[jambutty]

Blackburn 247 has gone and left behind the following.

Sorry, Blackburn 247 is offline indefinitely.

I wrote this because the last time the site went offline because of a technical problem I got accused of 'taking the site away from it's members' even though I'm the sap who pays for it to be here, and it's always been free... And it was only a technical hitch back then. So...

Apologies to the people that made this their home. It may return at some point, but at the moment I can't dedicate any more time to settling petty disputes and I draw the line when people try to make this site a scapegoat for their own problems. More than a few people decided to abuse what was the only independent forum dedicated to our town. Some misguidedly used it as a means to get back at ex partners or air their dirty laundry (or both) and when asked to stop vented their anger on the site - not the real issues. That's just one example, but hey it was only once in a while we had problems, but it seems that offline the site had been knocked, slandered even, by people who felt that a site ran voluntarily, somehow owed them something. And that meant that people, through hearsay, decided not to visit the site as often or not at all.

The site was set up before the likes of MySpace and Facebook, and before the Lancashire Telegraph decided to allow commenting to their pages. It was a means for Blackburn people to keep in touch, chat and discuss local issues. It didn't receive any funding from the council or anywhere else. Sadly it can't remain if only 80 out of 1000+ members are using it regularly.

Perhaps when people stop using the net as some kind of cheap counselling tool, and realize that... "Hey everyone in the world can read this crap I'm writing." And think before they click the submit button, well I may resurrect it. Though I fear that may not happen in our lifetimes!

If you did like the site and would like it in some way resurrected, please join the Facebook 247 group.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14954967523

Or you're welcome to use the forum at my other site: www.pleasedsheep.com

Thanks for visiting, and special thanks to those that made the site worthwhile over the years, MB

No other comment other than I’m sorry to see it go.

Maybe there is a lesson there?