I've kept rather quiet regarding my thoughts on the closure of AppleVis and I'm honestly not sure how prudent it would be for me to share my opinions about the team's decision to close the community but I'm in a place right now where I'm willing to do it.
I've been in situations where I've eithered owned or co-moderated discussion groups and at one point I felt the need to pass on those responsibilities to others. I had different reasons for wanting to do this but I wanted to at least try to get others to take over those groups rather than letting them disappear. Fortunately, I found people willing to take over the Zoom Users Group and the Office Accessibility group. The Braille Display Users Group already had an owner and moderator so all I had to do was to let him know that I felt I could no longer continue my duties as co-mod. I never once looked back after letting those groups go, which only reinforced the fact that I had made the right decision. I'll also admit that I feel quite differently about the Tech-VI list. I have very high standards for how that list should be operated and if I ever felt that I had to let go of Tech-VI I would not just give it to anyone who wanted it. I would only consider passing it on to someone who would run it with equally high standards, if not higher, than my own. I know of two people who I would trust to take on that project and I doubt that either of them would want it. Because of this, it is likely that Tech-VI will stop if I ever decide that I can't do it anymore or when I pass on to eternity. The point is that I understand the importance of passing on a project that you've started. I understand how and why doing so can be very easy and why it can also seem almost impossible. All of this being said, AppleVis became a huge resource, bigger than its founder, and I wish that he would have at least considered attempting to pass on the project to trustworthy and competent individuals. This is a terrible loss in the blindness community.