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

I don't think Ofcom is ready for a big fight with X, This may be unrealistic but Musk could just ask Trump to put huge tariffs on the UK unless Ofcom either exempt X or repeals most of the OSA...

The OSA would be repealed over night if that happend.

Pretty devastated to hear this news. I’m not an especially active member but I’ve been lurking on lfgss virtually every day since about 2007.

I fucking hate the internet, practically every other hobby forum I’ve found is always full of dickheads. This is the only place on the internet that isn’t ruined. It is genuinely unique. I’d miss it massively.

But I don’t think any of us should be admitting defeat too soon. I find it hard to believe that this community won’t be able to find an effective solution, there’s just no way we can simply let it die.

I am always staggered by the fact that @Velocio has kept up this place ad free never monetized. Word can’t express my gratitude to you.

This isn’t good bye, lfgss will live on :)

I'm not someone who has ever used this forum, but I am very much against this bill and came here from discussions elsewhere.

Have you perhaps considered contacting Ofcom to clarify about this uncertainty? Or maybe your local MP?

people don't 'hate' cyclists

They definitely do.

(except that one time @hippy appeared after I was punched in the face)

I have no recollection of this. But I have no recollection of a lot of things.

I am always staggered by the fact that @Velocio has kept up this place ad free never monetized

I'll out myself as an anti-capitalist... Or rather I have a fundamental belief in privacy, that for us to have a democracy we require privacy at it's core, which means virtually no surveillance, etc.

I just couldn't bring myself to build what the rest of the internet has become. Some of what this law represents is that, from my perspective. My rejection of this is on so many fronts.

As velocio has mentioned, people from here have already made threats and stalked velocio. Even his actual address signed up for porn spam.

Why would any one person open themselves up to abuse and possible stress and legal reprocussions for this.

Why does it have to be a real person? If the whole admin tier was just pushed to anonymous/bullshit contact info and run like Critical Mass with "no organiser"?

Pay the hosting bills with brown paper envelopes of cash :)

Yeah, I'm more than tempted to write a "how to save this, the punk and non-compliant way".

Which is technically trivial to do, but 100% involves me not being in the picture afterwards.

They definitely do.

No, they don't.

It's behind you.

No, it's not.

Oh yes, it is, etc.

I'll out myself as an anti-capitalist... Or rather I have a fundamental belief in privacy, that for us to have a democracy we require privacy at it's core, which means virtually no surveillance, etc.

I just couldn't bring myself to build what the rest of the internet has become. Some of what this law represents is that, from my perspective. My rejection of this is on so many fronts.

And very much to your credit. #bringbackrep What has been 'built' is not only simply stultifying and depressing, but also extremely dangerous (we're seeing it in manipulated elections, increasing market domination by large companies, ruin of people who don't want to exploit the ridiculous competitive advantage over the Internet, completely unsustainable logistics (delivering each parcel ordered on a whim individually from x number of delivery companies) and crazy transport all over the world, etc.). No-one should hold as much data as anti-social media companies do, certainly not even governments.

Porsche forum has, weirdly, taken the suggestion that there’s some stuff coming down the pipe that it would be wise to examine and comply with, as saying he’s been shit at running his forum for the last ten years.

He clearly believes he hasn’t been, so zero action needed- indeed, any action is an admission that he’s been doing it wrong.

So! An empirical test for what non-compliance results in.

Great idea.

That's interesting. How is 'news' classified? Do we not have 'news' here - news about a huge variety of things.

@Velocio - are there exemptions to the legislation? Someone has mentioned that 'news' sites are exempt? This may be a way to continue although some parts of the current site may have to move/cease - sales etc.

I watched that Pirate Bay film but I forget which countries don't have extradition laws...

:D

Do you have a link?

They moved it into the members section I’m afraid.

e-Residency?
https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/

My mate was talking about this. He's based in Portugal (favourable property tax) and may already be running a company from Estonia (favourable corp tax). I should have a closer look but anything that could obfuscate the owners and/or remove UK residency legal impacts could be useful.

report them if LFGSS closes down 😂

I respect you for wanting to not want any serious repercussions from this whole shindig and thank you so much for doing it for as long as you have :) :) I love this place you have built, as many others have.

I would rather this be handed to someone overseas, for all the bad it may bring instead of not having it btw.

Giving @dinosaurpt proposed letter after adding a couple of further pieces added - please do flag up other articles that provide a sympathetic view, particularly if they're major news outlet (less niche the better).

You can find who your local MP is here

Dear [local MP],

I am writing to you about the Online Safety Act due to come into force March 17th 2025.

Ofcom has published advice pertaining to the categorisation and requirements for user-to-user internet services (i.e. services that allow users to create/upload and share content).

Specifically, this advice sets out the obligation for any service with links to the UK to:

someone please fill this in with the requirements applicable to all or multi-risk services.

The Secretary of State must now consider this advice and pass regulations to a make it into law.

The act, which clearly was originally meant to target tech companies (as evidenced by Ofcom’s frequent use of terms “companies”, “businesses” and “tech companies” in its literature), was set out in such broad and vague terms that small online forums such as those owned and operated by sports clubs, hobby societies and other special interest community groups, will now become regulated services.

These forums and message boards are used by the groups to communicate and organise themselves and, particularly since Covid, have become extremely important spaces, bringing people with common interests together, serving as an important outlet for personal development and expression and being an effective avenue to combat loneliness and social isolation (which are in current times their own epidemic). In many cases, communities exist solely within the realm of these online forums.

These platforms are most often ran by volunteers in a personal capacity or as members of non-profit organisations and the overly onerous and complex compliance effort required to meet the proposed requirements as well as the personal liability risk faced by the individuals operating these forums, pose a serious threat to their continued existence.

I believe regulation serves an important purpose, particularly where it pertains to the online safety of our children, and applaud its introduction. However, the proposed requirements, in their current form, will have a disproportionate impact on the above mentioned communities. They will then be faced with the choice of using commercial internet service providers (where most abusive and dangerous content is actually disseminated, as illustrated by Ofcom’s own research) or simply cease to exist.

[insert personal impact statement (e.g. I personally am a member of…) or delete}

The national media seems to have only just picked up on this issue. Please see below for some relevant news reporting:

Hundreds of websites to shut down under UK’s ‘chilling’ internet laws
Hundreds of small websites may shut down due to UK's Online Safety Act
Death Of A Forum: How The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Killing Communities
Britain's online safety rules come into force, and sites are already shutting down.

I therefore politely request that you to look into this matter and intercede with the Secretary of State to consider incorporating changes into the advice received from Ofcom, to align the requirements with the nature, size and resources of these self-organized communities (which are an expression of the centuries-old British tradition of associativism), minimising the impact of the act in their operation and ensuring their continued existence.

Kind regards

I've just recently done a load of research on setting up a legal entity in Europe. Estonia is pretty good, but Netherlands or Belgium are probably better - and in the former you can do it in English too. Happy to share more.... (I'm currently out)