IS THIS THE TIME TO END THIS FORUM

[badger]

After a few weeks checking each day any posts or Interesting threads it seems this site has died a death , no one seems to be posting anymore , apart from a few here and there ! so is it time to pull the plug on here ?

[maxi]

Sadly Yes, I have to agree.

No one is driving this forum anymore.

So it is time to let go.

[Alg]

Are there ongoing costs or are the forum's "dues" paid up until a future date?

Let it live until it naturally expires financially but I would suggest no more money be invested to keep it alive.

However, ultimately it must be Donna's decision surely.

[Monica Reyes]

None of the forums are that busy really, this one is the oldest , it would be a shame to see it go, but the finance has to be taken into consideration I suppose.

[topskills]

all forums old and new are suffering with lack of posts.

it seems that facebook/twitter and the like have taken over. i imagine that some will survive but i feel that most will die off.

[Jayday]

To be fair most of the forums aren't that active, with only a few posting links to news items and not much more. There is very little information that's relevant to Westbury, for example most of the recent activity on .co.uk is about pats grandson!

The real damage is the creation of multiple forums.

[maxi]

The real damage is the creation of multiple forums.

it seems that facebook/twitter and the like have taken over

These are the real problems

Alternatively, make this site different to the others, and maybe include Trowbridge and Warminster.
I think westbury people know trowbridge, and warminster pretty well.

EVOLVE THIS SITE  INTO THE THREE TOWNS FORUM COULD BE THE ANSWER

This of course, depends on, if anyone has the energy, time, and willpower, to do this.

[Soup]

The creation of the 3rd forum was the nail in the coffin. The dark side is still busy (in terms of being used every day), but whether it's of interest anymore is debatable.

Personally I think the downfall of these sites has been egos - it started off all friendly, then when people fell out over nothing and set up rival forums it just started to water everything down.

Westbury could sustain one forum, and I know which one I would like it to be.

But yes, ultimately things like Westburypeople and Twitter are where it's at - although I'm not sure Russell could cope with a 140 character limit to well...

[badger]

why do you refer to the co.uk forum as the Dark side soup ?
the formation of the 3rd forum was based on the continued abuse being sent by someone who calledthemselves sclarkson , which most reasonable people had worked out who this character was in real life, but they where allowed to remain and carry on , I was not alone in being harrased by this member others on this site also where, some of the best posters left around th same time for one reason only ! as the person who set up the community forums I can assure you Donna and bazza did not fall out quite the oposite, to be frank and we remain friends. still

as for financial reasons why this site may not carry on is illfounded and if people check back through the forum Bananablues secured at the time 3 years worth of credit for this forum.
I am glad this question on the headline thread has got people posting again , as it is a controversial issue which has been raised and people have been posting once again after weeks of quietness on here

[Pete]

I see registration on the community forum has been disabled!

As for merging the three forums, i doubt any of the 3 admin groups will be able to come to any agreement, as soup said... too many egos.

Pete

[Soup]

why do you refer to the co.uk forum as the Dark side soup ?
the formation of the 3rd forum was based on the continued abuse being sent by someone who calledthemselves sclarkson , which most reasonable people had worked out who this character was in real life, but they where allowed to remain and carry on , I was not alone in being harrased by this member others on this site also where, some of the best posters left around th same time for one reason only ! as the person who set up the community forums I can assure you Donna and bazza did not fall out quite the oposite, to be frank and we remain friends. still

as for financial reasons why this site may not carry on is illfounded and if people check back through the forum Bananablues secured at the time 3 years worth of credit for this forum.
I am glad this question on the headline thread has got people posting again , as it is a controversial issue which has been raised and people have been posting once again after weeks of quietness on here

I've always called it the Dark Side Mike, but it is tongue in cheek. There's nothing sinister going on over there....well, not that I know of anyway!

I'm not sure that I agree with your reasoning for setting up a 3rd forum and thus watering down the existing facilities - everyone gets forms of abuse in these sort of places, it's playground stuff really.

[Clevercat]

Heeellloooooooo

I think you are right in the fact that three forums was too many of course for one relatively small Town.

I also agree that our egos would probably mean merging all three would not be successful.

My love and zest for this Forum ended really when people kept signing up but failed to post, I felt sometimes
like I was posting anything to try and generate some response/debate/argument, discussion, whatever.....

Apathy is alive and well in sleepy Westbury too I believe, so people could be up in arms about various local issues but quite whether they bother to vocalize that in anway is a different matter.

I also believe that the person was right who blamed Twitter and FBook.

Although It is not for everyone I am in contact with various members from here on Facebook young and old.

As to whether this should close or not?  Would be a sad day but inevitable I think.

[Bazza]

It seems that 'the good old days' of the original forum have sadly died a death..
When Kev first started WTF it went from strength to strength very quickly and there was a wide range of characters.. my favourite being Soreenius - what an absolute star he was  . Some good conversation was had, funny, controversial and informative..
Then along came our, at the time, local councillors (not all of them I hasten to add).. and in no time at all there were legal threats against the forum which eventually were an integral part of the reason it closed.
Donna and Steve opened this one and it took off quite quickly and steadily, after a while we then became the target for the threats of legal action, again because of the actions of and comments by the very same local councillors and others.. this also, in my case, included a couple of visits to my home with complaints etc in writing.. Some people dwelt on this and thought it was great fun, even to the point of accusing us of denying members of their right to 'free speech' and that we were acting as 'dictators' by removing posts and topics, topics that were threatening the very existence of the forum.
So, Yep! Looks like it all gone.. maybe partly because the art of debate has been taken over by a few idiots who just want to come along and abuse others verbally because they can't, and won't, look at points of view from two sides. Maybe there's just nothing left to discuss in Westbury, perhaps the topics of conversation are as limited as the variety of shops there are in town.. some say we 'over moderated' the forum so maybe that is part of the reason for the decline, but who really wants to see swearing, abuse to others and derogatory posts on a public, family forum?
I'll be kicking around to the end, whenever that may be, as everything I've done, every decision I've made has always been for the forums well being and the majority of the members, and I like to think that the vast majority of members have been a great bunch!
On that note.. I'll have another 

[badger]

doom and gloom springs to mind .this has been the buisest thread for posting in weeks lol , the forum will not end it needs to evolve perhaps merging with the communityforums into one big one for all members to play apart , ive decided im moving away from forums due to work commitments which are getting heavier by the day, a fresh start might be just what the doctor ordered lol and start again , as i have paid for both sites to run , i dont wnat either to fall , perhaps it might help with others putting their thoughts on this to say and take views into account and the act on them

[Old Codger]

It will be such a shame if the forum closes there is/ has been some lovely people on here, it has been a shame that small time politics have upset members and people with big egos, I feel it was wrong that there was a split and another forum was formed by Al, again differences of opinion again, and I dont feel it was right that there was a third forum formed, this town just isn't big enough to substain three, but give Badger his due he has stayed on here with his support and input, thankyou Mike!
Iam also in other forums and the input on them seems to be at an alltime low so maybe people are moving away from the 'Forum' scene.