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GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:11 am
by jaydub
A sad day for kiters, but Steve Hall is pulling the plug on the GWTW forum at or around May 8th.
I'll have a bit more time for other stuff. I seem to have lost (my wife would probably say wasted!) 21 days of my life on there since they changed the schema a few years back and gave you a running total of your time logged into the forum.
Trick kiting is steadily getting more and more niche.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 1:44 pm
by Ian Newham
Sad day indeed.
FA isn't so busy these days either - were a dying breed
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 8:17 pm
by Hawkerhunter
It seems to be a matter of finance forcing the closure. Such a busy forum as well. Great shame. Hope someone else can step in and keep it going.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:47 am
by Andy S
I remember I talked to Steve years ago about his hosting costs, and they were extortionate. That was when he was running the shop as well. I don't know if he ever changed provider. I expect the forum was the majority of his running costs, due to traffic, although the shop would have been serving high quality images. Even with the extra traffic over this site it really shouldn't be unmanageable unless he's letting users host video and large images on his site. I'd have thought he could keep it going comfortably with crowd-funding via his paypal tipjar. You guys are generous and we have a fraction of the GWTW user base.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:52 am
by Andy S
Someone should at least throw up a GWTW Slack or Discord chat.
Also - I wonder if someone can archive what's there? There's a lot of valuable advice and links there it would be a shame to lose.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:29 am
by Craig
I'm surprised someone hasn't offered to take it over, just how expensive can it be to run?
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:11 pm
by 711jrp
Have been discussing this on Face book and it seems there has been offers to take it over or to archive the information , but Steve would rather delete the forum completely as he needs closure but will be using the address to redirect to a new site selling second hand kites.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 1:39 pm
by Andy S
To not allow anyone to at least archive it sounds uncharacteristically selfish. Needing 'closure' sounds like more than just a financial aspect.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 6:56 pm
by Craig
Interesting, Steve didn't start either GWTW forums or the shop, he bought and took them over, it was along time ago, but still seems strange to let it die rather than hand over the reins!
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:04 pm
by Hawkerhunter
Could the closure of GWTW effect Fractured Axel. There are a lot of members on GWTW who will be looking to other Kite Forums to join. I didn't realise that the amount of traffic on a site can up costs.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:03 pm
by Craig
It may continue after all:
http://www.gwtwforum.com/index.php?topic=15933.0I hope so, It'd be a pity to see it disappear completely.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:11 pm
by 711jrp
Craig wrote:
I do hope he has a change of heart.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:40 pm
by jaydub
711jrp wrote:Craig wrote:
I do hope he has a change of heart.
Seconded, Pete.
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 7:08 pm
by Craig
Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down
Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 11:59 am
by harveystubbs
Now shut, very sad and still not sure why ?