I am excited to see that talented group of people regrouping.
I wish I could say I have never witnessed such a heavy handed forced takeover as I saw the other day, with such onerous and just outright laughably absurd terms of service (in my opinion).
I was a member of "that other forum" (I refuse to dignify it with a name) for many years, but my interests changed, and as I accumulated a lot of material, I felt uncomfortable putting in a location that I had no control over.
So last year I started a new forum specifically taylored towards my interests (design and engineering).
I struggled with what my forum should be and who it should appeal to, and since then I have reached the conclusion that you can be a large and popular forum, or you can be a small and narrow focused forum. My choice has been to stay small, stay focused on a narrow topic, and let the other forums handle the multitudes. One important lesson I have learned is that it is folly to try and be all things to all people. You can't.
I am still a working stiff, and so I would not have time to keep up with a large forum, and would be unwilling to relinquish control of my forum since doing so could lead to a loss of control and the stampede we witnessed this week.
People have their own preferences, like hanging out in a favorite pub, and I have seen some come and go.
I am not worried about popularity or quantity of membership, but rather keeping focused and on topic, and posting quality technical information.
Differnet strokes for different folks I guess.
I hang out on this forum and others, and am a moderator on one other forum other than mine.
I am known to be a rather opinionated guy, and am not bashful about speaking my mind, so my short list of friends is extremely short.
But I support hobbies and non-commercial forums in general, and like the variety of people and interests.
I don't see it as a competition thing at all, but rather a collaborative effort of like minded individuals spanning multiple forums.
There are members here and members elsewhere who have been a great help to me, who have openly shared information and resources, and who continue to be a great help (I read topics across multiple forums daily), and I would not be where I am today in the hobby without help and guidance from those numerous people, so thanks to those individuals.
Whether I can contribute to the new forum without locking horns with anyone remains to be seen.
I support them in spirit at a minimum, and am proud of them standing up for what is right and just.
They deserve better treatment than they got.
Just my thoughts.
Pat J