So Long, and Thanks for All the Hearts (and Bourbon)
(This is a copy of the post on Vampire-Diaries.net so people having problems viewing it on the site itself can see it.)
As another Vampire Diaries season ends, and The Originals wraps up its inaugural season, it's with a mixed sense of sadness and gratitude that we announce this has been our final season as an active website.
Since starting Vampire-Diaries.net over five years ago, we have been so fortunate to share our excitement, inside jokes, and crackpot mythology theories with a humbling number of readers, commenters, and followers - many of whom have become friends. We have been allowed unforgettable opportunities and experienced overwhelming support and love. (Remember when you guys won us a Logo Superfan Site NewNowNext award?) We have watched this fandom grow into the unstoppable force it has become with a sense of awe and pride. You are a beautiful, passionate, entertaining family, and you have made this an amazing ride.
But five years is a long time and the timing felt right to say goodbye. When you've immersed yourself in something as all-consuming as this has been, there comes a point where you want the time and freedom to pursue other projects that are important to you. And that's what we will all be doing as we close this chapter and begin a new one. So while we are sad to say goodbye, we are also excited to plunge whole-heartedly into these new endeavors, and we hope you'll be happy for us, too.
So what does this mean? The site will not be going anywhere for the time being, as we discuss possibilities for the future, but we will not be updating. We wanted to announce this now so that commenters would have an opportunity to exchange off-site contact information and ensure you can keep in touch with the friends you've made here. Comments on the blog will be left open, though we will no longer be moderating them, so please: Be excellent to each other.
Thank you to the fellow fansites and TV journalists and recappers who always made us feel welcome, to everyone who volunteered as mods on the Vampire-Diaries.net forum or contributed a guest post to the blog, to anyone who ever reached out with a kind word via here or Twitter and, most of all, thank you to Julie and Kevin and the casts, writers, crews and production teams of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. We look forward to kicking back and appreciating your work every week as plain 'ole fans as we move into Vampire Diaries Season 6 and The Originals Season 2.
And thank YOU. (Yes, YOU.)
Love, Red (@redcognito), Kate (@katelinnea), Abby (@abbygraham), Holly (@hollye83), Vee (@dieslaughing) & Crissy (@crissycalhoun)