Important News

[Matthew Snell]

Dear All

I’ve been avoiding this for too long, but the issue can’t be ducked for ever. I am summarising things first, but there is context and further information below which some may appreciate.

I want to give reasonable notice that I can’t realistically continue to underwrite the forum and I am intending to close it at the end of this year. I think many of you will realise that I feel great sadness about this, but newer digital environments and updated software have finally caught up with us and, without a very large investment, I can’t see an alternative.

The current forum software relies on PHP5. The option to use this was discontinued by our, then, hosts earlier this year. I had very little notice (through various misunderstandings and ineptitude on the host's part) and I still feel angry towards them. At that time I spent a whack of money with web engineers to create a PHP5 compatible space on AWS and to migrate the forum. Annual running costs are now in excess of £600 and this is way more than I can afford.

The only alternative would be to bring the forum software up to date to allow it to function with current PHP. I have had quotes for doing this at between £2500 and £3500 - with no guarantee of a successful outcome.

I recognise that I should probably have been investing in incremental updates through the years but at least some of the neglect had already occurred before I became involved with World Designs. Alas, however bad I feel about my part in this, it doesn’t alter the problem.

I have been told that it wouldn’t be possible to keep the information held on the forum and publish it as some sort of read-only archive in another format. If any of you thinks differently I would love to hear from you. Urgently please!

As you know, many of you have generously supported the running of the forum (historically £300-350 p.a.) through John’s annual appeal. I have always been grateful for this and I list the income below both for “transparency” and to demonstrate the unlikelihood of our ever generating enough to keep going in the new circumstances (figures are rounded to the nearest £5):

2020: £435 (a surplus)
2021: £215
2022: £165
2023: £160
2024: £245

Since my involvement with WD, and excepting 2020, the difference between operational costs and income from donations has been met by me. That could be seen as coming either from profit from the business or from my own pocket (barring any small tax implication, these are the same thing!)

It’s probably worth pointing out that the forum is very little-used these days. I’m not complaining, it’s just a fact of life! But it perhaps underlines the fact that, at least from my perspective, much of it’s value is historic - and this has been my view from my first involvement.

The only cheerful news I have is that, for the past year or so, it’s been obvious that the A.I. bots seem to have been diligently “scraping” the content of the forum. This means that at least some of the information in the archive may yet live on. I certainly hope this is so.

I would welcome contact about any of this and would anyway love to stay in touch. After the end of the year that will means you’ll need to email me.

World Designs will continue to sell parts and kits.

Thank you all for your contributions - financial and otherwise - to the forum.

Lastly - but very importantly - I want to express my gratitude to our staunch and selfless moderators for their patient labours over the years. Thank you John, Richard and Colin, from all of us!

Best,

Matthew