SE23/SE26.life are no more

[stuart]

I just posted this on SE23.COM:

Sad to see the demise of any community forum.

All I can say is I appreciate Foresthull's work in keeping them alive in the difficult circumstances after the previous owner decided to dump them. It's a thankless task. It's unfortunate that no way could be found to continue it in some other form. It looks as if a significant archive of Forest Hill' s history will also disappear.

[Homecroft]

Sad for the community.

Really do hope dot.com can step back up and maybe freshen up a bit ready to welcome new and returning members.

[JGD]

It would seem se26.life has been formally closed today on 9 May 2022 and the landing page replaced with an RIP message.

SE23.life has not yet been given the same treatment although it remains the case that posts cannot be made on the site.

[JRW]

The closure is a huge loss, as it was easy and intuitive to upload documents and images. That allowed people to see what was being discussed, without laborious explanations.

Is there any chance that STF could adapt to allow this too? I'm told that posting images is possible, but I simply can't do this, and I'm not alone. The photos that were posted years ago have all disappeared, which is particularly sad on the Town Museum board.

[stuart]

The photos that were posted years ago have all disappeared, which is particularly sad on the Town Museum board.

Ahem - the very first post in the Museum is full of images - posted in 2007!
https://sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1500

Images disappear because the owner has removed them or their hosting arrangements have lapsed. Difficult? The very next post details how you can post them an there is always help here.

Hosting them on the forum itself takes considerable space which is always increasing and has to be paid for. You don't have to look far to see that this has contributed to the closure of neighbourhood forums (I'm not referring to SE23/SE26.life). It also introduces the threat of legal action if the copyright is disputed or the member uses the facility to upload abusive images that are not shown on the forum but can be exploited elsewhere.

In other words uploading introduces a higher level of complexity and management. Convenience comes at a cost and makes handing it on more difficult. That's why pgpBB (this forum's software) doesn't have the feature in-built. The facility is available as an extension if the STF Admin decides to install it.

Stuart

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[syd]

Hi Admin,
Thanks for keeping this forum going. With your support we have a Nandos and the monstrosity is getting a makeover!!
Syd

[stuart]

I'm pleased to see the owner of SE26.life has put an archive of the site online: https://se26.life/archived.html

Archiving SE23.life will be a couple of magnitudes greater task so, I guess, we will have to be a little more patient.

Stuart