The Future of the Forum

We are excited to announce that we have secured funding from RHQ until March 2025. This support has been instrumental in keeping our forum running and maintaining the platform for our community. We are grateful for their contribution, which has allowed us to continue providing a space for discussions and interactions among our members.

However, we must inform you that after 2025 there will be no further financial support from RHQ.

So, ultimately, the decision to keep our forum alive or bid it farewell rests in our hands. It's a decision that should be made with careful consideration, weighing the pros and cons, and listening to the voices of our community.

As some of you may have noticed, the forum's popularity has seen a decline in recent times, with fewer posts and less traffic compared to its peak. This is a natural evolution for online communities, but it also signals a need for us to adapt and innovate to maintain relevance and engagement.

So, if we want the forum to continue, we should focus on revitalizing the forum, engaging members, and attracting new users to increase activity and participation, which is a big ask!

It is also crucial for us to start exploring alternative sources of funding or revenue generation to sustain the forum beyond 2025. We may need to consider options such as partnerships with relevant organizations to ensure the continuity of our community.

We encourage all forum members to share their ideas, suggestions, and feedback on the future of the forum.

Thank you for being part of our forum, and we look forward to your continued involvement.

Re: The Future of the Forum

Hi All
Could we not come under the umbrella of the Regiment's Dragon Connect as a community thread?
Benny the Ball

Re: The Future of the Forum

Not much going on over on 'Dragon Connect' either, to be fair, what about an annual subscription job for funding; mind you with the "cost of living crisis" its another bill for members to pay.

Is there not a RWF re-enactor set up over in the USA, maybe they would be interested in some sort of intergration?

Only saying [ as opposed to saying nowt ]

Re: The Future of the Forum

Please keep the suggestions coming in. They are all very much appreciated.

Thanks

Re: The Future of the Forum

A good question Bob.

Firstly, can I say well done for securing funding for another year.

I wish I could come up with an answer for you, but I feel I can only state the obvious and say what the problems are on the road ahead. So, starting there I think the biggest problem the forum has is social media, especially Facebook.

If I can start with my own experience. As many know I love cruising and when we started there were only cruise community forums to glean information about your up and coming holiday, and there were many holiday/cruise forums. I think I belonged to about 5. Then Facebook came along and now, I believe now there is only 1 holiday/cruise forum, and that tells a story. In Facebook you have cruise ship groups, destination groups etc etc, very easy to move around in, ask the questions and get instant answers. Facebook is now my only port of call for cruise information.

If you look at just RWF on Facebook, we have Branch Groups, our Postings Groups, Picture Groups to name a few, and as you know I run a part Association Group. Everything an RWF Veteran requires is on there, RWF news is added every day and shared across many groups almost immediately. Even RHQ, Cardiff, share information on there for everyone to see. I will come back to this later.

As you mentioned, running a forum comes with costs and that is why so many are going. X amount to run a community forum on the web or zero costs to run almost the same thing on social media.

This Forum offers a lot, Notice Board, Discussions, Events, Quizzes etc etc. But its members and RHQ and the Association also need to buy into it, something that has happened in the past but has slowly eroded. When was the last time RHQ, North or South, shared anything in the Forum? However, it happens almost daily on social media.

Going back to the question and the way forward. This is my opinion:

1: Donations/subscriptions I feel are out. Why pay for something you can get for nothing.
2: Dragon Connect, again this started with a bang and has slowly fizzled out. Even I find it cumbersome and difficult to find information. However, this is the Regiments new pet and as such it will have funding to the detriment of other things, such as this forum.
3: If the forum is to continue then, maybe as a slimmed down version, or will that not matter cost wise? I do not know if less costs less. Following on from that, members have slowly drifted to social media, so how are you going to entice them back? That is a big question.

I wish I could say we need to do this and that, but I cannot, because even I find I use the forum less and less and Facebook more and more.

Re: The Future of the Forum

Pete,

I completely agree with your points about the future of the forum. It's true that we're seeing fewer visitors lately, which is concerning.

The costs of maintaining the forum remain the same regardless of how active it is, whether it's a scaled-down version or the full model.

It seems like we're at a crossroads where we need to decide the best way forward. Maybe it's time to consider streamlining some features to focus on what our core community values most, while still ensuring we cover the operational costs.

Thanks for your input regarding this important discussion!

Re: The Future of the Forum

Dear Community,

In late March this year, we will need to renew our Web Hosting platform, which usually cost $356.49.

I have written to Keith Jones 89 to check in and see if we still have any money left in the donations fund. Unfortunately, we no longer have access to the Comrades funds, which have been instrumental in keeping this forum running. Without this financial support, we’re facing the very real possibility of having to close the forum.

This space has been a hub for connection, discussion, and collaboration, and I know how much it means to all of us. However, maintaining it comes with costs that we can no longer cover without external help.

I want to be completely transparent: if we’re unable to raise the necessary funds, we’ll have no alternative but to shut down the forum. That’s a possibility I’d like to avoid at all costs, but it’s one we may have to face.

Before we make any final decisions, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Could we brainstorm ideas to either revive the forum or find alternative solutions? Are there ways we could crowdfund, secure sponsorships, or reduce expenses? Should we just bite the bullet and close it down?

If you have suggestions or want to contribute in any way, please share your ideas here or send me a message directly.

With gratitude,

Bob

Re: The Future of the Forum

Notwithstanding my previous comments on here, what about using 'Slack' 10,000 free messages / entries on the free platform? It would at least be a place to rally around.

Re: The Future of the Forum

Not looking too good judging by the amount of replies, it has been 20 years since the RWF was amalgamated, so maybe there is not the interest there was when the forum was set up. Also technology has moved on with lots of other ways to maintain comms. I would be sorry to see the site close but with the lack of support things dont look too good. Hope "somthing can be pulled out of the bag".

Re: The Future of the Forum

Keith has been in touch and his reply is set out below.

"We have a balance of £389 at present. There have been very few donations coming in from the membership in recent months.

I also have been unable to come up with a solution to the sustainability problem - not a good idea to be asking for people to contribute more during a cost-of-living crisis!

We must also not ignore the fact that we are all getting older - I am approaching 76 this year - and must be considering just how much longer we will want to be active forum members. I was also a member of the D and D Old Comrades Online Forum but that has now gone, I believe, to Facebook."

I concur with Keith’s assessment that while we have sufficient funds to cover another year, there is a sustainability issue.

It appears futile to continue operating at a diminished capacity for another year. We both acknowledge that the platform has experienced a substantial decline in activity and engagement, and there has been a lack of meaningful contributions in terms of threads, posts, and interactions.

Given this situation, I would appreciate any suggestions you may have regarding the funding of another year or the allocation of the remaining funds.

Thanks

Re: The Future of the Forum

Sad as it may seem, it looks like the “Writing is on the wall”. A note of caution’, its ok moving/using ‘Facebook’ however you should be aware ‘Meta’ is gathering and using the information on there.

Also, age does not necessarily diminish one’s ability to use technology or the use a of keyboard.

Re: The Future of the Forum

i agree. Even Jones20 has deserted. This Forum is as dead as Monty Python's parrot. Much as I regret it. Much as I'll miss it.

Killed by bloody Facebook.

No need to look for funding. If we have no active members, we have no future.

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

A technical question, Bob. Would it be possible to get a CD or DVD with the ripped website? I tried it myself, but no success.

I'm not interested in the quizzes and games, but the research section amongst others has a lot of very valuable information.

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

John, let me look at that. I know that I can download a full back up of the site, but how we rip the website into a readable site I don't know.

Leave it with me!

Re: The Future of the Forum

It is a sad day, but I'm afraid that I have to agree with all the other contributors, I think the end is nigh, the forum was great in the beginning for finding lost friends and keeping in contact, but that is done so much easier with Facebook, you have been a fantastic administrator/moderator/ Bob, but as you say we are all getting older and 20 years after the amalgamation, there are fewer and fewer of us left, perhaps it's time for us to archive the forum to the Regimental Museum, perhaps they would be interested in maintaining the research and photography sections and keeping that going as part of their archives? Forgot to say, I'll really miss your quizzes, thanks for all your hard work to date Bob, whatever happens it's very much appreciated.

Re: The Future of the Forum

I agree with 04s sentiment and will continue to check in here on a daily basis until the final close down/ZKJ, it has been a great journey for the time it has run.

"The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on...." [Rubiet of Omar Khyam {not sure about the spelling}].

Re: The Future of the Forum

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Nice quote!

He was also known as Omar the Tentmaker (George Patton used it as his nickname for Omar Bradley).

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

John,

All the data for vBulletin is kept in a server database service called MySQL.

You can only see it in a vBulletin when you restore to a service.

Unfortunately there is no other way unless we know how to run a MySQL server and then restore that database and run MySQL queries manually, which I don't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baconwallah

A technical question, Bob. Would it be possible to get a CD or DVD with the ripped website? I tried it myself, but no success.

I'm not interested in the quizzes and games, but the research section amongst others has a lot of very valuable information.

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

Bad news, Bob. I must think about this.

Perhaps we could use what remains in the kitty to hire someone who can rescue the info?

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

I have completed a comprehensive backup, which serves as an archival repository of all files and configurations pertaining to the forum.

However, this backup is solely intended for the purpose of relocating our account to a different server or maintaining a local copy of our files.

In essence, access to the information remains contingent upon the availability of a server.

I will undertake further investigation to explore potential viable solutions.

Re: The Future of the Forum

As long as you have a backup, Bob, we'll have something to work with.

Another possibility: Archive.org?

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

I have managed to download War Diaries 1st Bn RWF - 1944 Kohima and the 10 Bn.

Re: The Future of the Forum

Every little bit helps, Bob.

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

John, you have said that the research section is something to try and preserve. What other sections are you also concerned about?

If I can find out where the information is stored, I might be able to export it into a pdf or Excel file. I am in touch with the Web Host regarding this.

Re: The Future of the Forum

I think Military Genealogy is essential, together with the Centenary section and Vault.
Blogs and photo albums would be good too. And perhaps the Staff room to remind us of how much work we put into the Forum.

John

As an afterthought, we have an IT expert among the members. Could Richard Ward help? And there's Aled Roberts who built the Great War databases for the Museum site (but he will expect payment).

Re: The Future of the Forum

I would suggest if the operating cost is within the present funds then continue for a further year. This may then allow other forum members to step forward and take over the mantle of running the forum, or review the situation in 6 months time as to the meaningful contributions from all members.

Cheers Dave

Re: The Future of the Forum

Richard Ward and Aled Robert haven’t been on the forum since September 2019, so I’m not sure if they’re still around.

Re: The Future of the Forum

Thank you for your thoughtful suggestion. I agree that continuing for another year is a good idea. This approach will not only give you some breathing space but also provide an opportunity for other members to step forward and potentially take over the responsibility of running the forum.

Reviewing the situation in six months to assess meaningful contributions from members is a practical way to ensure we're heading in the right direction. You could review the current forums and decide what to keep and what to remove. Perhaps making into a RWF Genealogy site.<o:p></o:p>

I do intend to step down shortly, so if someone does step up to take over the mantle of running the forum, please be sure to notify me promptly so that we can coordinate with the web host and pass on the necessary links and passwords.

<o:p></o:p>

Re: The Future of the Forum

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baconwallah

I think Military Genealogy is essential, together with the Centenary section and Vault.
Blogs and photo albums would be good too. And perhaps the Staff room to remind us of how much work we put into the Forum.

John

As an afterthought, we have an IT expert among the members. Could Richard Ward help? And there's Aled Roberts who built the Great War databases for the Museum site (but he will expect payment).

I can download photos from the Photopost albums, but note:

· Downloads include photos only.
· Headings and comments might not be included. If they are included, they will not be visible unless viewed in similar software photo apps
· If headings or comments are in another gallery, they won't be accessible after download.

Re: The Future of the Forum

Anything is better than nothing, Bob.

I'd be in favour of continuing the Forum for another six months. Gives us more time for salvage ops. Maybe resurrect it as a Royal Welch mil hist Forum.

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

Would the museum be interested in hosting the military genealogy part of this forum as a voluntary research part on their website? Perhaps worth a try, if the question has not already been raised?

Also, the many photos would be great if they could be saved for future access.

ATB,

Lars

Re: The Future of the Forum

I have been in contact with the web host.

The annual hosting payment is typically $356.49, which is divided into two components:

* The actual yearly price is $249.50. This covers the cost of the server and other related expenses.
* The additional cost is $106.99 and is used to cover disk space and other related expenses. This cost can be reduced by deleting unused backups and test sites from the server.

Other fees include a dedicated IP address for $20 per year and an SSL Certificate for $44.95 per year. These costs have been covered by me personally in recent years, but they can be eliminated by sharing an IP address.

The web host is suggesting that we only pay the actual yearly price of $249.50.

I prepose that we go ahead and accept this offer.

Re: The Future of the Forum

I agree, John. I like the idea of a Royal Welch Military History forum

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baconwallah

Anything is better than nothing, Bob.

I'd be in favour of continuing the Forum for another six months. Gives us more time for salvage ops. Maybe resurrect it as a Royal Welch mil hist Forum.

John

Re: The Future of the Forum

LarsA, I will approach the Museum and see if they are interested

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarsA

Would the museum be interested in hosting the military genealogy part of this forum as a voluntary research part on their website? Perhaps worth a try, if the question has not already been raised?

Also, the many photos would be great if they could be saved for future access.

ATB,

Lars

Re: The Future of the Forum

Hi folks,
The trend of thought on here seems to be moving towards a time-limited future operation in order to use the remaining funds, and meanwhile work out if anyone else (e.g., Regt. Museum) can archive the useful informational bits in some format or other. I'll go along with that as my interest is mostly in the Regiment's past rather than communicating with anyone who could remember me from my T&AVR days in the 1970s.