Unfortunately, this is what happens to online communities. Particularly those run by teenagers. I've been a member of a number of communities that have suffered deaths in very similar ways -- choked by the people who own the rights at the expense of the volunteers and the community.
It's unfortunate, because I find that often volunteer teenagers are the ones that truly have a passion for doing what they are doing, but they get held up by corporations or by people who want to monetize. When that doesn't work, the people in charge ignore the community until it dies.
> * have a passion for doing what they are doing, but they get held up by corporations or by people who want to monetize. *
Could those "passionate teenagers" have kept it running instead of selling the site in 2004 (why didn't they?), or would it have died much earlier if some "greedy" corporation hadn't picked it up and paid the bills all these years? It's great to have the passion to build something cool, but it's a little cooler if it's sustainable.
I don't know the history of this site, but it seems unlikely that most of the 'passionate teenagers' volunteers of the site throughout it's history didn't see any of the money that exchanged hands in 2004. It's usually got nothing to do with whether it was sustainable without a sale or not, it's just minority that owns 'the rights' deciding they can cash in, right?
Incorrect - the 3 founders that received money actually did spread the money around a bit to those who were working on the site for a while and/or had contributed in some major way. They had a lot of volunteers, so the percentage that got money I heard was small but it was that small group that did the large percentage of contributions.
It's unfortunate, because I find that often volunteer teenagers are the ones that truly have a passion for doing what they are doing, but they get held up by corporations or by people who want to monetize. When that doesn't work, the people in charge ignore the community until it dies.
It's sad to see it happen to another community.