This will come as a shock to many of you (or not), but after 8½ years, I have decided to stop updating Outpost Daria. My reasons are mostly personal, and I could probably sit here and list a dozen or more of them, but these few are the only ones that really matter:

1. I honestly don't have the time to keep up with the site anymore, not even for the scant few submissions I've received in recent months and years (and those, frankly, were coming mainly from a handful of people). The fact that there are usually several months between updates would've been the first clue.
2. The health crises I've gone through over the past few years, particularly my recent one, have caused me to shift my focus to more important things in my life.
3. I've said many times over the years that I would stop doing this if it stopped being fun and started being a chore. Sadly, that point has now been reached.

(There are other factors involved, but I don't feel it's appropriate to discuss them here. Suffice it to say that I've been waffling about this decision for a long time now, but several recent events have convinced me that it's time to get off the fence.)

Even though I will no longer be updating Outpost Daria, the site will remain online for the forseeable future (at least through the end of this year), plus I will still be lurking around the boards from time to time (as well as FanFiction.Net, much as I loathe the place, to check on what's new in fanfic-land). Also, anyone who wants to grab stuff from here to use on their own websites, feel free to do so; I'll rest easier knowing they're "going to good homes," so to speak.

I'm not one for long, sappy good-byes, so I'll end things by saying it's been one heck of a rollercoaster ride. I've met a lot of good people in Daria fandom over the years, people who've made this whole experience worthwhile. (As for those who turned out to be otherwise, I'll just say that it's been... interesting.)

Take care, everyone.

Martin J. Pollard
May 20, 2007