hey, hey stop the tomatoes!!! i know youre probably sick of all of the announcement bots and the fact that i made another empty bot but i was feeling left out okay? and im so exhausted

im not the the most eloquent person, so i will try to keep this as brief as i can.

but for the people who dont wanna read through all my yapping: i am burnt out, stressed, exhausted and probably will be taking an indefinite hiatus until further notice. i might come back, but realistically? that is very unlikely

i know it sounds bad but where the hell do i even start

im sure youve seen all the other announcement bots from other creators, but in case you havent, please check out this bot from an ex-site mod, mikale. i would also suggest checking out this bot from wolfegoddess as well, who is also an ex-mod. i had my suspicions of what goes on behind the site, and these bots only confirms many of things i had already thought.

to tell you the truth? i never really enjoyed this site. like at all. maybe in the beginning, but definitely not now. i dislike the ui, i dislike its lack of features for both users and creators, and i especially dislike the lack of communication. i got very fixated on the profile customization aspect because i enjoyed low stakes coding, but i have had way too many issues with how shit the customization process can be. ive wanted to create a bot on here, but i never felt confident or comfortable enough with my writing and characters to post. whenever i wanted to chat with a bot, i just used another frontend because i cant stand staying on this site for longer than i have to. and even then, i have been chatting less and generally no longer have an interest in ai chat bots.

i definitely would have left the site sooner if it wasn't for the amazing community of creators and all of the amazing people that i have met through css. i really adore everyone that i have met, and i really liked having a css community where we could all help each other, cry with each other when the site breaks, and make things easier and better for everyone else. ive mentioned this before, but i really thought i would stay as a lurker and never interact with anyone. i am so completely grateful to everyone ive met through this niche part of the community, you know who you are <3

if it wasn't obvious. i do not like this site. it doesn't seem too bad if this is the only site youre aware of, but trust me when i say its so outdated and behind compared to its competitors. even comparing jllm to other free llms by competitors just makes you realize that jai is in its own league of shittiness. they are so behind in so many ways from tools, features, user experience, customization, social aspects, etc. even when they do roll out new features and tools, they are constantly riddled with bugs or just straight up broken. by far the most obvious and worst aspect is the communication problems and they way they have mismanged their volunteer staff. ive been part of the community for over a year, and throughout that time, i have constantly heard "we know communication sucks, we will do better" from the site owners, but there is never any progress made. i have constantly seen the rotation of volunteer staff joining and then leaving in short bursts. but even with all this, i stayed because of the community and amazing people ive met.

css is very niche compared to most other sub-communities (is that the right word?) on the site, so i expected the devs to not really care or pay attention to it. the css/customization process has always been pretty shitty. classnames are shitty, the css editor is shitty and is constantly bugged, things just change with no warning or communication (not surprising) and we're just meant to deal with it. its exhausting. im pretty pessimistic irl, but i surprisingly remained optimistic about this site, thinking that if i just contributed enough to the community, maybe the devs would finally notice us? maybe my templates could become integrated profile skins if i tried hard enough? maybe we can get more features related to css? i joined the official css community team because i wanted to help the site in terms of what i knew best. i wanted to contribute to guides to help beginners, i wanted to make templates that anyone and everyone could use. but nope. we started on december 8th 2025, and since then, nothing. no communication with the staff, no goals, no projects, not even a single team meeting where we could discuss our plans and ideas for the future.

people seem to think that the css team somehow has moderation powers or that we can strip people of their customization abilities at our discretion. nope. ive had a ticket about stolen css that has been rotting since i joined the team, so i dont think we have any special privileges or favoritism.

ive had my doubts for a long time, but with all thats come out from ex mods, and with shep just not taking things seriously even when everything is in shambles (like seriously, why are you joking about the "shep files" and saying this whole situation is "rly silly" when it clearly isnt? now it not the time to show your clear lack of professionalism), i think im just done and have no hope that the site will get any better under current conditions.

so, what now?

ive been thinking and overthinking of what to do and how to handle all of this. my irl life has already been quite shit, and this whole implosion certainly didn't help. but, for now...

• css requests: i will focus on finishing up my current requests. i am so sorry if ive ghosted you and have not been making as much progress as you would like. feel free to yell at me (nicely, please). as for templates and comms, i still havent really come to a decision. i enjoy css and its the only thing i have done on the site, but i dont know if i want to keep contributing to it or not. maybe ill abandon ship completely, maybe not.

• moving to other sites: i do have accounts on other sites, but i am unsure if i will be contributing much. i do have bots and ideas in mind (i know i sound like a broken record but i promise i actually do! whether youll ever get to see them or not is a whole different thing...), but i most likely will stick to my strengths and focus on css and customization if thats an option.

• will the site ever change: i already said it above, but i dont think the site will get much better. maybe there will be small changes here and there, but im not holding my breath for anything major to happen. i dont think the site will "fail" though. jai has like what, 12 million users? its not gonna go away that easily.

• life stuff: im gonna be completely honest, my life outside of jai has been sucking really bad lol. my mental health has been getting worse, my academic life is bad, my financial situation is also bad (rip my proxy 💔 just cant justify paying for it when i barely use 50 messages a week. i miss you glm). its been quite a lot. now that my spring semester is starting soon, i will be prioritizing more things outside of my online life and getting my shit together.

final stuff i guess

love how i said i was gonna try to keep it brief but i just ended up yapping. i will not fault others for choosing to stay or choosing to leave. its your decision to make, and as long as you make what you think is the best decision for you, go for it. i love you all dearly, and even i dont see myself fully going away. maybe this is more of a "hiatus" and i will come back. who knows. if you wish to follow me, you can find my links in my profile bio and on my carrd. thank you, i love you, and im sorry.

UPDATE!!!!!

quick mini update: in light of the main jai discord closing, some people from the css community have started up a css server! for all things related to jai and 🍳 css, along with scripts and sillytavern! you can join with the link here! id verification is REQUIRED, as we don't want any minors sneaking in, so please do keep that in mind <3

જ⁀➴ Exhausted Angel Lav, now disconnecting...