this morning I've made the choice to close 300 forum sites that have about 275k monthly active users, nearly all from the UK.

I've run forums for over 28 years, and did so to build families for those without families, to try and create a cure for social isolation and loneliness, to combat suicide, to create joy and love out of nothing but connections between people.

and it worked. it still works.

but on the 16th March 2025 I will delete the virtual servers running it all... that date is important, it's the last day before the UK Online Safety Act goes into enforcement.

I run these communities philanthropically, giving my time and money to do so, I ask nothing back, I just help build a nicer World.

but the scope of the Act is too broad, and my forums come under it... it does not matter that it's run by an individual and not a company, that it loses money every month... merely by being linked to the UK and allowing users to speak to users... it's within scope.

the penalties of non-compliance would be so devastatingly ruinous to me, that I don't see I have a choice... I must now perform a social harm to protect myself.

this is devastating.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/

I cannot even express what these forums have achieved... the marriages, births, support for those with cancer, the love, the communities they have created.