December 20, 2007. In May 2008, EW selected Whedonesque as eighth on their list of 25 Essential Fansites, calling it "a reservoir of material about anyone who's starred in (or, it would seem, breathed near) his nerd-magnet projects: Buffy, Angel, and Firefly/Serenity." Whedon has used Whedonesque as a personal blog, comparing the Stoning of Du'a Khalil Aswad to the Captivity advertising controversy. He also posted multiple messages during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. While Whedon has no official website, that role is sometimes erroneously attributed to Whedonesque.com, while other media outlets scrupulously describe the relationship between Whedon and the site. Institution and close: 2009 through 2021 In 2009, media websites continued to cite Whedonesque in discussions of Whedon's work. In coverage of Dollhouse, Anna Pickard of The Guardian's "TV & Radio Blog" called Whedonesque the "ultimate Joss-fansite" and later quoted van Oosten de Boer and another Whedonesque administrator in a follow-up piece, while Rick Porter of Zap2it referred to it as "the clearinghouse for all things Joss". While an account for frequent Whedon collaborator Tim Minear had been created in 2005, Minear himself first began posting to Whedonesque in March, 2009. One of his first posts, regarding the "Epitaph One" episode of Dollhouse, was quoted by The Washington Post. On August 21, 2017, moderators announced that the website would be closing down and would eventually become a read-only site. The decision was made shortly after Kai Cole, Whedon's ex-wife, wrote an essay accusing Whedon of numerous affairs, including emotional affairs, and of hypocrisy regarding his espousal of feminist ideals. The announcement requested that users wishing to mark the site's closure donate to organizations or charities supporting treatment of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, which Cole wrote she was treated for, after the revelations of Whedon's infidelity. Moderators announced that the fansite's Twitter account will remain active. On February 11, 2021, the site was taken offline following a tweet by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel actress Charisma Carpenter detailing abusive treatment by Joss Whedon during her time on both shows. Carpenter's claims were supported by Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Amber Benson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Michelle Trachtenberg. Impact Books and academic papers In addition to news outlets which have picked up stories and quotes from Whedonesque, the site has been referenced in a number of books and academic papers. It is cited as a general reference in The