...is that some of the people you posted about are fanfiction authors whose names I recognize because I first read their stories years upon years ago, but was never completely sure if they were affiliated with the PPC or not. Finding out that they *were* is...I can't quite name the emotion, but it's a positive one. And the whole song was interesting to read through, too.

I'm going to add a couple Boarders:

Karen DuLay was thankfully active on the Board right around when I joined in 2013. I say 'thankfully' because she was very likely the first good friend I made here. We, uh, still haven't quite gotten the MCU OFU into publishable form, but that's okay: deciding to cowrite it led us to start communicating off the Board and went on into a whole lot of cowriting and enthusiastic plotting of stories (much of it non-PPC, hence the lack of posting). I don't know if she'll drop by the old Board before it closes, but it's my hope she'll eventually come check out the new one and maybe say hi :)

SeaTurtle is really just a great person overall, and I'm very glad we had the opportunity to become friends. I expect I'm not the only one who could tell you he's interesting to talk to and fun to write with. The Reader would have been very different without his DIA characters in the mix--Emiranlanoamar (the Guardsman), Naya, and Terabyte. I'm grateful on her behalf and on my own that those years of cowriting and chatting happened.

And I guess this is my self nudge to contact both of them more often this year, since I don't actually want to fall out of touch.

~Z

I've been especially bad at lurking over the last few years but I saw hS's post on livejournal... The Board is where I really got into online fandom for the first time *counts* 15 or so years ago. For all its clunkiness and ypur invasions, I'll miss it, and the friends I've made over the years (too many of them sadly no longer around, at least digitally).

Elcalion, nostalgic

[Delta Mike Lima]

DML was here for all too short a time before some mysterious job posting forced him to remove all publications from the internet. His primary agent was Pam Ritchie, a vampire from a tactical military setting, and DML approached the PPC from the perspective of realistic equipment tracking and the difficulties of keeping a vampire sufficiently screened against sunlight. His spin-off was also designed to be all crossovers with other writers, during the the co-write heavy years of the early 2010s. I wish circumstances hadn't forced him to retire from the PPC after only three missions, but I hope he's doing good at whatever his current assignment is.

[Miah]

We still see Miah pop into the chat every now and then, but this Board was where she posted her many, many missions. She was another participant of the co-writing years, and crossed over numerous times, especially with Caddy-Shack. I continue to be impressed with her characterization of canon characters, especially the ones from Sherlock Holmes. I wish her and her husband all luck and all skill in raising their gaggle of children, whether we see her around in the future or not.

[Guvnor of Space]

A fellow member of the stalwart adult Animorphs fandom, Guvnor had such a headspace for his Yeerk characters, and thinking what life would be like living in that version of Earth, that it really lent his stories in that universe a unique feeling of authenticity. Although not everyone enjoyed the ongoing animosity between his agents, I appreciated the slow build-up in the conflict, and the excellent use of a mini in making both characters see their own weaknesses.

[Lily-Gnome]

The zombie fiction-focused spin-off was quite unique, especially with one of the agents zombifying very slowly due to the weird time shenanigans in Headquarters. I'm thankful that she finally got away from her bigoted parents, and is now happily shacked up with melancholicPoet, another former Boarder, as well as one very old cat.

[Pretzel]

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I barely remember interacting with Pretzel, yet I can't help but see her screen name and think, "friend." Her spin-off is a good example of a slow-burn, fairly straightforward relationship developing inside the zany backdrop of PPC missions.

[Khajidu]

Although Khajidu never published any missions, her trio of anthropomorphic tall ship AI androids are still memorable from RPs, for probably obvious reasons. I hope the boat love and the sea squirt research are both going well, wherever she is.

[Keily Shinra]

I know hS already listed Keily, but I wanted to do a personal shout-out to her for the exciting day she covered one of my filks. I miss our lady of YouTube covers!

[PitViperOfDoom]

PitViper's spin-off remains my favorite of all time, even though it's an old shame to her now. Even though she doesn't want the missions posted online any more, I'm excited for the day I'll get to read her agent characters again, in their very own canon that she's working to write and publish as we speak!

[Ellipsis Flood]

It was my great honor and privilege to be this fellow nerd's primary beta reader throughout her PPC career. She's probably the Boarder I chatted with one-on-one more than any other, and I miss her dearly. Good luck and good skill, wherever you are and whatever you're doing, friend.

[JulyFlame and VM]

hS mentioned July already, too, but she and VM deserve a special mention for, well. For making me the person I am today. With more patience than I deserved, they debated me out of blindly accepting my parents' politics and made me start examining the world for myself. The song applies very literally here: because I knew these two, I have been changed for good.

Even though most or even all of these folks will probably never read this, I still feel obligated to state it clearly: I miss you all, love you all, and am glad to have known you all. Thank you for being my friends.

—doctorlit, perhaps for the last time on this Board

May your hearts be your guiding keys.

There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall,
And the bells in the steeple too.
And up in the nursery, an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say cuckoo.

Regretfully they tell us,
But firmly they compel us,
To say goodbye...
To you!

(Totally ripping off hS's idea, but it's a good one)

So long, farewell

I haven't been around anywhere near as long as some of you have - I wasn't even born when some of you joined the PPC (scary thought!), but I'd like to think it means something to me as well.

Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight

I joined almost a year and a half ago (another scary thought!) in late April, 2018. I still can't work out if it seems like forever or yesterday, but the Board has become very familiar.

I hate to go

I've changed a massive amount since I joined the PPC, and my writing has improved an awful lot - partly as a result of finally getting some feedback and concrit, but also because I've grown so much over that time.

And leave this pretty sight

And the PPC has been a really great place for me - I've learnt an awful lot from it, not least patience and self-restraint. When I first joined I was expecting to get Permission in only a few weeks!

So long, farewell

In the end it took me eight months. I probably could have got it sooner, if I wanted to, but I'm glad I waited, because otherwise I would have just dived straight in the deep end, written a mission a week and completely burnt myself out.

Auf Wiedersehen, adieu

It's also been really nice to get to know you all. I know I'm still not the most sociable person, and I'm not on the Discord, but everyone here has been really friendly, helpful and supportive whenever I've needed it.

Adieu, adieu

Obviously the PPC itself isn't shutting down, but this seems like the right kind of point to reflect on the time I've been part of it at the same time as saying goodbye to this Board.

To you, and you and you

I think most of all what I've liked about the PPC is having a community of other writers. Writing can be quite a lonely thing, and it's always nice to know that you're not on your own doing it. There are other people out there.

So long, farewell,

I'm going to miss the Board. It seems kind of silly to be missing a computer screen, but I will. I've adjusted to it so much now that anything new will take a lot of adapting to.

Au revoir, Auf Wiedersehen


The sheer variety of the knowledge the PPC have between them is amazing. I've never (yet) needed it myself, but I'm sure if I asked a question, however obscure or niche, someone would be able to find the answer.

I'd like to stay

You have to move on, though, and the New Board seems like a pretty good place to move on to. Thank you so much to everyone who's helped build it!

And taste my first champagne

I'm looking forward to the next however-many years (a big number, I suspect; I have no plans to leave any time soon) that I'll be part of the PPC. I hope to become a bit more active and get better at reviewing.

So long, farewell

Thank you to every member of the PPC who's made the experience so far more fun and memorable. It would take too long to list them all, even though my list wouldn't be anywhere near as long as hS's, but thank you to everyone.

Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

I hope the New Board proves just as memorable, productive, and slightly insane a place as the old - but it's the same people, so I'm sure we can carry on just as well somewhere else.

I leave, and heave,

(I've used up all my writing time on this and I still have a short story to post by Tuesday and a one-shot by the end of the month. It's worth it, though.)

A sigh and say goodbye
I'd have liked to be able to do the full song properly, but I couldn't think of enough to fill the space, so I cheated a bit.

Farewell, Board. I shall always treasure the memories I made here.

Goodbye
I'm glad to go
I cannot tell a lie
I flit, I float
I fleetly flee, I fly
The sun has gone
To bed and so must I
So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen,
goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye

I saw the announcement over on Facebook and decided to come peek back in.

This is where I made my very first friends online, over ten years ago - some of whom I still keep in touch with today. I know I drifted away from the PPC over the years, but it was a formative part of my online presence and it still influences me strongly today. I've even checked back in a few times, although I never said anything.

This Board was my home for a long time, and while the new place looks awesome, it's... just not quite the same.

Maybe I should start looking back in more often.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
For the sake of auld lang syne...

'Scuse me, gonna go dust off my Agents.

I... never really imagined this day would come until a few months ago, and even then, I forgot about it until recently. I guess it's time for a dramatic goodbye.

SkaterTheDJWolf.

Most people don't remember this, but I actually joined the PPC under this name, toward the end of summer before last, when Twistey was still here. The reason I'm not remembered is because... well... I kind of disappeared after a couple weeks. I still have that doc with all the newbie gifts I was given.

When I joined back then, I was pretty toxic. Not intentionally so, but I was quite bad at taking a hint. I won't go into the dirty details, but I was on a specific forum and I spouted a heck of a lot of highly offensive stuff there that would have been the cause of a supermassive dumpster fire here. As a matter of fact, that forum I was on had to ban me from the Debates section for a while because of my conduct.

I rejoined sometime last year after I'd done some soul-searching and outgrown the tendencies that would have gotten me banned before I could say "Mary Sue." By that time, I had evolved into a new person, Neo Skater. This was the name I used, and it's the name I still use now. It signified my evolution, my shedding of that naïve, self-absorbed, toxic, unaware skin that had infected my time before here... or so I thought.

I would still have a long way to go. There'd be mishaps. There'd be miscommunications. There'd be terrible, terrible, terribly Suvian ideas for PPC stories. There'd be panic attacks and being literally unable to read old posts or criticism because they represent my mistakes. Heck, there still is on occasion, especially that last one.

But through it all, you loved and accepted me. No matter what mistakes I made, no matter how I screwed up, no matter how far my sense of humor strayed past the line... you stuck with me. That acceptance was something I really needed to grow and finally move past my past self. And as someone who left his last community on very bad terms, that means a lot to me.

I think this is the only community I've been involved in I'll be able to look back at without regretting everything I'd ever done. And I... I really appreciate that.

And you wanna know what? It all started here. On the PPC Board. All on that one introductory post...

Thanks for the memories, PPC Board. Now let us move on to the future.

So long, SkaterTheDJWolf...

I'll be sorry to see the old Board go, but it has changed every one of us in many, many ways - me included. Reading this tribute made me smile, and I definitely needed it this morn. I look forward to where this community takes us - all of us - in the future.

This was... a very touching surprise, to wake up to this morning.

It certainly had nothing to do with me, but thank you, for writing this. ;;

(Also, this is a very clever songfic. ;) )

Our very own Morale Officer, and one of the most vibrant personalities of the early Board, bjam (it took me a year and a half to establish that that's 'bee-jam') was a great friend. You can tell - I went to visit her.

Not so long gone… Cassie was an enthusiastic PPC member and the driving force behind at least one Gathering. She was good people.

Artemis' Aerilyn & Zera were the very first conscious effort to take missions back to the basics. Stack onto that the creation of the DIA, and the very phrase 'Flaming Denethor!', and Artemis is one to remember.