Fall Down Six, Get Up Seven

The story of the misery of a tech glitch and the miracle of a community

The last month of my life was a professional disaster. Or at least it felt that way at first. Before I tell you why, I want to take you back sixteen years.

In 2008, a few days after launching The Six-Word Memoir Project as a separate entity from its first home on SMITHmag.net, the site crashed. The platform for bite-sized self-expression that would change the trajectory of my life and reach millions of people crashed at launch because it had lots of good things going for it: traffic, traction, and an idea people were responding to with uncurbed enthusiasm.

So I did what any reasonable person would do: I freaked out. Then I pulled it together just long enough to call Ted. Ted: a dear friend, my user-generated content rabbi, and the person who introduced me to a couple of guys working on a new thing called Twittr (no “e,” not to mention “X” in Twitter back in 2006), the platform where I first introduced the concept of the Six-Word Memoir with my first tweet: “Can you describe your life in six words?”

“Don’t worry, man,” Ted said. “I already talked to Tim [my co-founder and the site’s tech guru], and he’s making progress.” Ted applauded our fortitude, adding that the first time his site, Dogster, crashed, he was so distraught he just threw up his hands and hit a bar. I didn’t hit a bar, and I eventually calmed down and trusted the process, a process that involved letting those who understood the technology do their job. Which they did.

When SixWordMemoirs.com came back online, my eyes were greeted by this tongue in cheek six words shared by a community member: “Down for maintenance, be back soon.” And if my love of technology was soured for a few imperfect hours, it was restored by the humor of a human I didn’t know but who somehow knew just what six words I needed at just the right time.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago: the site crashed again, only this time it was much worse, and the stakes were much higher since the community was now much larger. First, the login feature stopped working, so no one could share stories. Then, the hundreds of stories that flow in each day from community regulars, batches of students directed to the site by their teachers, and assorted people who stumble on one of the world’s first user-generated communities for self-expression stopped appearing. Three different tech people were stymied. This went on for weeks. I fielded emails from regular “Sixers” asking what happened (some even wondering if they had been shut out of the site entirely because of something they posted) and teachers who had hoped to offer their students that warm and fuzzy feeling of seeing their words featured on a professional storytelling platform.

All the while, I was scheduled to give a talk at the formidable EdTech conference, TCEA. Not a good look if educators in the audience are looking for a website where hundreds of classroom success stories and teachers’ guides live, but instead are greeted with these five words: This site can’t be reached. Add on that my talk was slotted for the last hour of the last day of a five-day conference. Suffice to say, when I arrived at the Austin Convention Center on day four of the conference, the place looked like Heathrow Airport at rush hour. When I walked into that same convention center the next day, it looked like a regional airport at two am. As I witnessed what was left of the crowd become thinner and thinner with each hour, I reminded myself that I always give everything I have, whether there are 10 people or 100 people in the audience.

That day, I counted sixteen people in the room. Sixteen people who shared their Six-Word Memoirs on why they teach during the “Six Word Slam.” Sixteen educators who made my day better and my heart bigger by gracing me with their good company. Some of them shared ideas about new ways to use Six Words in the classroom. One of them talked about how she had recently returned to substitute teaching after retiring and thought a
Six-Word Memoir lesson would be a perfect way to engage unfamiliar students. Another told me this was the best presentation she had heard at the conference (and the person next to her agreed, so let’s call that two votes!). I walked out of that room even more energized than I was when I walked in. And I think my sweet sixteen attendees did, too. We did because we did the thing that is foundational to who I am and those I appreciate most: We showed up.

And the site? It was finally restored a few weeks later. But in those long weeks, something wonderful happened. I was invited to join a Facebook message thread of community members who were staying in touch while the site was down. They no longer had SixWordMemoirs.com to gather, so they found a way to show up for each other on their own. Six Words may have been broken, but its community did not break. And when a fully functioning SixWordMemoirs.com came back online, one of the first stories that greeted the community was by longtime Sixer tagishcharley, offering “The glitch left me without words.” His backstory began with: “For several weeks I couldn't log in to Six-Word Memoirs. It was like I left a family gathering without being able to say goodbye.” I felt that way, too.

That this community is one that can feel like home even when the power is out is pretty special. So to tagishcharley and the others I say: Thank you for showing up, again and again, one person, one word, and one story at a time.