The End of RetroGameBoards

Video Games
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To the RetroGameBoards Community,

After much thought, I’ve made the difficult decision to shut down the site.

Starting this site came from a place of genuine passion. But life has taken so many turns since those first days and I have not been able to pour nearly as much as I wanted into it since we had the idea to start it. To be honest, it never really took off the way I originally had hoped it could, but there was a lot to love in the fact that it stayed so small and tight knit. We never had trolls and never really needed to moderate a whole lot. Every post was fun to see because every user was mature and chill.

So, for years, I’ve covered nearly all hosting and maintenance costs out of my own pocket because I liked what we had here: a genuine community built around a shared passion for retro gaming. But those costs, along with other life expenses, have grown beyond what I can continue to sustain. I also now have a kid on the way and need to simplify my financial obligations.

I want you to know how much this community has meant to me. The deep dives into hardware and forgotten classics, the photos of collections, the obscure knowledge of all sorts of gaming hardware that you have all contributed to make this place feel like something special. None of that was lost on me.

And this will not have any impact on the Discord community, so please feel free to continue the discussion there.

Thank you. Truly. For every thread you started, every question you answered, and every piece of knowledge you shared. You kept the spirit of retro gaming alive here, and I’m proud of what we built together. I want to thank @D.Lo , the only remaining co-founder who continued to be active on the site too. Thanks so much for sticking around all this time, and showing off so much of your collection in various posts.

The site will remain up through June 24th, so you have time to save any posts or conversations that matter to you. After that, it will be taken offline.

With sincere gratitude,
Peltz

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The Ripping Thread - How to build your own legit retro ROM library.
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Ah, man. :pensive_face: Sad to read but understandable. A small slice of retro gaming sanity.

Thank you for leading the effort, and footing the bills, to create the site after the other site meltdown. I will truly miss this place even though I don’t post here as much as I did previously.

Congratulations on becoming a father! I wish you and your family the best!

Thank you again!

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under siege

Peltz was the complete driving force behind the project and did heaps of work at the start in particular, setting up a charity and the site.

I’m not sure what else to say except thank you.

I wish there were some way to keep going, as I love the forum forum format, but it’s absolutely the best to focus on you family at this point in your life!

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I’d like to offer to take it over.

Feel free to reach out via DMs.

I have web experience and I’m sure I can migrate to my web hosting rack.

And of course congrats to you and your fam!

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Really sorry to hear that the end of an era is over but totally understand why. I still think RGB has been and is the very best retro gaming community on the internet. Thanks so much for all the time and effort you put in to keep this community going. It’s truly a special.

Here’s to hoping you and Matt can workout a good transition. I’d love to see the community keep going in whatever form it can.

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A sad day indeed. I haven’t been super active here lately, but the community’s been fantastic.

Thank you for the advanced warning and no shame in putting family first.

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Thank you Peltz!! Love this board and it’s casual pace and respectful members.

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I’ve been very inactive lately, was trying to fix that but I guess things have just moved on too much. I miss the old GAF era and the early energy we had here.

A few years ago in the space of 1.5 years we had three more children (twins + an extra) for a total of 5 kids and between that and a promotion at work I’ve been exhausted. An “extra” like participating in this site or trying to stay balls deep in the hobby had to take a backseat. So I can see where you’re coming from @Peltz and congrats, I wish you many happy tired years ahead.

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Damn. Sad to see. I mostly hang out on the discord but this forum is still a treasure of knowledge and good vibes. Hoping some of y’all come say hi to us in the discord and I will keep an eye out for a successor. Traditional forums are one of the best remaining things on the internet.

Also, I atted you in the discord but congrats @Peltz on the baby. I just had one myself.

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Thanks @Peltz for everything, I look back fondly on those early days of RGB.

I wish I’d had more to pour into it too, but life has taken a lot of turns here as well. I’m glad you got to keep it going this long, even though it’s sad it’s coming to an end.

And of course congrats on the impending parenthood! You’re very welcome to swing by the Discord and join the lament of other RGB parents at various stages of trying to keep a toe in the hobby!

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Shame but I get it, having done similar with a forum I ran in the past. If you aren’t taking Matt up with his offer, then at least I’d recommend making a backup of the database and perhaps making it available somewhere to members for archiving as the way back machine doesn’t handle forums well at all. Would be a shame to lose the posts to the sands of time.

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Talks are in progress, I’m going to get my end setup this weekend. You gotta believe!

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Understandable, take care y’all. I haven’t posted much but I tried to contribute. :slight_smile:

Cheers.

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IMG3585
IMG35851008×954 99.7 KB

:grin:

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I’ve got discourse running on my server :tada:

…I have run out of time today and don’t want to rush the next step, which is:

  • make my install match the existing RGB setup
  • then i can try to restore the backup

Will get to that through the week

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:tumbler_glass: thank you.

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I was going to offer to take it over as well, as I don’t want to see it go away. I have my own rack in my garage, so the cost of hosting something would essentially be zero for me.

Either way, I would be happy to see this site continue. With some more active moderation, it can grow and be an important part of the retro gaming community.

edit: Seems like Matt is in progress on this <3

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This is awesome news.. If you need help with managing it or have any questions about discourse please let me know.

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Would love to see this place live on - it’s a wonderful community.

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