Fairytopia, the forum Xena started at her site The Dollery, is soon closing and moving to a new url. Xena/Mel already moved her site to Pix Paradise, and has plans to start a new forum, like Fairytopia, there. It still feels like a goodbye, but I think it was the right decision for many reasons.
When I started dolling, 7 or 8 or 9 years ago (I forget), I never had much interest in the community side of it. The few times I ran into other dollers I was struck by how arrogant, unfriendly and obnoxious they were. So instead of going to find dollers I could relate to, I just kept dolling for myself.

I took a little break at some point. I lost interest, and time, to keep my site updated and to do much drawing. Then a German forum about dolls pulled me back in. I am not German, but I do sort of speak it. Actually, I met Tiger at that forum first. And with her, I met many friendly dollers. Funny that for one of the dolls I made for a challenge at that forum I went to the Dollery to get a base. And I stumbled on Fairytopia.

My English is a lot better than my German, so I found it easier to communicate. I liked the mood at FT, where controversy was avoided in order to keep things friendly and constructive. It made it a perfect place for beginners and people who just wanted to focus on making dolls. For some that may have made FT a stifling place, but for me it just meant I could really strike out and try some new stuff.

Now I have the perfect balance in dolling forums. I am at The Gathering for support and comfort, at Glam! for fast and constant postings and on Fairytopia for what we Dutch term 'gezelligheid'; cozyness/familiarity/kindness. I am confident that with the still active memberbase at FT we can help Xena and her fellow admin/mod team to make the new forum as welcoming and warm as FT has ever been.