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

@Velocio Don't even know what to say. Thanks for everything mate.

refers to this place IRL as just 'the forum'

massively, even fairly casual aquaintences of mine don't need further clarification when i mention The Forum.

So often I've discussed how this place is such a great cross section of society. There's no doubt some fairly serious skewing, but its not just an echo chamber of matching opinions, there's always someone who will have had personal experience of whatever it is you're looking into, its just the best.

Companies can be fined up to £18 million or 10 percent of their qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.

I imagine the first part could be avoided be setting up as a limited liability company.

Criminal action can be taken against senior managers who fail to ensure companies follow information requests from Ofcom. Ofcom will also be able to hold companies and senior managers (where they are at fault) criminally liable if the provider fails to comply with Ofcom’s enforcement notices in relation to specific child safety duties or to child sexual abuse and exploitation on their service.

This is obviously more concerning although it isn't really clear what the responsibility is and it seems OFCOM haven't really decided yet either. I guess more will become clear in the new year when they launch the guidance tools for small companies but I can see why velocio may not want to bear this risk.

That’s the thing, I and others could convince you to continue at risk, albeit a small one. But should it materialise (in a big way) we wouldn’t be able to bail you out.

Instead of nuking the site, could you put it on ice in the possibility of a reversal/clarification in policy?

if a cash injection could change things, count me in

What are the chances of keeping a static backup? Even if it is cryosleep of some kind; lest an alternative platform comes together in the longer term. I can move to other platforms, it's the historical record that I am personally saddest to lose.

I cant imagine youve not exhausted absolutely every avenue, but is there no way to insulate yourself from the risks financial and otherwise by forming a company to run LFGSS?

Would be good to crawl the site and push it into archive

Can we feed the whole thing into an LLM and host it somewhere so that it can talk to us "as" the forum.

Only half joking?

"LFGSS, what is the going rate for an Aerospoke and from whom can I purchase one?"

"LFGSS, how many bones in object's body remain unbroken?"

"LFGSS, ruminate for me upon the topic of drivers of cars that have unexpectedly caught fire whilst looking at their expensive watch on the way to a golf club"

Such sad news
.
Did my jokes have anything to do with the decision to shut it down?
.
Could we end things in style with a closing down sale ride
.
Peace and love to all the amazing people on here particularly those who are no longer with us ....

What are the chances of keeping a static backup?

I think I'd actually be in compliance with the law if no-one could comment.

So one option is to break the authentication, expire all current authentication... and then the whole site is read-only.

But this costs £400 per month at the lower end to operate... so I could only do that for a short while.

Also note: a static dump... of what exactly? You're also lifting authentication controls from a lot of content that was never intended to be public. We would need to also exclude a hell of a lot.

"LFGSS, why IS Lynchman?"

Thanks. You have explained it clear enough for everyone to understand reasons why.
And I totally agree with you, whatever legal support you may muster from forum goers, there is always a schmuck out there with a bigger checkbook that can easily employ multiple lawyers - one of the reasons I did not pursue my law career, just can't stand spineless, no morals people.

Basically anything that doesn't requite authentication. You could try pointing wget at the homepage now and crawling it, then pushing the outcome into github or similar.

Edit: I might actually do that at some point

Blimey @Velocio this must be a kick in the feels.. I am like many eternally grateful for everything you have given to our forum..

I vote for a massive bike pile and perhaps an old school message board somewhere like LMNH in the future.. oh wait, ffs..

I do hope there is an archive to tap into, so many memories, memes, quotes, pics

I don't have an immediate idea to the running costs issue. But do you need to lift authentication to disable new posts, comments and DMs? If it becomes a platform you need to login to read, but no writing is possible either way, then no user communication is possible. Would that keep you out of the firing line temporarily?

I was more erring towards making sure there's a hard copy of the database somewhere which could be revived if a solution came about though. Cryosleep. You can't talk to a cryosleep person.

I just feel like the niche types of people who are losing out here are the niche types of people who might come up with a community solution eventually. Rather than expecting you to come up with a solution for the whole country @Velocio.

Shit! shit! SHIT! This is aweful news.So sad to read.

If there is no way forward; Velocio, whose baby it is, wants to close then everything has a lifespan and this is it, then that's their call and I very very sadly understand, your personal safety and life must come first. No matter how sad bad this is, I'm not wrecking the life of another.Thak you Velocio for all you have done and to all of those who have helped, taught me, made me laugh and been on the odd ride with.

Of course IF there is some last minute comeback and if it includes money, count me in, if there is a way I hope it's found.

Time for a Death Ride. Shall we have a list?

1. DoubtfulAce
   

Just the public content which was mostly bike stuff and is now mostly kitchen renos...

Scrape it or something and stick it in static S3 website bucket type dealio.

Then find shit on Ofcom staffers computers and have the whole organisation shut down for hate crimes.

If there is no way forward; Velocio, whose baby it is, wants to close then everything has a lifespan and this is it, then that's their call and I very very sadly understand, your personal safety and life must come first. No matter how sad bad this is, I'm not wrecking the life of another.Thak you Velocio for all you have done and to all of those who have helped, taught me, made me laugh and been on the odd ride with.

This was basically what I came here to write.... Whatever else, thanks @Velocio for doing this all in the first place

Fuck, genuinely feeling gutted. This place has been a huge part of my life, people here got me through some of the lowest points of my existence, I changed career through my time here, met my wife at forum drinks, have made some friends, possibly made more enemies, it’s my Google/mumsnet when I have a question.

This is devastating news.

LFGSS changed my life and made it so much better.

US sites typically just block access from EU so they have no exposure to GDPR. So much for information wanting to be free.