This 'ere forum........

[Feltwell]

....has been hugely helpful to me, with help, advice, ideas, moral support, healthy insults and pedantry since I joined back in 2008. The cast of regular posters has changed a lot, folks have come, gone and come back again - sometimes. Compared to many other forums the posts are 99.9% good natured and helpful.

The main "commercial" front of the website has gone, so new folks finding the forum will lessen no doubt, and I'm sure there are some costs involved in running the forum that Simon Wright and RobT can't be expected to fund forever, not to mention the hassle factor of looking after a forum. I'm very grateful to them for running it all so far, quite a few niche interest forums charge a subscription these days.

Perhaps Gents, you could indicate your thoughts on the forum's future? I'd hate to log on one day and find it's disappeared, and all those contacts are gone. I certainly don't want to be disloyal and encourage talk of alternative "venues" if you've plans to relaunch the commercial bit of the site.

 

[Drayton]

Gents???
Despite having only posted a couple of times and so still needing to be moderated, with only one 18 month gap I have been reading this forum at least once a day since about halfway through the Merchants House renovation, more frequently since I retired.

It has seen me through getting my 1840 terraced house re-extended and mended (by others) and is still fortifying me while I work on the interior.

I'm not in The Other Place and if/when this disappears I will lose a load of people who feel like friends by now (though I appreciate these are exceptionally one-sided relationships :lol: ), not to mention access to everyone's combined expertise. It's great to be able to advise your architect on materials etc, and then have them follow the advice elsewhere.

Fingers crossed the forum will continue, though trawling through to check what my user name was showed that the number of new topics has declined considerably recently.

 

[MatthewC]

I second that - this site was hugely helpful to me when I did my house (started in 2010, still not really finished). I hadn't realised that other bits of the site had disappeared!

It certainly has been a pretty friendly place, as opposed to many other places where people are only too ready to be critical and readily misinterpret something that was written - or even worse to assign you a view which you clearly didn't mean.

 

[philpjuk100]

I post infrequently but this does not mean I have "left", I have realised that there is far more experience in building matters than I have, ( I was an engineer) but follow your projects with interest (lots of pics please). I only post now when I need advice and only then when my problem cannot be solved by searching the forum.Keep up the good work, Phil. (painting windows and repointing with lime!)

 

[LadyArowana]

I agree it would be very sad for the forum to disappear. I read more than post nowadays, but always enjoy dipping in to see what’s happening. Recently met another forum member irl and trying to persuade them to host a get together sometime.

 

[Flyfisher]

I must also join in to say that this forum has been immensely helpful to me when I foolishly decided to take on a C16 G2* house having never lived in a period property before. I can hardly believe it has been nearly 15 years since that fateful decision. Ignorance probably was bliss back then and I remember being regularly surprised by visitors telling me that I'd certainly taken on quite a project - especially the experienced PPUK 'lifers' who have visited over the years. I was obviously too daft to realise what they were trying to tell me. :lol:

It turned out that they were dead right of course, which is why things are not totally finished after nearly 15 years, although in my defence it has not been a full-time project and I will admit to slowing down considerably after the initial rush of enthusiasm (and necessity!) to get the re-roofing work completed so that at least the place would be dry. I've also discovered that I much prefer structural repair work to decorating!

Meanwhile, all the horror stories I'd read about conservation officers from hell, sometimes on this very forum, failed to materialise. Indeed, my experience was quite the opposite, right from our initial meetings and discussions before I even took the place on. It was like someone had gifted me a free, expert consultant, available on-tap, to keep me on the straight and narrow and usually coming up with better ideas for the old place than my own. It really has worked very well indeed and after four LBC first-time-successful applications I'm almost getting the hang of them and they are not so frightening after all. It's almost a shame that I don't envisage any more applications. Almost. :wink:

And finally, where else but the PPUK forum can you ask for advice and someone not only answers but also invites you to visit their own project to see how things are done, and then offers to visit you and put in a full day's work showing you the ropes first-hand? And not just once but many times - in fact any time I got stuck. Fortunately the visits became less frequent as I got into my stride but there's little doubt that my learning curve benefited enormously from all this practical help. I'm referring, of course, to PPUK's one and only 'Middi' who pretty much taught me everything I now know about period property restoration along with his wonderful 'can do' approach to almost any problem you can imagine. I can still hear his unique Italian/Essex accent reassuring me that "it's not a problem" when faced with the sort of challenge that would make the average home owner despair and reach for the bottle!

So, all in all, quite a journey of ups and downs but definitely no regrets. A bit like life really. Or as they say in the car advert . . . "it's a Mini adventure".

 

[RBailey]

Hear hear, well said Feltwell.

I've not been here as long as many but I still find PPUK a key resource with healthy and helpful attitude from all.

More than happy to put my hand in my pocket / help out if needed to keep the place going.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[a twig]

More of this sort of thing!

 

[Feltwell]

Alas, my PM to Simon Wright and RobT has not even left my outbox - so hasn't been picked up

Give it a bit longer and then perhaps we need to discuss alternative venues. One day, inevitably, this site will go down with a problem of some kind and that will be that.

 

[Drayton]

I posted not long after you on Sunday, it got through moderation yesterday, I think.

 

[tobydog]

I noticed several weeks ago that when I tried accessing the Home page, I couldn’t get passed a message saying that the site was down for maintenance. I managed to get around this by using a different search but could only get the Discussion Forum. The maintenance message is still there though. Just presumed it was my iPad playing up as no one else on here mentioned it until now.

 

[fallschirmjager]

I've learnt much from reading posta on this forum. It also comes across as a very friendly place, though I suspect not many adolescents own or are interested in old or ancient buildings. Facebook and other similar type sites are slowly killing off forums. Shame really.

 

[noj]

I wonder if someone should create a Facebook 'page' or similar and publish the link for forum members. Not for use/alternative to the current place but as an insurance policy in case the forum should vanish overnight - that way we'd have somewhere to re-establish contact and decide if setting up a replacement was relevant?

I hope it won't come to that but it would be such a shame to lose all the help and banter at a single stroke for lack of a common space to announce/decide a way forward...

 

[malcolm]

I think forums like this are much more useful than Facebook. Many houses that are hundreds of years old have lasted for hundreds of years but everything on Facebook disappears in 5 minutes. When I joined here I was able to read through posts going back a few years and learn some things.

I think the team running this forum are in it for the long term, and I'm sure they'll reach out to the membership should they ever not want to continue. The membership and information on here has a lot of value so they are unlikely to just drop it.

 

[Matt Green]

It's a very low drama forum. I was reminded of that when I went to the Other Place.

Carry on.

 

[YorkshireCottage]

I've come and gone but find the forum really useful. I'm on various Facebook groups but the politics, and the opinions, and the dramas, and the nitpicking, and the witch-hunting are just exhausting. I've left a few groups due to people who allegedly "love their period home" posting about how they are going to rip out the original fireplaces or open up the rooms to make an open plan space - it was either leave or be one of "those" people.....
So in summary, don't go - I like it here, and it's useful to flick through the past posts if I have a query about anything specific

 

[YorkshireCottage]

I should add that I really miss the ability to waste endless hours looking at lovely houses in Property of the Month. They would be really useful now for ideas as we're restoring our farmhouse.

 

[MatthewC]

I should add that I really miss the ability to waste endless hours looking at lovely houses in Property of the Month. They would be really useful now for ideas as we're restoring our farmhouse.

In which case you might like http://www.wreckoftheweek.co.uk/ which seems to be back in operation

 

[Zebra]

I post very rarely these days, but this forum was so important to me when I took on my tiny 17th C house 10 years ago, and the advice received here is what gave me the confidence to do all the work I did, making a grotty damp house so gorgeous. I've met several members, and appreciate it all so much.
Just that, really. Wanted to add my neigh to the voices expressing their appreciation.

 

[YorkshireCottage]

I should add that I really miss the ability to waste endless hours looking at lovely houses in Property of the Month. They would be really useful now for ideas as we're restoring our farmhouse.

In which case you might like http://www.wreckoftheweek.co.uk/ which seems to be back in operation

Oh God, I LOVE wreck of the week. They featured Borrenthwaite Hall ages ago, which I had had my eye on when it was on the market. Here it is: https://www.wreckoftheweek.co.uk/2013/11/country-mansion-nr-kirby-stephen-cumbria.html
The features in that place - just amazing. Apparently it had interesting owners. I did a bit of hunting and it appears they also had interesting neighbours (very religious, out to convert the Eden Valley).