It feels very strange to feel so sad about something as immaterial as a website, so much so that I've actually had to gather my thoughts this morning before feeling as though I could put them into words. However as somebody said in the early pages of this thread, it's not the website we'll miss - it's the community that has stemmed from the forum. The website itself is just our gathering place.
Asa, twenty years of commitment to this place is thoroughly commendable, and I completely understand your reasoning (as much as I might want to flood you with comments begging you to reconsider, though I shan't). Your dedication has allowed this virtual public square to flourish. I for one know that I wouldn't be where I am in my career without this place, and I know I'm not alone. Therefore I feel as though I owe you much personal gratitude for giving us this site to escape and act like absolute nerds with zero fear of judgment.
I've been here for exactly ten years, which I thought was good going until I saw how many founding members are still around. I began lurking when it was announced that GMTV was being replaced with Daybreak, and started posting something like eight months later. In my early days (I shudder with cringe), The Gallery served as somewhere for me to be creative and work on my then non-existent skills. Now I design graphics for a living. (Please see my early mocks as proof that you can achieve anything).
I check in on this website sporadically throughout my day, and often evening. I scroll through bleary-eyed, coffee in hand, as I try and activate my brain before I start work. I avoid the work I can't bring myself to get on with by simply typing "t" into my browser and letting autofill do the rest. And I pick my phone up from under my pillow and see what's being said late into the night when I can't sleep. It is fully a part of my daily routine. Typing that "t" is often done subconsciously, this place is so engrained into my daily life.
Whilst we can all get annoyed at times with certain posts, or certain posters, this community should be thoroughly smug with itself over the polite and rational manner in which it operates on the whole. We are overwhelmingly an extremely friendly group, and we need to remember that this place is a far cry from most of the internet on that front.
This announcement has genuinely really shocked me, and to think that we have less than a month left around here is honestly really saddening. But alas, Asa must do what is best for him. You must always put yourself first.
I know that I'll be joining Rob's forum over on TV Live when it opens, and I hope most others will be doing as well. I know there will undoubtedly be people who do not survive the transition, so to them I say thank you for being a part of this community and contributing to make it what it was been.
I'll end how I opened, it feels odd to be so sad about a website. But this isn't a website, it's an online village hall, and it serves to give us a space in which we can be that community.
I don't know why but I never envisioned this place closing. It feels like too much of a (very niche) institution to shut up shop.
I know I'll relish this final month, and with a much deeper sense of gratitude to Asa and the team for their hard and thankless work. Please everybody, make it easy for them.
Must have been quite a feat to manage this website for twenty years! I was here back in the early few months as I recall, I was definitely here for September 11th.
I am showing my age, who remembers Lee Bedwood? And then!?!
Sad news, but I think I get the reasons. I must admit it's not TV Forum for me but TV pres generally that has got less interesting. Channels don't seem to care about it anymore and with ever shrinking budgets I can't see that changing.
Thanks Asa for bringing the inner geek out in me, it was genuinely comforting to realise that it wasn't just me who got up early to watch Breakfast Time and TV-am just to see their titles and graphics, remembered fondly the cakes and flying fish-fingers which were nothing to do with food, and got very irate when text got squashed or someone used the wrong font.
I'll never forget the exciting times when a locked thread was unlocked - often at silly o'clock in the morning - and we all saw a new ident or graphics refresh for the first time and struggled to watch it and keep up with the hundreds of posts here at the same time!
..... and we all saw a new ident or graphics refresh for the first time and struggled to watch it and keep up with the hundreds of posts here at the same time!
Obviously for continuity reasons (pun intended) the most seamless outcome would be to just hand it all over to someone else. But there are a couple of reasons for not doing that...
The site runs bespoke software. I wouldn't want to stay on as a technical contact or convert it over. Plus it's much easier to create a forum of your own these days. Within hours you could own a domain name and have a one-click hosting solution to set up a forum from scratch. And for better or worse, I'd like "TV Forum" to be judged on this era. A new site won't have any prejudice because of the members who post here, or what they post. A fresh start will allow someone to have their rules and their members.
In any case, bearing in mind it's Asa's site, it's entirely down to him what happens to TV Forum. He's explained his stance, and we accept it, with our grateful thanks to him for keeping things running behind the scenes for so long.
I've only been a member on here for just shy of two years. Nevertheless, I have to say that I've had a great time on TV Forum and it's been incredible being surrounded by people who wouldn't question why I'm watching a video of a balloon!
It'll be sad to see it go as it's almost become routine for me in a way. But the reasons for you doing so are more than understandable. Thanks for these past two years and here's to 20 years of TV Forum (not bad at all if you ask me)!
Can only echo what others have said, really sad news.
This site is genuinely one of the nicest places I've come across online, with a real community feel. It's also one of the best maintained and most functional sites I've used, and Asa deserves an enormous amount of credit for that.
It's been a pleasure chatting to you all, even with the odd disagreement here and there!
