Closing the HTUK Forum
Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 8:57 pm
Hi everyone,
Firstly I'd like to apologise to anyone who has contacted me recently to reset passwords etc and hasn't had a response. This post should explain why.
As some have commented the forum is not being actively monitored and hasn't been for a long while now. Following the recent possible data breach it has highlighted this more than ever. After discussions we have decided that is better to close it to new posts now to prevent further abuse and preserve what information is there without it being lost in a sea of spam and without risking people's details. The information contained within the forum will become read only and no new posts will be possible in any forums. All current user accounts will be removed so that no information about individuals is left on the server and this of course means no new user accounts can be created.
When the site started back in 2004 we would never have dreamt it would have become what it did. At its peak we had 200 people on the forum at the same time and members from all over the world! We've experimented with Photo Galleries, a chatroom, Wiki and we have been through a number of redesigns (whether you liked the redesigns or not is another matter!)
With the good times there has been the testing times, including the mass exodus of people in 2007/2008 and the data loss in 2018, caused by me removing a no longer used sub-domain that the databases had been linked to after a hosting server move which I found out afterwards.
Since this time most people have moved onto the HTUK Facebook group, which has been a natural progression for the majority of forums in my experience. This is where Dave spends most of his time.
While all of this has gone on I have gone from GCSE's to A Levels, University and onto my current position IT Manager of 4 sites in 3 countries. So the available time I have to spend on the site is significantly less that it was in the past.
This coupled with some very difficult and private matters in our family in recent years, the forum took a back seat.
All of this considered, we hope the majority of you will understand this decision.
Aidan
Note - Dave may be following this up with more information shortly, at this time we havent set a date for stopping posts.
If anyone still active wants a copy of their information (pictures / post contents) please ask and I'll pull together what I can in one file to send to you.
If you would still like your password reset please get in touch and I can do this for now.
Firstly I'd like to apologise to anyone who has contacted me recently to reset passwords etc and hasn't had a response. This post should explain why.
As some have commented the forum is not being actively monitored and hasn't been for a long while now. Following the recent possible data breach it has highlighted this more than ever. After discussions we have decided that is better to close it to new posts now to prevent further abuse and preserve what information is there without it being lost in a sea of spam and without risking people's details. The information contained within the forum will become read only and no new posts will be possible in any forums. All current user accounts will be removed so that no information about individuals is left on the server and this of course means no new user accounts can be created.
When the site started back in 2004 we would never have dreamt it would have become what it did. At its peak we had 200 people on the forum at the same time and members from all over the world! We've experimented with Photo Galleries, a chatroom, Wiki and we have been through a number of redesigns (whether you liked the redesigns or not is another matter!)
With the good times there has been the testing times, including the mass exodus of people in 2007/2008 and the data loss in 2018, caused by me removing a no longer used sub-domain that the databases had been linked to after a hosting server move which I found out afterwards.
Since this time most people have moved onto the HTUK Facebook group, which has been a natural progression for the majority of forums in my experience. This is where Dave spends most of his time.
While all of this has gone on I have gone from GCSE's to A Levels, University and onto my current position IT Manager of 4 sites in 3 countries. So the available time I have to spend on the site is significantly less that it was in the past.
This coupled with some very difficult and private matters in our family in recent years, the forum took a back seat.
All of this considered, we hope the majority of you will understand this decision.
Aidan
Note - Dave may be following this up with more information shortly, at this time we havent set a date for stopping posts.
If anyone still active wants a copy of their information (pictures / post contents) please ask and I'll pull together what I can in one file to send to you.
If you would still like your password reset please get in touch and I can do this for now.