Galaxy Zoo forum is closing; already nothing new can be posted; what can I do to ...?

by JeanTate in response to lostlens's comment.

They killed the Forum!

Posted July 10, 2014 2:31 AM

by lostlens

Anyone should be able to request a "dump" of their posts. Perhaps a clever programmer will grant us that luxury?
Btw, it was stated that the Forum will remain as a 'relic' of the first years of operation.

Posted July 10, 2014 2:59 AM

Btw, it was stated that the Forum will remain as a 'relic' of the first years of operation.

Yes, but ...

There is a Slightly-secret Object of the Day Board, in teh GZ Forum, which was used by OOTD authors to draft their OOTDs, to collect nominations for OOTDs, to keep a roster/calendar, to ... and by me to keep a lot of my research materials. Once the forum goes dark, no one will be able to access that Board. Why? Because no one will be able to log in, and without logging in, you cannot 'see' that Board. In a quite real sense, every book in that library will be burned to ashes; it will be as if it never existed.

I have a lot - and I mean a LOT - of work ahead of me this next week, to copy/paste/download/whatever everything vital to me in that Board. And all my PMs (well, at least the ones I wish to save); once the Forum goes dark, no more access to PMs.

Posted July 10, 2014 3:09 AM

relic!!!! dump my post that a good idea I have

33783  of them would you known how to go about doing such a thing?

Posted July 10, 2014 3:10 AM

by planetaryscience

I've already started making an excel sheet of basically every aspect of my PMs. The ahead thing will require a lot of work, and I, and everyone likely admits, I certainly wasn't prepared for this.

Posted July 10, 2014 3:33 AM

I think you can still go your GZ Forum Profile, and if you click on "Show Posts" you'll get ~2,250 pages of them (15 per page), in reverse chronological order (i.e. newest first). Depending on what browser you have, you can get an exact copy of each page, on your hard drive, as a file (you can later open that, using the same browser, and it should come up, links and all). For example, in Firefox, the choice to make is "Save Page" (in my version, the other choices when I click on Menu are things like "Print", "History", etc).

Yes, saving >2k webpages is tedious, and error-prone, but it is doable ...

Posted July 10, 2014 3:35 AM

I do not want to save them I want them deleted! How would I go about doing that? Anyone?

Posted July 10, 2014 3:42 AM

by planetaryscience

Why would you want to delete all of your posts?

Posted July 10, 2014 4:28 AM

Why? 7 years of helping the scientist and 33783 post just on the Forum itself not to mention the other zoo's and they close it down. Kill it , I must say I am a tad upset.

Posted July 10, 2014 4:53 AM

There is following new GZ blog post.:

Thanks to the Forum – and Farewell
http://blog.galaxyzoo.org/2014/07/09/thanks-to-the-forum-and-farewell/

Posted July 10, 2014 7:34 AM

by JeanTate in response to zutopian's comment.

Please reopen the GZ forum!!! #reopen_gzforum

Posted July 10, 2014 7:38 AM

From that new blog post:

Closing the forum will allow us to abandon the archaic software that runs the forum itself, and free the moderators from the increasingly onerous task of clearing the forum of spam.

While they do not - yet - have a Talk alternative (if that's the right word to use), I guess all the other Zooniverse project forums which use "archaic software" will also be shut down, in due course (links are to the forums): Moon Zoo, Solar Storm Watch, Old Weather, (more?). I wonder whether the mods there know about the GZ forum's sudden closure?

Posted July 10, 2014 8:26 AM

by zutopian in response to JeanTate's comment.

While they do not - yet - have a Talk alternative (if that's the right word to use), I guess all the other Zooniverse project forums which use "archaic software" will also be shut down, in due course (links are to the forums): Moon Zoo, Solar Storm Watch, Old Weather, (more?). I wonder whether the mods there know about the GZ forum's sudden closure?

GZ is the only Zooniverse project, which had a forum and likewise Talk, as far as I know.
The other Zooniverse projects have either just a forum or just Talk; besides just the old projects have forums, as far as I know.

#reopen_gzforum

Posted July 10, 2014 8:40 AM

by zutopian in response to JeanTate's comment.

Its is a stab to the heart. IMHO

Posted July 10, 2014 8:48 AM

From that new blog post:

Closing the forum will allow us to abandon the archaic software that runs the forum itself, and free the moderators from the increasingly onerous task of clearing the forum of spam.

So in the end the spammers won! Couldn't the GZ forum admins find a way, how to protect the forum from spam?

#reopen_gzforum

Posted July 10, 2014 9:04 AM

by JeanTate in response to zookeeper's comment.

They did not want to I assume. Maybe they where tired of answering our questions. Or maybe with this new talk they do not need to bother with the Classifier's they would just ingore them. The citizens scientist I mean. To the powers that be we are nothing but clickers .

Posted July 10, 2014 9:21 AM

by zookeeper admin, scientist in response to JeanTate's comment.

At present you can still log in to the forum; it'll be at least a couple of weeks before that changes, and I'll make sure we announce any final shut down. All of your work on the OOTD board is safe.

Posted July 10, 2014 12:04 PM

by zookeeper admin, scientist in response to JeanTate's comment.

I want to explain a little why it's not simple to just update or 'fix' the forum software :

One of the problems is that the version of the SMF code that supports this forum is not standard, and so upgrading to keep the software secure is not at all easy. It's also written in a language - PHP - that no-one on the current Zooniverse team speaks, which makes life even harder. As most people are asking questions here, we want to put our efforts into making Talk work as well as possible for as many people as possible; the science team tend to be here to answer questions whenever they can too, and splitting effort across two places is just not sustainable any more.

Posted July 10, 2014 12:07 PM

All of your work on the OOTD board is safe.

Thanks for that.

It's not just me. I am (or was; I have no mod powers now) the mod of that Board. One part of that role, which I took seriously, was to keep those who could access it (and post there) abreast of developments. While it's been quite for a while, I do not know how much of what's there the authors of the various posts and threads (at least) would like to save (etc). I'm pretty sure there is at least one other zooite who was using that Board for his research (he's already published at least one Letter, but few people can access it either).

Starting today, I'll be doing my best to first find everyone and then inform them of how the end of the forum will affect what they posted there differently from what's posted elsewhere (i.e. no archive, just permanent disappearance). I will offer to help in any way I can to assist them save (etc) whatever they want.

Despite being a mod (albeit with a limited remit), I was given no warning of the forum closure (in hindsight, though, the signs were pretty obvious that something drastic was about to happen). I don't/didn't expect a chance to voice an opinion; however, it would have been nice to have been able to prepare.

Posted July 10, 2014 12:48 PM

by vrooje admin, scientist in response to JeanTate's comment.

On some forums it's possible to customize the number of posts/messages displayed on a single page. I don't immediately see that option on the GZ forum, but I will try to find out whether this software allows it (some versions appear to but it's not clear the forum's specific instance does). If it's possible, it might dramatically reduce the number of page saves you'd have to do to have an offline copy of your messages/posts!

Posted July 10, 2014 12:49 PM

by vrooje admin, scientist

I've been thinking about how we can translate and possibly even transfer some of the rich archival value from the forum to Talk. One thing I think might be particularly useful is the Collections feature. Talk collections allow for discussions of objects within the collection (split by science topic, if desired), and they can also be refined, curated and analyzed for scientific purposes more readily than a forum thread can.

For instance, what if we transferred the NGC thread on the forum over to Talk as a collection? All the NGC objects in that thread that are also in GZ would be in the collection, with their metadata readily linkable. And we could also add in a linked discussion all the references to NGC galaxies that are not in GZ for whatever reason -- so all the objects would still be there.

I could imagine doing this for e.g. overlaps, or bulgeless galaxies (I already have a collection of those - CGZL000039 - though it's currently incomplete), or alphabet galaxies, pure art, etc. -- some would have great potential for science, and others would be just for fun. Anything that came from the forum could link back to it.

I need to look into how easy this would be given the formatting of things in the forum, but I think it's probably possible. It would also be a great test of how Collections work here, and if we all provided feedback to the development team after using it, it would become a very helpful voice in shaping how the next generation of the community software functions.

Posted July 10, 2014 1:08 PM

by zutopian in response to JeanTate's comment.

Despite being a mod (albeit with a limited remit), I was given no warning of the forum closure (in hindsight, though, the signs were pretty obvious that something drastic was about to happen). I don't/didn't expect a chance to voice an opinion; however, it would have been nice to have been able to prepare.

The Zooniverse Community Manager Grant did following post in the GZ forum "A thread to talk about Talk" on July 08, 2014.:

Hi All,
Just thought y'all would like to hear that tomorrow the team will be talking about the rebuild of Talk, and that myself and Brooke will be raising the points that have been discussed on this thread (along with this one on GZ Talk http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000003/discussions/DGZ1006bx3) as a good place to start when considering what it should look like.
Thanks again for providing all this useful input!
Cheers
Grant

http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=280156.195

Curiously, he didn't mention, that the shutdown of the GZ forum is near!!!
It happened out of the blue!
I think, that it would have been better, if we had the opportunity to discuss about this matter in the GZ forum.

Posted July 10, 2014 2:30 PM

by JeanTate in response to vrooje's comment.

Thanks.

That would help for saving posts/threads. However, it would be of very little use in saving PMs.

The way PMs are currently displayed in the GZ forum is 15 per page, but only one PM (and PMs sent/received earlier, in the same 'PM thread') is actually displayed on the open page. To be sure of saving every one of your PMs - both sent and received - you have to open each, and save the page, separately. There'll be a great deal of redundancy, but at least you'll be sure to have saved everything.

Of course, if you have ~O(1k) PMs, it'll take you rather a long time.

Apparently SMF does not have functionality by which each user can bulk download their PMs (quite a few other internet forum software platforms do), nor did anyone in the Zooniverse team write the code needed to do this (it should be pretty straight-forward).

Posted July 10, 2014 3:31 PM

by JeanTate in response to JeanTate's comment.

Starting today, I'll be doing my best to first find everyone and then inform them of how the end of the forum will affect what they posted there differently from what's posted elsewhere (i.e. no archive, just permanent disappearance). I will offer to help in any way I can to assist them save (etc) whatever they want.

I've just sent a mass PM to everyone I could find (thanks to Edd for his help). Next I will try to find any emails of any of those people I may have.

If you are one of these people, and you did not get my PM, please let me know (by GZ forum PM please, or email if you have my addy).

Posted July 10, 2014 3:34 PM

by Capella05 moderator

Hi Elizabeth 😃

I will leave your post for the time being, but I really do not think it is appropriate. I will consult the oracles and let you know...

Posted July 10, 2014 7:56 PM

oh sorry I will remove it.

Posted July 10, 2014 7:59 PM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

No please don't 😃

I just want to make sure it is okay to post it 😃 We would normally classify it as spam!

Edited to add @ 20:57 BST:

For clarification, I did not ask Elizabeth to remove the link, but we take the security of all our volunteers very seriously. Normally we would immediately remove any link to an unverified site (I am sure I do not need to go into details about trojans, viruses, phising scams etc... 😃 ) - I did not do that, and neither did I ask Elizabeth to remove it.

Posted July 10, 2014 8:02 PM

I'm a bit late to giving my opinion on this (sorry), but I sincerely hope that you don't (delete all your GZ forum posts). Myself, I have enjoyed very much browsing the threads you've started, and helping where I could. It would be a great loss to have them all disappear.

There's also the collateral damage. For starters, deleting your posts does not (I think) mean that when they have been quoted by others, the quoted part will also disappear (I hope the quoting posts wouldn't vanish!). So you'd be a strange ghost in the ~~dead~~ archived forum; indirect traces of you would remain, but all direct evidence would have vanished.

Then there's the threads you started. What effect does deleting the OP (opening post) of a thread, in SMF, have? Does it make the next (non-you) post the OP? Or does it delete the whole thread (including any and all posts by others)? Or - and I think this is, realistically, the most likely - result in instability ... the forum software can't quite work out what to do, and strange things start to happen.

A similar thing re PMs (yes, I know we're all going to lose every single one of them on or about Wednesday 23 July, but until then): will your PMs be deleted (the ones you sent)? What if such a PM has been quoted/copied/forwarded, will the whole PM chain vanish as well, or will you just be a PM ghost too?

(No doubt there are other, possibly unanticipated, side effects too)

May I suggest this: you've made a wonderful contribution to astronomy, and to the lives of a great many of your fellow zooites. In any rational, ethical culture, the zookeepers and your fellow zooites 'owe' you*. What would you like to ask of them (and us), that is 'within power', in return?

*I'm not talking about laws, or even explicit promises; this is about an ethical sense that selfless altruism (may not be the right words) should not go unrewarded

Posted July 10, 2014 9:43 PM

1st I removed the post because #1 I should of ask if it was ok to post it. # 2 I removed it because users might think it was spam.

Posted July 10, 2014 9:58 PM

"A similar thing re PMs (yes, I know we're all going to lose every single one of them on or about Wednesday 23 July, but until then): will your PMs be deleted (the ones you sent)? What if such a PM has been quoted/copied/forwarded, will the whole PM chain vanish as well, or will you just be a PM ghost too?"

How strange in my e-mail account I have all my PM's since the zoo started. Don't you?

Posted July 10, 2014 10:00 PM

by ElisabethB moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

Thank you Liz ! x

Posted July 10, 2014 10:03 PM

I have all my PM's since the zoo started. Don't you?

No. I think setting up email notification was an option, one I did not select. I am surely not alone (I've been putting off doing 'Save Page' on every one of my many GZ forum PMs; it will likely take me many days to get them all saved).

Posted July 10, 2014 10:04 PM

by ElisabethB moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

Yep, same here ! Apart from the ones that I deleted myself ;D

Posted July 10, 2014 10:04 PM

by JeanTate in response to zookeeper's comment.

Well how about that. Did something right when I first started and did not know anything. LOL

Posted July 10, 2014 10:09 PM

by ElisabethB moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

Giggle ! 😄

Posted July 10, 2014 10:16 PM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

1st I removed the post because #1 I should of ask if it was ok to post it. # 2 I removed it because users might think it was spam.

😄 Thanks Elizabeth, I was just worried of what people might of thought, when the post disappeared. As you know we don't remove posts on a whim 😃

On another note, it is wonderful to see you here! 😃

Posted July 10, 2014 10:30 PM

by Blackprojects

Loitering Poking my Head above the Rim

Posted July 10, 2014 11:07 PM

by Capella05 moderator in response to Blackprojects's comment.

Good to see you BP 😃

Talk is a bit weird at first, but when you get to know it - it is okay 😃

Edited to add: it took me a few weeks to get used to it, if you need help PM me or Els.

Posted July 10, 2014 11:10 PM

by ElisabethB moderator

Yup ! Putting in my two cents ! You know how to contact me ! 😄

Posted July 10, 2014 11:15 PM

by Blackprojects

No not PM"ing you as you should be asleep

Posted July 10, 2014 11:29 PM

by jules

Just thought I'd pop in to see how things are going! I haven't been active on the Galaxy Zoo forum for quite a while as I've been busy in other parts of the Zooniverse but I do have fond memories of it as I was involved from the start and it was the reason I stuck with Zooniverse projects so I am also sad to see it go. I don't have anything I need to rescue from the forum but I sincerely hope that a painless way of doing so can be found for those who do.

Meanwhile, might I be allowed to fly the flag for Talk? 😄 Never thought I would say this but I quite like it. It's far from perfect but it's getting there. I've sent my comments on the feedback form already. If everyone does their bit we should end up with a system that works for us. We are a great community spread over lots of projects. Long may we do science together. 😉

Posted July 10, 2014 11:44 PM

by GeoffRoynon

If you're interested in saving information from a thread on the Galaxy Zoo forum you could look at the "Print" function. I tested this on a small thread and it simply copies the text from the thread into my web browser (Safari) as plain text, no formatting. You can then save the page as a text document and import it into a word processor and do whatever you like with the text.

Posted July 11, 2014 11:46 AM

by jules

I just tried that (Firefox, Linux) - it also preserves links, though not as hyperlinks just urls. Useful nonetheless.

Posted July 11, 2014 4:14 PM

by zookeeper admin, scientist in response to elizabeth's comment.

Just to reiterate what I've said elsewhere - if we can keep the PM functionality up then we will. We're just waiting to see how things settle down.

Chris

Posted July 11, 2014 8:41 PM

Thanks very good to hear! 😄

I have made a start on saving my GZ forum Messages; it's going to take quite a while to do them all, and then I'll have to figure out how to file them, access them, search them ... any suggestions anyone (filing etc; I've got the saving part working)?

Posted July 11, 2014 8:59 PM

http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000005/discussions/DGZ0000utn

zookeeper, my concern is not the PM's I have all my PM's since the start of the zoo Forum. 7 years of them.

Off Topic: Is there a thread like a how use this talk somewhere. I have been on talk and other talks awhile now but just use the "recent" Thread. to communicate. Thanks

Posted July 11, 2014 9:08 PM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

I am still trying to finish the last few chapters - sorry 😦 I work full time so I will only get a chance to do it this weekend.

Posted July 11, 2014 9:11 PM

Yes Capella05 I have been reading that thread. Thanks for all your hard work on it. But being brain dead this morning my most burning need is how do you quote another person comment. Thanks

Posted July 11, 2014 9:23 PM

Like this?

my most burning need is how do you quote another person comment

The edit menu buttons include a quote capability, it's the thing that looks like a giant " between link and code.

You can also copy/paste, and add the greater-than symbol at the head of the line (plus one space).

There's no way - that I know of - to have a quote any other way than with one clear line after it (and before it, if not at the start of a post). Also, you can't link back to the post you're quoting from (some exceptions, exceptionally fiddly), unlike in the forum.

Hope this helps.

Posted July 11, 2014 9:30 PM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

I tend to copy and paste:

Yes Capella05 I have been reading that thread. Thanks for all your
hard work on it. But being brain dead this morning my most burning
need is how do you quote another person comment. Thanks

and then to select the "quotes" (in between the hyperlink and code buttons).

Posted July 11, 2014 9:33 PM

Oh dear my brain is melting what hyperlink and code buttons?? I remember very clearly that it took me a year to learn how to post a picture on the dead Forum, I wonder how long it will take on talk. insert rolled eyes.

Posted July 12, 2014 8:58 AM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

Give me a few minutes - I will post a picture 😃

Posted July 12, 2014 9:01 AM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

enter image description here

Posted July 12, 2014 9:05 AM

Awesome!!

Posted July 12, 2014 9:06 AM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

If you want to post a picture, click on the the picture button. A pop-up will be displayed.

Don't remove the 'http://' - just add the URL of your image afterwards!

Posted July 12, 2014 9:08 AM

Give me a few minutes - I will post a picture 😃 Ok

Posted July 12, 2014 9:18 AM

If you are still up on my post above I see only my avatar and your words quoted. How do I get my avatar in response to yours.

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment for example?

Posted July 12, 2014 9:22 AM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

Hover over the bottom left of the post you want to respond too - a blue 'Respond' hyperlink will appear. Click on it!

Posted July 12, 2014 9:38 AM

Oh wow hope it works fingers crossed

Posted July 12, 2014 9:41 AM

by Capella05 moderator

It did 😃

Have you tried posting a picture yet?

Posted July 12, 2014 9:46 AM

It worked awesome but as you know we are off topic. I think maybe you should add a simple how too (like basic stuff) which most people younger people than me know how to do with computers and programs in the work you are doing. Thanks for the help. Now get some sleep!

Posted July 12, 2014 9:47 AM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

Good idea!

Posted July 12, 2014 9:51 AM

Not yet but with your help I will. Do you known I nearly drove Alice crazy for a year trying to post a picture on the old forum. Finally posted a link. Until the boys showed my the what more I needed and you know what happened next.I went posted crazy. Insert rolled eyes.

Posted July 12, 2014 9:57 AM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

lol 😃

I look forward to the challenge!

Posted July 12, 2014 10:05 AM

Well I did it with the help of some friends. But about the recent page not working this seems to me to be a big problem. Any ideas on the matter?

Posted July 14, 2014 11:41 AM

by Capella05 moderator in response to elizabeth's comment.

This is a known issue - the developers are working on it. I will see if I can get an update...

Posted July 14, 2014 12:42 PM

Thanks I think it is a BIG issue IMHO

Posted July 14, 2014 12:55 PM

by GeoffRoynon in response to zutopian's comment.

I would like to do a few posts in the old GZ forum! Could a forum moderator please do posts on my behalf? Or could you please allow the users to do posts from time to time? I think, that it should be just forbidden to start new forum topics.
Interestingly, though the GZ forum is closed, there are still users and guests, who visit it.: Most Online Today: 64 and the previous days it was similiar. It doesn't make sense to me to continue a forum topic in GZ Talk (or elsewhere), because I can't post a link in the forum to Talk! Well, I could continue a forum topic in Talk and post the link of the forum topic, but the forum readers wouldn't know the corresponding Talk topic! So could ZK Chris/ the forum moderators please help?
.

Posted September 24, 2014 9:16 AM

If you want to continue a thread started in the old GZ forum you could do what I did here: http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000002/discussions/DGZ0000z7m

Simply start a new thread in Talk and link to the original thread in the old GZ forum. The old forum is closed.

Posted September 24, 2014 10:30 AM

by zutopian in response to GeoffRoynon's comment.

Simply start a new thread in Talk and link to the original thread in the old GZ forum. The old forum is closed.

I know, that some forum topics are continued in GZ Talk. We should maybe do a list.: Beisdes the one, which you mentioned, there are following ones.:

Shared learning: Statistics, Data Mining, and Machine Learning in Astronomy http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000007/discussions/DGZ0000v7s
Pure Art
http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000002/discussions/DGZ0000vlc
Just Chat
http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000002/discussions/DGZ0000v89
Zooites astronomy pictures
http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000008/discussions/DGZ0000vl9

Are there further ones?

I would like, that the forum moderators post links in the forum topics to the corresponding GZ Talk topics!

Posted September 24, 2014 1:00 PM

by Capella05 moderator in response to zutopian's comment.

From Zutopian's post:

Interestingly, though the GZ forum is closed, there are still users and guests, who visit it.: Most Online Today: 64 and the previous days it was similiar.

Most of those will be search bots for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), not actual real live users.

The majority of the people who contributed to the threads you mentioned, already know where Talk is, and in many cases have posted here 😃

I would also recommend Geoff's approach to backposting to a forum thread, and continuing the conversation here. 😃.

Posted September 24, 2014 8:07 PM

by Hanny moderator

I was just alerted to this topic and although all these issues have been delt with by now, I'd like to summarise:

When we posted "the majority of the (mod) team" we meant all of those that had been around in the last couple of months. So nobody disagreed. We just didn't ask Fluffy for instance, as she hadn't been on for years.
You also already know the good reasons we had for closing it, even though we didn't want to either. We understood emotional responses and people who wished to delete their posts. Luckily they came back on this, realising they are part of a beautiful archive.
As you can see, we have kept and we're planning on keeping the forum as this archive that it is now. This means that we will not post on it anymore, but you will be able to access it is a read-only site.

I hope that clearifies a few things. Cheers.

Posted September 27, 2014 10:54 AM

by zutopian in response to Capella05's comment.

Most of those will be search bots for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), not actual real live users.

I doubt this, but if so, your comment is also applicable to the MoonZoo, SolarSW and OldWeather forums, where even less "real persons/SEO bots" were online today than in the GZ forum. Btw, the MZ, SSW and OW forums aren't closed.:

MoonZoo forum : Most Online Today: 38
SolarSW forum : Most Online Today: 20
OldWeather forum: Most Online Today: 31
GZ forum : Most Online Today: 67

Posted September 28, 2014 6:57 AM

by Hanny moderator

Whether those 'visitors' are readers or bots: the reasons for closing the GZ forum remain.

As for the other two forums: we never compaired them. Personally I was never really on them much, but from what I've heard, they never had a lot of visitors/posters. Chris has mentioned before that the forums are not the platform anymore that the team wishes to use. In other words: they left them to the volunteers. My best guess would be that the reasons behind closing the GZ forum don't go so much for the other two forums. I don't think you should count on them though: the team is on Talk now.

I hope this is clear now.

Posted September 28, 2014 8:49 AM

by zutopian in response to Hanny's comment.

Whether those 'visitors' are readers or bots: the reasons for closing the GZ forum remain.
(...) Chris has mentioned before that the forums are not the platform anymore that the team wishes to use. In other words: they left them to the volunteers. (...)
I hope this is clear now.

I also read your comments in the GZ blog article about the closure of the GZ forum. One of your comments is following one.:

Hanny says : July 16, 2014 at 11:56 am
Yes, there was a spam issue. However, this was not the only issue. And Graham and I were happy to handle all of this when there were still enough people around to make it worth it. This is the main thing. (...)
http://blog.galaxyzoo.org/2014/07/09/thanks-to-the-forum-and-farewell/

I wonder, why you and the other mods didn't ask the GZ forum community, if there are volunteers, who would like to become GZ forum moderators? Well, the GZ mods apparently thought, that it is longer worth the effort and therefore decided to close the GZ forum, but there might be volunteers, who disagree and would like to become GZ forum mods!

Posted September 28, 2014 9:50 AM

I wonder, why you and the other mods didn't ask the GZ forum community, if there are volunteers, who would like to become GZ forum moderators? Well, the GZ mods apparently thought, that it is longer worth the effort and therefore decided to close the GZ forum, but there might be volunteers, who disagree and would like to become GZ forum mods!

Oh well must say here I wondered that myself! ....Oh well I wonder where my missing post are. Must have push the wrong button. 😃

Posted September 28, 2014 10:26 AM

by Hanny moderator

Again; it wasn't a question if we still wanted to moderate it. If there had been enough people around to do it for, we would have wanted it and done it! There just were not enough people around who were actually posting (constructive) messages. And I can't explain that any better than I already have. Also; it is what it is now. We (the whole team) felt we should leave it as a beautiful archive. It was a service from the Zoo team you were welcome to use, but I'm afraid you're just going to have to accept that it is no longer in use. Maybe you want to start your own forum too, or sign up for the one others have started. Of course it's also nice to see many have moved here to Talk as well (even though it is still under construction) so I'd like to suggest we work on making this a nice place too; onwards and upwards.

Posted September 29, 2014 7:50 PM