Apr. 21 2017

TL; DR We’re closing up shop (kind of)

#seattlish

Dearest readers,

This isn’t easy but there’s no reason to make it longer than it needs to be. What you need to know is this:

  1. We love you very much.
  2. We’re still going to be around.
  3. We’re not going to posting to this site any longer, at least for the foreseeable future.
  4. We’ll still be on Twitter sometimes! So you can follow us there.

Ok, now for the details.

For four (!!!) years, you’ve been so very good to us. We’ve grown a ton (did you know that there are almost 15k of you on Tumblr alone?) and learned a lot and tried our very hardest to be an asset to this city that we love. We hope we’ve done it justice.

However, with the impending Mayoral and City Council race, as well as a bunch of other factors, we don’t feel that we can adequately keep up. We have never drawn a dollar in pay from this site and all work full-time jobs. For a long time, we’ve been able to make time for this site. But with so much going on, the news of the City deserves more than someone making time. Plus, we’re pretty sure the other outlets in town have got it covered.

image

Seattlish in 2013 with a dude who hoped to become Mayor. Then he did. 

We started the site because we wanted to get people talking and thinking about the news in a more fun and also empathetic way; we wanted more people caring about City Council, knowing who their representative was, and understanding the nuances of poverty, homelessness, crime, and politics. We hope we’ve done all that, too. Based on the surprisingly high engagement on Twitter regarding the Mayor’s race, it seems that we did, at least a little.

Traditional media has largely chosen to ignore us (at least explicitly; the Times has only once deigned to use our name and local radio has been kind and oh yeah we were listed on 2015′s Most Influential), which is fine—we haven’t always been easy on them. In spite of their reticence to acknowledge us, though, we’ve been pleased to see a shift in the overall tone of the conversation. There’s been a lot fewer headlines about “those people,” don’t you think?

But maybe that’s less because of us and more because of you. So again, thank you for carrying on the good word, for leading with empathy, and for supporting us so much. Please, keep the faith and carry the torch in all the ways you can. If there’s anything we’ve tried to prove it’s that being mouthy is a tool for good. Stay mouthy

You can follow us on Twitter—@seattlish will still be active and lively, I promise—but this is the last post you’ll see on this site. The back catalog will all stay around, too, as long as we can afford the domain, which should be a little while, at least.

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Seattlish at the end of 2016, muggin’ per usual. 

Thank you for coming along with us. We’re all still going to be around doing things and writing stuff and improving our community to the best of our ability. You can find all three of us at the bottom of the page; do drop a line if you need anything!

Xoxoxo

Seattlish, aka Alex, Hanna, and Sarah.

58 notes

Notes

  1. closetedboggart reblogged this from seattlish and added:
    I’ll very much miss the longform snark and great commentary from you folks, but thank you for all the time and energy...
  2. damonischefrau reblogged this from seattlish and added:
    Sad day. :‘C
  3. seafortsseaforts reblogged this from seattlish and added:
    Nooooooooooooooooooooo! I will miss Seattlish very much. I have loved your funny, pointed, sincere reporting and the...
  4. mcscooterson reblogged this from seattlish
  5. staple-madness reblogged this from seattlish
  6. fwippy reblogged this from seattlish and added:
    :(
  7. stackedcrates said: y'all are awesome and i will miss you very much! best of luck will all of your other endeavors!!
  8. seattlish posted this

Editors

Hanna Brooks Olsen

Editor-in-Chief

Hanna is a journalist and political person whose work has been published in the Nation, the Atlantic, and Salon. Likes: her dog and dark bars. Dislikes: apathy and mushrooms.

Sarah Anne Lloyd

Associate Editor

Sarah is Teen Girl Squad in a trenchcoat. She likes public records, tomatoes, and animals that are friends with different kinds of animals.

Alex Hudson

Editor Emeritus

Alex likes cats, oysters, and Steven Hauschka and hates it when people don't exit the bus through the back door.

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