Starscape BBS Shutting Down

[Amaris]

Original announcement here: Original announcement posted here: http://starscapebbs.com/index.php?showtopic=510&st=0&#entry3870

Hi folks, for any of the folks that are still here and see this, it is with sadness that I tell you that Starscape BBS will be shutting down permanently on August 1st, 2021.

We've been around for 15 years (May 13th, 2006), but between 3 server changes, resulting in the total loss of board membership data the first time around, forums becoming a much lesser used media platform, and the passing of our dear friend @Larry, the board only managed 228 posts in the past 14 months.

We just can't compete with social media platforms, not that we really were trying to keep up with them, we have always been our own little community, nestled between our sister boards, spun off from TrekBBS and Wordforge.

Spamicon, the game contests, the arcade, banner contests, just the general silliness of everyone shooting the breeze, and the friends I got to see around what I honestly saw as my home. "Lost like tears in the rain," would be apt here, but a bit melodramatic, I wager.

Still, this was a great place for me, and I am going to miss it, but I won't keep it running when it's only 3 people, myself included, posting once or twice over the course of a week.

I guess many of us have either moved on, or we've returned to the communities from which we came, or never left. I know I still visit TBBS and Wordforge often. They say you can't go home again, and that is true, you really can't, but you can still remember what home was like.

Oh, and a screenshot from 2007, the farthest back the Wayback machine could go for our site. Man, I miss everything about this:

 

[BillJ]

I visited a few times. Sad to see that internet forums are not the hotbed they used to be. We're worse off for it.

 

[Amaris]

I visited a few times. Sad to see that internet forums are not the hotbed they used to be. We're worse off for it.

Yeah, it is sad to see them go. Before Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and goddess knows what else, there were internet forums, and there was something exciting about being part of a community who shared your interests.

I remember the whole reason Starscape came to be. I started it as an alternative to TrekBBS' increasingly complex rule system, and to counter Wordforge and TK's almost total lack of rules (at the time). A nice median for people who just wanted to talk about stuff without a lot of drama. We experimented with different rule styles too (no rule set ever survives their first implementation), but as time went on, new features, new forums, nothing seemed to keep people. TrekBBS still seems to do well, but it's enormous and centered around a single major IP. Wordforge has been losing lots of people, TK is still around, Terran is still around, and so many other boards at the time, LoNAF, EFCL, Kellyz Korner, are gone.

It reminds me of back when I ran my Renegade BBS "Stardock 12." I had only 1 node, and it was on a Laser 386 with a 14.4Kbps modem. It was in the very dying eve of those message boards, because the internet had brought out new ways to communicate that were far more widespread and reliable than hoping while you were connected no one picked up the receiver.

Ah well, as I said you can't go home again, and honestly, after my friend Larry passed in 2019, I think I knew deep in my gut we were on borrowed time. Larry was a popular figure, had a whole bunch of beer reviews. Had a goal to drink 200 different beers and people were actually excited when he managed to post his 200th review. It probably seems silly from the outside, but it meant a lot to us.

It was a good board.

 

[Amaris]

I went ahead and wiped it all tonight. All of the emails I sent out Thursday came back bounced, save for one, and she has me on Facebook now. There's no one left to tell, no one dropping in, and so I figured save some money on hosting costs, since it was coming up on the next payment anyway, and just do it. So it's done. The site URL now redirects to Feed The Children. I figure the remainder time on the domain name could go to something for the benefit of others.

 

[Unicron]

It's interesting to me when people comment that the BBS format is dying, and perhaps to some degree that's true with the existence of so many social media platforms. But I'm not convinced it's going to die off entirely, as many of the other interests I have (from history to gaming) have any number of active boards and I think many users find that format preferable to stuff like Twitter or Facebook. Especially us old farts with canes to shake.

 

[Amaris]

It's interesting to me when people comment that the BBS format is dying, and perhaps to some degree that's true with the existence of so many social media platforms. But I'm not convinced it's going to die off entirely, as many of the other interests I have (from history to gaming) have any number of active boards and I think many users find that format preferable to stuff like Twitter or Facebook. Especially us old farts with canes to shake.

Oh certainly not entirely, there are still dial-up BBSes in existence. I visit them every so often, but I have to do it via telnet because I no longer have a dial-up modem. :P

I think, though, most forums will consolidate around major brands and franchises, like Star Trek for example, and the smaller niche boards will keep fading away. I mean, why go to a quiet board and get angry with the 8 people there rather than explode on Twitter with potentially hundreds of witnesses who will share it with thousands of others?

 

[Unicron]

Well, I'd say that depends on one's level of sanity personally. I've honestly never had the same interest in social media compared to older style message boards built around communities. They might be dysfunctional in ways, but most of them aren't built on dysfunction.

 

[Amaris]

Well, I'd say that depends on one's level of sanity personally. I've honestly never had the same interest in social media compared to older style message boards built around communities. They might be dysfunctional in ways, but most of them aren't built on dysfunction.

Oh, I prefer forums, too. It's just easy to see why social media's so popular. You can literally have an audience of thousands, or even millions. Forums are more for communities of like interest that want to dig into conversations, because social media is shit when it comes to nuance and deeper discussion.

 

[Unicron]

In my experience, the only real use of social media like Twitter is funny animal pictures and memes. Just like Al Gore intended.

 

[Amaris]

In my experience, the only real use of social media like Twitter is funny animal pictures and memes. Just like Al Gore intended.

Yeah, I've tried a few debates on Twitter, and it never goes well. Trying to cram an entire point into 280 characters is a pain in the ass.

 

[fireproof78]

On topic, sad about the news.

Now, on to my own personal views:

I mean, why go to a quiet board and get angry with the 8 people there rather than explode on Twitter with potentially hundreds of witnesses who will share it with thousands of others?

Because I don't like that many people. Twitter lacks connection and conviction. You can blast it all out all you want but more people knowing doesn't make me feel better. Makes me feel worse.

At least the 8 people on here are nice enough to say something rather than millions who are too preoccupied with their own to say a word.

 

[Amaris]

On topic, sad about the news.

Thank you. ♥

Now, on to my own personal views:

Because I don't like that many people. Twitter lacks connection and conviction. You can blast it all out all you want but more people knowing doesn't make me feel better. Makes me feel worse.

At least the 8 people on here are nice enough to say something rather than millions who are too preoccupied with their own to say a word.

I agree completely. Well, okay, I like a lot of people, but the rest is completely on point. I can joke with a thousand people on Twitter, but I can't really have a deep conversation with them, I can't really get to *know* them like I can here on a forum.

 

[Captain_Nick]

I am sorry for your loss. I remember the spin off boards like LoNAF, EFCL, Troll Kingdom.. we had some good times back in the day
Can't believe I was ever scared of troll kingdom

 

[cardinal biggles]

Can't believe I was ever scared of troll kingdom

Easy to say now; ask the mods who got doxxed all because a few people were butthurt over being tossed off an internet messageboard.

I don't think I was ever a part of Starscape, but I'm sorry to hear that it's run its course. It's sort of sad seeing BBS culture fade away; I don't get the same sense of community from social media that I do from places like this.

 

[Captain_Nick]

I even used to catch up with people in person, back in the day. Not on this site, it's too worldwide, but there were some Australian message boards I was a part of, and we had a regular ol IRL friendship group going for a while.

Facebook isn't quite the same

You know I reckon there will always be an appetite for niche message boards like this. Maybe not as much as the old days where there was no alternative of course, but places like this will never wholly disappear.

 

[Relayer1]

You know I reckon there will always be an appetite for niche message boards like this. Maybe not as much as the old days where there was no alternative of course, but places like this will never wholly disappear.

I truly hope not. I'm a member of three boards (four if you count the Doctor Who one I no longer know my password for) and post regularly. I do not have a Facebook account, or any other social media, and do not intend to get one. It's these three boards or nothing for me.

I'm sorry about Starscape, which I sadly wasn't familiar with.

 

[Santaman]

Sad to see another one go.

As for social media.. meh.. can't connect to that at all..

 

[Amaris]

I am sorry for your loss. I remember the spin off boards like LoNAF, EFCL, Troll Kingdom.. we had some good times back in the day
Can't believe I was ever scared of troll kingdom

It is kind of funny when you look back on it.
Still, some of those communities were larger than life.

Easy to say now; ask the mods who got doxxed all because a few people were butthurt over being tossed off an internet messageboard.

I don't think I was ever a part of Starscape, but I'm sorry to hear that it's run its course. It's sort of sad seeing BBS culture fade away; I don't get the same sense of community from social media that I do from places like this.

Thanks, biggles. You were, actually, in 2006 when we first started. A whole bunch of people from TBBS and WF made accounts there. So yes, you got to be part of it, too.

I truly hope not. I'm a member of three boards (four if you count the Doctor Who one I no longer know my password for) and post regularly. I do not have a Facebook account, or any other social media, and do not intend to get one. It's these three boards or nothing for me.

I'm sorry about Starscape, which I sadly wasn't familiar with.

That's okay, I appreciate the sentiment just the same.

Sad to see another one go.

As for social media.. meh.. can't connect to that at all..

Yeah, I put up with it because I have family there, and there's no way in hell I'm inviting them here! Still, too much going on with social media, at least with forums like these they're small enough to get to know a core group of people.

 

[CaptainWacky]

I am sorry for your loss. I remember the spin off boards like LoNAF, EFCL, Troll Kingdom.. we had some good times back in the day
Can't believe I was ever scared of troll kingdom

TK is still around belive it or not and not very scary.

 

[Oddish]

As someone who has seen two fairly well traveled BBS's (and been a moderator on both) fade away slowly, I know how this feels. And while both communities lasted years, neither of mine made it to 15.