It was tough to let go of the original forum.
Reading through all the comments, and seeing what it meant to people, I found myself wavering back and forth about whether to keep it going or not.
In the end it was nothing to do with money. It was a combination of technical and compliance issues. The EU GDPR compliance issue was not insurmountable. But the upcoming Online Safety Bill now going through parliament will make it very difficult for anyone who runs a forum. The intent of the legislation is laudable, it’s just that complying with it is going to be a technical and logistical nightmare. Failure to comply will result in potentially very large fines.
Will it return? Never say never, but right now we have this new format. Not at all the same I realise. Nevertheless, there is the option to login and comment on posts. Nested comments are possible too. There is no direct user to user communication which means that blogs or news sites like this with comments below are thankfully not covered by the forthcoming legislation.
Going forward, I hope that some of the old guard and maybe even a few new ones might send in contributions about which readers will be able to comment.
Once again I am in awe of all the amazing contributors to the forum and the incredible dedication of all the moderators. I know there is some disappointment and maybe a little anger too, understandable, but just wanted to give an insight into the reasons why the forum closed.
And also to say goodbye, on behalf of all members past and present, to that era.
Forum is no more. Welcome to F.O.R.U.M
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