Goodbye SOS. Good Riddance or Fond Farewell? - by Robert Wheeler (December 16th, 2004)

Well, as you can see, Dan has already posted that we've decided to move the anti-SOS page from its residence of over four years into the "attic" of the miscellaneous section. Why the change? Well, if you're not aware, SOS is no more. They've retired the campaign. No more crazy news stories. No more misinformation. This is the day I've been waiting for, right? I should be ecstatic, right? It's time for celebration, isn't it? In all reality, I should be pretty excited. But I'm not. In all reality, as much as I'd hate to admit it, I'm actually going to miss the SOS. Yeah, I know. It sounds crazy, but there is some method to my madness. I was thinking the other night how much of an impact SOS has had on the Sailor Moon community. Whether you hate them or love them, they've probably had one of the biggest impacts on the Sailor Moon online community out of any Sailor Moon website. Correct me if I'm wrong, but their bandwidth and hits would suggest that they were BY FAR the most popular unofficial Sailor Moon site on the net. Far more popular than our lovely Sailor Moon Uncensored can ever dream to be, and we've achieved a moderate amount of success. The fact of the matter is, there had to have been something there to keep people so interested in their site, and for that, they deserve their kudos. With that said, I'm sad to admit that I was one of those poor fools who just kept going back. They had me baited like salmon in the spring. If I had to make any comparison to the SOS to anything, it would probably be cocaine. You know you shouldn't do it. You know it'll ruin your life if you do it. You know nothing good will come from doing it, but you go back to it anyways. That's the kind of hook SOS had me on. They did nothing but irritate me, nothing but get under my skin and make me mad, but yet, I kept going back to see if they had updated. Why? Because their articles, as far out as some of them were, were WORTH reading. They were interesting. They made outlandish claims. They were FUN to read. And now all of a sudden, that's been taken away from me. It's probably for the best, but as any crack addict will tell you, withdrawal syndrome sucks. As I just stated, SOS did get under my skin. They did irritate me. That's why I decided to make the Anti-SOS page. Not so much to be anti-SOS, but merely as a place to publicly respond to SOS' articles. Consider it a Fox News to their CNN. And you know what? Running the anti-SOS section was fun. You might not have been able to tell, but I enjoy being witty. I like making people laugh. Sometimes I pull it off nicely, other times it's the worst thing since R. Kelly's appearance on Sesame Street. How successful I am with a joke really depends on how good the source material is, and let me tell you, SOS gave the best source material EVER. Now, that's suddenly been taken away from me, and I won?t lie and say I'm not a little sad about that, but you know, life goes on. Speaking of jokes, I think some of my best work is in the Anti-SOS section. The meaner and harsher I am, the funnier it seems to get. I won?t lie, I was pretty nasty sometimes too. The thing that strikes me though, no matter how horrible and nasty we were to SOS, they never came back at us and attacked us. Not once did they publicly OR privately come after us. In fact, everything I've heard come from the SOS about our site has been nothing but POSITIVE, and you know what, that's something that they should really take pride in. To be honest, that really impresses me about them, and in the end, I think it's really honorable how they took the high road in that respect. They really set a good example in that respect, one that I should be more aware of, and that we all should take after. Yeah yeah, flame battles and site wars are fun and all, but nothing better can be said about one that takes the high road out of a sticky situation. So, SOS, as much as I'd hate to admit it, I will miss you. As glad as I am to not have to go "WHAT THE FREAK!??!" anymore, you truly will be missed. Your demise is just another sad reminder of the dying nature of the Sailor Moon Online Community at the present, and with your death goes a large chunk of that community. So much history, so much presence, so much emotion. Things will be much less interesting around here without you, but your memory will always live on here, in our hearts, and in our minds. Whether that memory is a good one or a bad one is up to you, but to me, whether it be good or bad, it is a significant memory. An end of an era. The closing of a chapter. Goodbye, SOS.

Other Editorials

Why Fan Translations Are Still Necessary - by Dan Bednarski (May 16th, 2011) Sailor Moon Re-launch in North America: What I'd Like to See - by Dan Bednarski (January 22nd, 2011) Can we start to put an end to the stupidity? - by Dan Bednarski (September 19th, 2010) Goodbyes Are Always the Hardest - by Robert Wheeler (May 4th, 2005) Goodbye SOS. Good Riddance or Fond Farewell? - by Robert Wheeler (December 16th, 2004) The Trouble With Whiners - by Robert Wheeler (October 10th, 2004) Uncut Sailor Moon: Worth the Wait? - Part 2 - by Dan Bednarski (January 6th, 2004) Uncut Sailor Moon: Worth the Wait? - Part 1 - by Dan Bednarski (September 23rd, 2003) Disliking Vs. Hating - by Robert Wheeler (April 3rd, 2002) The Twelve Dubs of Christmas - by Tiffany Wood (December 23rd, 2001) Optimum Productions? Flagrant False Advertising... - by Robert Wheeler (September 3rd, 2001) The Anime Translation and American Society Problem - by Dan Bednarski (August 6th, 2001) Pioneer's First SMS Release: Heart Collection I - by Dan Bednarski (March 5th, 2001) Annoyance: A Letter to the People - by Tiffany Wood (February 9th, 2001) Cartoon Network - The Hypocrite - by Robert Wheeler (January 14th, 2001) Moonian Rhapsody - by Tiffany Wood (December 25th, 2000) Does Your Site Suck? (Repost) - by Tiffany Wood (October 28th, 2000) The North American Sailor Moon World - by Dan Bednarski (September 26th, 2000) The Trouble With Dubbies - by Robert Wheeler (September 13th, 2000) Sailor Moon Fansubs - by Dan Bednarski (August 13th, 2000) Does Your Site Suck? - by Tiffany Wood (August 6th, 2000)