Call it too little, too late. Last week, Netscape abruptly decided to shut down its community forums, much to the dismay of the community's hosts and longtime members. Although the official "shutdown date" was Friday, technical difficulties made it nearly impossible to log in after last Wednesday.
But since Salon's report last week, Netscape seems to have changed its mind: Netscape spokesman Nate Tyler is now saying that the forums will be left open for another 30 days. Why the sudden change of heart? Tyler again gave the official nonanswer -- "We're transitioning from the Netcenter community as a step toward building a more robust offering" -- and also told CNet News.com that "because we really value the forums and the community that has grown around them, we have done everything we can to reallocate resources and will extend the forums for 30 days."
Meanwhile, links to the forums from the front page of Netcenter have been removed, and then reinstated. And the forums are still experiencing what Netscape officials call "technical problems," which have made it virtually impossible to even enter the community area from the front door for more than a week.
And even if they have been given a brief reprieve, the forum hosts say the damage has already been done. "They couldn't be more clumsy about how they are doing this if they tried," says Elizabeth Lewis, a former host who says she has already archived her forums and given up. "None of the regulars are in the forums anymore, and I doubt they'll be back. The only people who come in now are confused newcomers who wonder why they signed up if the place is being shut down."
