Jan. 18, 2012
Dear Friends,
It is with regret that I have decided to close the Joshua Bell Forum. We recently became the subject of heavy, targeted spam attacks. The software the board ran on, although it had been maintained, was very out of date and unequipped to handle the load without heavy manual intervention. In the process of trying to rid our board of the spam, a number of our dearest posts were accidentally deleted. Unfortunately, a suitable backup does not exist, and the process of restoring the data from what we do have would require more time and effort than I can give. Even if it were restored, I'm not confident we could keep the spammers at bay without a complete overhaul of the forum and yet more time invested.
This forum was a labor of love, and has been for over a decade, when MarvyMei and I took over, after the community's last hosting provider shut down and Cindy's Joshua Bell Message Board came to an end. Now, dwindling numbers of active members and rising personal and professional demands make it impractical to keep investing time and money in this forum. Now, for a new home, I invite you to take discussion over to Google Groups.
Thanks for all the fun over the years.
Alison, Joshua Bell Forum Administrator