[Serious] Future of the Forums (Discussion)

[Rev. Rye]

The issues should be resolved for the time being.

Let's hope the stray cat you no doubt had to feed to the server did not have to die in vain.

[GrandizerII]

Maybe a good option is to hand the forum over to a group of people whom you can trust to take good care of it (and who are willing to collectively pay for the costs of managing it) rather than to one particular individual? Or is that not feasible?

Just noticed Valkyrie's post. Ninja'd.

[arewethereyet]

I can understand not wanting to keep something running that you aren't interested in any more. I think the important thing is to find someone (or multiple someones) who will protect the privacy of the forum members and behind the scenes info or shut it down. That said, it makes me sad to think of having to either find a new forum landing place or just move away from forums altogether.

Hopefully there won't be the bitter meltdown here that was the end of TTA. *sigh*

[Rhizomorph13]

Sad to see the place go but activity here has gone down a bit. When I'm not busy at work I check in but I'm pretty busy most of the time so I rarely take time to engage. Thank you Tibs for your years of keeping this place running. It has been a great time and I've learned a lot by engaging with the members here. May you and Shell B have long and prosperous lives!

Hopefully someone takes over. Wasn't Darwinian here a minute ago...

I remember him starting a forum a few years ago...

Dar?

[Silver]

You could all go over to Atheist Discussion, just saying.

[Macoleco]

Passing it to someone else may be the best choice.

I don’t know if there is another forum like this one, so if it dies I would have to look for another one.

[arewethereyet]

You could all go over to Atheist Discussion, just saying.

No thank you.

[LadyForCamus]

You could all go over to Atheist Discussion, just saying.

It’s not the same. AF just...feels like home. 😔

[Athene]

I've long been under the impression that there are other forum administrators who are able and willing to deal with the majority of site operations/maintenance. In assuming as much, it seems apparent to me that Tiberius is willing to allow the forum to continue as normal so long as members are willing to cover the server costs. Which I totally understand, tbh. I wouldn't want to foot the bill for something I don't use either, as a matter of principle.

If such is actually the case, this matter could easily be resolved by enough forum members ponying up a few dollars for the cost of operations. It's like what, $56 or something? Even less, when taking the existing Patreons into account. 
Not gonna lie--I don't care about AF enough to foot most of the site costs. However, I do feel it provides sufficient interest and amusement to warrant kicking in a few bucks a month. I don't do Patreon, but I'm willing to make a lump sum donation quarterly or every 6 months or so, so long as I continue to using the site.

Now some people can't afford anything, and I understand this. But it stand to reason that enough people who "loooove" AF and call it "home" could be bothered to contribute 1-5 bucks a month to help ensure that the site remains as is. Not an indictment of any persons in particular, btw--Just food for thought. We're talking like, 40 some dollars a month or so. There's no reason that should be a mountain this forum can't manage to climb.

[Rev. Rye]

You could all go over to Atheist Discussion, just saying.

It’s not the same. AF just...feels like home. 😔

I used to belong to a few other forums, and they petered out before dying, but in those cases, they just became too toxic. Meanwhile, I've had close to ten years on this forum, and the prospect of it dying like this... it feels like it'd be slightly less traumatic than seeing my father die.

And with Thena's post, I decided to swallow my pride as a cheap bastard and become a Patreon.