A backup of the board?

I commented this in another thread but I thought it was worth starting a new one.

We have watched, over the last 10-15 years, a massive decline in the use of web forums. To add to that, the average age of the "OG" users is likely creeping higher and higher. I watched a massive worldwide resource in applianceblog.com disappear overnight when the admin passed away. It has been two years - the site and its content are not coming back.

I'm in my 40's now and have recently had friends aged 30-55 pass unexpectedly. I have a son now of my own and my car will likely be his one day. I'd love for him to be able to see the community we have here and peruse my own journey. I think it would be short-sighted to think the odds of things for the forum being as they are now in 15-18 years are good.

I don't think that Stefan would willingly leave us hanging, but life comes at us in unexpected ways and I don't want to lose a resource I've used for at least 20 years. I'm sure there are others, but I would be interested in funding an archival backup of the site as of X date, to preserve it in a catastrophic event. Actual hardcopy, cloud-based, whatever.

Thoughts from others?

 

I am willing to help financially - - - - -

 

I would like to help financially. I'll be 81 next month, I'm very fortunate to still be active in any capacity. What your advocating makes sense to me.

 

Yeah, I turn 81 the eleventh. I hate to see all this knowledge disappear.

 

I turned 78 last month and I'm in...

 

@Acornridgeman @Stefan thoughts?

 

Cryptic or not, it's nice to hear. Best-laid plans are absolutely not the concern, but here's the hoping.

 

Any updates on this plan you mentioned? I just watched another long-time forum go down over a similar issue, so it's on my mind again.

 

I would help financially as well.

Bruce

 

Hopefully being a "Supporting Member" helps.

 

I wish this forum got the kind of participation that it used to. I don't know why everyone wants to use Mark Zuckerberg's platform. Isn't he filthy-rich enough?...

 

I'm guilty of a lack of participation for sure - while restoring my Comet, this was my go-to place on the web. With the car finished, and other projects in the garage, I slowly faded out of here. I come back every once in a while to check what's going on, and when I have something to add to my build thread. It would be great to see this place thrive again, though.