It is not easy to say what I have to say, but the time has come to make the decision. We decided to close the forum.

Closing the chapter

It has been an important part of the website for so many years. I mean since early 2005, which means in 2020 it could be celebrating its 15th anniversary. It had its better times and worse times, it’s ups and downs, but in its glory time it was a thriving hobby community and a common ground for Polish hobbyists, who could learn, exchange experiences and comments, and just enjoy their hobby together there.

Why?

Then the time of Facebook came, Facebook groups took place of many internet communities, and despite being less informative they were much more accessible. Popularity of internet forums faded and we knew it but still didn’t want to close the forum. We decided to keep it going as long as there were people interested in using it.

Unfortunately time we could offer to the forum was shrinking, more and more people moved to their serious adult lives, having less and less time for socializing online. Having less and less hobby time, many had to choose between spending it online or actually painting or converting miniatures…

We discussed the future of the forum and we knew one day we would have to say goodbye to it. It would be when the effort to keep it alive, to clean it from spam and to oversee it will be more than the return we were getting – no matter if it’s positive feedback, rewarding hobby time, or just plain participation in the community. With little life going on there and much maintenance required to keep it spam free and enjoyable to use, we thought it was the time to pull the plug.

How?

I thought it’s no use taking it offline, it would serve no purpose. The whole collection of information, feedback, advice or guidance would be lost. Instead we decided to keep it online. Inactive but still online, so anyone interested could take a trip into the past of the hobby, into the past of one of the very active miniature painting communities of the early 21st century.

All the good things about the community we used to have here were a result of a common effort of the people who participated in discussions and events there. For some it was almost like a second home. They considered the place theirs. Some of them did it even without being members of our team, some joined us. Some came, others left. The community lived on.

Thank you all, and you too!

After so many years it’s difficult to name all the great discussions and events that took place there, but definitely there are some people who deserve to be thanked for everything they did in our forum. They breathed life into it, they made it what it was. So taking advantage of the opportunity I have now, let me thank at least these people, who will always be a part of our forum community for me: Nameless, Demi_morgana, Skrit, Slawol, ToMaZ, sea.man, Hellspawn, Maru, Ana, arctica, NAVARRO, Corvus, Pandadosmares, kacpero, IRKUCK, Marta, Trovarion, Gildor, LadyEyes, Szary, Illusionrip, przemosz., quidamcorvus, przemo, Galharen, endrem, dead, Flameon, Rentall, szczurek_, Le6n, Cyberpaddy66, MiSiU and JerzyK.
Thank you for being with us and building the community together!
I will always be grateful for the time we spent discussing the hobby we shared!

As it was already said, the forum will stay where it was, it will just be inactive. Let it be a museum, a library, a sentimental trip to the hobby as it was when we had time to spend hours discussing it.

UPDATE: As some people contacted us and asked about a replacement for the forum, we re-activated our Facebook group, so if anybody wants to join and discuss, feel welcome there. 🙂

We aren’t leaving!

We’re not quitting the hobby. One does not simply give up miniatures. 😉

So, well, see you elsewhere…

See you in different parts of the internet. See you at various hobby events. See you at exhibitions. See you at figure painting competitions.
See you on our website, see you on our facebook page! Stay in touch, just because the hobby is much better when enjoyed together! 🙂