So, now that Hexus is kinda defunct

[Jonatron]

Hexus as a static site should be easy and cheap to keep going. I suppose there's archive.org for things on the forum that you think are particularly worth saving.

[ik9000]

Good point. We might have to just nuke the forum completely. I see some people, including in this thread, have what looks like a real name as their username, which makes it more tricky to hang onto forum posts.

I've seen some old forums make the whole thing inaccessible to view unless logged in and then block any new members from creating accounts, essentially making it a closed community. It loses 3rd party websearch ability but does preserve access to old content for those who might want it.

[Jonj1611]

New user signup was turned off some time ago

[Output]

It seems DR now has a senior position at Corsair(congrats!). I think the guy who founded JonnyGuru also left for Corsair,and eventually the person who tried to run it for years also didn't have the time. It's a shame as a lot of those reviews are now permanently lost to the sands of time.

Edit!!

BOXFX was also bought up by Corsair.

A big congratulations to DR for that then, well done.

[AGTDenton]

Would the same closure be happening over at Bit-Tech?
Just thinking if that stays open we could find everyone over there

[Saracen999]

Would the same closure be happening over at Bit-Tech?
Just thinking if that stays open we could find everyone over there

Given the heritage of both sites, I'd think if one closes fully, the other won't be far behind. I would be very surprised if this site closed and Bittech remained open as HEXUS was kinda his baby, back in pre-history. But, though I was warned (by DR) in advance of the bombshell changes here (and the Corsair job, nice one David) my comment on this is based on absolutely zero knowledge of his plans for HEXUS since then, and no word from him at all recently on this. i.e. 100% speculation by me.

[Percy1983]

I would be sad to see this place go, it seems forums are slowly disappearing for reddit/discord/social media etc yet its on of the only formats that works for me well. But I can't expect the world to stand still based on my preferences.

[Rob_B]

.... i.e. 100% speculation by me.

We need to start a speculation thread then for the next move by DR

My idea is HEXcoins, I will buy precisely 0 of them

[Rob_B]

Just thinking out loud here but I think I struggle to move to anywhere else as HEXUS was one of the first places I ever felt I fitted in with its nerdy PC modding community etc (maybe MadOnion to some extent)

PC stuff was sort of a wild west whereas a lot (not all) modding now is just 'buy the thing/RGB and install it' - Not that I'm being an old git and complaining about progress and how its become more accesible as I think that's also great but personally I don't find as much community around it.

Getting older also changes stuff doesn't it, time ticks on, I'll genuinely be sad when/if I lose this place.

[Saracen999]

We certainly change as we get older. Couldn't agree more, Rob.

A lot of the world has moved on, too, and the Twitter/FB etc revolution happened, I guess, but to me they're not an alternative to a place like this and the appeal to me is, well, about the same as the appeal of a dose of rabies. So, personally, not going there. It's not really even about the data vampirism, though that sure don't help. It's more than the whole ethos doesn't float my boat.

There are still forums, though. Not on the scale there used to be, and probably not of the size (in general). They also tend to a bit more niche, and probably with a demographic tending towards older. I belong to a few, but don't visit any on a regular basis. It's a utilitarian thing, not an online 'home' to me.

[cptwhite_uk]

Exactly. Forums become a community, and an online home of sorts. Facebook groups have somewhat helped with the transition, but they don't replace the spirit and community you can get on a forum like this, with it's decades long users interacting.

[cheesemp]

I still pop along and read a few posts. I don't pop in as often as I used to as Hexus was as much a tech news site as a forum but I've always felt like coming here was a little like coming home. My old family home was knocked down a few years ago so I guess this site shutting would feel similar...

I do understand if it does go but would be nice to set something else to replace it. Its nice to chat tech without 15 people jumping on me for being wrong (reddit) or being ignored (LTT). I would also hope the threads on spacein_vader could be kept for his kids to check in on occasion (and I'm guess there may well be others users no longer with us who should be preserved I'm aware of).

[ik9000]

dumb question but how much does it actually cost to run hexus forums? With a closed user base of long term members how much liability risk is there from running it assuming mods keep doing their thing?

Reddit is a hell hole of shouty people and idiots who downvote sound advice because of reasons I don't understand and awful nested comments that make it impossible to track and easy to miss replies/conversations. Rumour is reddit will go shareholder model soon and then someone will take it over and Musk it into a worse state. I'm not sure it's worth trying to migrate there for now tbh.
Anything linked to Zuckerberg can go jump
I tried a few other forums. One in particular seems to be dominated by, errr, forthright people who I don't share views with. Is that politic enough? I don't mind difference of opinion but when it is applied en-masse via sledgehammer I struggle.
Discord kind of works but similar to reddit it seems to be more IRT chat orientated than a read-all style.

I guess I'm old too. I like the forum format and particularly Hexus' implementation of it.

[Rob_B]

...I tried a few other forums. One in particular seems to be dominated by, errr, forthright people who I don't share views with. Is that politic enough? I don't mind difference of opinion but when it is applied en-masse via sledgehammer I struggle.....

I've made a similar comment about 'another place' before, definitely lots of opinions on there I don't want to get involved with...let's hope we're not on the opposite side of things

[ik9000]

I've made a similar comment about 'another place' before, definitely lots of opinions on there I don't want to get involved with...let's hope we're not on the opposite side of things

Even if we were I'd assume we'd be civil and seek to listen to each other's PoV. Time was people could discuss things and learn from each other, see new perspectives, maybe even, God forbid, change one's opinion. That does not seem to be the norm anymore. It is puzzling to me, and somewhat concerning.

[Saracen999]

dumb question but how much does it actually cost to run hexus forums? With a closed user base of long term members how much liability risk is there from running it assuming mods keep doing their thing?

....

How much would it cost to run a forum similar to Hexus, with just us old timers? I'd say, oh, in the region of, I mean approx, about ... £0.00.

But these actual forums? They've been customised, I'm told, some of which might no longer be relevant. And it'll depend what server they're on, and what (if anything) else is running on it. For those, and a few other reasons, I doubt anyone other than DR could answer that and even he might well not be able to isolate just the forum component.

Then, there's the vBulletin licence. That used to be a perpetual licence (and I still have one or two unused) BUT, it went (IIRC) to a suscription model some years ago. I assume those old perpetual licences are still valid but, haven't checked.

It is certainly possible to run a small low-volume vbulletin forum on a VPS at a £10/month or so. But, getting this actual code, and the database, transferred, even if we had a licence and assuming DR agreed, wouldn't be entirely trivial. My Cpanel and VBulletn skills are, well, not just old but kinda atrophied.

Another option is to shift to one of the free forums (ProBoards, maybe) where it would be easy enough to create something closed where we could all chat but, unless DR approved it, I don't feel inclined to do it. If he is going to shut this down, then maybe it'll just keep us all in contact, but if he has any such plans I'm sure not aware of it, and I'm loathe to even plan on that until he lets us know its going. Porting forum content from VBB to PB? Beyond my experience, and a non-starter anyway unless DR was okay with that.

I don't know if the mods are aware of any plans. I'd guess not, or it's maybe not for public consumption. Yet.

Or it may be that this site is running on a server that DR still has other uses for, and he's content to let us just sit here indefinitely. Dunno. I'm assuming that to be the case until he or someone on his behalf tells me otherwise,