So this is it.

We've processed the news, or at least accepted it.

We've made plans, set up blogs, built websites.

We've saved links, compiled lists, joined discords.

We don't want to go, but it's time.

It seems unfair that a place like this doesn't get to continue on, to keep trying.

For committing the sin of not bowing to a corporate overlord.

For not advertising to you.

For not selling your attention, your eyes, your privacy, your life.

The place so many of us feel got so much right about being a social website is the one to close its doors this time.

It hurts to lose it.

But this is an end, not the end.

Look around at what happened here.

The beautiful, wonderful, ridiculous place we created.

Ryan Reynolds being reduced to carbon.

The Omelas Kid.

Sheev's Plan.

The New Garfield.

Love Honk.

CSS Crimes.

Intern Secretary Eggbug.

None of that came from Cohost.

Well Eggbug did.

And enabling CSS was them, too.

But we committed the crimes.

It was like a website in here.

And we made it that way.

And though it may now be time to take the stealthy approach,

Think for a moment about how we move forward.

And what we take with us.

Those of us who can say we were on Cohost were on here because we wanted to be thoughtful about how we engaged with social media.

And because we appreciated the decisions Cohost made that went toward making this place more human(and hedgehog)-centric, more curated, less noisy, and less prone to toxic incentives.

As we leave Cohost, we can take some of those lessons with us.

We can show others a better way.

Or at the very least, make healthier decisions for ourselves in wherever we end up next.

And just look at how many people went and spun up blogs and websites over the past few weeks.

And helped each other with RSS feeds!

Following each other's blogs, leaving comments, sending emails.

It's slow living, and it may not feel as connected as a central place like this.

But it belongs to you.

And it seems to be what's right for some people.

That's another thing! Not everyone is going in the same direction!

And that's okay too.

We can hang out in multiple places to keep up with the people we like.

Maybe some connections will fray, but that's life, in the end.

We've seen a way beyond the current era of social media.

The metrics and the algorithms.

And what I think we're finding is that,

The web is still there.

It still belongs to us.

Some of it requires a little elbow grease.

But we can still set up a little space of our own.

And we can use it to make connections.

No matter how you do it.

If you're hammering away at HTML in notepad.

Or using a blogging service.

Even if you're moving to another social platform.

You're making the internet a richer, more interesting place with your presence.

It won't be the same.

There won't be another Cohost.

But Cohost was here.

And one day,

Something else might be too.

We can build the future we want to see.

A better world is possible.

Don't lose yourself in mourning what once was.

Hold on to "What if..."

HOLD ON TO "WHAT IF..."