It looks like Port Halcyon re-emerged from the depths. It's a ghost town: I think everyone who was posting there has moved over here!

I'm pretty sure it's dead and buried and has been since last year. That's the whole reason that Mimi kindly put the effort in to set this place up; nobody had the time or inclination to maintain The Cafe.

Well, one of the folks was trying to buy it from Dante, FOR FIVE THOUSAND BUCKS, if you can believe that, but he was having trouble getting the first installment together.

Gentleman that he is, Dante pulled the plug on the server. (forgive my bitterness here, but he's got it coming from me.)

So, even if it is resurrected indeed, I am Finished with that particular incarnation, but bear no hard feelings to anyone who wants to take it for a spin!

I'm quite happy here, and all the folks I loved from there are here, so this is Home!

And what, exactly, would one have received in return for $5,000?

A name and an empty forum?

Well, at least we can search the archives for all those wonderful threads from back in the day. I really miss those days when you could have a running conversation with folks all day long... Not that I have that kind of time anymore (and I guess none of us do).

I think I joined PH too late anyhow as there was never any conversation while I was on there; just people ignoring whatever post had gone before and then writing something about themselves.

I'd love to have online interaction with people but there's none to be found anywhere.

I know. I wish I could be online more, now that I can't. I really took for granted all that time I had on my hands when I didn't work!

*sigh* those were the days... and I am going back to the old Atomic as well.

Wow! Seeing that stuff was...depressing! Before PH closed the first time, I actually saved a few threads with words of wisdom from Zootsuitcoot and a few other favorite threads---even the contentious ones! When I joined in 2003, I couldn't wait to get home from work and see what everyone was up to! For a small period of time, Atomic/PH was great.

That's sort of the point, though, it didn't HAVE to depend on the time and effort of a "very few."

More than several of us VOLUNTEERED our time and talents for FREE to keep things going. We were blown off, ignored or worse.

So, I was forced to assume, since no one answered my emails, that the DESIRED result was attained--a large active community and well-written site TO SELL FOR PROFIT.

The 5k was for the whole kit and caboodle. The problem is, at the time, the views had dropped off so considerably that it was no longer really a Vital Site, if you know what I mean. At one time, it would have been valuable--the content was fresh and frequent, the Cafe was packed to capacity. When it started to decline, they wanted to bail.

We had plenty of material to publish, but no one had time. When the unique content got stale, the Cafe cleared out, too.

:shrug:

Water under the bridge. Now that I have a handle on my work/home schedule balance, I'll be here a lot more and I want to expand.

Oh, and I haven't heard from Swank in quite a while. I tried to help him out when he was having trouble with the first installment-I was going to email and post and set up a Paypal account for donations, but he also stopped writing. So--we have The Social Club!! And I have a wonderful crew of volunteers who I trust when I'm not here, and it looks fantastic because Lost Soul is a graphics GENIUS. With a twisted mind and too much time on his hands!!