windwarrior Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Anybody know what happened to the GWTW FORUM???? I went to log in and got some beer website. Last time I logged in was about 2 weeks ago I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Sadly GWTW Forum closed as of Jun 8. It was heavily publicized on the site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windwarrior Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 1 minute ago, riffclown said: Sadly GWTW Forum closed as of Jun 8. It was heavily publicized on the site. WHAT!!!?? What in the world happened???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windwarrior Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Oh believe me, I'm not in the least knocking THIS site AT ALL. I remember meeting JB at Ocean Shores a looooong time ago and if it wasn't for that moment in time I would have never gotten into quad flying. Soooo, I blame JB for THAT!! LOL!! However, having been a member of gwtw since 2000 ish, I'm completely floored it's not only shut down but I never even saw chat about it shutting down. I knew there were health issues and I certainly hope all is well in that aspect. Damn! I don't have contact information for Steve so I'm genuinely concerned that he's ok. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 9 hours ago, Cot51stState said: I couldn't help but feel something valuable was coming to an end. Finding GWTW is what really lit the kiting fire in me. Bought my first kite there. Fortunate to have corresponded with Steve a few times as the site came to a end. Hated to see it go and the loss of so much information but 100% understand.Can't say I agree with it being shut down but have nothing but respect as to the why. The complexities legal and moral of passing it on to someone else would have been a lot larger than I first thought.HUGE actually. Feel lucky to have had it in my life for the short time I did.Didn't contribute much at all to GWTW and thought early on I would have payed for a subscription. Wasn't Steves way. Signed up here and a few days later became a subscriber. Won a quad from the subscriber contest so now I'm obligated to keep my subscription going 10 years after I'm gone LOL.GWTW changed my life for the better more than I could ever explain.Kite Life has been the icing on the cake. The closing had been hinted at for sometime. During the last post it was said "Kiters are some of the nicest people in the world except for all the assholes".Going forward like today I'll try to not be one of those but like all of us at times I'll fail. Surprised at the sad smile and amount of tears that flowed down my face the morning I read June 8th 2019 it'd be Gone With The Wind.After much thought "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerfvoliste Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 A post from Steve at kitekids.net If you were a GWTW Forum member PM me and include your GWTW user name. Living the Dream; One Nightmare at a Time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windwarrior Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 35 minutes ago, cerfvoliste said: A post from Steve at kitekids.net If you were a GWTW Forum member PM me and include your GWTW user name. Living the Dream; One Nightmare at a Time. I went there but can't find that posting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerfvoliste Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Not sure what to tell you. Try clicking on homeOr http://www.kitekids.net/Living the Dream; One Nightmare at a Time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 I did receive one closing sentiment late on the 8th. Quote You have just been sent a personal message by Steve Hall on GWTW Forum. IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email. The message they sent you was: Congrats! You made the last post to the forum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windwarrior Posted June 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 That website kitekids doesn't seem to have anything regarding Steve as far as GWTW. I'm not going to beat a dead horse on this either. Hope all is well with Steve is all. Peace! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Dowler Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 If any of you are on FaceBook, he posts there almost daily. After his stroke, he held out hope that maybe he could fly again - sadly that never could happen for him. So he cut ties with what for him became a reminder of the past that was unattainable in his future. As a stroke survivor myself, I thoroughly understand his decision. Trying to accept your new "normal" is hard enough without trying to recreate something from the past, especially if it truly is something that just can't be done. Frustrating yourself just isn't productive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windwarrior Posted June 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 I didn't realize he wasn't able to fly and could totally understand the frustrations I'm sure that occurred of not being able to fly coupled with the flare ups that occurred on the forum more so of the late. So good for him on enjoying retirement! Lord knows NOW with much less stress and focusing on himself and family. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 There were some attempts by a few people to take the forum and press forward but that option was not allowed.. He did allow it to stay open long enough for someone (we don't know who) to preserve much of the content.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windwarrior Posted June 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 Sad to see it go just like the Prism forum did. They were both great sources for everything just like this site is now. Glad to know now Steve can rest easy though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmond Dragut Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 if i remember correctly they announced the closing of the site on top of every page starting with February or March. is sad to be closed a such great source of information end let's hope people from GWTW will migrate here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerfvoliste Posted June 18, 2019 Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 That website kitekids doesn't seem to have anything regarding Steve as far as GWTW. I'm not going to beat a dead horse on this either. Hope all is well with Steve is all. Peace! That is Steve.... And his website, and his last words about GWTW.@ I'll whip that pony one more time. [emoji16][emoji41] Living the Dream; One Nightmare at a Time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted June 18, 2019 Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 Funny, I was a Kitelife member before I found GWTW. Back then, the posts were very charged & sometimes abrasive between the members. I lurked there, and posted in a much friendlier place to newbies, Kitelife. I took in a great deal of knowledge from both sites, as well as the Prism site. I knew many of yous from all three, but now there is just one. I will say that I am glad to still be in touch with everyone (who's still with us (topic for another conversation)) even though I'm not flying as much as I would like these days. Thank you to all involved in providing these great areas of collaboration, without them I would probably not still be flying, or at least at the level that I've reached so far ! Here's to many more years here, and thank you to those who have retired the torch... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zuul Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 On 6/17/2019 at 9:03 AM, riffclown said: He did allow it to stay open long enough for someone (we don't know who) to preserve much of the content.. Sounds like something John Chilese would do. Just wild speculation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frob Posted June 20, 2019 Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 On 6/17/2019 at 7:47 PM, RobB said: but now there is just one Fractured Axel is still relatively active. In some ways the periodic vanishing of sites helps with vitality. Stale links that point to other long-dead sites go away and new descriptions are written. People ask old questions that had been removed and get new descriptions that are more current. Topics that were settled one way get an opportunity to be revisited. There are painful parts, there is information that gets lost forever. Some historically interesting bits will be lost. There are old technical details, such as knowing that such-and-such kite required some specific type of spar, or descriptions about rare and unique kites that will be lost which other people may someday want to know. As sites grow for years or decades, pruning out the deadwood gets harder. Even if you look through the oldest posts here on KiteLife -- back from when it was reset and migrated to the current system about 15 years ago -- there are a huge number of posts with links that no longer work. Those include images and videos that don't show, links to documents that don't exist, plans for events long past, and references to stores that are nothing but memories. It's nothing new to the web. I was going through some old books recently, including some paperback books and other materials from the 1940s, and several had ads in them that were long out of date. Many tried to cross-sell other books from the publisher, which I'm sure are long out of print. A few were possibly still relevant, like getting Time Magazine for a year for 25 cents, but just like links on the web, most refer to long-forgotten products and old business ventures. I considered hosting an archive, but decided against it. The site is/was mostly banter and casual chat. While there are some unique and irreplacable gems, they are so sparse that it isn't worth the storage and hosting cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted June 21, 2019 Report Share Posted June 21, 2019 I haven't been on FA in years, I though it had kinda died off. I will have to check it out. Hope my username still works... Kitelife is the only US based kite forum that I know of that is still active. When I started, there were 5 or 6. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaydub200 Posted June 21, 2019 Report Share Posted June 21, 2019 FA is not that active. However, the problem is the lack of active UK flyers rather than a fundamental issue with the forum. I would be very surprised if your account doesn't still work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHBKF Posted October 18, 2021 Report Share Posted October 18, 2021 Sigh..... I was there, on GWTW it's last few years. Read many topics, posted a bit, bought a few kites (well more than a few) & generally had a good time. I was just learning about forums & I made some mistakes that were a bit rough. I don't mind that some of that is gone. I have participated in many hobbies over the years & have seen the ebb & flow in most of them. Support the sites you love. Ride the wave while you can. We are like a vapor. We are here then we're gone. SHBKF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makatakam Posted October 18, 2021 Report Share Posted October 18, 2021 Short version: Life sucks, then you die. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erdo Posted August 19 Report Share Posted August 19 I see mention of a "Steve" However I would swear that my first contact there was with a Dan Whitney (SP?) i recall that he dols off his shop some years alter. Does anyone else remember that as being the case? Ed - York Pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebeatee Posted August 20 Report Share Posted August 20 Yep, that’s right.... As I recall Dan sold the shop et al to Steve Hall, and on it went for a while. Then Steve had health issues....see way above posts, and the “store” and site went away. A huge huge hole that never filled in many ways. There was also a forum on the Revolution site as well..... Does anyone remember rec.kites Oooh man there were some “characters” back in the day.......and some may say that those daze were the “golden age” of kiting.....especially given the amount of fliers, festivals, brick and mortar stores, printed magazines....... I guess, along with this fine place....thanks John!!!!....a bunch of folks went to whatever facebook or any of that other ilk is. Not pour moi thanks..... bt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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