Hello everyone!!! After so many of you upvoted, commented, and joked around about the idea (and they were good jokes) I wanted to get started.
Also, I don’t work till Thursday, so I had the time today.
For those of you who missed it or saw a big paragraph of text and didn’t feel like it, (and this will be another large chunk so, good luck). I have gotten a bit fed up with the “internet is ruining our communication and ability to have meaningful relationships” rhetoric, because right here in my own life is a website that exists because of meaningful relationships formed in a comments section. I wanted to explore that juxtaposition of ‘the Internet is terrible and ruining everything’ with ‘here’s a place that is awesome and responsible for many good things’.
And I thought the best way to do that was through going through the origin story of the Avocado, from the Law & Order thread to Giftmas, and weaving in the origin stories of the people who use it and the threads we’ve gathered together in. It’s going to take some time to balance the truth with our privacy; so far I’ve changed the name of the site but it was almost heartbreaking not to be able to cite the incredible werewolf wiki. (Also, WOW my citation skills are rusty.) I’m also not exactly sure how to steer the book, which is why I’m not including the chapter I’ve written for your perusal at this time, though I plan on doing updates throughout that will include actual content in the future. The Avocado has such an air of collaboration and community, and I want to incorporate that without also like, copying/pasting comments so it feels like others are doing the work.
To that end, I’ve decided the best way to do this in a way that feels right to/for me is to interview the community first–those of you who said you were interested, or are interested but didn’t comment last time. I want to get this published, so I want to have more of a meaning than “here’s 1,000 words about meme spirals that don’t speak to a larger point about community and group traditions”. By interviewing y’all and finding those stories like mine, but also those stories not like mine, I can develop the narrative of the Avocado around us. Which is like…. my whole point. Unlike a lot of sites which exist to sell ad space or farm clicks, or even the OG AVClub, The Avocado’s main purpose is to be there for us; the things we wanna talk about. So I want to put the commenters first.
So, this is an opt-in kind of project. If you don’t want anything to do with this book, you can leave now, or even stay and upvote and comment on this post. Unless you and I literally sit down over an email or form (and we’ll get to what I mean by that in a second) and you say “hey you can use this”, I won’t be stealing your content.
(An exception to the rule: If one of you writes “I don’t actually understand why this book exists,” and I ask you permission if I can use that as a blurb for the back cover and you say yes; because I would adore having that as part of the copy for this.)
And if you are kind and generous and talk to me about how you found this place; how it changed your life–I won’t doxx you. I plan on avoiding using usernames as much as possible. And you’ll see how you’re used before this bad boy goes off to querying. I want this to be an inclusive, comfortable experience, because otherwise what is the point.
SO, to that end, I made a google form. It’s optional to fill out; if you’d rather just email me and shoot the shit about your time with the Avocado that is totally fine. That’s just a lot of emails, so the form exists to help me start sorting through the interest as well as planning which threads and subjects to devote the most time to. If I planned on spending a whole chapter on the PT (and oh, but I do) but no one from the PT wants to be involved, then it’s going to be a lot shorter of a chapter, and I can focus on whichever threads people do want to be super involved with. It also helps, if I think this book is about finding a community and you all come back like “actually I hate it here I just am too addicted to leave”. If you leave your username or email and I liked something you said, I’ll ask for permission to use it, so you’ll know exactly what’s happening with the info you were so kind to give. BEHOLD:
Questions, comments, more jokes go below. Next update will be sort of an outline and maybe the table of contents page. Thanks, guys! This is exciting!!!