Site Close Down Plan

**Santa** · Tuesday 18th June 2024, 17:23

Hey Everyone

Well the site has been going for almost 20 years! (20 years this August).

But all things come to an end eventually and we have made the difficult decision to "call it a day"

Basically it's down to practicalities, to keep this site running it will require quite a lot of investment and due to the nature of how people prefer to consume their communities these days, the investment just can't be justified.

So what's next?

14th September 2024 (unless we have any major failures in the meantime) will be the last day the site exists in it's current form.
The site will show "in maintenance" for a period of time whilst we convert 20 years of content into static web pages.
The site will then come back as an archive, no new updates will be made but the last 20 years of content would be preserved.

It's been quite a journey and thank you to all those that have been a part of it! Special mention to Dave, without his dedication the site wouldn't have made it to 20!

**kmb** · Saturday 22nd June 2024, 16:05

Thank you from an appreciative member, I can fully understand your difficult decision but times change and it's nice that you'll save the info within the site for reference!

All the best for the future.

**MoleT-5R** · Monday 24th June 2024, 12:03

So glad to have been part of VPCUK for many of it's twenty years, I have met and talked to many people through this site, of which many are still close friends. It will be a sad day when it finally shuts down as the facebook groups are nowhere as good as a proper forum, but it's good to know that the content will not be lost, so people will still be able to access the wealth of information on here. Many thanks to all that have worked so hard to keep this going.

JT · Monday 15th July 2024, 16:22

Sad news, but understand the reasons as to why.

After 14 years of meeting new people and getting support from this forum, its also time for me to say goodbye
to my car. Time has come where I need to pass it over to someone who can hopefully have some fun in it.

Car is provisionally sold and due to be collected on Saturday.

So, thanks to everyone on here, its been a blast

**LeeT5** · Wednesday 21st August 2024, 11:11

It's a sad time but understand the reasons. I believe FB was the killer? Anyways, I fell honoured to be part of such a massive community and glad to see all the content will be archived. There's a lot of knowledgeble people here with incredibly useful information. Be a shame to see it go. I still get the occasional PM now and again

Stay safe everybody and a huge thankyou to everyone thats helped me over the years!

**t5 pete** · Thursday 29th August 2024, 08:26

Sad Times, I’ve met some great people on here, and my God spent many of hours chatting away helping and learning.

**The Flying Moose** · Monday 2nd September 2024, 15:26

Sorry to say I haven’t popped my head through the door for quite some time. I guess life just got in the way!

Thanks Rich and the team for all you’ve done, especially keeping the forum alive after its previous owner sold up. Social media I think definitely played a part in online community demise, alongside this I don’t think anyone truly appreciates the time and effort needed to keep what seems a simple webpage alive and running.

This community has certainly been the catalyst to many a blood, sweat and tears shed over the years but a heck of a lot of laughter along the way.

Thanks for the friendship and the knowledge VPC. I’ve met some of the most decent honest folk you could imagine here, alongside well…!

Needless to say never easy to say goodbye to a friend, least not of all one that’s been in my life for the last 16 years!

Adios all, it’s been a blast!

**Santa** · Saturday 7th September 2024, 07:43

Hey everyone, just to provide a quick update on this. We are largely on plan for closure on the 14th September.

The static archive is simple, a test version can be found at http://vpcuk.org/projstatic/

For searching, the site will be submitted to google for (re)indexing so google would be the main search function.

Yes, it doesn't look pretty, its merely a way to preserve much of the content but happy to here any suggestions or where anything is broken :-)

**MisterC1501** · Today, 17:20

Bloody typical. Just logged on after years of life getting in the way to find my post may be the very final time anyone posts again.

Complements to those who have taken their time to run this site. Always thought this site in particular was the best for banter and knowledge.

**Dangerous Dave** · Today, 21:42

A final goodbye from me, thank you to everyone for supporting us over the years, all the information provided and of course the banter.

Going to miss this forum.

All the best folks!