Is it the end to a great forum??

[Tony Thomas]

I tried to access the winboard forum few minutes ago and saw a detailed report from Volker..It was the first chess forum that I ever visited, at the time I didnt even know that CCC existed. Hopefully someone will decide to take over the forum, if the cost is around 100 bucks a year, I will even sponsor the cost..

Tony Sad, Tony needs some goat love.

[Graham Banks]

What does the detailed message say? I don't get that.

[Tony Thomas]

Here, knock yourself out..

Sorry, but this board is currently unavailable.
A few days ago I have decided to stop running this forum and was looking for someone who is willing to do that in the future. I got some e-mails with questions since then and hope I can answer some questions here in public.

Meanwhile some people have started to download the content of the forum. Because that causes more than 300 MB of data every time the overall traffic was getting beyond any range of fair use and I was forced to stop that activity. Unfortunately the only way to reach that goal was to deactivate the forum at all.

Thanks for everyone who send email to me in the meantime, but I think I will not change my mind and I'm not going to activate the forum again.

I renew my offer: everyone serious (preferably an active member of this forum) who is interested to run the forum can have it. You will get everything (database, forum specific files plus modifications) ready to run for free. In addition I offer my support to start it. Some modifications may be in German, I don't remember what. Some people are excluded from this offer. Readers of chess forums know who is meant.

Please make sure that your server reaches the technical specifications to run a phpBB forum: http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/2.0/

The normal traffic volume is between 100 and 400 MB per month. In case a search engine gets crazy, morons trying to make a personal copy of the forum or in case of special circumstances the traffic may exceed one GB per day. That happens seldom - possibly once per year. Maximum traffic was reached when Zappa was offered for download from the same server what caused more than 5 GB of traffic for some consecutive days. You will need around 400 MB of disk space for the database and the forum files. Of course the database is growing.

In case you are interested please contact me by e-mail: vpittlik ampersand gmx.net.




(Unfortunately I have to add that I expect an e-mail in a normal style usual between grown up people. Unsigned e-mails, such without my name in it or such consisting only of a question or a command will not be answered.)

[Graham Banks]

Thanks Tony. Let's hope that somebody is prepared to take up Volker's offer.

[Jim Ablett]

I will be very sad to see it go.
It was the Winboard forum that first sparked my interest in computer chess
and if it wasn't for Volker and WB forum I'd still be a nobody.

The fact is though that Volker's decision is correct. The site has been in decline now for many months
becoming quieter and quieter. What the point of having a forum if no one visit's it.

I just hope Leo Dijksman keeps his interest. If his site goes as well I'll probably commit Hari Kiri

Thank-you Volker for everything and good luck and best
wishes in your future endeavours.

Jim.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

I will be very sad to see it go.
It was the Winboard forum that first sparked my interest in computer chess
and if it wasn't for Volker and WB forum I'd still be a nobody.

The fact is though that Volker's decision is correct. The site has been in decline now for many months
becoming quieter and quieter. What the point of having a forum if no one visit's it.

I just hope Leo Dijksman keeps his interest. If his site goes as well I'll probably commit Hari Kiri

Thank-you Volker for everything and good luck and best
wishes in your future endeavours.

Jim.

I wish Volker all the best too,but I predicted the slowly die of this forum before two years ago....they commited a very stricted membership policy and the end was more than obvious....

[gerold]

I will be very sad to see it go.
It was the Winboard forum that first sparked my interest in computer chess
and if it wasn't for Volker and WB forum I'd still be a nobody.

The fact is though that Volker's decision is correct. The site has been in decline now for many months
becoming quieter and quieter. What the point of having a forum if no one visit's it.

I just hope Leo Dijksman keeps his interest. If his site goes as well I'll probably commit Hari Kiri

Thank-you Volker for everything and good luck and best
wishes in your future endeavours.

Jim.

I wish Volker all the best too,but I predicted the slowly die of this forum before two years ago....they commited a very stricted membership policy and the end was more than obvious....

Got to agree with you Dr. I was a member for years. For no reason
i was not allow the visit anymore. No reason given.

[Roman Hartmann]

Imo the winboard forum was (or is) one of the nicest forums because there wasn't that much traffic.
Often I visited the forum intending to write a posting regarding this or that and then discovered that there was already a great thread covering my topic in great detail. Losing the winboard forum would be quite a loss ...

best regards
Roman

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Imo the winboard forum was (or is) one of the nicest forums because there wasn't that much traffic.
Often I visited the forum intending to write a posting regarding this or that and then discovered that there was already a great thread covering my topic in great detail. Losing the winboard forum would be quite a loss ...

best regards
Roman

I agree,but at a particular moment of it's existence became more as a private club than an open forum hence the situation we are observing now before our eyes....

[Zach Wegner]

Thanks Tony. Let's hope that somebody is prepared to take up Volker's offer.

I hear there's something in the works.