RIP Bacman forum

Sad news for the modders: probably the best forum has been shut down for good recently.

This was Bacteria’s last message to the forum

I have decided to close the forum today.

The main site http://www.bacman.co.uk/home/ has already been updated to remove links to all but a couple of sections, and later today I will shut the forum permanently and remove its links. I will keep the reference site going for a while however.

Why you ask? Well there are three main reasons:

1) The modding scene is all but gone now, almost all modders I used to “know” on the sites have long since gone and the activity on the forum has been very low for some weeks, often I log on and i’m the only member on it now. One of the reasons for the forum was for the community, however the community have all but now gone; so the time it takes to run a site is less justified. If a site is there to support a community and the community goes, it can’t justify its existence IMO.

2) I love modding however my priorities have changed over the last months, my modding has reduced heavily, I will be going a fair bit of modding in a few months time however when I do it will be at my slower pace. My life is also up for a major change too, moving house soon and far less time for running the site, and intend to take early retirement in a couple of years time or less, so again, change of lifestyle and priorities; less hobby and more holidays.

3) Recent events especially in the compo have left a sour taste in my mouth, pushed me from the “let’s keep it going anyway” to “is it still worth it?” camp. In other words, it is no longer fun or enjoyable for me to run the site, like it was months or years ago, and if it is no longer fun, there is no reason to do it, right? After all, i’m paying for the site, have devoted a considerable amount of time to it and running it, so if it isn’t fun anymore and the site has low attendance there is no reason to continue for the sake of it. I don’t need the hassle or dramas or friction that happened in the compo, it ebbed away my last interest. I had been hinting for weeks in some posts that this could happen, I decided it was the right thing to do, as always i’m true to my word.

So, sorry guys, but it is time to close the site. The quality guides as mentioned are still in the reference guides on the site, and still available, although in a few months time if I can’t migrate the site to a free site then this will close too; I paid for the domain for the next years however no point paying more for the Host, especially for just a reference section that few use.

I always said all forums have their day and all will die at some point, especially with a niche hobby site like a modding site; and it is up to the membership to determine its death as people vote with their feet and comments posted. With that in mind and this post, I would be contradicting myself if I didn’t yield to the inevitable and as such close the site. Just one of those things; “it’s da internetz” as people say.

I am leaving the site open for a few hours so those that still visit the forum can view this message, those that don’t see this message will not be the active members anyway; I would have sent out a mass email however that feature is broken so does not work so posting this thread instead, one of the things that broke when the site was moved over was the mass email feature.

I would like to say a warm and major “thank you” to all of you guys who supported this site over the years (the first Bacteria forum was back in 2009, so 6 years now), it is most appreciated, means a lot to me. Thank you so much for your support. Modding is a great hobby, please enjoy it. I will still be modding and occasionally uploading a new YouTube video however as usual, not frequently; but will make a video when I make a system for sale or myself.

I have neglected to spend as much time over the last couple of years with my wife as she deserves, that will change now.

I guess you could say, modders over the years have left the scene, the only difference is when they leave they leave, now it is my turn, the forum goes too. Sorry guys. It has been great to be part of the modding scene but time moves on, priorities change, nothing is forever.

Here’s the whole forum at the time of the shutdown.
I managed to download it thanks to an OSX software called SiteSucker (http://www.sitesucker.us/mac/mac.html).

https://mega.co.nz/#!6Io0UTRB!A0suhOBwaJqa6dmj42sQsZXV1LoFq_-w1A8Ex73hW4U
(Since the archive is > 1 GB, you’re going to need Mega’s extension for Firefox).