Articles & Editorials: Letting Go of CNCNZ.com

  • Date: 06/07/2017 | Author: Sonic

It has been almost a month since I finally said goodbye to my 19 year run as the webmaster, founder and lead administrator of CNCNZ.com. I shocked a lot of people by announcing I was stepping down and closing CNCNZ.com.  This article will be my last for CNCNZ.com for the foreseeable future. My final act if you will. Not that I wrote that many over the years to begin with. Many questions have been asked as to why I abruptly ended it all. Hopefully this article answers those questions and closes the book on what turned into a major part of my life.

Absence, then Departure

Back in early May of this year I informed the team here at CNCNZ.com that I was temporarily stepping down and leaving Nmenth and Plokite_Wolf to run things until I returned. This was to sort out a few real life issues that consumed all my time when not working. The biggest of those issues was finding a new place to live. This was a very stressful time for me. It took a long time to find the right place. Fast forward to the first week of June things were starting go my way. I finally found the perfect place to call home. A big weight was lifted off my shoulders.

When it came time to move, reality set in about the extra living costs I would need to cover. So on the weekend of my packing up and moving, I kept thinking to myself, something has to go, and that something was CNCNZ.com. I could no longer carry the costs of paying for the hosting month to month and renewing the domain or forum license.

So I made the tough choice of bringing it all to end. As turns out it was the wrong the choice.

All Good Things… The Closure Announcement

You know what topic I’m referring to here. When I posted it on our forums I knew in my mind I was doing the right thing. Well what I thought was my only option at the time. That was to close CNCNZ.com, give everyone enough time to save what they want before the hosting account was closed. Basically I thought it was time to say goodbye and ride off into the sunset. Boy, was I wrong.

I made the post, and left for work that day knowing that CNCNZ.com had only a few short days left online. The next morning, I checked my phone, which is my only way to connect to the internet for awhile, it was buzzing with all sorts of notifications from our forums, Facebook and e-mails.

It was a varying collection of messages, some to say thanks for my hard work over the years. Others questioning why I was closing down. But I could see a reoccurring theme. Many of these message were offers of support to take over control of CNCNZ.com, re-host it elsewhere and continue its legacy.

I can tell you I was overwhelmed by the amount of positive support. I never knew CNCNZ.com meant that much to so many people. Especially in the last few years where the community has been somewhat slow.

There were a few names that jumped out wanting to take over the site. The team from CnCNet showed interest. My good friend, Tchutch from CnCSaga.com also offered support. I want to personally thank them all for their generosity. There were many others, names I did not know but again your support is appreciated. Sorry I could not reply to all the e-mails I received at the time of the closure announcement. I had no access to my regular e-mail accounts.

Of all the names of people who contacted me, there was one name that stood the most. And that was Zee Hypnotist. When I first had contact with this easily influenced American kid way back in 2006, I never saw him as someone to take over the site. In the years that followed I gave him more and more responsibility around the site and forums. I also let his creative streak run wild and one the best results from that was our popular C&C Legos series.

Change of Ownership

Officially CNCNZ.com is under new management. The change happened back on the 13th of June. I handed over everything to Zee Hypnotist. He is now in charge of the entire site. His main role will be the host. He will make sure that the main site and forums are updated and remain online. As well has oversee the site’s financial future. Both Nmenth and Plokite_Wolf will serve as co-administrators and control the content generated for the main site. Where the site goes to from here is in their capable hands.

My Role Moving Forward

For the most part I will be in the background, supporting from the outside looking in. Sometime in the near future I will look to return in some type of capacity but the new leadership group will remain intact. I see myself chipping in and providing input where needed but the day to day operation of everything is out of my control.

Final Thoughts

So this is it. My time as webmaster and the original founder of CNCNZ.com has officially reached its end. It has been quite a journey. Packed with many highs, a few low points along the way. I don’t dare count up the countless hours I’ve spent staying up all night working on stuff for the site, the rebuilding of layouts, designing logos, writing up the content. Do I regret any of it? Absolutely not. If I got the chance to do it all over again I would do it without any hesitation.

To end this I will ask that you please support Zee Hypnotist and the new admin team. Show them the same respect you have shown to me over the years. They are continuing the same traditions and values that I put in place a long time ago. There is history to CNCNZ.com, a legacy if you will. And I’m pleased to see all of that continue despite me not being involved as much anymore.

And to the people in charge at Electronic Arts. Get off your lazy asses and do something with the Command & Conquer franchise. Come on it’s been nearly 4 damn years since the last project got the chop. Don’t sit on it, don’t let it rot in the basement with your other failed franchises. Command & Conquer means way too much to many fans around the world. Give us what we want. A new decade of Command & Conquer greatness.

Long live Command & Conquer!
Long live CNCNZ.com!

Chris “Sonic” Seager
Webmaster & Founder 1997 –  2017.

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