AUG 30 UPDATE: The mailing list is now in a read-only state. Efforts going forward will be put towards the new forum, http://c64forum.com ! Thanks to all who signed up to the mailing list and who contributed. I think the forum will be a much more useful resource to everyone involved.

Just a couple days ago, the Administrator over at the EverythingC64 forum decided to pack it in and shut down the forum. Although there wasn't too much activity going on, I still thought that the forum was providing a worthwhile service to the Commodore 8-bit community. It was sad to see it go, especially all of the useful information that stored within it's pages, as well as the connection I had to some of my fellow Commodore enthusiasts. How do I find and communicate with them now?

I thought, I could perhaps try and do something to possibly fill in the gap (if there is indeed one to fill) by setting up a forum here, on My64.in.nf. But, the problem with all such services (in my opinion) is that, if the site ever shuts down, all of that useful information will also be lost. So, is a forum really the best thing to do? I'm not so convinced. They're convenient, but not very “information independent”. The same goes for services like Discord or other social media-type platforms.

Then I thought about the old technology of mailing lists. Sure, they're based on old tech and not as convenient to search for specific information, but it is doable. The big advantage I see in mailing lists is that, no matter who posts what, I (and I alone) have complete control over what information gets kept and discarded… via my own email client. I don't have to rely on the server being there once the mail reaches me. It's more work on my part, but I like having the control. And if I do wish to find some information on an old posting, I just need to use the search engine in my own email client.

So, I'm going to give this a try and make it accessible to my fellow Commodore enthusiasts. For now, it's only going to be one list…. C64 and C128 related. However, feel free to discuss other Commodore 8-bit machines. If, against all odds, this mailing list picks up speed and it makes sense to break it up into more topic-specific lists, then I'll do so.

Until then, we'll just play it by ear. I don't know how far this little experiment is going to go. But, I'm going to give it a shot and see where it leads (if anywhere).

Composed using ArcheType on my C128.

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