Saturday 21 March 2015

End of Line


Well, we all knew this day might come. After just over five successful years, after many countless articles covering the world of film, comics, thoughts and especially video games, Paranerds is coming to an end. No respawn, no new line, it's sadly over. In the next few weeks the website itself will close down to save on costs, shuttered away in some dark filing cabinet of the internet.

Over these many years our writers, both those still serving and those who have passed on to new projects, have done our absolute best to bring you new ideas and articles. From news reports to lengthy reviews and opinion pieces, there's been no shortage of topics we've looked into. While we might never have quite reached the heights of Channel Awesome or IGN, we had our fair share of successes here and I want to take the time to remember that. Kevin has already made his thoughts known in a far more eloquent manner than I could ever manage, so consider this just a brief epilogue to our work.

Despite now writing for several outlets now, magazines and websites alike, Paranerds is one i'll always remember for giving me a chance to try something new. Not to mention getting feedback for the first time, trimming down the often insane length of the articles. The website itself was a place where nothing was truly limited, and everyone was given a chance to try something new. If you could prove you knew your stuff, Kevin was willing to give you a chance, and let you do your own thing. Its for this reason we ended up covering such a diverse variety of topics in the first place, despite our focus upon video games first and foremost. Few other websites on this scale were willing to give their writers that chance to truly experiment and try their own thing, or that level of trust in one another. Even now, there are few other websites i've been a part of which have retained that kind of faith in their co-workers.

We've seen our works over the years be brought up on countless forums, websites and articles over time. We've witnessed others discuss them, agree, disagree, or promote them elsewhere. We've seen the impact our messages had and how willing others were to accept those views, to truly consider them. Ultimately, it showed that, even for a website of our relatively small size, it was all worthwhile.

Paranerds was an amalgamation of a dozen varying viewpoints, conflicting and contrasting thoughts at every area, each allowed a podium to broadcast their message as they wished. A place to build contacts, to learn of the industry they were trying to be a part of, and to broadcast that message to an audience of thousands. While many have disagreed with us, and many more have argued back and forth over our ideas, I just want to take the time to say thank you to everyone for reading them. The fact you were willing to click on an article by some small website, to tune into Kevin and Rooster's long running podcasts time after time, shows that you cared enough to value our opinions. Even if you were one of those who left scathing obscenities in the comments section, you have my thanks for giving us your time. Because of you we had a good run. A great run.

Until the day we come back, until the day Paranerds might once again be revived with fresh ideas, goodbye and good night.

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