time and I don\u2019t know exactly when that will be. \u00a0Sometime in the next couple of days.<\/p>\n
The Pagan Veil is hosted by Ning\/Mode Media. \u00a0And they have dropped the ball so bad in the past couple of years that our websites have been undergoing fatal and minor errors on an almost daily basis. \u00a0This, combined with the lack of interest in forums nowadays, has forced me to admit that spending my money to keep the site open is something I can no longer justify. \u00a0Sure, it\u2019s only $25 USD or up to $40 AUD per month, but that\u2019s still two tins of formula for my daughter or 3 books for my homeschool.<\/p>\n
I feel awful about it, not just because I love the Veil but because I love my members and I know many of my members love the site \u2013 even if they have lost interest this past year (mostly my own fault). \u00a0Even though the Veil has never been a huge site, with an average of 2000 members at any one time, I have always seen it as the best of the lot out there \u2013 because I am a spectacular admin. \u00a0Well, I used to be. \u00a0I promoted diversity, encouraged debate but didn\u2019t allow aggressiveness and jerkishness \u2013 hells I even encouraged members to complain about my behaviour if they felt it was needed.<\/p>\n
We had some really great discussions, ones that promoted deep thinking, such as What Do the Gods Get Out of it? \u00a0asking us to really think about why the Gods would even bother with us. \u00a0We\u2019ve had light discussions, 101 discussions and even some horrible ones \u2013 like the Huntwitch debacle that led to a bunch of members attacking each other because, \u201cReal Pagans don\u2019t hurt animals and would never hunt dammit!\u201d despite the existence of such deities as Artemis\u2026 you know\u2026 The Huntress.<\/p>\n
I have made some great friends around the world, including\u00a0one who frequents the comments here on Patheos Pagan \u2013 hi Woods! \u00a0I have doubted the worth\u00a0of Paganism when confronted by vampire-fairy hybrids \u2013 yet being a good admin who follows her own rules, welcomed them and never let them know my feelings. \u00a0I have seen the best in people, and even been kind of instrumental in peoples lives in big ways \u2013 without the Veil there are two people who maybe never would have met and so never would have married!<\/p>\n
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