Forums Shutdown

[saratogaWX]

I could host the Wiki if Stu agrees.   I'd previously hosted the Cumulus Wiki when the main Cumulus website was shutdown.

[elagache]

Thanks Ken for your further support!

I could host the Wiki if Stu agrees.   I'd previously hosted the Cumulus Wiki when the main Cumulus website was shutdown.

I'm sure this is a very bitter pill for Stu and honestly, for all WeatherCatters really.  Anything that can be done to reduce the loss is greatly appreciated.

Edouard

[WCDev]

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

Thank you Ken, that’s very kind, but please make sure you aren’t somehow affected by this rather over-reaching act.

As a further update, these forums will become read-only on the 16th, the wiki will remain, but again read-only and the main web-site will have commenting disabled along with the ability for a user to register. Effectively all read-only.

As a further change, for the time being WeatherCat is free - registration info can be found at https://trixology.com/get-license/

Best regards,
Stu.

[saratogaWX]

Hi Stu,

I have looked over the act and I think that WXForum.net will be fine and compliant with the requirements.

The active discussion areas for WeatherCat are live on WXForum.net and some members have joined already.  You, too, are welcome to join if you like.  I stand ready to support your needs.

Best regards,
Ken

[elagache]

Dear Stu, Ken, and WeatherCatters the world over,

. . . .
As a further update, these forums will become read-only on the 16th, the wiki will remain, but again read-only and the main web-site will have commenting disabled along with the ability for a user to register. Effectively all read-only.

As a further change, for the time being WeatherCat is free - registration info can be found at https://trixology.com/get-license/
. . . .

I am especially sorry to hear about these changes.  Perhaps I shouldn't admit it, but my first experiences with the Internet are now 45 years old.  Back then it was a domain of "gentlemen" where civility was expected of the university staff, government workers and occasional private contractors who were permitted to be part of the then nascent network.

Today, the Internet is a reflection of the wider world and you cannot simply avoid "the bad parts of town."  The bad people can come to you at the best of gigabits per second.  Governments are hopeless ill-suited to cope with this sort of thing.  After-all, they cannot reign in conventional crime for starters.

There has always been a difficult trade-off between the freedoms to act and the protections from those who act badly.  I fear that our world is convulsing over the paradox.

In the end we have lost some of our innocence and will profoundly miss it.

Edouard

[wx-watch]

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

Thank you Ken, that’s very kind, but please make sure you aren’t somehow affected by this rather over-reaching act.

As a further update, these forums will become read-only on the 16th, the wiki will remain, but again read-only and the main web-site will have commenting disabled along with the ability for a user to register. Effectively all read-only.

As a further change, for the time being WeatherCat is free - registration info can be found at https://trixology.com/get-license/

Best regards,
Stu.

Before these forums become read only would it be possible for you to state unequivocally what the future holds for WeatherCat

Many thanks

[Blicj11]

Dear Stu, Ken, and WeatherCatters the world over,

. . . .
As a further update, these forums will become read-only on the 16th, the wiki will remain, but again read-only and the main web-site will have commenting disabled along with the ability for a user to register. Effectively all read-only.

As a further change, for the time being WeatherCat is free - registration info can be found at https://trixology.com/get-license/
. . . .

I am especially sorry to hear about these changes.  Perhaps I shouldn't admit it, but my first experiences with the Internet are now 45 years old.  Back then it was a domain of "gentlemen" where civility was expected of the university staff, government workers and occasional private contractors who were permitted to be part of the then nascent network.

Today, the Internet is a reflection of the wider world and you cannot simply avoid "the bad parts of town."  The bad people can come to you at the best of gigabits per second.  Governments are hopeless ill-suited to cope with this sort of thing.  After-all, they cannot reign in conventional crime for starters.

There has always been a difficult trade-off between the freedoms to act and the protections from those who act badly.  I fear that our world is convulsing over the paradox.

In the end we have lost some of our innocence and will profoundly miss it.

Edouard

Well said, mate!

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat faithful,

Time is starting to run short, so I am paraphrasing a posting I made on the new WeatherCatter's refuge:

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=48252.msg486663#msg486663

I am sure all of us who are loyal to WeatherCat continue to be in shock.  Alas, the legal climate has changed, forcing Stu's hand.  I assume that there is more to the story than what has been publicly said about the UK’s 2023 online safety act.  Stu has always been extremely careful to protect his legal position and preserve his own privacy.  He should have absolutely every right to do so.  WeatherCat is simply a business conducted in Stu's free time and he has every right to charge a fair price for his labors.

Alas, that's the trouble comes in.  The only reason Stu would take such a drastic step is to protect his legal position.  All we can do is stand by Stu and WeatherCat, and hope somehow, that the legal situation is reverted to something sane.  This isn't the first time this software has faced what appeared to be essential extinction.  What saved it is this community standing by something we use and deeply enjoy having.

I'm calling all WeatherCatters to hang tough with Stu during these difficult times.  Our new provisional home is here:

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=146.0

It is undeniably a huge step down from having a forum of our own.  Nonetheless, it is still much better than losing all means of keeping in contact of each other.

If we truly want WeatherCat to continue, there isn't much else we can do.

Edouard

[wurzelmac]

Signed.

[Steve]

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

Ken, can you remove me as moderator of the Macintosh Weather Software sub-forum? I'm never on there any more, and not at all up to date on the other software options.

Thanks

[saratogaWX]

Sure, I'm assuming your smorris id is the one on WXForum.net.

[Steve]

Sure, I'm assuming your smorris id is the one on WXForum.net.

Oh, yea, sorry. That used to be my username here, too, so I forgot it was changed. Thanks!

[Blicj11]

As this forum becomes read only this weekend, I want to thank all of you, fellow WeatherCatters, for your questions, answers, and contributions on the forum. I appreciate all I have learned here over the years. I am especially grateful for the "old timers" who came here from LWC. Specifically, Stu, Edouard, Steve, and Reinhard have bailed me out many times. Thanks to all of you.

I hope everyone will join us on the new sub forum on WXForum.net.

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=146.0

[elagache]

Dear Blick and fellow WeatherCatters,   

As this forum becomes read only this weekend, I want to thank all of you, fellow WeatherCatters, for your questions, answers, and contributions on the forum. I appreciate all I have learned here over the years. I am especially grateful for the "old timers" who came here from LWC. Specifically, Stu, Edouard, Steve, and Reinhard have bailed me out many times. Thanks to a all of you.

Thank you very much for your heartfelt words!

I too would like to very much thank Stu for all his labors!  What was very much a labor of love has increasingly become a herculean task as a result of a myopic attitude to be found in so many places.  Let us all hope for a brighter future even there doesn't seem to be anything but dark clouds at the moment.

Edouard

[WCDev]

Before these forums become read only would it be possible for you to state unequivocally what the future holds for WeatherCat

Many thanks

Development continues. I'm currently working on V332 (see https://live.trixology.com/custom/ for the latest version on test) - the main aim of 332 is to fix a startup crash and add those two missing rain channels to the WLIP driver.

The reason I wrote first LWC (about a hundred years ago it seems ) and then WeatherCat is because I couldn't find anything to suit my needs - that continues to be the case.

As a further change, for the time being WeatherCat is free - registration info can be found at https://trixology.com/get-license/

This is now rescinded.

As an additional personal note, I find this particularly annoying - I've kept these forums running through thick and thin (sometimes on extremely dodgy hardware and extremely dodgy connections) and now I'm done in by a somewhat overreaching act.

I do hope to be able to bring these forums back to full functionality sometime in the future, but for now, many thanks to Ken!

Cheers,
Stu.