Retiring from The Wizard's Lair

Recently I had a catastrophic computer crash. I lost everything from my music files to my emails. Of course, this also meant that I lost my image editing programs, my html editing program, as well as my FTP program. Everything that I used to run The Wizard's Lair.

Now, while it would be fairly simple to just get a new computer (which I am doing) and to reload it all with the needed programs and to start all over, I have finally decided, after a long and convoluted thought process, not to do that. I am retiring from web mastering.

There are a number of reasons of this decision, and I felt that it would be fair to share with you what they are, so that you do not feel that I am "just quitting".

I have known that I would not be doing this forever. Indeed, I have been planning on this as being my last year at the helm of The Lair, being that I am now 50 years old. Now, I know that 50 years is still quite young in the scheme of things, and that I could easily continue to run the Lair. However, that goes into the second part in that my mother is still alive, and while still in pretty good health, is up there in years and I will be moving out to the country there to where Mom lives to help with keeping an eye on her while helping with the house and such. And, in that regards, it's kinda hard to run an adult website with your 80 year old mother looking over your shoulder (though, considering my Mom, she would be very supportive of anything that I did!).

There are other things that I am wanting to do with my life, but as long as I have this obligation to the community in running this website, I am not taking the time to fully explore those opportunities while having this responsibility.

I am not planning on closing down The Wizard's Lair. I am going to pass it along to the fine and capable hands of Scarlet Witch. Of course, knowing what I know, that such a job is no easy endeavor, and in that I truly needed her help to run The Lair, I would not hold it against her to find someone else to fill my shoes and to assist her in maintaining the website.

I have wanted to hold off on this retirement until I had finished up with a number of story/art projects that contributors have been sending in. But, as I think back, we did not have many periods where something was not happening artistically, so to depend upon that would probably mean I would die doing this. And, while I can think of worse things, I do not want to die doing this.

Another reason, is that while this is a fairly straight forwards and simple job, it is still stressful in a manner of speaking. Stress in trying to keep up with doing this week in and week out on a regular and consistent manner. I would think that most of you would agree that we have been pretty darn consistent with our updates, and often more so then many sites that take monies for what we provide for free. That said, I have never wanted any money for this, even when I was offered to convert The Lair to a pay site (back in the day when I was with abductor.com and they went from free to subscription). I have always thought that (and still do) there was a lack of quality websites, based upon the rather specific nature of our desires, for fans of the superheroine in distress genre. What was out there, when I was just starting, was Mike's Supergirl.net webpage, and maybe Sooperhero's website, and that was it. Mike gave me a shot with putting out my own crappy 'art' to share with the fans of the genre, and that was the spark that led to the formation of The Wizard's Lair (which went from Supergirl.net to abductor.com to superheroinecentral.com).

It's been a good run, I have to say. We have won a number of awards over the years, especially in the last several years when we came in the top 3 in the Best Free Bondage website category, which is not too shabby, considering that The Lair is a superheroine based website. But, all good things must end, as the old cliche' goes. However, this is, again, not a closing of the website, just my leaving of it. I think that I have done pretty well with it, from the simple design that is fast loading, to the number of different departments for people to enjoy, to the contests, to the large number of talented 'Henchmen' (and women) that we have provided a space to show off their diverse abilities. And, though we did have a period after the 2257 legislation rules passed which affected all of the adult entertainment industry where I had to remove a large amount of material from the website, we have only grown since the website's inception.

But, while we have been getting awards, I have felt of late that I, personally, have not been getting the rewards that I would of liked for the work that I put into the website. I understand that there is a degree of separation that goes on with the internet, in that we want to go in to our favorite sites, grab what we want, and then to leave to our next favorite site, and such things do not often lend to writing missives to our favorite writers or artists. However, such messages are 100 times more common in happening then emails sent to those that run or maintain the websites that these favorite artists/writers are featured at. It is all too easy to forget about those in the background, just as it is easy to forget about those special effect artists, key grips, make up artists, hair stylists, etc etc etc that help our favorite actors do what they do on your favorite television shows or movies. Thus, lately I have been feeling less appreciated for the time that I spend month after month, which makes it harder to call this a labor of love, and more a matter of responsibility (which kind of takes the fun out of doing things after a while).

People have said that I should do what I feel is best, and do those things that are best for me, and to do those things that I feel are fun to do. Running this website is no longer fun for me (though it is, and always has been great fun to receive material from artists, and to be the first in line to see great new things). So, it is time to hang up my pointy wizard's hat and step back from the editor and let someone else take over the helm of TWL.

I do want to give my most sincere apologies to those contributors that have sent me material lately, and have not been able to see it up at the website. I would encourage those who sent me material to contact Scarlet Witch to discuss with her the options of the future. I also want to sincely apologize to Scarlet Witch for dumping this all into her lap. But, knowing her dedication to the website and the genre, I am confident that TWL will continue on into the near future in her most talented and capable hands.

I am sure that I can go on and on and on with individual thanks and apologies, but at this time, I will end with this. I am not disappearing from the face of the Earth. I still love the genre, and hope to be a (fairly appreciated) member of the community for some years to come, just not in my past occupation as the webmaster of TWL.

Thanks for all you have given me. I hope that I have, in my small way, given back to you over the years, something that made you all appreciate the talents of the artists and writers of TWL that we have depended upon for our superheroine entertainment.