Tag: we hunted the mammoth

A Mammoth farewell

So I have something of a sad announcement to make today, one that I’ve been putting off posting. I’m not going to be able to continue with this blog. I need to make a living and unfortunately the level of engagement with my latest posts has not been enough to make that possible.

I intend to maintain the blog as a We Hunted the Mammoth archive, and will periodically put up posts highlighting some of the best stuff that has appeared here over the many years of Mammoth’s existence. And I plan on dropping in from time to time with brief commentaries and pointers to other pieces I write, but this will be more occasional than regular.

I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this blog over the course of its run. And not just those who have donated money (but huge thanks to all of you!) but also those who’ve contributed with artistic and technical help and by making the comments here so vibrant. In case you’re wondering, you all have posted more than 800,000 (!) comments here over the years.

I’m proud of this blog, which began chronicling and mocking the growing manosphere long before most people had any idea what it was, and which helped to shape the discourse about it as it metastasized into the monster it is today. When I began I really had no idea what I was getting into, much less that the blog would last as long or get as much attention as it did. I’ve learned a lot doing Mammoth, and a lot of that I learned from you all, especially those regular posters whose comments further illuminated the issues under discussion, and who were willing to call me out when I went wrong. I’m glad I got to know you.

I’m grateful to those who have continued to donate even while I wasn’t putting up new material, and I hope that some of you will keep on donating to help pay for the not inconsiderable costs of hosting the blog and its massive database of posts and comments.

Again, thanks to all of you; you were the ones who made this blog possible.

David Futrelle

–

Follow me on Bluesky or Mastodon.

Contact me at dfutrelle at gmail dot com.

We Hunted the Mammoth depends on support from you to remain online. So please donate here if you can, or on Venmo!

An initial half-hour writing consultation is FREE. Click for details.

announcements

Where I’ve been

Hey it’s my cats when they were kittens!

So, just a quick and long-overdue note to let you know what is going on with me and why I haven’t posted in such a long time. Basically, I’m neck-deep in a big project with a rather urgent deadline and I just haven’t had time to focus on the blog. I will get back to it as soon as I can, but I’m not quite sure yet when that will be. My apologies! And I’ll try to keep you all updated in a somewhat more timely fashion as this thing progresses.

–

Follow me on Bluesky or Mastodon.

Send tips to dfutrelle at gmail dot com.

We Hunted the Mammoth depends on support from you to survive. So please donate here if you can, or on Venmo!

An initial half-hour writing consultation is FREE. Click for details.

announcements

Psst! You can hire me as a writing coach: A reminder and an update

Post author By David Futrelle
Post date September 13, 2023
4 Comments on Psst! You can hire me as a writing coach: A reminder and an update

Hey! As you may recall, several months ago, I hung out my shingle as an editor and writing coach. Now, I’d like to replace that shingle with a slightly different one: I’m dropping the line editing to focus on coaching and developmental editing for anyone at work on (or contemplating) a nonfiction writing project.

Before, I was aiming my services at academics; now, instead of focusing on a demographic, I’ve decided to focus on a problem: writer’s block.

Are you frozen halfway through a draft of your latest article, staring at a blinking cursor on the screen? Or dodging calls from your agent because you’re making no progress on the book you promised would be completed by now? Or scrambling to meet your work and family responsibilities and unable to find time to write?

As a writing coach focusing on writer’s block and other forms of writing resistance, I can help to get you productive again—and teach you techniques that will enable you to unblock yourself in the future. If you’re struggling to figure out what you want to say, I can be your sounding board and brainstorming partner. I can help you to develop a regular writing habit and serve as an accountability partner to keep you on track.

And, as a developmental editor, I can help you tame an unruly draft, bringing structure to your writing and finding the throughlines to your narrative.

I’m still very much interested in working with academics, whether students, instructors, or professors. Are you eager to reach an audience outside your profession, or struggling to turn your dissertation into a book? As a longtime book reviewer, often of academic books, I know how to make complex ideas accessible to a broad audience—and I can help you translate academic insights into engaging, readable prose. As an escaped grad student (ABD at Northwestern in history), I know something about the demands and pressures of academia and what it takes to succeed.

If you’re interested, contact me at [email protected] to arrange a free, no-obligation 20-minute phone or Zoom call to discuss what I can do for you.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! For a limited time, I will be offering a 20 percent discount on my already reasonable rates for anyone mentioning We Hunted the Mammoth in their email.

And if you’re not looking for writing coaching yourself, please mention this offer to anyone you know who might be.

You can check out my website at David-Futrelle.com for a little more on my background.

announcements

Thank you and goodnight: WHTM is going on hiatus

Post author By David Futrelle
Post date August 15, 2023
70 Comments on Thank you and goodnight: WHTM is going on hiatus

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.

Thank you and goodnight.

announcements pledge drive

The Pledge Drive comes to a close

Post author By David Futrelle
Post date June 25, 2023
2 Comments on The Pledge Drive comes to a close

As this extended Pledge Drive draws to a close, I’d like to offer my profound thanks to all of you who donated, including several kind souls who really went above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you so much!

announcements pledge drive Uncategorized

Pledge drive update: Coming up short

Post author By David Futrelle
Post date June 21, 2023
17 Comments on Pledge drive update: Coming up short

I’ll be bringing this extended Pledge Drive to a close in a couple of days, but I wanted to let you know how things are going. Or not going, because we’re still a long way off from my goal. To those who have donated, some quite generously, I want to express my profound thanks. But I need more of you to donate if we’re going to get to the finish line.

So if you haven’t donated yet, please consider clicking the button below.

You can also give by Venmo at David-Futrelle-1.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to the blog–by donating, sending along tips, providing technical help, spreading the word.

pledge drive

The Pledge Drive is going … slowly

Post author By David Futrelle
Post date June 12, 2023
23 Comments on The Pledge Drive is going … slowly

I want to thank everyone who’s donated so far during this pledge drive–some quite generously. But we’re still less than halfway to the goal, so if you haven’t already donated and you’re a fan of this blog, I hope you can go ahead and send a few bucks (or a lot of bucks) my way. Click below to make a one-time donation (or sign up for a monthly subscription).

You can also donate to me on Venmo at David-Futrelle-1.

Thanks again; I can’t stress how much your support means to me.

–David

pledge drive

It’s Pledge Drive time!

It’s that time again–time to raise the money needed to keep this site running.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know what a unique beast it is. For the past 13 years, I’ve been relentlessly covering the ongoing backlash against women’s rights; now, I also cover the even scarier attacks on trans rights. I spend my time slogging through the worst that the bigots have to offer, so you don’t have to. And I try to do it with an intact sense of humor.

I bring you this coverage without ads or paywalls, or secret billionaire backers. I rely entirely on donations from you, the readers. Many of you donate on a monthly basis, and I appreciate it enormously. But I get the bulk of my operating budget through these pledge drives; without them, I can’t keep the blog going.

So please click on the button below to make a donation, big o small; you don’t have to have a Paypal account to use it.

You can also give by Venmo at David-Futrelle-1.

I want to thank all of you who support this blog in whatever way you can. It means the world to me.

PS: If you’d like to help this blog in a non-financial way, please help to spread the word about this pledge drive on social media; it can really make a difference.

pledge drive

The Pledge Drive comes to an end: We didn’t quite make it

Post author By David Futrelle
Post date February 17, 2023
11 Comments on The Pledge Drive comes to an end: We didn’t quite make it

The (extended) pledge drive is over, and I want to begin by thanking everyone who donated, whether it was a lot of bucks or just a few. This pledge drive started off very unpromisingly, but you all turned it around in a big way and brought us close to our goal.

That said, we didn’t make it all the way. We came a couple of thousand dollars short of what I need to keep the blog on an even keel.