I'm sorry but although BBSs are cool, it's not really what we need. We'd like a forum that works well in regular modern browsers but also renders fine in Amiga browsers, like AmigaWorld or Amiga.org through the proxy. We intend on it being a very serious, friendly and helpful development-only forum. The forum will cater to all Amiga flavours, be they 68k/OS3, OS4, MorphOS, Aros, Natami or MiniMig. We already have a mailing list of programmers who will be invited to join the forum once it starts, and several of us already have projects underway that we're desperate to start discussing with other Amiga developers, away from any public chat forum where threads go off-topic and devolve into nothing. We will keep an eye on all the projects and assign the right people to the right job, helping under-appreciated ideas get the attention they deserve.
We may be passionate about the Amiga and hopeful that we can build a more organised and informed community while helping to generate more of a market for Amiga software through digital distribution, but we're not deluded. No one plans on competing with any other OS or games system, we simply want to provide our own kind with the privileges that users of other systems enjoy.
We want to pull ourselves out of this state of suspended animation and get on with things. Think of current Amiga sites as like a pub or a social club where you can discuss things with your mates and check up and comment on the latest news and gossip. Our forum would be more like a college where we can learn and work together away from the speculation, gossip and fighting.
People complain that too much is announced and not enough delivered. A lot of the time it's because people with these ideas need to tell somebody about it for some positive encouragement, but nearly all they ever receive on these forums is negative criticism, which dampens their spirits so much they abandon the project and nothing ever comes of it. A lot of creative people are sensitive and emotional, and they would rather not post on a forum ever again if they only expect to have their ideas shot down.
No one who supports the Amiga scene would be hurt by the creation of this forum. What the community lacks is organisation and leadership. It's time to work together as a team and stop fighting amongst ourselves. With this forum we hope to provide all creative Amiga people the perfect place to share their ideas with other like-minded, helpful people and give them the encouragement they need to complete these projects in cooperation.
No one is forced to leave the forums they already frequent just to join one new forum. We have bookmarks and password managers to help us these days, even in the old Amiga browsers.
