Forum Closure - and Merry Xmas & Happy New Year !

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

Due to a lack of interest, and not many postings, I think it's now time to shutter the forum.

We've had a good run, since (CORRECTION) 2006 (gulp !!), when Darren first set this place up - but over the last 2-3 years there's been a diminishing number of posts made each year and there's been very little involvement for the few people who have visited.

And with ever dwindling numbers of volunteers for BOINC projects, limited numbers of BOINC projects that are worth contributing to, and of course the rising cost of energy, that helps to keep members host computers crunching - it all adds up to a real "downturn" in the need to keep this place fully operational.

So, I've made a start to "turn off access" to some sections and to make some sections "read-only" so old posts can be read but not commented on.

One section remains open for anyone to post in, until the end of this month, at which point the entire forum will become read-only and at some point next year it will be taken offline.


And now I would just like to thank everybody for all your contributions, (over the years),

And to wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

best regards
Tim

PS: The Facebook UBT group is still going to be in operation although, again, very few comments have been posted there...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2391147216

I am unsure about the twitter (now X) page...

[UBT - Mikee]

Hi

Not unexpected unfortunatly. I think there's only been, maybe, four or five contributers in the last year? Don't remember when next payment is due to keep access, so that would be the obviuos (it's a word! - all the right letters, though not nessessarly in the right order!) time to close.

It was fun while it lasted, especially at the start with the competitions, chases, winding up BOINCUK til they buckled and gave up. I used to have 2 single core PCs running 24/7 and thought I had a chance of keeping up with the guys running farms - Woodles and Temujin come to mind.

Anyway, thank you for keeping things running for as long as you have - it's been fun but it's time to say goodbye



Mike

[UBT - PennyQ]

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish...

Thankyou to all who contributed over the years and especially Tim for running the show. Seasons Greetings to anyone still reading this!!!

Penny

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi

Not unexpected unfortunatly. I think there's only been, maybe, four or five contributers in the last year? Don't remember when next payment is due to keep access, so that would be the obviuos (it's a word! - all the right letters, though not nessessarly in the right order!) time to close.

Hiya Mikee

Thanks for the posting.

It's been some time coming but I get the feeling that BOINC (as a volunteer supported concern) is on shaky ground - and it's been like that since David Anderson focussed his efforts on other things.

Few new "major" projects are getting going and many of the bigger projects have been running down for a while now. I think NumberFields and PrimeGrid are the two projects that seem to be run by professionals, while others just seem to be scraping by

And the "BOINC Manager" software has failed to be developed and you still cannot refine it's operation, unless you are a dab hand at editing XML files. And the 3rd party "Manager" programs do a far better job - but no-one has made BOINC Manager any better.

It was fun while it lasted, especially at the start with the competitions, chases, winding up BOINCUK til they buckled and gave up. I used to have 2 single core PCs running 24/7 and thought I had a chance of keeping up with the guys running farms - Woodles and Temujin come to mind.

Anyway, thank you for keeping things running for as long as you have - it's been fun but it's time to say goodbye



Mike

Well, this forum started in March 2006 (not 2013 as I said in the first post) and that was after we had a forum on Yahoo? (IIRC) and so, it'll probably make it to the 20th Anniversary and some time after that, various sections will be pensioned off. Obviously, I've been subsidising the running costs all this time (though some donations were generously offered in the early years) but currently, what with hosting and domain name renewal costs, it's about £4 per week.

The 3 domain names (The .org.uk and .co.uk are both registered until mid-February 2026 and the .com is registered until later in the year) - so it doesn't seem worth it to re-register by mid-January as it'll just cost me more dosh .

And yes, we've had some great times, when the UBT "community" got together and made some great efforts to retain our position as the Top UK Team - and it took TSBT a long time and a lot of "3rd party" assistance from elsewhere to get ahead...and that includes some of their members using cloud computing resources to maximise their efforts.

And we've been lucky to attract a few "key" members who made a big contribution towards the Team Total, such as Temujin, Woodles, Chelsea Oilman and many others. And we currently have fewer than 60 active members, while the total Team membership is now down to 2,411 members (down from a high of over 5,000 !!)

https://www.boincstats.com/stats/-1/user/list/12/0/214

And we were very lucky to find a phpBB editor, (Janos of TSBT) who helped transition the forum database over from Darren's hosting to here !

so, lots of good history that EVERY member should be proud of...as we did try very hard to make a difference !!

regards and all the best for your support and to Mrs Mikee too. Have a great Xmas and New Year !
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish...

Thankyou to all who contributed over the years and especially Tim for running the show. Seasons Greetings to anyone still reading this!!!

Penny

Thanks Penny.

I appreciate the kind comments and I am grateful for your continued support, logging in most days, just to see if there's anything here worth reading !!

I sincerely hope you find another good website that you can devote your precious time to visit, instead of this old place !!!

best regards and thanks for your support over the years - hope you have a great Xmas and New Year !
Tim

[Woodles]

Had a bit of free time after the mad panic yesterday so thought I'd check in and see how the old place was doing. Looks like I almost left it too late!

Sad to see the forums closing down but I'm not too surprised. Boinc in general was beginning to slow down even when I was active and I haven't noticed much renewed interest the odd few times I've looked.

So, the end of an era. It was fun while it lasted but all good things come to an end. I had an enjoyable time here and wish all previous and current crunchers success in any future endeavours.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Woodles !!

Yes, you just made it back in the nick of time !!

Many thanks for all your contributions both on here and for the UBT...somehow or other your assistance helped us to fend off TSBT, but in the end, they acquired extra help to overtake us in the UK Bestest Team stakes.

I'll be sad to "pull the plug" but there's seems to be little interest in keeping it going and as I bear all the costs of running it, so, I can find other ways of spending my own money

regards and best wishes to you for the New Year !!

Tim