I suppose this doesn’t come as a surprise, considering I’ve been pretty inactive for quite a while. However, I think I’ll feel a bit better about my inactivity if I just address the elephant in the room: it’s time for me to move on from wikiHow.
This is much harder of a decision than it should be; wikiHow and its associated community essentially got me through 2020 alive. I was struggling with quite a myriad of issues: school, mental health/suicidal ideation, the pandemic, dysphoria/dysmorphia, and so on and so forth. During this time, I felt a sense of accomplishment from editing and a sense of comfort from interacting with others on the forums. It was a dark period in my life and I hate to look back at it like this, however, I appreciate this platform for making it at least a little more tolerable.
I think it’s time for me to shift my focus to other, more important things. I’ve learned to enjoy school and be a good student, and I’ve found enjoyment in debate, running, literature, learning French, and being on call/going out with friends. Now that all of these things (and planning for life after I graduate) are taking up all of my time, I must put wikiHow on the back burner despite how much it impacted my life. I simply cannot afford to spend time contributing anymore, and I don’t want to feel bad about “not doing my part.”
Thank you to the friends and acquaintances I met who made me feel like I belonged in wikiHow’s community: Helpie, Pingu, Ashton, Lexi, Alex, Brooke, and Aditi, just to name a few. Though many of them have, not unlike myself, gone dormant on the main site and forums, I will never forget the enjoyment of sneaking onto wikiHow during my classes just to interact with them. Thank you for all of the inside jokes we’ve shared and all of the advice we’ve exchanged. Thank you for putting up with an unstable, naïve, and immature Luke.
I can’t see myself completely vanishing after this one post, though. I still plan to lurk through wikiTwitter and revisit my old posts every once-in-a-while. Nothing competes with the rush of nostalgia I get from looking through a literal record of light-hearted, frivolous interactions I’ve had with others. I don’t like admitting it, but I still giggle like a little boy at some of the chaos that erupted on the forum games that were popular during the time I was active.
I should probably wrap this post up here; after all, the first half of this absolute text wall has been sitting in my notes for two weeks, and it’s nearly midnight. I have proofs to write, amino acid formulas to memorize, art projects to finish, and what’s left of my teenage years to live.
I hope this is easy to understand, and thank you. Thank you for reading my overly-emotional ramblings.
~ Luke
