UK Online Safety Bill... if it passes, I may have to shutter LFGSS

So where are we at...

So far I've emailed the impact assessment team and had a reply saying "Don't email us unless you're providing evidence of impact", but no guidance or help as to what evidence looks like... so I asked, and it's been silent.

I've emailed my MP... autoresponder said "We will get back to you"... no-one has yet got back.

I emailed the Secretary for Culture, Sports, Digital... no autoresponder, they may route email to /dev/null 🤷‍♀️

I am trying to investigate what "links to the UK" means... i.e. where is it defined? If anyone knows please point me in that direction. The gist here being that if it passed in this form I would consider some transfer of ownership of the domain names to someone I trust outside of the UK and then move the hosting to the EU rather than London. This has risks (see recent Freenode politics) so I would really deeply need to trust this person but I have someone in mind - and the real question is how could I remain involved without creating a "link"? If I'm not employed, we have no servers, and I have no ownership... so I'm a volunteer only, does this work, etc?

I'm also trying to assess what the real impact would be... i.e. is it feasible to fund raise a few grand to pay for lawyers to revise all T&Cs and also to create risk assessment templates for children and vulnerable adults, and what does the minimum compliance with the law even look like? But... there seems little point really asking this question now as the bill remains a draft and everyone keeps assuring me that it will be revised before it becomes law... that this is the gov wish list, but they only get to have some of their wishes come true.

So right now... I'm in a holding pattern waiting to see if I need to respond to things (if any of my emails yield replies), or waiting to see what happens next.

In so far as the emails I sent go... I reflected on why I started LFGSS in 2007 and it was because a relationship went bad and I was really low and wanted to meet people, stave off loneliness, renew myself, have fun. Meaning I wanted a place where through meeting people with a shared interest I could have a group of people with whom to do stuff, and that would help ensure a quick recovery from a period of sadness... to actively fend off risk of depression, etc.

That led me to the next question... why do I continue pouring in time and money to running not just LFGSS but other forums... why do I care? Why not just let them close?

And I realise something I said in the Microcosm pitch is deeply true. That I believe that by bringing people together around shared interests, that it helps people build friendships, relationships, and is hugely impactful at reducing loneliness and isolation - specifically in adults. And that from some of the darker threads on here, that support has helped avoid depression, reduce the impact of depression, kept people physically healthier, kept people mentally healthier, and goes a super long way to mitigate most of the risks of modern society, including the biggest killer of men under 45.

I know why I run these sites at a cost, and frankly I've concluded that the government should be paying me... not that they should be writing laws that put these kinds of sites at risk.

So my emails to MPs have focused on that... the low risk (we've no spam, take bullying and threats extremely seriously - way more than social media does), and the huge benefits (physical and mental health, one of the very few things that can actively speak of addressing loneliness and isolation in adults).