>>3628
It's a long and retarded story, but I'll try my best.
Chapter 1: Prologue
>8ch implodes
>8/a/ already had a bunker on smug, so a lot of people fall back there
>meta threads happen for a while and are tolerated given the circumstances
>from the general discussion taking place between meta happenings, anons discover they enjoy off-topic discussion with other anons
>BO of /a/ (Head Meido) creates the cafe, a permanent fixture for exactly that kind of discussion
>memes and OC start coming out of the cafe, things are fun, everything is fine for a while
>one known dramanigger/meido is a regular on the cafe
>due to existing mental problems he cracks and has a mild meltdown, the worst of which is dumping IRC logs of the meido cabal on the /support/ board of /a/
>HM assumes it was the cafe that caused this
>there are also occasional reports from endemic shitposters that all anons in the cafe are pinkpilling trannies
>cafe also does pose some genuine concerns for the board's future
>HM by this point only is interested in vtubers and has not kept up with the rest of the board at all
>grows a hateboner for the cafe
Chapter 2:
>one of the few remaining meidos and the only active euro timezone meido grows dissatisfied with the state of the board and the moderation
>said meido also had a hateboner for vtubers which has caused friction in the past
>said meido was also a regular of the cafe, and also defended the cafe's right to exist in the IRC cabal whenever it was questioned
>resigns on unfriendly terms
>this creates a big gap in moderation
>soon enough a spam wave hits /a/ with nobody to react to it in time, leading to anons having to bump threads themselves just to keep them from getting slid off the board
>anons are upset, call for new meidos
>HM is eventually yelled at enough to get off his ass and start a meido drive
>but he also announces a temporary closure of the cafe at the same time
Chapter 3:
>anons don't take the sudden news very well
>pretext is that the cafe is full of pinkpillers and blogposters and is stealing all the activity form the rest of the board
>anons don't take to being insulted like this very well either
>in a shocking display of self-awareness, HM does admit that the lack of activity on /a/ proper might also have something to do with how heavy-handed the meidos have been, and promises laxer enforcement to encourage more extra-cafe activity
>"Something something maybe take the topics you like out of the cafe and into boards. What? No, I don't care if some of those things only work in the cafe, whatever, shut up."
>radio silence for a while, more optimistic anons start a dedicated blogposting thread
>cafe is eventually shut down with a promise to return in two weeks and a "discussion" of how it was going to be handled going forward
>the blogposting thread also gets shut down, against what the optimistic anons were claiming would happen
>anons don't take this well either
>the discussion migrates to /support/
Chapter 4:
>/support/ is now the home of a meta and general discussion thread while the home board is questionable
>a lot of butthurt, a lot of shitposting, but eventually things slowly start to settle down
>some of the other experimental threads started basically out of obligation on /a/ are doing okayish
>PPH and UIDs have dropped by about half, board is a lot slower now
>anons are upset without the cafe, some already lost faith and don't expect it to come back, citing the "bad behavior" demonstrated by everyone who was upset
>but resignation sets in, voices to the tone of "don't even bring cafe back at this point" start gaining predominance
>but then HM brings cafe back
>new rules added that basically make everything that was a staple of the cafe threads illegal
>but all the things that would be legal and go in the cafe can now be their own threads so what's the point?
>regardless, a few curious anons peek in and remark that it's finally back
>they get banned for metaposting
>for something like 3 days, when 24 hours was as long as a typical ban got on /a/
>this happens multiple times
>pretty much anything that would get a report in the cafe thread would eventually be hit with a long ban
>/support/ refugees losing their shit at the sheer incompetence, also gaining numbers from the banned posters
>faith in moderation has been lost, vaguely threatening talks of an exodus start taking place
>the /shelter/ thread is made, among other options
>HM makes a mean-spirited post basically calling all cafe anons outsiders and scum who want no moderation
>says he doesn't give a shit if his nu-cafe fails
>and none-too-subtly tells everyone to fuck off to a /b/ or /animu/
>writing is on the wall
Continued.