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The Forums Future


Rich
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It's coming to the point where the forum license needs renewing in a couple of weeks. We can still use the forum without the license but it means I can no longer apply updates, especially security ones or contact the help desk for any issues I can't sort, which has been very few. The license costs $55 for 6 months so about £94 a year.

The hosting is also up for renewal in a month's time, the cheapest price for that is £40 a year.

I am also trying to get the domain name transferred to me as Tony let the owners of Blackboots handle the renewal so I don't have an access to it ATM. That's only a tenner though. If I can't get it then I would need to transfer the forum to a new domain name.

The donations (which have dwindled to hardly anything) covered some of the cost and Tony used to pay the rest but I obviously don't want to pay all of this myself.

So I'm after your thoughts. Do you want to keep the forum, are you willing to contribute to the financial costs of running it or shall we let it go with Tony? It's just going to be shame to let 15 years of his work go to waste and all of the information he has built up over the years.

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If there aren't enough contributors and it must go, we will still have the knowledge that it was Tony's passion and he wanted to communicate with the world. He wanted to build this all up and he succeeded.

It is such a terrible shame. However, it would need all of us to put to it and you are right - you couldn't and shouldn't do it alone. I'll contribute.

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Spot on Andy, it can't live forever and I know it'll have to go at some point. From the number of likes it seems most are in agreement. I think Tony did want me to keep it going as he mentioned it a few times but forums just aren't what they used to be. I have to admit this is the only one I really use now. I don't use them like I did 10 years a go. Some of the big ones I'm on are so quiet now.

If I can find some hosting cheap enough I'll see how long I can keep it going but I won't be paying to renew the license. I've never heard of Discord so will have a look at that but I'm assuming I wouldn't be able to transfer the database from here to that one so it would mean starting again.

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Well, it is sad that it may come to an end, but without Tony and the team giving us info about cars (HOTW was great), I'm not sure what purpose the forum serves now :(

I have enjoyed it immensely and can't thank the people here enough for everything that has been discussed and debated. It's been an incredible time, but feel it has lost its heart and soul with Tony B now gone. 

Paying out of your own pocket isn't financially wise and without WIM behind the forum what shall it be for? 

 

All I can say, and I'm sure this is echoed through all the users on here is thank you Rich for your selfless support in running and maintaining the forum. It really is one of those roles thank can be thankless and forgotten about, but we really do appreciate all you have done :thumbsup_anim:

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Thanks Adam and Geoff. I've enjoyed looking after the forum. Being a small one it doesn't need that much work really!

The forum has been more of a social platform the last few years anyway, rather than business oriented, especially when Tony was no longer at the centre.

I've checked when the hosting expires and it's the end of June so we have a couple of months left. There are plenty of forums still using old software so if I can find hosting that's cheap enough I might be able to keep it going a little bit longer.

If you have any photos and PMs you want I would suggest you save them sooner rather than later.

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On 30/04/2022 at 20:15, Rich said:

Thanks Adam and Geoff. I've enjoyed looking after the forum. Being a small one it doesn't need that much work really!

The forum has been more of a social platform the last few years anyway, rather than business oriented, especially when Tony was no longer at the centre.

I've checked when the hosting expires and it's the end of June so we have a couple of months left. There are plenty of forums still using old software so if I can find hosting that's cheap enough I might be able to keep it going a little bit longer.

If you have any photos and PMs you want I would suggest you save them sooner rather than later.

What is the total cost to keep it going for another year Rich?

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Just now, eddie said:

What is the total cost to keep it going for another year Rich?

It's £40 for the hosting, that's 12 months. The domain name expires in December and I'm trying to get that put in to my name. Or if I can't then hopefully it won't be renewed and I can buy it myself. I can't change the hosting until I get access to the domain name.

I think we'd probably get away with using the forum unlicensed for at least a year but it depends on what updates we'd no longer have access to. If the forum starts getting spammed that's easily sorted by manually approving all new registrations.

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Not much to add on what others have said, but I feel the same, don't see a huge amount of point in it continuing without Tony or WIM. Been great being a part of this, and it's really sad to see it end like this but sadly it is what it is.

As others have said huge thanks to Rich for all his hard work keeping this going, think it would have died a long time ago without you!

For the few of us who use this as a kind of social platform, perhaps a FB group or something? But the costs of running the forum does seem a bit pointless now.

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  • 4 months later...

Thanks to those who have been reporting the spam posts over the last few days. Now that the forum software isn't being paid for and we no longer get updates they are getting through the registration process!

I have now changed it so all new accounts need to be manually approved by me so I can delete the ones that aren't genuine.

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