So, yeah, as the headline says, We Hunted the Mammoth is going on an indefinite hiatus. For the last few months, I have been trying to make this work, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it won’t. As you know, I have been struggling to raise enough money to keep the blog financially stable, and that has been weighing on me.
But there’s a bigger factor: I’m simply burned out. I’ve spent the last thirteen years writing about some of the worst people in the world, and, well, it’s wearing me down. I’m deeply tired of these people and their endless hateful nonsense; it’s time to move on. (I am putting My AI Obsession on hold for now as well.)
I’m deeply grateful for all of the support you all have given me over the years. Some of you have been so generous with your donations that I don’t know what to say. I want to thank everyone who has donated to or otherwise offered assistance to the blog over the years.
I’m not shutting the blog down entirely. One of the things I have enjoyed the most about this blog over the years has been reading the comment section, and I don’t want to leave the regular commenters in the lurch. I’ll continue to post Open Threads and possibly even a few real posts from time to time, and I hope some of you decide to stick around.
I may return at some point to launch We Hunted the Mammoth 2.0, likely with a somewhat different focus, but right now, I don’t know for sure if or when that will be.
As many of you know, I have started up a new venture, hanging out my shingle as a writing coach; you can read more about this here. If you’re feeling stuck with your writing, I can help to unstick you. I am focusing most on academics but all nonfiction writers are welcome!
If you have thoughts you’d like to share, please post them in the comments below, or send them to me directly at dfutrelle at gmail.com.
I’m sorry it’s coming to an end, but I’m frankly amazed you didn’t burn out sooner.
Be well and happy in whatever you do.
Thank you, Dave. Rest and recover.
Thank you!
Do what you need to do for you David, and thank you.
Thank you for everything you’ve done these past 13 years. I could never have waded through that filth for even half as long as you did. I wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors.
I don’t comment here often anymore, but I was a prolific commenter when I found WHTM as a young university student, struggling with undiagnosed ADHD, extremely depressed. I felt a sense of community and belonging that was invaluable to me during those difficult years. I will always be grateful for this space.
Thank you. Your work has been such an important resource. Without it there’s lots of bad folks it would be much harder to hold to account. This work is so taxing. I hope you get the opportunity to recuperate and come back refreshed to whatever you do next.
Thank you, David. Please take care of yourself.
Thank you for all the good reads and hard work you’ve done David. Love and support from the UK.
Best of luck, David 🙂
And OT @Alan a number of posts back you asked where my handle came from. I nicked it from someone else more creative who used to post on a Marilyn Manson BBS a couple of decades back. It had been a few years but the name stuck in my mind. I subsequently learned that it could conceivably be an obscure reference to a South Park episode.
I doubt this is the end; David Brin predicted this a decade or more ago in “The Transparent Society” (one chapter is titled “The End Of Photography As Proof Of Anything”, or words to that effect), but predicted we’d adapt, as we did to previous upheavals in information technology. (Though the potential of AI to produce serious consequences must not be underestimated. Leaving aside the doomsday predictions of several tech moguls and the Unabomber, it kind of does result in genies that might not interpret our wishes quite the way we expected them to … as we were warned about all the way back in 1988 when we all saw the results of a guy giving some 24th century descendant of a Midjourney/ChatGPT crossbreed the following prompt: “In the Holmesian style, create a mystery to confound Data with an opponent who has the ability to defeat him.”
(I do wish Brin would move a bit further left though, there’s far too much centrist in him still.)
Twitter will be replaced, as it replaced what came before it. I’d be slightly more worried about the emerging Chrome browser monoculture if it weren’t for the fact that we’ve had browser monocultures before (Netscape and later IE) and they didn’t last. It seems to be cyclical and we’re probably near the peak of the current cycle now, so browser diversity will likely start climbing again soon. Firefox is hanging in there so is likely to survive into the next cycle, though the same can’t be said for poor benighted former champion IE or its rebrand. It’s gotten to where Microsoft is actually having to bribe people to use its browser and search engine, that’s how terrible they are. If anything, Microsoft’s own long-lived monopoly may be in its terminal stages now. And though Bing is demonstrably no threat to it, Google’s search dominance might be shakier than it looks. That they felt the need to try to copy Microsoft’s experiments with combining search with AI means they’re worried about being out-innovated. (They just should have known better than to worry about being out-innovated by Microsoft. The closest thing to that that might actually happen is some small new search company out-innovating Google and then being bought by Microsoft.)
As for the current right wing surge, “this too shall pass”. Things looked bleak for freedom and especially for marginalized people in the early 1940s, too. As long as they don’t unleash the nukes and we don’t get screwed too badly by climate change, we’ll pull through like we did before. And given our numbers and ubiquity, to say nothing of intelligence and resilience, at this point it’s probably easier for cockroaches to go extinct than for humans to do so, so even the worst case scenario probably sees some humans survive to rebuild, at least so long as the air isn’t made completely unbreathable planet-wide. That would take a catastrophe at least as severe as the Permian extinction … though there is some basis for fearing worst case global warming could actually equal that.
Thank you so much for fighting the good fight for so long. You get some good rest, please.
Joining many here in adding my most heartfelt thanks. <3 <3 <3
Thanks so much, David. You’ve given me quite a lot over the years. Good luck with everything going forward.
Thank you for all your work, David.
Thank you for all the time and energy going into these cesspools to report on these issues. I’ve always felt gratitude for what you have done for marginalized folks both on the blog and in other writing. Wishing you all the best.
Thank you for all of the difficult, unpleasant work, David.
David, I’m sad, but entirely support your decision. You’ll be much happier. I could sometimes barely stand reading the posts; I can’t imagine how you survived researching and writing them.
Glad to hear there will be open threads. Is there any way to automate that, say, once a week so we don’t get completely unwieldy threads? You know how chatty we are.
Awful Library Books called it quits last week, so I am going to be bereft of content. Which is probably good for me.
I hope the gang sticks around, and if someone ever manages to convict Cheeto Benito, I beg you to come back for the ultimate Dance Party.
Thank you for your years of service to sanity, and I hope your business thrives.
Thank you for all you’ve done. I hope you have some low stress rest time.
Thanks for the memories. Had a lot of fun reading the meltdown thread on election night in 2016.
Thank you for your service! Sorry to see WHTM going offline, but you’ve done a great job with it and your need to refocus is totally understandable. Please do ensure that the blog posts are robustly archived; this is going to be a cultural-history goldmine for future students of the early 21st century! And best of luck with all your new ventures.
If you’re ever around, see you then. Until such time, keep well.
I am so glad I could travel with you on this journey David. Best of luck with your endeavors.
David, thanks for metaphorically holding our hand while conducting a sardonic tour of the hell that is the manosphere.
All best wishes.
I just want to tell you: you’re a wonderful person. Just do whatever makes you feel good. 🙂
Thanks David. It’s bee great knowing you. Hope to see you again.