[Hadrian Coffin]

I recently saw a post on FaceBook, in a group called real swords, in which the poster mentioned the death of myArmoury.

I think this forum has suffered from poor moderation at points over the years.. but it has also been my home on the internet for the past near 20 years.

Let’s keep discussion active![/code]

[Ryan S.]

I guess the question is: how?

I think a lot of people prefer Reddit or Facebook, or even Discord. Also, I think that youtube plays a bigger role in how people learn about swords and weapons.

[Dan Kary]

Yeah I think the only way to keep it alive is have people actually make the effort to respond to make posts and respond to them. If I am right about that? What kinds of posts would people like to see? I sometimes post questions for people to give their opinions on to the end of educating myself and, hopefully, others.

Maybe more posts of collections? Reviews? I'd certainly be down for doing this...(wasn't this the original purpose of the site?).

[Richard Miller]

I would also hope that myArmoury doesn't just dry up and blow away. Though I don't post much any more (I have found that many of the "old timers" seem to be far more concerned with showing off than showing an interest in actually educating newcomers.) I check in frequently to use some of the Featured Content and check if anyone has something to sell that I'd be happy to purchase.
The sad fact is that the site is terribly out of date, featuring swords, products and manufacturers that haven't been around in (literally) for decades in some instances.
I certainly don't have the know-how or time to overhaul much of this site, but I would be willing to contribute some coin to pay someone to do it.
I would be willing to pitch a hundred bucks (maybe more) or donate a sword for a raffle or some such. Hopefully enough money could be raised to freshen up a great site!

[Anthony Clipsom]

I've only recently returned to the forum after a few months absence. I was pitched out in one of the occassional downs of the forum and it took me a while to work out how to get back. Ironically, I found the answer had been posted on the forum itself but, if you can't access it, you don't know that. So, I think that may be an issue - we lost people in these instability episodes and they couldn't find a way back, so drifted away. If that is so, a bit of promotion to say the forum is still going may help.

We've discussed out-of-dateness before but nothing seems to have happened to edit out some of the dated material. I don't know if anyone has offered any new essays or reviews to update things?

As has been mentioned, having access to the forums older conversations is very helpful. I was really happy on return to have access to the material on crossbows, for example. Those sorts of well-informed conversations seem to have faded. I was also surprised that interesting finds of archaeological material or new published information wasn't being flagged. There were a couple of things which I would be interested to hear some views of others on. Perhaps that should challenge me to put fingers to keyboard and actually start that sort of topic myself. If we all did that, the forum should start to show signs of life.

[Mikko Kuusirati]

Yeah, I haven't been active here in ages, for a variety of reasons more to do with personal life than the site itself, but it seems like the last round of trouble with logging in really killed a lot of the traffic.

I'd be genuinely hurt to see myArmoury go away. It's been a small but valued part of my life for longer than I care to think, and even in the times I haven't been actively discussing things here, the articles and past conversations here have always been an extremely useful source of references.

[Victor R.]

One of the big issues is that the forum is based on very old technology that it would cost a significant amount to update,or to transition to a better platform. The founder and owner of the site is also checked out. Various reasons are said to contribute to this, but elements of time and cost are part of it.

This place is a great resource, but it isn't "user friendly" for things like making posts or attaching media, and the functions relying on email (new member registration, notifications) are no longer functional. The "remember me" aspect for the automatic login is tied to that as well, as I recall.

Bottom line is that we'd have to get the current owner to relinquish ownership to someone (or a group of someones) with the time and disposable finances to bring the tech forward and then maintain it. My understanding is that he isn't responsive even to those that helped him administer/moderate the site, so there is little that can be done unless and until he has the time and inclination to do it.

As for other sites mentioned, Reddit and Facebook are decent for sharing immediately, but they are pretty awful as repositories of easily searched knowledge. Sure, you can look through photos and do word searches, but you really don't get the benefits there (easily, at least) with things like the "Features" and "Spotlights" here.

One thing that's great about this place: it isn't bombarded with crap like FB and Reddit and you can find it more easily. Fewer trolls (not that they don't exist here), and with the lack of being able to register new users, no bots at the moment.

[Anthony Clipsom]

The lack of an ability for new sign ups is frustrating in terms of re-animating the forum. New members will bring new questions and new perspectives, which will generate engagement. While appreciating the lack of bots, I think I would trade that for some new blood

[Chad Arnow]

I'm glad there's still interest in myArmoury. I, for one, don't want to see it go away either. I've personally put too much time and effort into it (and I'm not the only one) to see it die and I love the community that exists here. That said, there are issues the site faces.

1) The site's founder and owner, Nathan Robinson, has not had much time to devote to the site in the last few years. Given how much time, money out of his own pocket, and sweat equity he's put into the site personally for ~20 years, I don't think any of us begrudge him having a life. I'm quite grateful for creating the sandbox we all get to play in. That said, the site's current setup is such that all content production (articles, reviews, gallery pages, etc.) runs through him. The same is true for all technical things beyond the most basic moderating tasks that I can perform. Ditto for the social media account on Facebook.

2) The host server is aging and less stable than in the past. Moving it requires time and money and will likely raise the site's annual cost.

3) The forum software is out of date and registrations are currently unavailable. As I understand it, part of this is due to other things running on the site and server whose versions would conflict with newer versions of phpBB (one more reason to move the site). Another factor is that forum-generated emails can get tagged as spam and don't get delivered. Likely another solvable issue that requires time, expertise, and probably money.

4) We need more volunteer authors to generate content if the logjams above can get solved. I have authored more than 15 reviews and collection gallery pages over the last 4+ years, but we have no editing team to process them and Nathan would need to create webpages for each of them as there is not a content management system in place to make this process easier. Something like Word Press could solve this, but that takes time and know-how to implement.

5) If we get more authors generating content, we still need proof-readers/editors/etc. We used to have a team of around a half dozen that conceptualized articles, proof-read submissions, worked with outside authors, and generated their own content. All but me have drifted to other things as family/job/life situations have changed.

Obviously, there are some challenges to overcome, but they're all likely solvable with time, help, expertise, and money. The questions really boil down to whose time and how much money?

I can tell you that discussions have happened recently behind the scenes about the site's future. There is a lot of interest in continuing to have myArmoury exist, though the management and/or ownership structure would need to shift. Discussions are ongoing...

In the meantime, post away. Ask questions, post forum-based reviews, etc. Link to interesting YouTube videos that people can discuss. Let's make things more active to encourage others to participate, too.

[Elio Pestana]

It's a bit out of there, but i remember hearing about some websites running off a free API whose source code was available on GitHub or a similar platform, using the format of a defunct website known as "Ruqqus". While the format of these websites is a bit more akin to something like Reddit, and there's probably more to it than just source code, i think it could be something worth looking into.

Here's for example the source code of one of the forums i use :
https://fsdfsd.net/rDrama/rDrama
While that specific website is a bit... well, a bit of a shithole, i'm sure with a little makeover it could look a bit more like myArmoury.
I might be wrong though, i don't know if the layout can be really messed with and what kind of other stuff is needed to make the website work.

[Ryan S.]

I don’t know much about the technical side of things, but I think it is important to communicate that there is an effort to improve it. I suggest making a big push to address problems, this should also involve a fundraising drive. Saying that it will cost X amount of dollars to bring myArmoury technically up to date will encourage people to donate.

As far as reviews go, why not make sections of the forum for reviews?

[Victor R.]

[Chad Arnow]

[Sean Manning]

Any community will die if it does not recruit, but online communities can die especially fast because its so easy to exit. If registrations don't work that is a 'code red' for the site's long-term viability as a community (vs. an archive).

[Anthony Clipsom]

Sean is right, of course. As a community, we have the ability to reach out in many places, singing the praises of the forum. But it's a bit pointless, and will prove counter productive, if those people who buy into our promotion can't sign up when they get here. While recognising the difficulties, it has to be a priority to resolve.

[Carl W.]

I agree with Sean & Anthony's last posts - suggest highest priority is to get registrations working again. Suggest a first fund raiser & effort focus just on fixing that?

[Anthony Clipsom]

[Mikko Kuusirati]