All good things must come to an end eventually — Forum Archive

5 Apr 2025, 21:00

Hello everybody,

I am announcing WAY IN ADVANCE so that is not a surprised for anybody, but I am planning to close this website at the end of 2025.

I have keept it alive as long as I could, but at this point i cannot justify the 100$ it costs me a month to keep this website when I no longer use it myself not maintain it. I have kept it mostly because people using the forums asked me to, 4 years ago I started a Patreon to help with the hosting fees, a couple of people helped, but it's never been enough to even cover 25% of the monthly fees, and quite honestly, with the variety of free options these days such as Reddit and Discord (I tried that, didn't work too well), I feel a bit stupid to keep it up just for the forums.

As you know I stopped maintaining this website after the New Order split up, eventually they all went and did their own websites and social media, so there is really no point to keep it up, and there are several Facebook Groups that do a much better job at what you are doing on here.

So I'm telling it way in advance so everybody can process and regroup, not going to pull the plug one night like it doesn't matter, NOOL allowed me to make countless friends, travel with many of them and meet the band, not going to say this decision is not heartbreaking, but I've literally been coping that one day I would go back to work on it and it never happened.

I am willing to give the keys if anyone wants to keep it, just message me privately, but for me, I think it's time to move on.

I'm not very active on facebook anymore, but could always create a real group over there instead of a page, could try to see how reddit works, i'm more active on bluesky (or twitter before it went to hell) because I follow sports (hockey) teams, but yeah, I'm opened to all ideas to try to keep the spirit of NOOL alive even though it's going to be gone and is been on the respirator for ages.

Best way to each me is probably on Facebook or the NOOL Facebook page though I don't check the messages there often: https://www.facebook.com/NewOrderOnline/

Thanks for the memories!

21

5 Apr 2025, 21:10

C'est bien triste, [:(] , mais je comprends ton point de vue.

Anybody knows if Fac33 is still running? [:d]

3

6 Apr 2025, 08:02

Thanks for everything, Nic. It's been a blast.All the best.

4

6 Apr 2025, 10:40

Can't deny I'm gutted but thank you for everything and in particular the notice. This has always been the best place to be a JD/NO fan. I loath FB, so no idea where I'll wander next...

6

6 Apr 2025, 17:29

I'll be sorry to see it go, but I understand. This has been in ideal forum for me because there's not too many people.

6

6 Apr 2025, 18:57

It’s been a great site to visit over the years so thanks for keeping it going for as long as you have.

It’s good to see it will carry on until the end of 2025 to hopefully give us chance to discuss the Technique box set, definitely a very anticipated box set set from (most) NO fans

5

7 Apr 2025, 08:10

This is sad news, indeed.

But completely understandable.

Thanks for providing this service for so many years. Much appreciated.

4

7 Apr 2025, 15:35

This seemed on the cards for several years, and is undoubtedly the correct decision for Nic but nonetheless, it will mark the end of an era when the planned shutdown does arrive.

Thank you, Nic, for putting in place a sociable framework for fans to natter, sometimes bicker and generally absorb all things New Order. I think every fan of every stripe learned something from another they didn't know before, or simply swapped bootlegs with like-minded people.

The Internet has changed a lot since NOOL's first iteration launched, and not necessarily for the better. But, this place - like that cool jacket in your wardrobe you loved from 20 years ago but can't quite throw out - stayed the course, comfortably outlasting many of its 1990s contemporaries.

It became forums-focussed from the late noughties onwards, which was no bad thing and was undoubtedly a lightning rod for fans to gather and socialise. The peak was from Get Ready into WFTSC and those of us from around then remember it well.

It's good that it won't be a sudden pull of the plug. Am sure there will be plenty of time for a proper farewell around December time.

Cheers.

6

7 Apr 2025, 15:59

Hmm. Perhaps we ought to get some sort of celebration planned.

Maybe an online video chat or something. Just to say hello... and then goodbye . (I'd also possibly be up for a meeting in real life, if a few of us were up for it. Manchester would probably seem most appropriate, given the subject of this forum).

Anyway, it's a way off yet, so no need to think about things for a long while.

6

7 Apr 2025, 16:29

In terms of "the keys" - what is involved in hosting it?

I have a webhosting package that I pay for anyway - which I used to host an old (non-New Order) forum, but now is just static webpages of various stuff

Even if we stop using it, it seems a shame to lose the huge archive of discussion about the minutiae

Put simply - if I can rehost it then I will

8

7 Apr 2025, 17:23

Thanks Mr Spotnick, by far the best and probably only NO site I visit. I don't find FB useful and it's full of really odd people.

I've been hinting for a while and think it would be best all round if NO ceased trading the same time NOO.com does. Fair play to anyone that could keep it going (the forum, not the band) [;)]

6

7 Apr 2025, 20:30

Sad news, as this has been the main place to keep updated about the band and there’s a lovely lack of tossers on here. As someone else has posted, it would be fitting if the news of the Technique box set was shared here before the end, marking the end of the Factory albums.

4

8 Apr 2025, 19:41

yes, i will miss this place.

thanks for keeping it running all these years.

this is the best place for hardcore new order fans, and newer ones to get and share all the obscure information.

i know someone will archive it, it will be a great resource.

there's not much to say now for the last couple of years, now that the deluxe editions are pretty much done. and the tours have been pretty much repeats.

i'll check on reddit or somewhere else.... but it won't be the same.

thanks to all the great commenters here, and all the cool new order projects that came out of them.

i might not comment on everything, but i read most of it.

later || | || | | | ne gative 1

8

9 Apr 2025, 03:22

Now, where am I going to meet my next wife...?

6

9 Apr 2025, 18:34

I think peak NOOL was around 2005-2006 and the WFTSC album era. There was a massive amount of people and activity on the board around then. It was almost impossible at times to keep up with the number of threads, debates, discussion, banter and indeed silliness.I remember the old Temptation forum from around 1999-2000 but then i kind of drifted away from it all for a few years. Then came back and joined in about 2004 the new forum which i think Nic had started up around September 2001(?) and Get Ready.

I always felt it was around 2007 when a lot of people started to move away from NOOL to things like Facebook, it was a slow decline of activity for many years after that.

Like neg1, i read most of the threads still but don't post on all, especially if i've nothing to add.

Maybe tapebias has a point and it's time the band also called it a day. But, if Bernard and all the others still love gigging and touring then good for them. Amazes me though how, trying to say this in a diplomatic way but probably failing, someone of Steve's age can still bash the drums for 1.1/2 hours at a gig.

It would indeed be good if the Technique definitive edition box was released before this forum closes down for good but who knows. Fingers crossed.

6

10 Apr 2025, 03:49

Nic - massive kudos to you for maintaining NOOL. It was the successor to the old Ceremony email list (which came out of rec.music.alternative Usenet), and as others have said has been THE place for the hardcore to discuss important things 😂

And you've all been critical input-providers to my book and earlier discography sites. Thank you.

If someone can pick it up for hosting - ace, otherwise I'll see you all on other platforms. Reddit is ok, but a lot of the chat on r/NewOrder is a bit lame. r/NOOL maybe? Most of the FB NO groups are lacklustre. Open to suggestions. A home for aging Vikings LOL!

You can all reach me on Insta via @listentoTranscom or X/Twitter via @trans_com, and probably elsewhere too but I'm personally most active there.

Dennis

9

10 Apr 2025, 09:39 · edited 10 Apr 2025, 22:59

Will be sorry to see this board go, but hoping someone can takeover ownership and move it to another server. All the other social media alternatives are lame and full of intrusive advertising. If I have to find an alternative platform, I'd want to go wherever Johnny James heads to, as in recent years I've found his insider information about all the re-releases fascinating!

Nic, thanks for all your efforts!

9

17 Apr 2025, 16:35 · edited 17 Apr 2025, 17:17

Going through some really old music files on my hard drive the other night i found this old 'Cozzie on Campbell' thing. An Irish guy Steve Campbell used to post on here a lot back in around mid 2000s. His posts were often many, many paragraphs long and usually the ramblings of a mad man, detailing his obsessions in tortuous detail of the merits of Linux over Windows and his ongoing medical problems with his testacles. Ugh.

'Cozzie' was a very young kid from Florida. Think her surname was Cozumel (?) or something. Her username changed frequently but she mostly went by the name Sunshine. She posted equally mad ramblings as Campbell.

They got into an gargantuan online to and fro argument on here about which i can't remember what . Various and numerous arguments. This was in the days when that kind of thing happened a lot on here. A lot if it got pretty heated and vicious.

Anyways, somehow Steve Campbell got hold of a 6 minute audio recording of this 'Sunshine' girl ranting on about Steve. He proceeded to make a track using the audio recording. It's kind of like a bad , dubby track The Orb might have knocked up and then discarded but with the Florida accented ramblings of this young woman stuck on over the top, with trippy echo effects added in for good measure.

Why am i telling you this? Dunno, i just re discovered the audio file ( Campbell put it up for download on here back in the day) and it reminded me of those old, often mad, days of the forum circa 2005-2006.

Anyone's interested in hearing it and remember these 2 posters Cambo and Sunshine from back then drop me a PM.

Edit: listening again, not sure it's so much of her going on about Cambo, seems to be more about her enthusing about Harvey Keitel and the Bad Lieutenant film. Maybe. Difficult to make out in places what with all the dubby echo.

3

18 Apr 2025, 07:22

Bad Lieutenant is an interesting coincidence!

2

21 Apr 2025, 11:49

Dennis Remmer wrote:

If someone can pick it up for hosting - ace, otherwise I'll see you all on other platforms. Reddit is ok, but a lot of the chat on r/NewOrder is a bit lame. r/NOOL maybe? Most of the FB NO groups are lacklustre. Open to suggestions. A home for aging Vikings LOL!

I've found reddit a bit rubbish, threads can spring up and vanish so quickly. Also its default sort order is very confusing when you want to go back and find that obscure thread.

3

21 Apr 2025, 11:51

Spotnick wrote:

I am willing to give the keys if anyone wants to keep it, just message me privately, but for me, I think it's time to move on.

How much space do the forums take (I assume php/mysql?). I do know of a few mega cheap ways to do hosting.I cant imagine cpu capacity would be an issue once some blocks to prevent bots go in place.

4

12 May 2025, 19:48

I logged on here after all these years just to say thank you Nic.

I still treasure the albums from the Community project, as well as many good memories of the time I spent on this forum exchanging information about the best band in the world, among other things.

It's the end of an era, but not of a passion. Let's move on.

Best Spider

4

13 May 2025, 23:15

Note of endless appreciation here as well, Nic. And to everyone on these forums. I have very rarely posted, but confess that checking these forums has been part of my daily internet routine for many, many years. This community will be greatly missed.

4

17 Jun 2025, 21:59

Like everyone else here it seems, NOOL has been part of my daily routine as long as I can remember, all the way back to the Community mail group, even if I haven't posted nearly enough in recent times. Eternally grateful to Nic and the input from everyone here over the years! I'm heartened that a few have indicated they might be able to re-host it somewhere...20 years ago I would have been all over that but I think it's beyond me now. Happy to contribute in other way$ though?

5

18 Jun 2025, 08:30

I've already said so privately, but I would also be prepared to hand over some ££ if anyone were able to take over hosting.

4

18 Jun 2025, 12:18

I DMed Spotnick and offered to take it on when he first announced it, but no reply. I guess because he's not planning to close it down til December, there is no urgent need yet

7

19 Jun 2025, 22:08

GotBlueEyes wrote: I DMed Spotnick and offered to take it on when he first announced it, but no reply. I guess because he's not planning to close it down til December, there is no urgent need yet

Fingers crossed! I mean, would be cool if the actual band kicked in a few clams too - could be wrong but I seem to remember NOOL even being listed in the credits of something official once...maybe the Singles comp?

2