UKTC - what's happened?

[daltontrees]

Some of you may be subscribed or have in the past been subscribed to the UKTC (UK Tree Care) mailing list. It was a real treasure trove of knowledge and opinion, with an archive going back years and years. However, it (the archive) now seems to be unavailable, as of very recently. I heard that it was costing its owner too much to host on the web, maybe he's chucked it. Anybody know what's happened?

[Steve Bullman]

Can’t imagine hosting could have been that much. Were there many people still active on there?

[daltontrees]

25 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Can’t imagine hosting could have been that much. Were there many people still active on there?

The guy who started it up isn't even in the industry any more and didn't use the forum himself, so any cost was probably too much.

It had plenty of subscribers, maybe 2,000? But most of the posts were the same couple of dozen people.

[Paul in the woods]

If you're after something the pages may still be available in the way back machine : https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://www.tree-care.info/uktc/archive

[daltontrees]

14 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

If you're after something the pages may still be available in the way back machine : https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://www.tree-care.info/uktc/archive

I didn't know there was such a thing, thanks. I'm not after anything in particular, but I had a look anyway. It's a bit incomplete but some pages are still recoverable.

[Jon Heuch]

I'm pretty sure it has died; the owner gave plenty of notice that he was pulling the plug because the software he was using was very old - 20 years of archive I think - and his server costs were increasing by a factor of something. I think it died on 31 December 2022. RIP. People attempted to step in, suggest alternatives such as ArbTalk but none are quite like uktc.

 

Shame as there were one or two amusing explosions between parties worth recording for posterity if not for the future when someone wants to make an arse of themselves. There was also an awful lot of good stuff about the workings of local government. I'll miss it but also glad it has gone as it was interesting to monitor.

[benedmonds]

The forum is still running there are a few posts most days although over 20 today.. The archive has gone I believe.

 

There was discussion about the archive being moved over to arbtalk, I guess that was not discussed with you Steve. 

[Steve Bullman]

2 minutes ago, benedmonds said:

The forum is still running there are a few posts most days although over 20 today.. The archive has gone I believe.

 

There was discussion about the archive being moved over to arbtalk, I guess that was not discussed with you Steve. 

No not at all, no one ever spoke to me about it. I’d have been more than happy to accommodate it. Would have needed a custom script written to do it though. 

[daltontrees]

2 hours ago, Jon Heuch said:

I'm pretty sure it has died; the owner gave plenty of notice that he was pulling the plug because the software he was using was very old - 20 years of archive I think - and his server costs were increasing by a factor of something. I think it died on 31 December 2022. RIP. People attempted to step in, suggest alternatives such as ArbTalk but none are quite like uktc.

 

Shame as there were one or two amusing explosions between parties worth recording for posterity if not for the future when someone wants to make an arse of themselves. There was also an awful lot of good stuff about the workings of local government. I'll miss it but also glad it has gone as it was interesting to monitor.

I'm sure I managed to make an arse of myself on it a few times! But I left because it was out of control. The only guy trying to keep a lid on things wasn't even formally a moderator and didn't have the owner's authority to sanction one particularly vile participant, who was openly insulting to anyone who disagreed with him (hah, he was barred and re-susbscribed using another email address, the desperate tosser). But yes it had its moments and represented a lot of wisdom in the industry. And yes it performed a role that Arbtalk can't.

Unfortunately there is now nowhere officially or unoficially where professional arboriculture in the UK is being discussed constructively. Or to put the same thing in a different way, all the good stuff UKTC did is now not being done anywhere. Unless Arbtalk wants to take up the reins with a properly moderated sub-forum.

[daltontrees]

Based on Ben Edmonds' email, I stand corrected, it is still on the go but only visible to its members. That's something, anyway.