I know there have been some “issues” with NaNoWriMo over the past year(s), but I’ve just gotten my novel writing machine (a 1950 Royal KMG) ready to race just in time for the starting flag.
I’ve heard rumors about a mysterious Typewriter Brigade and NaNo Rhino before, so I’m wondering where it’s hiding this year?
That’s a nice looking 1960 blue Royal Safari they’ve got as the hero image on their homepage btw…
NaNoWriMo has definitely done some tone deaf things this year about using AI, which resulted in some board members resigning and some major backlash from the community.
Bigger issue was the discovery of pedophiles/groomers in their Young Writers’ Program moderation team last year. And worse than that, nothing was done about multiple reports until the FBI was notified.
They appear to have made strides to more fully fulfill their obligations as a non-profit since all of that went down.
I would put it this way: Reddit has had these exact same issues in the past, and yet here we are.
So from the demographics I deduce that men writers aren’t big joiners.
I haven’t seen or heard much out of Mike Clemens for some time, but I’m sure he would be chuffed to know that the Typewriter Brigade and the NaNo Rhino he created in the early noughts have become legendary.