Firstly, I wanted to thank you both, for your passion and enthusiasm and support of these boards.
Just mention to think twice.
Big corporations collect our private date and are about to ask for photo-ID for using their platforms. Self-hosting small sites are step behind before their resurrection. This forum is the last private place where we all can securely and openly discuss our hobby.
Generally, I agree with you here. Forums as privately run communities have been a real diamond on the internet and I genuinely think that they will be missed in the future when everything is run from a handful of mega-corporations online. The ability to have this little corner of the internet with control of the access and the data is something that is valuable and I think that the majority of web users don't even realise how good it is.
There are generally two reasons that websites and forums shut down - either the admin moves on, or the community does. I have been running this site and TacWarNet for a (frighteningly) large percentage of my adult life, and the reality is that closing it down isn't something that I want to do or a decision that I make lightly. The reality is that even the big guns such as Warseer has closed down, while DakkaDakka and B&C are still around I am not sure on their numbers - and these are for core GW games, currently supported and with the largest player base in the world. (The 40K General Discussion on DakkaDakka - probably the most active board there - had six threads active yesterday.)
There comes a point after months and months of almost no life in the discussion forums where you just have to face the reality, and even if forums do make a miraculous return as people reject the big corp regulations, it will most likely be a new wave of boards and platforms, most likely built specifically for phone browsing.
I have quite a lot to say in response to this announcement. Let me start by saying thank you to you CyberShadow and all of the other members of the community here, especially fellow moderators, such as Lex and Horizon, for all their work in keeping this forum running. I've enjoyed participating here and working with you all.
Is there no way of passing the forum on to someone else if you do not want to run it any more CS? If the hosting is not too expensive, I could volunteer to take it over, for example. I am guessing it is not that simple for a range of reasons, but I thought that I would ask.
Regarding the decline of forums, yes this is true, but I am always of the view that everything goes in cycles and that one day they will return. People will discover, in the end, the pernicious nature of Facebook, X, Instagram, and all these other horrid data leaking and insecure places, as well as how harmful it is to be on these totally unmoderated sites that are there solely to generate money for nasty, disgusting, and deplorable individuals whose interest is only in their personal profits and not in the health and wellbeing of their user base.
Specifically, in relation to Discord, it is a terrible substitute for a forum. It is impossible to find anything, there are no threads, no discussions, no structure, no organisation, and no community. It is a series of channels filled with disjointed conversation that it impossible to navigate in any meaningful way. Unlike all the other awful sites that I have listed above, I do actually use Discord. It works well for certain things, but it is not a forum. You are effectively trying to use it as a forum and it does not work for that purpose. In addition, it has had major issues with personal data being stolen/leaked and ongoing issues with the implementation of various forms of legislation that are problematic.
If this truly is the end of this forum, I feel lucky to have been a part of it, however, at the same time I feel very sad and disappointed. If it is the end, then it's also the end of my involvement. Thanks for having me and thanks for keeping Epic alive for all of these years.
May we walk into the future with our heads held high and happiness in our hearts 
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With regards to passing on the torch..... While I would in theory be happy to hand over the reins of the place to a new administrator, there are a couple of issues to that.
1. As noted, these forums are not going away because I am tired of them, so anyone new in charge here would need a serious, viable plan to bring significant new life to the forums and a realistic plan to keep them alive and growing. I willingly admit that I could have done more to push this place, but it is still fighting against the current.
2. It is (at this time) only the forums that are closing. The other resources here - Warp Rift, the Fanatic Mag index, etc - will be re-homed and available.
3. There is a real issue over data privacy, and the complications of just signing over several thousands of members details, email addresses, etc.... before even the logistical issue to transferring the backup database.
In addition, I agree with you over Discord. It is certainly not a platform that I am a fan of in any way. Its a step up from Facebook Groups, but that's a pretty low bar, and getting archived and referencable discussions is almost as impossible with Discord. The reality is that a lot of the platforms these days are engineered for engagement and visual appeal and are not considered for data storage and creating a knowledge base, which is what I think forums are absolutely best at.
