Forums Shutdown

[WCDev]

Hello all,
It is with a heavy heart I have to announce that these forums will shut down on 16th March 2025 due to the UK’s 2023 online safety act.

This act puts in place rules and regulations that target all sites that allow user generated content.

I don’t have the resources to comply with this new legislation and there’s no guarantee that even if the work was done, it would be sufficient to pass possible vetting by the state sometime in the future which could result in fines up to £18 million.

I would like to thank everyone that has participated over the years, especially the ‘regulars’, but it seems the days of small, niche forums are over (at least in the UK).

More information:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/online_safety_act/
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/online-safety/information-for-industry/roadmap/2024/ofcoms-approach-to-implementing-the-online-safety-act-2024.pdf?v=383285

Best regards,
Stu.

[wx-watch]

Are there any other support groups for WeatherCat out there or will support become non existent?

And WeatherCat itself? What does the future hold?

[Blicj11]

  Such a shame. You have been wonderful, Stu, as have all the WeatherCatters.

[elagache]

Dear Stu, wx-watch, Blick, and WeatherCat faithful,

It is with a heavy heart I have to announce that these forums will shut down on 16th March 2025 due to the UK’s 2023 online safety act.
. . . .

So sorry to hear this.  It is yet another example where common-sense has lost out to heavy-handed regulation.

Thank you Stu for having provided us with this venue to be a community and support WeatherCat.

I share your heavy heart . . . . 

Edouard

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat faithful,

I'm just brainstorming quickly here.  One obvious thing WeatherCatters could do is regroup on some other forum.  The obvious place is Macintosh Weather Software topic of WXForum.net:

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=114.0

However, upon reading the descriptor of the online safety act, it appears that the British government would see to gain control over even websites hosted in foreign countries.  I'll just toss out the idea for whatever it is worth: "could we seek refuge on WXForum.net?"

A curious mind wants to know. . . . .

Edouard

[wx-watch]

Would it be worthwhile asking them if them if they would set up a dedicated WeatherCat section?

[saratogaWX]

I'm the admin of WXForum.net, and you all would be very welcome to join the forum to continue WeatherCat discussions.

WXForum.net has been around since founding in 2004.  We are hosted in the USA, but honor both GDPR removal requests and will comply with OSA (UK) requests for removal of offensive materials too.  I've only had to process 1 GDPR request for removal so far, so the duty does not seem too onerous.

I can also create a dedicated WeatherCat board and set up Stu or others you recommend as moderators for it.

I hope this helps...
Best regards,
Ken (admin WXForum.net, also saratoga-weather.org)

[Steve]

So very to see this forum go, following the demise of the predecessors several of us belonged to. Thank you, Stu!

And thank you Ken for offering a refuge for the forum. Many years ago, I was a moderator on the Macintosh Weather Software sub-forum at WXForum.net, but it had next to zero activity.

Stu, please take Ken up on his offer to have you moderate/participate on WXForum.net

[EDIT] Huh, it appears that I'm still the Mac software forum moderator, but until today, I haven't been on there in years. A member with the username "Schwab", although not a moderator, seems to have been carrying the WeatherCat torch on that subform. Still, a dedicated WeatherCat forum would be a great idea.

[Blicj11]

Many thanks to Ken for the offer. I would love to see Stu and Edouard as moderators.

[saratogaWX]

No issue adding boards/sub-boards for WeatherCat specifically, and with adding any current moderators/admins as moderators for the new boards.

Yes, Dr. Tom Schwab has been using WeatherCat and posting on WXforum.net quite a while

[elagache]

Dear wx-watch, Ken, Blick, Stu, and WeatherCat faithful,

No issue adding boards/sub-boards for WeatherCat specifically, and with adding any current moderators/admins as moderators for the new boards.
. . . .

Thank you so much Ken for laying the groundwork for a new home for us WeatherCatters!   

I have started a thread to share our climate data:

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=48212.msg486323#msg486323

Hopefully our community can move over with minimal disruption.

Thanks again,

Edouard

[JosBaz]

Dear all,

This is bad news, although minor compared to what else is happening in the world. Thanks all, and Stu in particular of course.
Hope we can continue on the WXforum - I just registered.

Jos

[wx-watch]

I have registered also

[Blicj11]

I have registered also

Me too.

[Steve]

Is there any means to relocate the Wiki files elsewhere? There are a *lot* of valuable contributions contained in those pages, and it would be a shame if they were all lost!