LFGSS and Microcosm shutting down 16th March 2025 (the day before the Online Safety Act is enforced)

@Velocio can you unban lynchman for the final 24hours?

LFGSS really has its own identity that is rare to find online in current times. It comes from the atmosphere of community, from the pleasing functionality of the platform itself, and the level of activity accumulated over years of uptime. Facebook, Reddit and Discord were never able to fill the space left after the old era of internet forums ended, as they didn't have the structure for fostering thoughtful discussion or developing a communal knowledge base.

It would be a huge shame to see this corner of the internet go dark. Hopefully something can be done.

Fuck, I have to do work now? Fuck.

That's the spirit.

This is horrible.

I moved house a couple of weeks ago, pretty far away. While sitting alone eating in a restaurant I noticed someone ogling my bike. Caught up with them and they recognised the forum sticker. Apparently they hadn't been on for something like 10 years but it got us chatting.

It reminded me of how many people I've been able to connect with over the years. I'm in touch with more people on here than anywhere else in life, and I know that serious loneliness is coming if the place does shut down.
I guess I'll head over to whatever bits of the forum make it over to Discord etc but it's not really going to be the same is it.

I guess I'll head over to whatever bits of the forum make it over to Discord etc but it's not really going to be the same is it.

It will be the people remaining connected that makes the difference.

It won't matter if the forum exists or not... in many ways it's just about the stories we tell, and the mistakes in the retelling, that keep people bonded.

The trick at this point is just to stay connected, and to connect more IRL... Discord can be the glue, but the forum won't exist in the future.

It's always been about people.

so do we move to reddit or discord i cant believe the gov will remove something so significant to internet
culture

I'm not in the UK. Just mail me the server and i'll hook it up here (:

the government doesn't give a flying fuck about internet culture

fucking hell.
not sure what to say really.

lufguss is probably the first thing I check in the morning, and the last thing before I go to sleep (and look at in the middle of the night when I can't)

and now I've got to explain to my wife and kids that I'm going to be grumpy and depressed because an internet forum is closing down.

thanks @Velocio for all the work, it really has meant a huge amount to me and countless others.

I really hope lufguss can continue in some way, even if it does have to be on fucking discord, because I don't really know what else is going to fill the void.

lolz, remember when we had a bit of excess cash from eBay affiliates, and to put it back into the community we just spent it on a booth at the bike show so that forumengers had a hangout space... zero commercial intent, just a doss area of the bike show conference, and a wall of 2k pics of the community spelling out LFGSS.

My workday routine is Open Lfgss > Open Email > Open Teams

Discord is ugly af but will hopefully help with forum withdrawals..

I'm going down with the ship... at least until my withdrawal symptoms kick in.

I ditched aus.bicycle, ditched BR, ditched twitter, bye bye cunce!

Ooh maybe I should flounce before March, like the good old days? Then finally come back as an alias for a bit...

Ooh maybe I should flounce before March, like the good old days? Then finally come back as an alias for a bit...

this is the way

as soon as I know who you are in Discord you're getting admin permissions again.

Has anyone ever considered setting up LFGSS as a bike club, maybe register with BC or something?

Grr... I'm going to have to give them my number aren't I?

Such sad news, it's enuinely my favourite thing on the Internet. An amazing hive mind and knowledge bank.

Thanks @Velocio for your work keeping things going for as long as you have, I'll miss the site immensely.

Fuckin’ hell, this feels like a kick in the nuts today.
I’ll plough through the thread after work but safe to say I won’t be able to add to any discussion on anything that keeps this place going as it’s not my realm.

Suffice to say this place has given me the absolute time of my life over the last 17(?) years: the friends, the rides, the vomiting in ditches, the camping, the fighting, the bridges and every other little thing that’s come from it, safe to say this place has been a central core of my adult life and were it not for the support of some of those on here I wouldn’t be alive and kicking today.

@Velocio, thank you for everything you’ve done for us all, I can’t put it more eloquently as others already have but fucking hell, you’re one of the good ones Boss.

Love each and every one of you fuckers.

Thanks @Velocio for all your work with this site.

I’ve not been a member for that long but I can’t imagine just how differently my journey into cycling may have gone without this forum. Its impact has been huge. I’ve met some really great people in real life because of this site, I’ve gotten so much help from kind strangers online, it’s truly been a bastion of what can be so great about the internet, and a little reminder that despite the world being an exponentially alienating and lonely place there is genuine kindness and meaningful connections still out there.

This fuckin sucks.

Would it be hilarious to suggest a big forum meet up IRL before the plug is pulled?

Discord can be the glue

I was terrible at Airfix. I didn't have the patience to do the small fiddly bits before the big bits, so I'd end up with Frankenstein's mutated fighter plane and transfers all over my hands. Discord is that kind of glue.

A cursory look at mumsnet suggests they're staying put...I know they have staff and such, but is it worth an email to them and someone like Piston Heads to understand how they're navigating this?

I think @aggi has a point though and there may still be around this? If you incorporate a Ltd company then risks to you as shareholder should be minimal and it's just the issue of what risks you face as director. Will have a more detailed read through the act when I have the time (bloody hell it's long) but if the main issue is, as aggi has flagged, a failure to comply with Ofcom notices under s109 and the transmission of false, threatening, flashing or self-harm messages by the company (ss179, 181, 183 or 184), this seems to minimise the risk quite a bit?

Edit: Just saw the width of Schedule 15 and s202. Fucking nuts - how is the internet going to work in the UK.

I know many of us are just coping hard, but surely there are thousands of independent UK forums thinking about and navigating exactly this issue without contemplating wholesale pulling the plug?

My winter wish is to transurf into a timeline where everyone realises it's a load of hot air and just carries on 🥹