16:38
OK. Why are you closing down YSDC?
16:46
I'm closing down because it's not as well used anymore.
16:51
Our traffic has gone into decline over several years and I've done my best. You've tried everything.
16:57
I have. You've always got some new scheme. It was like, "Oh, I'm doing this thing, I'm trying this, I'm trying this." Everything but OnlyFans.
17:03
So I'm thinking of everything to keep the site going, but there's a macro trend of forums no longer being as popular
17:13
because people have new technologies that are more convenient. And often, convenience overrides quality in that sense.
17:19
That's just a thing, it just happens. That's why we have convenience stores. Convenient, and people like their convenience.
17:25
So the numbers, the traffic were slowly declining over the years. I'm still fine. We're trundling along.
17:31
We had lovely, lovely, we *had* lovely, lovely Patrons who supported the site and some people who donated as well.
17:37
And that was great. They helped keep everything going because it's on a Metal Server. It's not just a Virtual Server.
17:42
It is a large box in Florida. In fact, several boxes, several hard disks, RAID 10 array, if you know what that kind of thing is.
17:49
Very well set up. Always up, essentially. We've invested a lot in that server over many years.
17:57
And that cost. Fine. It still costs because there's all the other costs in running sites and admin. Yeah.
18:02
But the numbers went down. And then finally in 2025, which is the point I'm getting to now, is that last year there was a big rise in, quote, "AI", for want of a better term.
18:14
And things like Google, they're offering "AI Summaries". So when you search for something, it's just going to answer it anyway.
18:20
Yeah. That wasn't so much of an issue for our site because we went Deep Web in 2019 to stop all the bots and spammers and things like this and save resources.
18:29
And that was fine because people were still signing up and people were still chatting. That was great. The real issue is that because there's been a rise in things, for want of a better term, like ChatGPT, and AI chatbots, where you can interact directly with those and say, "Give me a scenario".
18:44
"Write a scenario for me with these key elements." "Tell me about these parts of various Mythos-related entities."
18:51
And it will just do that. You say, "no, I don't want that." "I want you to reform it in this format" "and make it sound like a Laurel & Hardy script."
18:57
It can do anything. Yeah. Absolutely. And it would just give you that instant answer. Whereas previously, I guess,
19:02
people were coming to the web site and interacting with you and anybody else who was on the web site
19:08
and getting the answers through people. And now it's all just AI. Technology has moved on. I'm a bit, I'm sanguine about it.
19:15
I mean, it's been 28 years of my life and it's been untold hours. It really has.
19:20
thousands upon thousands of hours, and a lot of money has been sunk into it over many years to get to this point. But, you know, I would not have believed in 1998, writing a page of HTML text,
19:32
which 28 years later lead to the point where we're doing this live stream and talking about it.
19:37
It's quite a thing. It's weird. I wouldn't have expected it at all. So what's going to happen to the content?
19:42
OK. What will become of what is currently a, I think, what did you describe it as? A zombie site?
19:50
Inso much as you have sort of shut everything down, but it's still there for Patrons and people to sort of be able to see what will become...
20:00
Right. So, 1st of January, as I said, which is like a few days ago now, I just cut off the web site, officially closed across the top.
20:10
And the people who are still on the inside are the last of the backers who are still backing it because at least they could see what was going on.
20:16
People who supported it can still access it. Yeah. It'll be running in this zombie state until the 15th of March, 2026.
20:23
That is the plan. It's the Ides of March. It is the day that Julius Caesar died. It's the day that H.P. Lovecraft died.
20:28
So it seemed a good day. Yeah. Do absolutely. Why not? Switch. What's going to happen?
20:35
Right. It's a big site. There's a lot of it. It's very, very large over a quarter of a century.
20:41
A lot of files, especially with the Actual Play files and various video files. It is big.
20:47
And people very kindly in the past few days said, "oh, we could probably take it over or do this or that."
20:52
But my plan, hopefully, and I do have the contact details, is to get in touch with the British Library
20:59
because they have a digital preservation department and for a state-level institution to actually have an archive of that
21:06
rather than another individual or private company. Because, you know, people have some data.
21:12
Well, I thought, you know what, a State-level archive, which I know the British Library is, I'm a Member of the British Library.
21:17
I love the British Library. I would trust them with that web site. So would that then be available to access?
21:26
I hope so in a form that it is now, but I would have to discuss that with whoever,
21:31
ultimately how they wish to decide.
Thema: Yog-Sothoth.com geschlossen (Gelesen 493 mal)
