In a post yesterday, the admins of the website announced that there would be no more threads and that the website would shortly become read-only.
The shutdown comes in the wake of an article on The Wrap written by Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole. In the article, Cole described problematic behavior and infidelities on Whedon’s part, which led to questions about Whedon’s so-called feminist credentials. The admins of Whedonesque didn’t refer to Cole’s article specifically in their shutdown announcement, but they did ask users to mark the weblog’s passing by making donations to a charity for Complex PTSD, a psychological disorder from which she suffers.
The independent weblog provided an online discussion platform for fans of Joss Whedon’s various projects, including Buffy, Angel, Avengers, and much more. The nearly 12,000 members of Whedonesque would also use the weblog to follow the work of actors featured in Whedon’s shows and movies and to discuss side projects related to Whedon’s work, such as comic book tie-ins.
The website was not officially affiliated with any of Whedon’s various companies, but Whedon himself would use it to make announcements about his projects. Whedon used the site to announce the continuation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in comics form (see “Buffy Returns”).