To my dear Sims 2 Community
I need everybody to stop, pause, make some really tight fists with their hands, now shake them out.
Now breathe in, all the way. Hold it - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - now breathe out. Now do that twice more.
There are still efforts going on behind the scenes to get GOS back online (and Sims 2 Artists).
New hosting has been secured. The website php needs upgrading and this has not been working, but people are still working on it.
I know its hard when things happen and you don't know what's going on. But please, everyone, just calm down. Instead of panicking, jumping to conclusions, making angry posts, just chill, wait, breathe. Be kind, ask what's happening without getting mad.
And please, remember kindness and empathy. Lunie has been trying to update GOS for months, and she is exhausted. It's down right now, but not dead (yet).
First, I'm happy to hear this, and I want to thank those working behind the scenes on this, and to appreciate the tremendous effort hosting this website must have taken over many, many years.
That said, the issue people have is with the lack of communication. Were this just someone's personal website that only they contributed to, that would be one thing, but GOS especially is such a community effort that the lack of effective and transparent communication through this process was always going to create this perfect storm of tension in the community. At the very least, we must sympathize with the many creators who, knowing nothing of what's going on behind the scenes, have had to take steps to figure out how they can ensure everyone has access to the content they originally shared on GOS. It created work and confusion for the people who help to keep the community on GOS alive.
A lot of this was, speaking plainly, entirely avoidable had there been a greater effort to communicate and spread information, and perhaps to provide periodic updates. This could reasonably be argued to be a burden. I'm sure questions would have poured in, as they have over these last couple of days. That's where members of the community, had they been in the know, could have supported the process, by being the PR team.
I hope that when all is said and done, regardless of whether GOS can be restored or not, we're able to grow from this moment as a community. While we should all be aware of how we get sucked into internet discourse and the impact that has on real people, this community, in general, is extremely positive, supportive, and understanding, and that we see much more frustration in this situation should indicate a need for reflection on what happened, or didn't happen, that created stress, confusion, and grief responses.
