USER NOT FOUND.
If you live long enough in the Wattpad world you will read those words and see this symbol in your comments section. It means someone you knew is gone. They have decided that the Wattpad life was just not for them. They either did not have the time, the energy, or the heart to keep going. Or, less likely, Wattpad sent one of their assassins to take them out because they were being jerks.
Yes, you will also see this symbol in your private messages where Wattpad killed off some spammer who was trying to trick you into clicking on some link, but those are rare.
The other day I was looking through the News Feed and realized that I had not seen a writer friend of mine in a while. They were usually in the feed every day reading and commenting on other people's work. I did a search and couldn't find them by their user name so I went to one of my stories in which I knew they were one of the few people that had actually bothered to vote or comment on it (yeah, it happens, even to me). Next to her comment I found that little grey symbol of death. They were gone. Out of my life without even bothering to say goodbye. But their comments were still there. The only evidence that they ever existed.
I went ahead and looked through some of my more popular series where there are hundreds of comments and I found a couple of more little grey symbols of death. Other people had left too. Decided the Wattpad life was just not for them I guess. I recognized one of them as just a reader, but a few of them were fine writers that decided to go. It made me a bit sad.
That same day that I found that I had lost that writer friend I happened to be on my Facebook account and was checking my message filters (where Facebook hides messages from people that are not your friends) and found a message from her. She had left me a message the day she left Wattpad to ask if I had my writings anywhere else other than Wattpad so she could continue reading them. I asked her why she left (I thought she was quite good and if I remember correctly had a good following). She said she had no real reason. There had been no drama or problems. It was just time to leave. She said she still writes and showed me where I could keep up with her stuff. It was just time to go.
Wattpad is not for everybody. Wattpad takes as much as it gives. Let me say that again. Wattpad takes as much as it gives. Some people can handle that, but there are some that can't. They get lost in Wattpad and they need to leave it to find themselves again. It's good for them to leave. I get it.
I have said it over and over in my writings that Wattpad is not the "be all end all" to your writing. Wattpad is how you write, not why you write. You could write anything, anywhere. You just happen to be here at this moment, sharing yourself here. Don't mistake your popularity on Wattpad with the reason your writing exists. Your writing is more than Wattpad could ever be.
Someday, not anytime soon I think, I will be a grey little symbol of death here on Wattpad. You will look for me and find user not found and wonder (or not) what the hell ever happen to that loud mouthed ex-homicide detective who thought he could chase words and catch them. You know, that guy who thought he knew everything (he does, by the way) about everything. Don't over think it. He did know everything, especially when it was time to get off the stage. Good for him.