WaccoBB’s Sun is Setting (Site is Closing)

[Barry]

The time has come to close the WaccoBB.net website.

Lots of factors have converged to make this the appropriate choice including:

• Its technology is aging, vulnerable, breaking, and hard to update.
• There is a plethora of sites that provide similar services, most notably Nextdoor and Facebook.
• The marginal business plan at best has all but evaporated.

and most significantly

• It doesn’t feel that it provides the service/benefit to the community that it used to.
• I’m burnt out and ready to put it down after 15 years of 7 days a week moderating, editing, supporting and otherwise holding it my heart.

It’s been a good run and I’m proud of what I and we have accomplished over the last 15 years. The mission was to nurture and support our progressive community by facilitating connection. I feel confident that WaccoBB, both the website and our assorted live events, made a meaningful contribution to that mission. In time I’ll share a few highlights that come to mind and perhaps some of you will share some of yours, too.

The website will close to new posts at 3pm on Friday, January 22nd. I am not open to selling it or otherwise passing it on. As I said the technology is fragile and it would take a lot of support from me to handover the many aspects of keeping it running. I will leave the site up in read-only mode for at least 6 months.

Should someone(s) want to start a similar service with a different name using modern technology I would be happy to help promote it and offer guidance if desired.

While I plan to close down the website, I do plan to keep the WaccoBB.net domain and email list. We’ll see if anything happens with that. I’ll be responsible with your email addresses 😇. I could see hosting some sort of events once that is possible and the very occasional community announcement.

Gratitude

l want to acknowledge Denise Meier, for coming up with the initial idea and implementation of an online community group, along with the WaCCO name (West (a) County Community Online). I’ve been fortunate to have the help of several talented programmers along the way, and I have to give a special shout out to Shelby Munsch, who started helping out as a teenage volunteer in the very beginning and has gone on to be quite the expert! And, of course, my wife, Linda, aka Mrs. Wacco, who has been a constant source of support and guidance, well, at least until she got sick of hearing me fuss about what to do with Wacco…. ;)

I owe a special debt of gratitude to Michael Slater, who has since passed, who generously served as my mentor while I was developing the Business Directory.

There have been lots of other people who have pitched in along the way, one way or another, to make it work and are too numerous to mention here. Thank you all!

I also want to thank our local sponsors, commercial and non-commercial supporting members who helped support the site financially. While never a big money maker, there were times it actually paid the bills! I was proud to promote only local businesses and I hope we supported you in return. I also want to thank the many graphic designers that I have been blessed to work to come up with the many beautiful original banner images we’ve featured over the years which often felt like the site’s jewelry. My first designer, Buffie Harris, and my last, Chis Dec, come quickly to mind.

We’ve been blessed with many thoughtful and eloquent posters over the years. Some have come and gone, while others stick around for a long time. Some have hosted a thread from time to time, such as Poem for the day from Larry Robinson and Goat Rock’s Sonoma County Covid-19 The Numbers. I even want to thank the assorted posters who were more troublesome one way or another for providing the irritant necessary to create the pearl.

And lastly, for now, I want to that you (yeah, You!) who is reading this right now! It’s the readers that actually create the value. If no one reads the great writing, recommendations, and other useful information offered in these pages, it’s all for naught! I’ve always kept you in mind while I did what I could to cultivate, curate, and painstakingly format the content here so it would be as readable as possible so you would join us in this adventure in community. Thanks for being active community members!

Barry Chertov
Founder and Moderator

[heresbruce]

Barry, thank you for the service you have provided to the community! Bigly appreciated!!
heresbruce Bruce Schmidt in Jenner

[plondon]

Barry, I took an audible inhale as I read your post title. Oh no! But then a felt a peaceful exhale as I read how well you were taking care of yourself and your decision. You truly created a wonderful community, which I have enjoyed and benefitted from for many years. Thank you so much, Barry! Your consistency, kindness, organization and technical skills, willingness and heart have driven and guided this site and this community - very successfully! I wish you well on your journey, my friend. Hope to see you around Sebastopol! Patricia London

[cocreator]

Barry,

Thank you for your amazing service to our community all this time. I can't imagine any other platform can replace Wacco, which I still tell someone new about at least once a week. I haven't been able to log into my Fb account in over 2 months, and NextDoor isn't anything like this.

Can certainly appreciate burnout, lol, and if ever there was a year to take care of oneself, this is it. I'm sure we'll all look forward to seeing what you create next.

Blessings and gratitude, Wacco Wiz!

[HolisticKids]

Barry, thanks so much for all your great work over all these years. I completely understand your need to let it go. As you may know, Bill and I moved to Asheville, NC a couple months ago, and I still read WACCO sometimes as I'm very much missing my beloved Sonoma County. I feel sad that it's another beautiful thing closing, along with the dances that mean so much to me.

Much love to you and Linda!


Jane

[M/M]

I am sooo sorry to hear this news Barry.... and I totally understand your decision.

Thank you for creating and maintaining such a wonderful community resource... You and WaCCO will be missed...

[wisewomn]

Barry, you and wacco will be missed! I have found wacco to be informative and entertaining. I'm really going to miss your cartoons and Larry's poems, among other things. I can well understand your burnout and need to move on to other things. I'm wishing you and your wife all the best, good health, and happy landings!
Thanks again for your service to the community.

Barbara
aka wisewomn

[Kate Fenton]

Many thanks for the amazing work over the years, Barry. You will be missed, as will the political cartoons and poems and many, many other parts of my Digest. All the best.

[Jude Iam]

Oh, Barry - i am so sad. after all these years, exchanges, everything,
i/we will really miss you and our community.
can hardly believe it. what ever will we do without waccobb, yawl?

[Holly B]

Wow, a vital institution is closing! While it's hard to believe it, I can totally understand why, and wish to express my deep gratitude to you Barry for everything that you have provided to the broader community for these past 15 years. You are a treasure, and I wish you the very best (and some well-deserved rest) in this next chapter!

[Hotspring 44]

Thanks Barry for creating this wonderful thriving website for so long.

WaccoBB has been a good learning experience for me, a true blessing.
I even got into contact with a friend that I hadn't seen for many years here on WaccoBB.

I also thank everyone who have contributed here with whatever volunteered and helped Berry keep it working, and Thanks to all who have contributed with their posts and replies to my posts, the wonderful Gratitude given at times for my posts.

I will miss WaccoBB much.

----------------------------
Berry, Very best to you.

[Deborah Thayer]

so so sorry, but truly understand... please keep in touch, ..I see the face of Goddess in you, both... I will so miss you...
g'ma deborah louise thayer

[Ishawithotto]

We wish you and yours, the most relaxing, safest, peaceful journey...
I know your site allowed so many to speak their minds; fears, choices, confusions, concerns. You are always attentive and considerate. Unconditional encouragement to think for ourselves and be open minded about so many areas of life, our communities, our consequences to either act or not act on our passionate beliefs.
Debate with others; relevant or not🤔 ...... lol

I've met many interesting persons, via this site. Learned so much about local issues that I would have never even known about.
I praise you for your dedication and tolerance for 15 years of some criticism and tons of gratitude!

You did a great thing here.
You deserve a huge standing ovation, I think so anyhow.
Hopefully all the hard work will let everyone remember to always put human life and looking out for one another the priority.
You have been a Nobel role model.
If anything else, enjoy some loving family time.
You have done more for this community then any elected or non elected person ever.

Sincerely
Best Wishes, Take good Care, and know you allowed many to change their attitude here
And communication is key to any action.
You won't be forgotten, for your honesty and ability to provide the field for the discussions necessary as we all grew up.
.

[american dream]

I, for one, am very sorry to see Wacco closing. It's gotten much more contentious as the pandemic wears on and wears on us, which, I believe, affects Barry's decision to end it. The need for a North Bay Progressive platform is still there, but who will bell the cat? Mainly it appears to me to be a lot of unpaid labor, mixed with aggravation and some light. Many of us have enough of that combination in our workday already. But, I hope someone can and will host a similar endeavor soon.
As for Barry's job, I'd like to quote Claire Booth Luce's famous words: 'No good deed goes unpunished." Thank you, Barry, for your years of steady work maintaining the site. Bonne Chance!

[sambacat]

West County just won't be the same without WACCO. :( It has been a great enhancement of our lives. Thank you, Barry, for your gift as well as your patience, benevolence and sanity. I've mostly been living in Baja, but have so enjoyed staying in touch with my Northern California home peeps, events, discussions and poetry. I'll miss it all. Best of luck, brother Barry, in letting this chapter close and in whatever new ventures and adventures you pursue going forward. Peace out.

[Valley Oak]

Thank you Barry for having such a multi-varied space here in Wacco for so many diverse folks. I have really enjoyed being able to express myself over the the years, almost 20 or so!

You can have a beer on me at the place of your choice if you're ever willing to collect on it.

Thank you again, my friend.

Love,

Edward

[Barton Stone]

Barry, Wacco BB has been a wonderful community resource and you are a true community treasure. Whatever new endeavor you take on, I am sure we will all benefit greatly from it!

On to the further adventures!

Deep gratitude and bright blessings!

Barton

[Finell]

Hey, it is not only for West County!

West County just won't be the same without WACCO

[gypsey]

When I moved to Sebastopol in the early 2000's my friend Gary Abreim turned me on to WACCO BB and I found home shares and rentals. sparred on line with differing points of views, and discussed the local doings and happenings in a community forum like no other.

As time went on, not everything on WACCO clicked for me, and this was no more apparent than when COVID19 came to town and the conspiracy theorists, anti vaccine folks and alt-cure promoters came together in a kind if harmonic convergence. And Barry, you provided a forum for viewpoints I profoundly disagree with.

But you know what? When I look back now, I am grateful that you gave everyone a place at the community table. This is how we learn, grow, and come together..

Especially now,
I'll miss the daily updates of Goat Rick Ukulele, the opportunity to respond with my own opinions and see responses from real people, and the sense that, no matter what, we WACCO;s -were in this together.

Thank you, Barry
God Speed.

[sunnyoutdoors2]

I guess no one wants to continue carrying the torch or create someone similar to this Great community site

[pamelaL]

Barry - you have done a great service to me and all of us through this forum. I remember when it was not as it is today, and went through the transition way back in? 2003? 2004? You built it to what it is today, but shutting it down? I guess I don't understand that. You are unwilling to seek someone who will carry it on? I would think there would be some tech-savvy person interested in a free-speech group site like this one, unless that has become part of the problem...anyway, my love to you and your sweet family ~ happy trails and tremendous Gratitude. I wish you all the best.

Pamela Lewis

[caromia333]

OH no oh NOOOOO oh no dear Barry!!!!
What a tremendous LOSS. Your site was so intimate and so real and so critical to local community - my heart is breaking getting this news from. you. I feel something very important has been lost.

I want to thank YOU with all my heart for creating this site where so much connecting and important sharing of ideas took place over the past 15+ years.

I had a model for something like this that we did a hackathon in SF to develop - it is called HOMETOWNS. Perhaps down the road - someone will see the benefit of doing what you have done and on a larger scale. www.coolplanetlabs.org

I strongly believe that someone needs to compete with Facebook - who routinely spies and hinders our freedom of speech and privacy.

BRAVO for all your hard work! if ever we can celebrate you in some kind of covid-friendly gathering - I would love to raise a glass to you. Warmly, Carolyn Scott

[Lilith Rogers]

Well, as so many of us have said--so much gratitude to you Barry for this community space you've created and kept going over the years..

We'll miss you dear. And I know you will be happy to relax for awhile before you move on to your next big adventure.

Hugs and kisses, Lilith

[phender]

Hello Barry, ditto to all the gratitude and appreciation that people have already expressed. I have little to add to all these compliments that are so well spoken. I loved the humor, thank you! Wish you all the best in rest and restoration from all your great and outstanding efforts for so many years. You have made not only this community a better place, you have indeed made this world a better world. Look forward to seeing you down the road, many blessing and wishes are bestowed upon you my friend.

[Bonnie288]

Thank you, Barry, for Waccobb. I will miss it. Great work.

[Mayacaman]

I missed this, two days ago. Just caught it now. Been super busy, working / working, sowing annual rye, crimson clover & lavender on the hill above my right-of-way; and covering all that with a thin layer of soil {from Daniel O. Davis on Todd Rd.} in order to keep the hill above my rural right-of-way from sliding in the coming rains. -[Since the roots of the grass in the vicinity were scorched in the fire that ravaged Los Alamos Canyon del Norte, on the night of September 27, 2020.]-

But I will say, Barry, that I for one {among many} will also miss WaccoBB - very very much. Facebook could never take its place. How could it? Here, one can format - and speak to the local community.

[rossmen]

Never a good idea to compare one's efforts to celestial objects. How many times have you threatened to ban me? You probably don't remember, I can count. Know that your contribution to local social media is recorded for eternity. Maybe some entity now or in the future will look and not judge, probably not.

[OurFreeSociety]

Why did he threaten to ban you?

[dancenteach]

I have had the great pleasure of meeting Barry at community picnics that he hosted for Wacco members and businesses that wanted to share their skills with members of the community. We shared a person who did technical work for us. We had both had an experience that set us back in our endeavors for months. I know how hard he has worked to make this site viable and how difficult the logistics have been. Thank you for all of this Barry. I have loved the wonderful community connections, the ads that people have posted (I have amazing plants thanks to Wacco members), the poetry, and the political humor. Good luck in all your future work, Barry. Hopefully, when the pandemic is over we can have one more picnic to honor you for everything you have done for all of us. My heartfelt gratitude to Mrs. Wacco too. Sincerely, Kathy

[Dogenzip]

Dear Barry,
You have made an immense contribution to our community. Wacco will be sorely missed. Where else could be found a web-based community site run by a generous person with good judgement? We are surrounded by ubiquitous and oppressive social media operated by anonymous algorithims designed to spread addiction to misinformation. Wishing you all the best to you and your family.