Amiga.org
Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Announcements and Press Releases => Topic started by: ivang on December 28, 2006, 04:16:51 PM
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As almost daily routine I visited ANN.lu. And today I was surprised with message that site will be closed.
I don't know what to say, but to thank Christian Kemp, for keeping the site up for this long, and maybe to suggest pass on the site to some one who have more free time/resources to keep the site going.
http://www.ann.lu
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Sad to see it go. Thanks for all the great years Christian.
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ANN was a great resource when Amiga Web Directory folded. Too bad it's finally come to a close. Has it been 10 years already?!
Thanks Christian for all the work.
Plaz
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ANN slowed down a alot in recent years. There used to be lots of discussions there, so I can understand he is going to shut it down.
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wasnt it only like this year only.. or have i gotten so old? :-)
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ANN slowed down when they introduced the registration system. Since then, thanks to the compulsory registration it was pretty much dead anyway, so losing it in it's current state will be no great loss.
Look at that 'OS 4.0 Released' announcement with 1 solitary comment. Back in 2002/2003 before the registration an entry like that would have attracted 400 posts minimum.
Shame as it used to be a great place full of lively discussion and interesting debate.
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My thoughts echo those of others, wow, 10 years.
ann.lu, for me, was a guilty pleasure, like watching Jerry Springer.
When he introduced registration, I never registered, and I never posted there again. Of course, not participating allowed me to ween myself from even reading the site, but I checked it every few months, and even found myself reading the post that it was being shut down today.
Sad to see it go, but I understand the feeling too.
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Yeah! 400 posts of SlagFest you mean.
I see it as no great loss that ANN stops. When there was no registration almost every topic ended in a slagfest because it brought out the completely stupid on the internet to make insane and stupid comments.
The people that simply wanted to discuss topics in a normal manner already left before the registration system was implemented.
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End of an era, thanks Christian for your dedication to the Amiga Community. You did a hell of a job keeping that beast operational.
A.N.N. R.I.P.
Dammy
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Sad to see it go.. :-( I actually just got back from the ANN site after
reading this thread and followed the link to the Slashdot article
regarding the release of Amiga OS4....WOW..I couldnt believe what
some of the Slashdot guys were posting about the Amiga...
Such anger they have..I wonder Why.
Maybe because they are STUCK with an OS that they HAVE to use
vs an OS that they WANT to use..hehe..
While its def. sad to see ANN go..it is def. by no means the real end of anything with regards to the AMIGA!!
Peace to everyone
Rich
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Interesting that he didn't connect the fact that that site went often for weeks or months at a time with no news, with the fact that visitor numbers were declining.
Of course no one will visit a news site that misses most of the news...
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I think removing anonymous posting was the cause for this..
Sad to see it go
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Shame as it used to be a great place full of lively discussion and interesting debate.
While I think Christian did a superb job at trying to serve the community, the problem he faced was many fold, a lot of the same problems we face here with Amiga.org.
ANN really became a matter of the two edged sword.
Before the registration system, ANN was completely overrun with trolls and anonymous posters. It had also been rumored to have been hacked by certain people who could pretty much man-handle anything they wanted, taking control of the software (potentially) away from Christian if they'd wanted to at any time.
This brought on the NEED for user authentication. I say need, because ANN had become the bastion of trolls everywhere (myself included) and the signal to noise ratio for ANY subject was fodder for more and more argument until lots of people (myself included) just stopped showing up.
Enter the mandatory registration. All of the trolls who felt the need to go there and act like true asses couldn't be bothered to sign up and *shock* be manually approved, so they scurried off to Moobunny.
Now, the same troublemakers who caused havoc on ANN sit over on moobunny patting themselves on the back and thanking god for "the freedom" to say what they want, when they want without the fear of reprisal.
Don't get me wrong, Moobunny can be a great source of entertainment and on a rare occassion, even knowledge.. Several of the posters there are incredibly intelligent, insightful people, but -- falling back to the ANN topic -- the anarchistic tendencies of anonymous posting bring out the worst in people.
Such was the case with ANN. With the Amiga all-but-dead, and Christian rather wandering off from the Amiga over the last few years (as I have also done), I can see where it was a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for ANN.lu.. I even urged him about a year (or was it two now?) to remove the registration, if for no other reason than to get his ad revenue back up. The site would become uncontrollable and troll-infested, but hey, he'd at least have an income from it.
In the end, both ANN and Christian will be missed and I'm sorry to see it, but I cannot say it was either surprising or unexpected. I sincerely wish him the best of luck.
Wayne
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Sucks :-(
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Honestly, I nearly forgot ANN existed.
I remember that ANN is where my online Amiga scene experience started... But since finding AO, I've had no need to go back there. Never felt like weeding through the Anonymous BS to find real news... And anything truely important would be news here. Registration didn't bring me back either.
Sorry to see ANN go tho, never good to see any of our online resources disappear.
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Honestly, I nearly forgot ANN existed.
Me, too. This is the first time I even thought about it in years. I stopped going there a long time ago because Kemp was always whining about something or other on the news page and came off as more of a whiny whine instead of a webmaster. I don't go there, so it doesn't bother me that it's gone. I can say that I can't say that I'm sad about it, though. Should I even suggest that there be an archive of the data so in 20 years one of you dudes can get all teary-eyed for how it used to be back then? You can go to the annluarchive with your grandkids on your knees and point at all the guest posts and regale about out a time when "!!!!1111" meant your were really mad, as opposed to just being silly about being mad.
You know, back now, hoolahoops are "interactive" toys. In the future, they're fashion accessories. FYI. :rtfm:
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Yes the site slowe down a lot over time.
But as a symbol, I feel sad ...
Thanks ANN
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Byeee ANN, I will miss u :-(
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Yep, hate to see it go. In the beginning it was full of interesting news to look at on a daily basis, but as members turned among themselves, trolling...flaming...etc., it was started to turning into some kind of tabloid magazine of the internet. And, registering, helped a lot, yet not many people did submit to the interesting news I wanted to see. I still have my Amigas, and I still have the needs for them. Yet, they can still survive when they meet the demands of our consumers. (hint: tablet pc!!!!) I do miss that site, but I do not miss the trolling and flaming. Not professional.
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And i for one think it is better to open it for anonymous postings again instead of letting it die. I hope you will atleast consider the option of letting someone take over the site.
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The top links in my IBrowse toolbar go:
amiga.org
ann.lu
BBC New
BBC Home
(Actually Czech Amiga News is still in there too, though it did get an update this month :)
There are very few good sites left now, and for me at least ann.lu was one of the few (four) that I try to visit every day.
I'd like it if someone else hosted and ran the site. The idea is not broken, just that Christian seems not to have the time or heart to continue.
There are plenty of people out there willing to run things like these. If it came to it, I'd offer (I suppose I help run an ISP for a reason) if nobody else was interested. Of course, it's up to Christian what happens.
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All the best to you, Christian Kemp. I hope you continue with your photography.
ANN.lu was an interesting place when so many people were posting. Even with the troll fests I visited there every day.
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redfox
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Mail Christian Kemp, asking him to change his mind and stay some more year with us into Amiga community.
Or at least if you think that ANN deserves to stay dead, just mail him and thanks him for all the efforts in these years of loyal service for all Amiga community!
mailto:ckemp[at]ann.lu
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:-( It's a sad thing when an Amiga site closes. I only ever visited the site when linked from here or Amigaworld, so I only ever saw Ann at its worst. Still, even drama like that is better than nothing.
We're losing an institution with this one.
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DiscreetFX would be willing to take over ANN and we are not into censorship.
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DiscreetFX would be willing to take over ANN and we are not into censorship.
Mail him about it
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At the very least, someone should pay the domain and hosting fees to keep it up as an archive. Lotsa history in there, even if it is troll-ridden.
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That's what www.archive.org is for...
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That's what www.archive.org is for...
It sadly does not work anywhere near perfect. There is usually alot of stuff missing in these archives.
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Three years ago, ANN was the best (worst) place for trolling around. It used to be the bloody ground for epic, nonsense flame wars. I stopped visiting it when I realized that news posts were often fubar and that most active members were all named Darth Anonymous. Sad to say, but personally, I won't miss it.
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ANN was great in the late 90's. After the Morphos and McAmiga crap started, it became a flame zone.