Dear Afterword Massive,
After 4 years, we are now stepping down as Site Admins of The Afterword.
It’s not a decision either of us has taken lightly, but it would seem over the past few months we had both come to the same conclusion that it was time to move on. It’s not you…it’s us! We both have increasingly demanding work and personal lives and we both have lots of other stuff we want to do in our free time – so something had to give.
Don’t worry this is not the end of The Afterword – it has a life of it’s own and, like Keith Richards, it cannot be killed by conventional weapons – there’s a new Admin team in place right now to keep the balloon afloat. They’ll need your help though, especially on the technical side, so watch this space.
Back in June 2012 it was announced that The Word magazine was folding; Fraser kept the old Blog site running just long enough for goodbyes, and for a bunch of us to make arrangements in a flurry of emails and panic to move The Word Massive elsewhere on the web – it seemed worth a punt, and amazingly we’re still here and the stuff you write is still read by thousands every day, the site gets an eye-watering 250k views a month!
It’s not been easy, and it’s not all been fun – we’ve had technical hitches, tears, tantrums, flounces, and falling-outs a-plenty but we’ve stuck at it because we love the site as much as you do; we’ve both made firm friends from The Word site and The Afterword and a lot of you have too.
Thanks for being so supportive over the past 4 years and we sincerely hope you keep blogging, commenting, bickering, podcasting and pontificating FOREVER.
Long Live The Afterword!
Lots of Love, Tim & Hannah x
Massive thanks to you both.
Hear hear!
Hear hear here. Thanks hugely both
I hear your “Hear hear here”. Here’s my “Hear Hear”, here.
I see your “hear hear” here and here I am raising you a “hear hear” here. Or something.
Or, as they say on almost all newspaper comments pages “here here”
Or as they said in yesterday’s French newspapers, “Hier hier”.
or as Abba might say: här här
As the Wigan based denizens of the Mexican Quarter might say, `Gracias ta luv(s)`
Do we know the new team, perchance? (Inasmuch as we “know” you and Tim)
Seconding of the grats and accolades above, even if the latter may be in Lifes adjunct to this site and it’s concept, aka the Afterlife.
Neil D has an edit function so I’m guessing he’s one of them.
Bob numbers and Middlerabbit maybe.
I am a moderator, the admin team control the technical side, I’m just a site policeman.
Oh and massive thanks to Tim and Hannah, it’s been a pleasure to work with you.
But how can that be? You’re the worst behaved chap on here!Jolly good choice.all this time and I only just realised we had mods and admins.
Also – what happened to Brookster?
Many thanks both for all your efforts and here’s hoping the ship continues to float!
Huge thanks to the pair of you.
Hope you’ll both be sticking around to post. I expect a near-constant stream of four letter invective and pent up fury.
Oh, and may I be the last to point out to you both that “this place isn’t as good as it used to be”?
Didn’t feel right to let you leave without saying it one more time.
Thanks guys. Your efforts are appreciated.
Thank you so much for all that you’ve done since you launched the ‘lifeboat’. I hope the site has given you as much pleasure as it has me, despite the challenges its no doubt thrown your way.
New saying / t-shirt etc – ‘What would Hannah and Tim do?’
Many thanks
Grey Xx
Sorry to see you go, but glad you’ve got better things to do!
Occasionally when the site has fallen over I’ve contacted you or Tim on facebook to let you know, where you helpfully provided an email address for future SOS messages. Could you please let us know where to turn if and when the AW goes down again?
Lots of love xxx
Hi Mini, the AW Facebook page will be there if there’s problems and that email ad. should still work. x
Cheers, best to you.
Much thanks for all you’ve done.
Many thanks for your time and energy.
It scares me to think so many people read the unfunny shite and pathetic comments I write. I bet some of my stalkers do. Perhaps Judith Chalmers does. Bit embarrassing.
Before this site, I sometimes found it really hard to know where you were and what you were doing. So much easier now.
You wouldn’t care to knock up an edit function before you go? No?
Anyway, thanks for all your efforts and your patience with your sometimes unruly flock. Enjoy your retirement – the carriage clocks are in the post.
You’ve both put in an excellent shift! You’ve been very skilled and subtle Mods so those of us who only ever see the front end probably don’t appreciate how much time you spend sorting out domestics behind the scenes, not to mention the technical challenges. Thanks for all you’ve done to keep the boat afloat
Really hoping that the next team of mods are a slightly less heavy-handed bunch, who will let me talk freely about L*** B*****, post about the secret relationship between ****** and **** *****, openly discuss the fact that ****** likes to be **** right in the *****, and also advertise the cyber-swinging night I’ve been running for months now down just below the “Most Viewed This Month” chart.
Fuck’s sake.
Touched by the Hand of Mod 🙂
Thanks for everything guys. Live long and prosper.
Rumour has it Hannah’s finally going on The Great British Bake Off and Tim’s doing Strictly.
Hannah’s Lemon Drizzle Cake is still a hit in our house, known to all as, er, Hannah’s Lemon Drizzle Cake.
Haven’t you finished it yet? How do you keep it from going stale?
It’s a great door stop.
😀
Adding my thanks to those above.
Ta very muchly, y’all. Good luck with all your future ventures, If you can handle this lot….
Sclavus liberatus felix est x
Massive thanks (SWIDT) be for all your efforts. This site has helped me stay sane over the last few years, by providing somewhere I can chat rubbish and thus prevent what would otherwise be
a dangerous build-up of what top scientists are calling “Stupid Bollocks.”
Love, Light, Peace and Blessings to you both _/\_ x
An amazing effort – love and peace and you will be missed! A million thanks…
Many thanks to Tim and Hannah for keeping the good ship afloat even when on the rocks.
Best of luck to them both in future endeavors.
I echo the sentiments of those above.
It would be good if we could be advised who the new admins are and how they have been selected.
It would also be good to know just what the admin people do.
Not complaining or niggling – genuinely interested
The new team should announce themselves soon!
What Admin’s do – in a nutshell there’s all the technical stuff around keeping the site working, installing patches and upgrades and generally keeping things ticking over and occasionally giving the site a makeover, liaising with the web host to make sure we’re not overloading and dealing with any glitches, making sure the bills are paid, licenses are renewed and registering domains etc, making sure the site is backed up and the backups are secure, keeping the security protection up to date so we don’t get hacked, answering and dealing with emails and enquirers, registering new users. etc!
You have both done a marvellous job and in a quiet way we’re deeply valued by us posters because when the magazine died there was a feeling that a family member had gone. You helped us get over the grieving process and put us back on track. Best wishes for a bright future free from the moaning of us lot.
A whole hearted thanks to you both for all your time and effort you have put in, and for all you have done for this here site of (mostly) solace from the ever expanding shitness of the world we live in. Please accept this bottle of virtual lovely alcohol of your choice or indeed flowers if you wish.
Cheers
Razor
Thanks Hannah and Tim! Bravo!
Thanks for everything, Hannah & Tim. I do hope this means you can now both post more. Your contributions are always most welcome.
This, exactly.
Thirded. Good luck in your future mod-free endeavours.
….with which sentiment, I would like to associate myself….
Many thanks for all the hard work: & I look forward to reading more of your own posts moving forward……
Yes, thanks from me
Can I ask a practical question at this point?
Are we still doing Stonehenge?
No we’re not gonna facking do Stone ‘enge
I suspect the majority of us have little grasp of the kind of time and energy it has taken to get the site to where it is today. For all that you’ve done, many, many thanks.
Blimey! That is a turn up for the books! Rather like hearing that Echo was going to split up from the Bunnymen.
A thousand thanks to you both for keeping the “pub” open with such good humour and such a delicacy of touch.
Discretely asking us not to hog the jukebox. Tactfully mentioning to us we were inappropriately dressed. Pointing out when we’ve had a few too many. Erasing inappropriate graffiti from the toilet walls. Pouring oil on troubled water when there a bit of a kerfuffle. Remembering exactly how we liked our martinis.
Thanks for everything! And good luck with your future ventures.
Many thanks from all the moles for your sterling efforts (well me and Ms moles, the minmoles just close the browser when they discover it on an ipad).
Can we get Axel Rose temporarily?
There’s a rumour going round that ianess is up for End Boss.
I thought niscum had that one nailed.
I thought between them they’d nailed everything with a pulse.
AOL*
*Arf out loud
Just wanted to add to the thanxs – l’d certainly miss the site if it folded, and appreciate the fact that others put a lot of time and effort into it. Good luck with the future projects.
Thanks so much for all your joint efforts – as has been mentioned already, I don’t think we mere users appreciate how much time you guys put in. Hope we will see you both posting on the site though.
Big big thanks to you both! I admire you hugely for taking this on.
Have some Keates…….
GIVE me a golden pen, and let me lean
On heap’d up flowers, in regions clear, and far;
Bring me a tablet whiter than a star,
Or hand of hymning angel, when ’tis seen
The silver strings of heavenly harp atween: 5
And let there glide by many a pearly car,
Pink robes, and wavy hair, and diamond jar,
And half discovered wings, and glances keen.
The while let music wander round my ears,
And as it reaches each delicious ending, 10
Let me write down a line of glorious tone,
And full of many wonders of the spheres:
For what a height my spirit is contending!
’Tis not content so soon to be alone.
Hope that’s out of copyright 😉
Final score: 5-10. Good away-win for the Keates lad there.
Oh look. You broke the mood.
Thank you very much for all your efforts
Many thanks indeed T and H from this daily lurker.
xx
to you both……ta muchly!
Thank you for keeping the whole thing going, especially after the site was hacked. That must have been a bugger to fix. Without your dedication, we wouldn’t be here now. Respeck
When I saw this, my first thought was that the site is closing. Panic! Glad it isn’t and you’be both done a great job. Enjoy the riches it has no doubt brought you well into your retirement.
Echoing everyone else, many, many thanks for the past 4 years, and do keep in touch.
Thank you both for your hard work, it can’t have been easy!
Now breathe…
As others have said, I hope it means you’ll be up for posting ordinary bollocks again!
…. and it’s a “thank you” from me too.
The banner at the foot of the page is apposite.
Bricam as a new Admin? …. on second thoughts, maybe not!
*smiles and logs-off*
Major thanks to you both.
I’m currently in Valencia with Ms Nog and the nogkids and the site content makes top notch beach and bar reading.
Hope you’ll both enjoy having so much extra life !
Thank you both very much for your efforts – that this is still the finest corner of the internet is largely down to you. It is an immense achievement to have added so much to so many lives.
Thanks Hannah and Tim for making this site a must go to daily read….good luck with all your future endeavours …many Thanks from the Bang Em In clan!
Many many thanks to you both for all that you have done to have kept this extraordinary “show on the road” for the last 4 years – and thanks too for helping me with technical problems when I’ve had them with the site. Good luck for all your future projects and hope to see you posting as well! And thanks to whoever has taken the Admin baton on now.
Ruddy Heck. Four years. Glad you’ve survived the sentence. What a splendid way to do porridge, though. Time to spend more time with the families, what what? Muchas grassyarse to the both of you. Assume we’ll still see your bylines from time to time, so it’s not goodbye, it’s more just thanks for all administration stuff – what a jolly good job you’ve done – and please enjoy the extra free time you’ll have from now on! Toodle pip for now!
Good luck Tim and Hannah on your new ventures and thanks for all your hard work!
If the new technical team need any help to keep the site running and improving (edit function anyone?) then I (as a seasoned web developer for too long now..) am happy to donate time/effort to the AW cause… you know where to find me 🙂
I’d just like to say thank you on the behalf of the group…
Big thanks to both of you. Your efforts have helped to keep a much valued fixture in our lives.
Cheers to you both – I’m in awe of you – I thought there must have been a dozen or so of you hacking away at the coalface.
Echoing everyone’s gratitude…and sorry about, y’know, that.
Many thanks to you both. Might be worth remembering that two of the custodians of the old place both went off to write very well received books after they moved on. I shall look forward to seeing them!
Book ideas?
An insider’s blow-by-blow account of the arc of “The Great Drupal Unpleasantness” could be interesting.
OK, perhaps a bit “niche”.
“The Afterword – Never a Dull Moment” or “The Afterword Stole My Life”.
You never know.
Many many sincere thanks to you both. You. unsung heroes you. I hope you enjoy your freed up time doing things which are much funner for you ❤️❤️
So long and thanks for all the fish.
Hope Hannah’s pipe and slippers are to her liking. Tim’s carriage clock only loses a few minutes a week.
No seriously, thanks for keeping our liferaft afloat.
You both dun good. Thanks to you both and the others who toil behind the scenes.
Many, many thanks- you’ve been brilliant, and so welcoming to newbies. Hope to still ‘see’ you around. 🙂
Hannah and Tim, you’ve been brilliant. Thanks for all your efforts
Thanks for Everything Everything
Hang on, wait – you’re not supposed to leave us, it’s supposed to be the other way round.
Thanks very much, Hannah and Tim, for everything you’ve done for this site and for this community – you’ve been superb.
We’ll play this as we wrap your bodies in Afterword tablecloths and fill your longship with gold, and then set fire to it and push it away from the shore and…and… *lip trembles, eyes fill, voice quavers*
Many thanks for your hard work, hope I/we haven’t been too much trouble!
I know a flounce when I see one – even a dignified, principled flounce – but a flounce none the less. Harrumph!
Seriously, well done and thank you both kindly.
Many thanks Hannah. Well that’s it then. Our last fragile, tenuous link with the fairer sex has evaporated withered and died. Women have finally become extinct on this site. It’s going to be even more like a horrendous copulation and amalgamation of the cast of “If” and the Lord of the Flies”.
To the best of my knowledge (which admittedly is not much) there are four if not five postings by the ‘fairer sex’ here and that doesn’t include Hannah.
I can see six. Unless I don’t (or can’t) count, that is.
Of course you count Min. I did say it was to the best of my knowledge and holding a tablet I can only count on one hand.
🙂 We’re not extinct here yet, just perhaps on the endangered list.
To be fair, we haven’t chosen the most feminine of names…well, I certainly haven’t!
I think you passed the audition. Many many thanks to the pair of you. The AW has been a fixture of my Internet life. Yeah, it’s “just” a website, but I bloody loves it, I does.
Thanks to you all for your hard work, greatly appreciated. I haven’t been on the site as much I used to mainly through work etc but as I am now in a new job, I should have more time in an evening to pursue. Thanks again and good luck.
Fantastic job and heartfelt thanks. Hannah, could this mean you have more time for mingle organisation? I do miss them and you were the chief whip, so to speak..
First Brexit and now this – all the old certainties, gone. Big thanks to you both for all the unseen and unsung work that has kept us all interwebbing on this place for the last 4 years. There’s nowhere else like it.
I can only echo what other folk have said.
Thank you both for devoting so much time and energy to making this site work so well.
There’s nothing I can add but a great big thank you. I would be lost without this site. You’ve done so well keeping us all going. Good luck.
Like Dai, I panicked for a moment when I thought AW was going to close.
In the years BC I was mod/admin for a similarly active Yahoo group and I can appreciate how much of your time it takes.
A hearty thanks to you both, and I hope to see you both contributing much more about music, which I think is why we all came here in the first place.
Another who panicked on seeing the OP title. Many thanks for all your hard work. As a technical numpty I have absolutely no idea what the role entails but the hole it left during our “lockout” proves your undoubted value and it’s been Massively appreciated (SWIDT)
I was trying to think of something witty and incisive, but alas no inspiration
(nothing new there then!)
Cheers muchly for all your efforts, for keeping me off the streets shouting at cats, and providing keeping something going that I can spill my brains onto, shout at and occasionally spit beer at the monitor
Thank you both so much. Nothing can, or should, stay the same so the very best of luck to all that you do next.
Everything in moderation, even moderating!
Thanks so much to both of you – who’d have thought we’d still be trundling on all these years after the demise of the Word? Oddly enough, Hannah’s profile popped up on my LinkedIn account today (must have a mutual contact) so next time it does, I’ll say hi on there too. And Tim, it would be great to have a North West mingle – you give the bestest hugs!
Yes we must! – keep in touch MillyMolly x
Congratulations on a great achievement – starting, maintaining, and rebooting on a different platform, a fine, flourishing festival of faintly fevered frivolity.
I’m so touched by all the lovely comments, I have something in my eye….thank you so much everyone you’re a bloody lovely lot!
Yep, I’ll still be posting from time to time, as my alter-ego Dr Volume! See you on the other side. x
Clear off and take your Thrifty Finds with you. I shall hopefully be seeing you Tim at a local rave, I mean Mingle, for the great unwashed Northerners or at a Glossop Record Club.
As for @Hannah I WILL make it down to that London whenever a southern Mingle is organised in the near future. I have my passport at the ready. God bless you all and all who sail with you.
Many thanks to both of you. Echoing the comments above, this site is my first internet visit every day, and usually my last visit as well
Well it’s all been said, but it can’t be said too many times – thank you so much to the both of you. This place makes me laugh, cry, think, swear, and throw my iPad across the room – and I’d miss it like hell if it wasn’t here. Darlings, you’ve been marvellous.
And thanks too to the poor sods taking on the mantle. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…
Thanks both for all your efforts – the smooth running of the site down the years is a testament to your effectiveness in the role. Enjoy your “retirement”!
So many thanks and best wishes already. Can I throw mine into the net too? Great work and I hope you find the time and motivation to continue contributing
A hearty thanks from me too, Hannah and Tim. Wishing you both all the best for the future. And take care.
Thanks Tim and Hannah for all your hard work. It’s been much appreciated
Thanks for all you’ve done.
Cheers
Love. Your. Work. Thanks for everything, even-handedness especially.
As a member of the much-maligned lurking community, I’ll break the Trappist habit to take this opportunity and thank you both for all for everthing you’ve done for us over the past four years. It’s much appreciated, even by the silent brethren/sisterhood. Enjoy the well-deserved reclamation off your lives.
well done @robert – you are out of the closet now….so they there 🙂
Thanks for all the effort, it is much appreciated.
Enjoy the retirement!
This has been like a roll-call and wonderful. But, by my count, still 400 odd left to sign in their gratitude (and presence)
C’mon, let’s be havin’ ya! (Anyone told the FB crowd?)
Yes, lovely to see some names on this thread we haven’t heard enough from lately. It’s like a big summer reunion. Another Pimms anyone?
Thanks for your hard work, patience, and superhuman levels of tolerance. This is an opportunity for everyone to think for a bit about the hours and effort the mods have put in for free in order for the Word/Afterword boat to continue floating. And consequently, maybe also an opportunity for those who had a nasty habit of moaning about the mods to hang their heads in shame!
Fair dos to you, Hannah and Tim.
*salutes*
*sings I-ee-I-ee-I Will Always Love You-ee-oo-ee-ou*
Gawd bless @drakeygirl I am not known for my tolerance, that was Hannah’s department.
She looks the type. 🙂
Thanks administrati for handling the site over the past four years!
Hannah helped me when I joined the blog and forgot my password all of 5 minutes afterwards. For this act of kindness alone, I thank her 🙂
Tim, I never knew you, but I’m sure you’re very nice too 🙂
Thanks so much for helping create a place where an absent minded, procrastinating Jazz Rock fan like me can pop in from time to time. 🙂
Fine work and many thanks
So long and thanks for all the superlative work behind the scenes.
Thanks especially for the relaunch after the great hack/crash of way back when.
Many thanks to both of you for all your hard work as well the manner in which you have managed the site.
Thanks to you both – great work keeping things going through whatever was thrown at you. And I’ll echo comments above re site management – great stuff – allowing things to flow and only getting involved when absolutely necessary.
Can I add my thanks to all those already offered? What you two have done has kept some of us sane (but not all of us), educated many of us in any number of musical minutiae and, above all, allowed us all to feel part of something really quite special.
Enjoy your retirement but do keep posting, it’s you family after all!
Huge and hearty thanks to you both. You have held your heads when all around were losing theirs. Good job!
Hugely belated thanks for all your lovely comments. With typically perfect timing, I had a car accident around the same time I posted this, and got rather waylaid. Just catching up and it’s wonderful reading your kind thoughts. Thank you. xx
Heck, hope you’re ok and it wasn’t too serious.
Just briefly adding my thanks to both of you. I had a couple of issues getting started on here and Hannah was very quick to help solve them, and encourage me to break my long-time lurking habit and get posting 🙂
massive thanks to you all for all your hard work in keeping the old ship afloat!