1 of 1- Uwe
- Moderator
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,411
THE END of Typewriter Talk?
Hello everyone!
I was going to write a long-winded, philosophical post about the origin of this forum, the importance (I think) it has to the typewriter community, and what I had hoped it would become. However, I’ll spare the TLDR intro and just get straight to the point:
Typewriter Talk will shut down and be removed from the internet on September 20, 2026.
The company that owns this website and hosts the forum informed me that “we have made the difficult decision to discontinue our free forum service plan due to declining ad revenue, which had been funding our free service. As a result, we have (temporarily) added our Premium Forum Service Plan to your forum at no charge to you. However, you will either need to purchase another term of service, or your forum will be deactivated.”
The aforementioned service plan would cost USD$16 per month. (There’s a 10% discount if you pay for six-month blocks at a time.)
It's disappointing news, but not really a surprise. When I started this forum, I knew there was always going to be the risk of something like this happening, and I’m honestly surprised that it lasted for 13 years before it did.
The question now is, what happens next?
Of course there are options. We could try to find another free hosting site (but would lose all the post history here), we could somehow figure out a way to pay for the hosting here, or we could just resign ourselves to the end being nigh.
I thought it best to open this subject to discussion and see what everyone thinks rather than just calling it a day.
Thanks, Uwe.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
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- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,700
Re: THE END of Typewriter Talk?
It would be such a waste for the Forum to shut down and the resulting loss of the information and photos gathered over the years that can easily be accessed via the “search” functions of the Forum. Loosing this resource would be really sad.
To that end, I might suggest the following “fund raising” ideas to consider.
Other ideas from other Members as well.
Here are my thoughts :
1. Dedicate 1 month per year as our fund-raising month.
2. Create a Forum “Patron” status for key Members that could make a monetary donation each year. Have those donations run from $ 20, $ 40, $ 60, $ 80, and $ 100
3. During this fund-raising month, allow “auctions” in the Trader section whereas members wanting to thin out their herds could place a typewriter on-auction and the proceeds of the winning auction would then go the fund its operation.
Money to ship the machine to its new owner would be kept by the Member holding the auction but all other monies would go to the forum. A bit of an honor system, here.
And once the fund-raising month expires, auctions would then be banned for the remainder of the year.
4. Start collecting a fee of $ 5 or so for all new Members as they apply to join the forum. This would be a 1-time fee and good for a lifetime.
In conjunction with this, have the Forum available only to accepted Members. That is change the Forum from “public” to “private” mode.
Right now we have thousands of folks coming to the Forum who can view the posts and photos and never even take the time to become a Member.
This would mean that on some date in the future, the Forum would no longer allow non-Members to view any discussions and/or posts.
All of those folks who just “lurk” would then need to register, again, and pay a one-time fee of $ 5 or so before the Forum would be viewable to them.
.
- keystriker
- Platen Punisher
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- From: Rural Northern California, USA
- Registered: 21-9-2024
- Posts: 52
Re: THE END of Typewriter Talk?
If it’s $16 a month for the entire forum, that’s dirt cheap. Ten people pledging $20 a year or 20 people pledging $10 a year would more than cover it.
“Don’t be too harsh to these poems until they’re typed.
I always think typescript lends some sort of certainty:
at least if the things are bad then, they appear to be bad with conviction.”
~ Dylan Thomas
- skywatcher
- Moderator
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- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 749
Re: THE END of Typewriter Talk?
Greetings All
My thought on this is to start a poll to see how many members would be willing to make a one-time donation of $16.00 USD. This poll would be purely to gauge the interest in the forum. If the response is positive enough, open a donation page and see what comes in. each dozen donations would keep the forum alive for another year. Donations could be anonymous, or have your name attached to the donation. As I say, it's just a thought. All the best
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- SoucekFan
- Key Master
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- From: United States
- Registered: 27-12-2015
- Posts: 511
Re: THE END of Typewriter Talk?
I would have no problem chipping in. My only issue in staying with this host is that our forum has been invisible to Google search for at least two years, and I am not sure if that is a problem with Boardhost. It would be a waste to stay with this host if 90% of search traffic could not see us; but I wouldn't want to lose our discussion history.
- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
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- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,700
Re: THE END of Typewriter Talk?
Uwe & Sky,
Consider this my pledge for $ 50 USD.
When the details are worked out, I would like to mail a personal check to an address of your choice.
(I have stopped using PayPal and other similar services.)
- maggie811
- New Member
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- Registered: 12-11-2020
- Posts: 4
Re: THE END of Typewriter Talk?
I would be happy to donate to the pool! There is so much incredibly valuble information in here that it simply can not disapper.
