The new format is not completely bereft of good bits. Like the F-111 swing wing, stolen from Barnes Wallis’ original work, there are promising bits that, given more time, will eventually resolve into a good design. As a phone user, with one foot in the Millenial morass, I have discovered good application of the ‘swipe’ function to rapidly navigate. My other foot is cleaven, resembling a goats, so I recognise I am also becoming a Grumpy Old Goat, loathing change. I have also read lots of literature on poor Generalship, to try and understand why men were  sent in, wave after wave, to be machine gunned in the trenches of WW1. I understand this as poor leadership, not thinking things through beforehand or not having the ability to react quickly to new circumstances. Just keep sending more men into machine guns until ‘something happens’ The more men die, the more intractable the leadership becomes, the more men die etc until there is a change of leadership. Change of leadership only happens when there is a ‘hue and cry’, when the true facts become so blatant they are impossible to ignore. Buller in Afghanistan, Gallipoli, RAF Fairey Battles in France, Dien Bien Phu etc etc. so I fully expect that Key Aero must double down on a less than fully resolved idea to create custom hosting software and merge proprietary journalism with my content, losing lots of my content on the way. Perhaps later someone will realise the mistake was in not appreciating that the Forum was really a partnership between amateur content providers and professional journalism. It could have worked very well, if this understanding permeated through the Process of Change. The amateurs drew a physic salary from fee free sharing and learning, while the professionals carefully drew from and nurtured a paying audience, albeit via ‘old school’ magazine. Now it’s all fooked. Now it’s dying. Now management are doubling down, until ‘something happens.’ I think the Grumpy Old Goats need to rise up, grab some pitchforks and march to the Chateau where the Generals are ballsing out some private for putting caviar on over burnt toast and instead burn the Chateau.  Accordingly, this is a call to Act before it is too late, before you in turn are sent into the machine guns or chose, in despair, this pointless fate. Change will not come from being polite. Adolf was unfailingly polite to Czechoslovakia, Poland and Chamberlain. You must set up and migrate to another Forum. No one will make your perfect Forum, you must make it. At all times this new Forum must be open to being purchased and integrated by Key, under a Sale Agreement, that like Hong Kong, gives it at least 25 years of being Honkers. If Key doesn’t buy, then Your Forum and you will remain unmolested, so both pathways are good. Do nothing, and the Grumpy Old Goats will be asphyxiated under the confident, over ice creamed, guileless great posterior of the Millenial Generation, filled with vigour and vim, driving the whole show over a cliff. Allow this, and what Putin did to the Crimea will curse you and your progeny, because you knew, you knew about the forest pass through to the Maginot line, you knew that Hampdens and Manchester’s would not cut it, you knew about the Trojans and their tricky horses and you fell silent on the Forum; you could have passed the torch but you let the flame die! Grumpy Old Goats, rise up ! As Macaulay said in 1831 : ‘the aberrations of power, unguided or ill guided, are ever in proportion to experience, and life is not long enough to recover from inevitable mistakes”. I have ranted enough! Go to Forum Historic Community on FB and consider helping. 

Key: It’s my property, I do what I want. Me : Your forum is an Essential Service. It is a refuge from the troubles of the world where I enjoy good company and learn from others. When you don’t tell me you are going offline, it distresses me. When you go back on line, and the things that were so worthwhile and enjoyable are not there, it distresses me. Key : We need to cut costs and increase revenue. Me : I have entrusted thousands of unrenumerated hours of content to you. In return, I get access to thousands of unrenumerated hours of desired content from other members and I accept banner ads. I respect that you must make a profit to be sustainable and for the forum to be sustainable. But your experiments with new revenue models are missing all the things that attract me to the forum. The way you force change is not aligning me with you. Surely we could work together to come up with something better? Key: We don’t have much time or money to put into this, publishing is a tough game. What do you want? Me : (a) As an Essential Service, notify you audience before you go offline, give reasons and expected timelines. Costs nothing, earns understanding. (b) Within reason, run new formats offline with a small group of unrenumerated, volunteer members to test and resolve predictable problems. At least when you launch, you have these volunteer members by your side, to help in the launch, if the process is genuine (c) Explore a Subscription model, with three categories : Corporate, (Bigger $) Member (modest) and Pensioner ( extremely modest). Develop a package of benefits for each category. If folks don’t subscribe, still allow default access for joining, posting, but limit messaging and searching. Set up prizes and benefits for Subscribers, like magazine issues. Trust in your Subscribers and give them an awesome experience and you will, over time, create a sustainable business model. Key: Paper and ink is up, postage is up, rent is up, subs down, pensions down, the economy is down, we need to put you steam boys and propellor heads into the same room and you need to share the same instant coffee and we don’t have much time to listen to all these ideas, with respect. Me : Understand, but you could lose the lot here. I probably need to get other members who also have the power to give or withhold thousands of hours of unrenumerated content to collectively bargain with you. I understand you must make a profit and this is not personal. We are both aligned around the idea of a sustainable, enjoyable, compelling forum. My passion is Historic content. So I want to set up a FB Group called ‘Forum Historic Community’ . Search it up. It is there in case the forum arbitrarily disappears or functionality like messaging or archived content is not restored. At least members can keep in touch and perhaps Collectively Bargain with Key to come up with a Win-Win model. The Forum is too precious to lose, drop by drop, by the withdrawal of alienated members or Key. ‘Forum Historic Community’