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Is it time to go beyond the rim?

Markas

His Majesty
It seems as if we have reached the point, after nearly 16 years, that it may be time for B5TV.com to retire. Our conversation here has dwindled to less than a trickle and without a B5 project on the horizon, there isn't much reason, other than nostalgia, to keep this place running.

I have been chatting with our board owner Antony about what to do with this community, or the remnants of it. Occasionally, some of the old-timers check in and we acquire some new members, but it is clearly well past its prime.

I would like to open this dialogue up to whomever is still reading the forums to get some feedback before pulling the plug.
 
I would miss it if it were gone.

There was an announcement the other day that the forums at IMDb would be terminated as of Feb. 19 and somebody mentioned this place as an alternative. Don't know if that might result in new members as the deadline draws nearer?

Jan
 
I will also miss this place. I check in from time to time, but rarely see any new posts outside of the Babbleon members lounge.
 
It seems I have returned, by pure chance, at an opportune time.

It's true that the forum has long since served its intended purpose. Just about all the B5-specific news we'll get will be more deaths "in the family" as still more of the cast go to the sea...

On the other hand, I'm re-watching the show with my beloved, and marveling at its continued relevance. With some stories, there's still more to talk about, even many years after the last tale is told. I think B5 will stand that test of time, as long as there are some of us who remember it and occasionally lead others to it. I'd love to relay my partner's feedback/theories to my fellow fans -- Adrian's quite a shrewd guesser sometimes, and other times comes up with wildly-off-yet-still-logical theories, too. It's fun to see the story through fresh eyes.

(Over at io9, where I do not join the discussion but still read the comments sometimes, there was a "favorite quote from science fiction?" thread recently, and quite a few were from the old show. Vir's most famous line/wave, mostly, but also many others more politically-oriented. In fact, a link on that thread was what led me back here, after all this time.)


Let me say this. If B5TV is to go beyond the rim, let us have a farewell tour first, as Sheridan did. Pick a date and announce it. Put out an all-call. Give us time to reconvene and reminisce for a bit, to catch up and renew acquaintances. Then, at the appointed hour, let the forum fade into the black. ...Or, if the catching-up was sufficiently fruitful, we could give a stay of execution. But I would expect the black.
 
I have no idea of the costs involved but would it be feasible to just shut the site to any further comments but keep it up as an archive? There are some *really* good conversations here.
 
My biggest concern over this place closing down is losing touch with the members I've met here over the years. Many don't stop in often or at all any more, but it would be nice to know there would still be a way to reconnect with them somehow if they did try and come back. Some old familiar faces do still pop in from time to time.

I know there is little going on in the way of the world of B5 anymore but it's still a nice place to come and look up prior discussions and opinions on the show.

As I've expressed, I'd love for this place to stay open, but I certainly understand if we are in our final days. As KoshFan stated, if it does close down a little grace period and time to say goodbye would be nice.
 
If this board is to go the way of the Dodo, can I suggest that anyone still wishing to discuss B5 or the wider work of JMS, sign up at the JMS News forums.

It's a small community now, but we do still manage some nice discussions. We've also been discussing Sense8 and other shows. Please head over there if you need another place to hang out and talk B5.
 
Hello, Markas and all First Ones.

I only check in here once or twice a year to see if anything new has been posted, or whenever one of the cast crosses beyond the rim.

We can always start a private/members only page on Facebook. That seems to be where everyone hangs out these days.

It will be a sad day when Antony turns off the lights at B5TV, though. And I agree with KoshFan. A farewell get-together would be appropriate.
 
I can't say how much cost and trouble the site is to keep up at this point. But I do know one thing: it is not a hazard to navigation. :cool:
 
It's been a long time since I've posted here, but I still log in ever month or two just to see what's going on. I checked my profile and realized that I've been a part of this forum for over 15 years. I'm with KoshFan on this one. I'd hate to see it go, but I understand if the decision is made to shut her down...
 
...compared to other communicatons channels, I rather like forums, but yes, this forum is next to abandoned, and forums are (relatively) high-maintenance because somebody has to keep the software up-to-date and keep an eye on how successful spambots are at registering...

...so of course I wonder if it's a significant maintenance work load. And, with no new development going on, does the software require patching often?

I wish I could offer advise, but I really can't. But I can tell a story: :D

Local anarchists where I operate, used to have a forum. It got created in 2006 when most of the crew was fresh out of high school. Data security practises were typical for the day and age, so most likely, it was a gold mine for cops (if they ever bothered, because my colleagues were light on illegality and heavy on other organizing). It got popular too, attracting as many as 500 simultaneous (human, not bot) visitors in the beginning. Then it dwindled down to a stable 20 or so. Of course we had trolls and at some point, the forum was really high-maintenance in terms of remaining open to everyone without getting overrun. Quite a lot of useful information got exchanged and... at some point about 5 years later, a generation effect seemed to hit it. You see, my colleagues have a fairly high political drop-out rate, either becoming all busy with raising a family, becoming entirely dormant or going off sideways either to hobbies (e.g. street art) or single issue politics (e.g. ecological topics) or downgrading from activism to community organizing. At the sharp part of the drop-out curve, people gradually moved to social networks (!) and talk eventally winded down. Those who needed real security also moved elsewhere (e.g. squatters: to e-mail and instant messaging).

As for that forum, it still exists, in case it might need to be activated on some occasion to draw more attention. But nobody in their right mind, and probably nobody among our crew, would ever dream of usin it for underground stuff again. For above-ground activism, maybe, on some peculiar day, it might even get restarted.

As of currently, that forum is getting about 3 spambot registrations per month, unless the admin has entirely closed registration. At some period, it also got hacked and restored from backups about once per two years. :p Partly due to admins being too busy (I was not among them) and partly because the really cheap hosting provider (!) had a habit of getting compromised. :D

So the only forums which are active and which I frequently visit, seem to be a model aviation and RC forum and a tech support forum these days. Used to be about 10, now down to 2.

As for me and this forum, I wish I had time, but I have created for myself so many projects and chores that I rarely do. So I stop to visit very rarely and very irregularly. Of course I would miss it, but I already do. And to be honest, losing access to this place would not unsettle my routines.
 
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It seems that a lot of people are saying, "Gosh, I'd miss it... but not a lot." With the exception of Jan's appeal for archiving the discussions, I haven't seen anyone actively campaigning to keep the site up and running. Nor have I seen anyone volunteer to help out with keeping it running, if it requires labor.

Now, we're hardly a quorum of all users, but the simple fact that nobody else has chimed in for the last two weeks tells us something. Since they have always been the most (hyper)active, the Babbleonians might have something to say about the proposed closure... but who knows if the rest of us would understand it?

It may be premature to call for a consensus, but what I'm seeing in this thread is general support for a farewell tour and then a good ending, hazard to navigation or not.

Markas is the admin and Anthony is the owner, though. I've just been around a long time.
 
They are alone. They are a dying people. We should let them pass.

But more importantly, the avalanche has already started; it is too late for the pebbles to vote.
 
It's pretty impressive that this forum has lasted as long as it has really. It seems to overlap with the jmsnews forum anyway.

Maybe you could make your own subreddit or simply migrate over to jmsnews?
 
Anybody from here is very welcome to join us over on JMSnews. New folks have to post an introduction and convince me they're fans of some form of JMS' work and then wait until their account get upgraded in order to post (sometimes a couple of days or so) but we're a small, friendly (and ad-free) group.

End commercial... ;-)
 
Anybody from here is very welcome to join us over on JMSnews. New folks have to post an introduction and convince me they're fans of some form of JMS' work and then wait until their account get upgraded in order to post (sometimes a couple of days or so) but we're a small, friendly (and ad-free) group.

End commercial... ;-)

I registered, but the thread for new people to post an intro is closed. Are there no new registrations, or should we just email you or something else?
 
Hi Hypatia,

Did you get the email from DougO? In the forum 'JMS News Information' the second item down is called 'Introductions'. That's where you should post. It's not closed and new members are welcome! If you still have trouble, PM me here with your user name and I'll see if DougO can clear you anyway.

See you there!
Jan
 
I'm kinda sad that this site may well be visiting the Maker. I still visit from time to time to see if anything is happening in the world of B5. Sad to see it go if that is to be its fate, but just like sheridan maybe it should just.......stop?

Oh well I suppose i'll have to hop on back over to JMS News for my fix.
 

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