Arocalypse is Shutting Down

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

What?

Arocalypse will soon be approaching it's 4th birthday on April 3rd, 2016. Unfortunately, it's not quite going to make it, unless you decide to take over. I am stepping down as system administrator as some annual fees are due in soon, and I'm ready to hand it over to the next enthusiastic person.

 

When?

The last day Arocalypse will be online in its current form is March 29th, 2020.

 

Why?

I started Arocalypse as a place for aromantics and greyromantics to have focused discussion about their romantic orientation. I wanted such a place to fill that gap. There had been a previous site with the same name started by @Mezzo Forte. I decided to use the same name so all the formerly broken links to this site would work again.

 

Personally, I only visit the site to take care of problems, never to take place in the discussions. I've been happy to "keep the lights on" thus far, but the technical issues have been a bit of a drag lately, and frankly I'm tried of the background worry. I do some small amount of Google ads to help draw traffic here, but that's been on auto-pilot and I don't give it the attention it needs.

 

I think someone with more interest in the community and more energy could do more with this site. Better advertising would be a good start. A store to buy aro-related merchandise would be great too. I just lack the interest in doing much more than keeping the status quo.

 

What can I do?

If you're interested in keeping the site running as the system administrator, you'll need to know (or be willing to learn) about the technologies that drive it:

1. Domain registration
2. Web site hosting
3. Invision power suite (the forum software)

 

I'd estimate I pay around $250-$300 annually to keep it all running. An annual fund raiser or a Patreon account should have no trouble paying the fees, and potentially upping the advertising investment to drive more incoming traffic.

 

If you think you can do this, please send me a private message here, or on AVEN (with the same name). I'm going to screen applicants, and make the best choice for a successor. I can then pass you the database, the password, and create an admin account for you to get you up and running on the new site.

 

Thanks!

Thanks again for making the community such a wonderful place. All I did was build the house, but you all made it a home.

 

More questions?

Please respond to this thread, I'm listening.

[The_BigGay_Aro]

I'm sad i just found this place and now it's going away from me just like everything i care about

[Jot-Aro Kujo]

Oh noooo!! Big F... I wonder if anyone will take over. (Sure ain't gonna be me, I'm a horribly disorganized college student, but I wish the best of luck to whoever does.)

[DaviM703]

@bydontostIs it possible it could be merged with AUREA? That's how AVEN's forum site is.

 

I feel like we still need a place to be able to communicate. If no one else is available to take over I could help run it since I know a little bit about how websites work, but I would imagine it's cheaper to merge with another domain than maintain by itself.

[sennkestra]

I'm willing to help commit to funding it (in full) personally for at least another year, if absolutely needed, and helping co-manage ongoing fundraising for the next year with whoever ends up taking over. Obviously I'd prefer to still seek community contributions, both because it would be financially less of a strain on me and would help set up a more sustainable funding process for the future, but considering the short-term notice I'm definitely able to front any immediate costs so that we can take out time figuring out more long term plans.

Unfortunately, between my current work and other projects, I don't have the time to check in much or help with the technical or day-to-day management side of things, so we'd still need to find someone (or ideally, multiple someones) who would be willing to take over that aspect of things.

[nonmerci]

Noooooooo!!! (Sorry, it came from the heart)

I don't have time or knowledge to do it.

 

If no one does I agree with what @DavidMS703 said : Can it merged with AUREA? I always saw AUREA as complementary to arocalypse, that I see as the official forum. If arocalypse shuts down we'll miss something important.

[Momo]

I can commit to running things from a technical perspective and potentially short-term funding. I don't know what the moderation story is here or the day to day running though - I have little ability to help on that front. I run servers for a living so this is definitely something I can take on in my free time.

[hemogoblin]

Just wanted to thank you, @Blue Phoenix Ace, for doing the work of hosting and managing these forums for as long as you have! < 3 I wish I'd found this place sooner, but I'm glad I got a short time here, at least.

[Ch0c0]

Thank you very much for your work so far!

I can't help with the technical parts but I can try to help with the funding if there is a fundraiser.

[Arthour]

hey, how are you currently hosting the forum and how much traffic is there to expect?

 

maybe also interesting: where's your server located currently?

 

i've got a self-hosted server and a virtual one in a data center.

although i currently do not have much time (i'm writing two bachelor theses while also doing a mandatory internship) i could at least host the forum for now until i got more time

except of course there's somebody else who wants to take care of that

[AUREA]

AUREA was founded independently of the forums and combining them isn't possible right now. We're however talking to other groups about how to save the forums if no one takes over the responsibilities of Phoenix by March 29th.

[AllTimeBubble]

I hope the forum can be saved, this place is really helpful

[Kallie]

I understand your decision and don't blame you for it in any way, but I am still extremely sad that such a great platform soon will stop existing both because I came here only recently and because the aromantic community feels very... disconnected outside of it.

 

Thank you for all the work you've put into this site, I hope you will find someone to take over it ❤️

[Phoenix the II]

I've worked in the Domain registration business for 9 years...

 

Worked with Linux/Database(MySQL) environments for 20 years... So I know a fair bit of system administration.

 

Senior programmer in PHP/Java... about 20 years...

 

Currently, Administrator on AVEN. (Uses invision too).

 

BUT... I don't have 300$...

 

All I can offer is running on my local home server... (500mbit up/down, unlimited data)

 

That is... if it fits storage wise... I really don't have the money for extra storage either.

 

I do run other stuff like a minecraft server on this machine... (6 Cores)... So idk what the CPU usage will be either for this forum.

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

I'm not sure about CPU load or network bandwidth. My web host takes care of all of that for me. I think running it from a home machine is probably a bad idea overall, as it's much more likely to have downtime. (You lose power and the site goes down, but that can't happen with a web host)

 

As for server costs, I'd be happy to pitch in for the first year for the new owner once they've demonstrated they can run the site. (I'm not handing 300 bucks to someone who claims they'll run the site and then run off with the cashola) So, I know that's kind of a catch 22 there. You need money to get it going but you need it going before I fund you.

[Phoenix the II]

2 hours ago, Blue Phoenix Ace said:

I'm not sure about CPU load or network bandwidth. My web host takes care of all of that for me. I think running it from a home machine is probably a bad idea overall, as it's much more likely to have downtime. (You lose power and the site goes down, but that can't happen with a web host)

 

Fair enough, yes, I sometimes do need to reboot my router... or other things happen... Though for the last 10 years, there hasn't been power outage here... there will be dowtime somehow caused by "home factors" 

 

But even so, I also agree more it should just run from a host (co-located/dedicated/virtual) 

 

Quote

As for server costs, I'd be happy to pitch in for the first year for the new owner once they've demonstrated they can run the site. (I'm not handing 300 bucks to someone who claims they'll run the site and then run off with the cashola) So, I know that's kind of a catch 22 there. You need money to get it going but you need it going before I fund you.

 

What does it run now on/bandwidth usage? Yeah, uhm, no 300$ can get you some decent options to host from.

 

I have no problem looking after a machine and updates once a while...  I've got time enough.. 

 

Oh, besides that... AVEN is also discussing helping, how what where when? I don't know yet, but I guess there will be contact somehow.

[Breanna_h]

I would be interested if i wasnt a fulltime college student who has no clue about any of the three things I would need to learn and have no clue about running a large forum. I would be willing to learn though if it wasnt too time consuming.

[Holmbo]

I hope that @Momo @Arthour or @Phoenix the II will want to take over.
I don't think getting the money will be an issue. I'd be happy to pitch in at least a §100 myself. Just let me know where to send it. There would need to be reminders each year though to get in the cost for that year.

[metelyk]

Oh no! I found this forum recently and it has been nice to use, I hope, that it will continue to exist. I wish I could help but I have little money and little time

[Blue Phoenix Ace]

I've got some good news. I spoke with a member of the Project Team from AVEN and shared some technical stats about this site with them. One scenario is that AVEN would take over the site as an affiliate forum. For the most part, Arocalypse would maintain it's autonomy. We'd have separate Terms of Service, and bans would not transfer between sites automatically. That being said, the AdMod teams of the forums might share information with one another in case bans are very serious. (A stalker who gets banned on one forum would automatically get a ban on the other). The key here is that the community here on Arocalypse would remain in control of its own rules and culture, as long the core values between the two forums remain similar.

 

I understand some of you would feel uncomfortable with this type of merge, and you probably wouldn't speak out in that way publicly. If you have concerns about this approach that you don't want to air publicly, please send me a private message.

 

The benefit of a handoff to AVEN is:

• Stable funding
• Stable leadership
• Stable platform (even more stable than what I've provided)

I have agreed that if this happens, I'll stay on as administrator for a few months to help with the transition.

 

Any thoughts on this, good or bad, please let me know. Thanks!

[Jot-Aro Kujo]

If there is literally no other alternative, then I guess that's what we have to do. Better than having the forums go down. But I would prefer not to have AVEN involved if there is literally any other possible solution, for a number of reasons.

[VoidArcana]

(Not going to lie, I finally made an account just to respond to this. Been planning for ages, never got around to it). 

 

 

I'm gonna say it outright, I'm not comfortable with AVEN running this site. I've been fighting for ages to try and stop people assuming my aromanticism means I'm asexual, and I don't think associating a major aromantic space with a well known asexual organisation is gonna help that. I don't want these forums to go down, but I think there is almost definitely a better way then letting AVEN take over. 

[Apex]

Agreed with the above. I think a merge with AVEN should only happen if there are no alternatives. I think it's nice that Arocalypse would keep it's own "space"/rules/etc. but I'd really rather it not be a sister site to AVEN, since aromanticism is still treated like a sub-category of asexuality by a lot of people.

[Coyote]

For those interested: here's some perspective on this from a gray-a who's collaborated with AVEN mods before. Short post, but here's an excerpt--

 

Quote

If AVEN can provide some logistical support to Arocalypse, that would be a great thing.  But what I would be concerned about is if any of this "stable leadership" is provided by people who are directly elected by the AVEN community.  Just say no.

 

The second thing I would be concerned about, is that even if the AVEN leadership is competent, I don't trust the larger AVEN community to react appropriately.  You don't want to be exposed to the vagaries of AVEN internal community politics.  You might think ace tumblr has a lot of bullshit going on but imagine dealing with another strain of bullshit you never knew existed.  If it were me, I would only accept an Arocalypse/AVEN affiliation on the condition that AVEN does not advertise the affiliation to its community.

 

[Jot-Aro Kujo]

Also, something I just noticed:

 

12 hours ago, Blue Phoenix Ace said:

...The key here is that the community here on Arocalypse would remain in control of its own rules and culture, as long the core values between the two forums remain similar...

 

What does this mean, exactly? Because if "being inclusive of aros even if they do not primarily identify as ace" is considered a core value of Arocalypse, well, in many people's experience it sure ain't a core value of AVEN.