[Jaynek]

Te Deum forum has been giving a "Maintenace Mode -  closed for the time being" message for about a week now.  I check it fairly often but did not see it announced in advance.  Does anyone know what happened?  

[Mithrandylan]

Nope!  Though as I said here -- history has so far invariably proven that when forums go offline without notice, it's a sure sign that they won't be coming back. 

[Matto]

So many trad Catholic forums seem to shut down without warning. I wonder why Te Deum is gone. It is a shame all of our posts have disappeared and are lost. I know I was a member for about two years I think and made around 450 posts there or so but now I guess they are lost forever. Well Cathinfo is still up and I have made the most posts here, and in May I joined SD and they're still up, but I feel bad about all those posts being lost by so many members.

[Jaynek]

Nope!  Though as I said here -- history has so far invariably proven that when forums go offline without notice, it's a sure sign that they won't be coming back.

Thanks for linking to the existing thread.  I was looking for one but managed to miss it.  I consider your information on this highly credible since you are/were a moderator there.

[Geremia]

I know Proboards told the Te Deum forum admin to remove the The Principle movie poster image I had in my signature:


Perhaps they shut down the forum for reasons of violating their terms of service (ToS)—i.e., they're ideologically opposed to its content.

That's what happens when you use give some third party software control over your forum software. Deo gratias CathInfo isn't run this way.

Another thing with using Proboards was that their software rewrites URLs so any link you click first goes through their tracker and then brings you to the intended destination. (Disqus does this, too.) Thus, with all this tracking info, Proboards has quite a lot of ammo to fuel any ToS violation accusation.

[LaramieHirsch]

...I feel bad about all those posts being lost by so many members.

at one time, I thought about trying to archive everything I've posted.  But...that takes a lot of time that I don't have.

[Matthew]

What can I say?

"I told you so"?

None of these little forums have stood the test of time like CathInfo has. "Since 2006" is our middle name.

Of course I'm biased, but I'm also telling the truth when I say: you post on these little forums at your own risk. Just don't be too attached to anything you post there. On any day, with zero warning, you might be greeted with a "maintenance mode" or "the forum is shut down for X or Y reason" message.

It's happened plenty of times before, and it will happen many times again. Especially with forums with under 500 members, and those who don't even bother registering a domain name. But especially those who use third-party or "free" forum hosting. (NOTE: You can get a domain name and still have a forum software company host your forum). When someone else is responsible for your content, that is VERY dangerous for a Traditional Catholic forum. In the eyes of The World, traditional Catholics are very controversial sometimes...

[Matthew]

There are several levels of "independence" when it comes to running a forum:

1. No independence: proboards, simplemachines, or some "free forum hosting" website gives you a free forum. Any of those "get your own forum in 15 minutes" websites fit into this category. They host your site AND maintain the software. Basically, your forum belongs to them and they are responsible for everything posted there. If they get the smallest complaint, they quickly shut you down first and ask questions later.

2. Some independence: You find your own (usually free) forum software and install it on your own web hosting account. This gives you a bit more freedom, but you are still at the mercy of your webhost. The complaints have to be a bit more serious (defamation, copyright issues, anti-semitism, etc.) but people could still easily find out who is hosting your site, and register a complaint. Webhosting companies can and will "pause" your website while these issues are sorted out.

3. Complete independence: You find your own software AND you host that software on your own web server. This is the most work, and it requires a lot of technical (Linux, Apache, SSL, modules, PHP, MySQL) expertise. There are other requirements, which I won't go into detail about here. But let's just say that technical expertise is just the FIRST hurdle you must overcome. But the level of freedom in this category is limited only by the laws of the United States itself. If someone has a problem with your site, they have to get a stack of money (measured in thousands of dollars) and hire a lawyer. Lawyers don't do contingency lawsuits for things like defamation. Or if someone threatens the life of the United States President, you might have recourse to the authorities. Things like that. But these aren't the kind of issues that have shut down so many Trad Catholic forums in the past...

CathInfo is in category #3. That allows us maximum freedom to discuss whatever we want. (We started out in category #2, and moved to category #3 in April 2016.)

[wallflower]

I know Proboards told the Te Deum forum admin to remove the The Principle movie poster image I had in my signature:

Seriously?!? That's insane even by modernist standards.

[Matthew]

I agree. "The Principle" is a big production movie with plenty of marketing, big names, etc. and let's face it -- it asks some tough questions based on the evidence.

On WHAT grounds can they demand that posters for this movie be taken down?

First the h0Ɩ0h0αx, now Heliocentrism must be accepted on faith? I thought all science and history could be re-visited, questioned, etc.

[Geremia]

2. Some independence: You find your own (usually free) forum software and install it on your own web hosting account. This gives you a bit more freedom, but you are still at the mercy of your webhost. The complaints have to be a bit more serious (defamation, copyright issues, anti-semitism, etc.) but people could still easily find out who is hosting your site, and register a complaint. Webhosting companies can and will "pause" your website while these issues are sorted out.

3. Complete independence: You find your own software AND you host that software on your own web server. This is the most work, and it requires a lot of technical (Linux, Apache, SSL, modules, PHP, MySQL) expertise. There are other requirements, which I won't go into detail about here. But let's just say that technical expertise is just the FIRST hurdle you must overcome. But the level of freedom in this category is limited only by the laws of the United States itself. If someone has a problem with your site, they have to get a stack of money (measured in thousands of dollars) and hire a lawyer. Lawyers don't do contingency lawsuits for things like defamation. Or if someone threatens the life of the United States President, you might have recourse to the authorities. Things like that. But these aren't the kind of issues that have shut down so many Trad Catholic forums in the past...

CathInfo is in category #3. That allows us maximum freedom to discuss whatever we want. (We started out in category #2, and moved to category #3 in April 2016.)

Wow, I didn't know you hosted it, too. Deo gratias! :)

[Ascetik]

This is why you run your own server.

[Matthew]

I have a hard time keeping track of all the small forums. This was the forum run by a 50 year old man "Vox Populi Sux" who acts like he's 20.

https://www.cathinfo.com/general-discussion/owner-of-te-deum-forums-'exit-stage-left'/

I just want to make a few observations:

voxxpopulisuxx

What kind of username is this?

1. His username will be abbreviated Vox. Come on! How many Trad forums were created in the last 50 years? 10? 12? maybe 15? And TWO of them have "Vox" for a moderator? Do the English and Latin languages have that few words between them?

2. I think his first choice of username (or the simplified version) would be VoxPopuliSux. Maybe it was taken, so he added an extra X after Vox and Sux.

3. His name is a bit vulgar -- saying anything "sucks" is technically a crude expression, though it's true that many people use it, and it's a "lesser" swear word, so most people don't take it to its "logical imagery/conclusion" shall we say. (I have learned to remove that phrase from my daily lexicon, for the sake of my kids.)

4. What is his name and what does it mean? Vox Populi Sux -- The voice of the people sucks. So it shows a disdain for the opinion of the members who post on Trad Catholic fora; it suggests a positive disdain for what the people want -- even when those "people" are Traditional Catholics whose opinion is probably better and more worthy than your own opinion.

5. He sounds like he is under 25, given the content of his posts and the fact that "sux" is found in his username.

[Matto]

I have a hard time keeping track of all the small forums. This was the forum run by a 50 year old man "Vox Populi Sux" who acts like he's 20.

Hi Matthew. Voxx was never the owner of Te Deum, he was one of the moderators. But he stopped being a moderator a while ago and started his own forum called "Trad Cath Forum." The man in charge of Te Deum was called Sbvyl (I am not sure how it is spelled).

[Croix de Fer]

Te Deum forum has been giving a "Maintenace Mode -  closed for the time being" message for about a week now.  I check it fairly often but did not see it announced in advance.  Does anyone know what happened?