Good morning fellow Atarians I did mean to post this earlier but am still in bed with the flu and just taking things very slowly as have little energy at the moment. Last week I received the below reply from Tim, the master of this domain in response to an email I had sent him about new registrations, private threads and how we can extra support the site. I realise we are a very small part of the internet here but we have a great atmosphere and Atari Owner came to the rescue when the previous site ceased. Yes, it has been a bit neglected by us of late, what with life and health etc, but it is still our place, our corner of the world wide web that we can come to and post about some of the things we love and speak to friends. It would be such a shame to lose that or take it too much for granted. So please, read the reply in bold below from Tim and add your comments on it. And Tim, what a signature that is. Atarian Always. Says everything about the ethos of this community. Thanks for reading MAGA (Make Atari Great Again) - was thinking of getting hats done up I haven't received a registration request in a long time; I would see it, as I get immediately notified by email. But yes, the forum is public-facing, but if there is a consensus among you all to set it to private, I'm here for you to support you all and can do as needed. RE: the day to day moderation— absolutely! Again, I'm hosting the site for all of you. I remember the bad taste left in our mouths from the board whats-his-name ran and then shut down on us. Not me, even if I don't have time right now, I'm keeping it available for everyone that DOES participate there. If there is some sort of consensus on who should be given moderator access, let me know. Maybe as a group email? I wouldn't want any hard feelings to ruin a good thing. You all have put in too many years for that to happen!!! —Tim, an Atarian always. From: A Sent: Monday, September 21, 2026 5:32 PM Subject: ATARI OWNERS WEBSITE Hello Timothy Thanks for continuing to keep the website up and running for us old Atarians We have had some questions asking if people can still register to join? Also a couple of concerns that the forum posts are visible to anyone who looks at the site, not just members. A few of us are hesitant about posting too much info on such an open forum. Would it be possible to block people from seeing posts unless they join? I know you don't have a lot of time at the moment, but if you need any help day to day in moderating or accepting new members, please give me a shout. Happy to help in any way I can.
Its a good idea to have a floating admin, not for me tho, I'm up to my neck in Dementia and my own nonsense..
Likewise, be happy to help out alongside Richie. Us core users are pretty self moderating anyway lol.
Thank you, everyone! Absolutely, I have no qualms about the site/forum being managed by those who have invested the years that you have. You probably remember how things went sour on the previous Atari forum that was offered that let me meet all of you (well, except Paul, whom I first met on the big Atari forum), and then had the forum vanished on us because I-can't-recall-his-name-at-the-moment had just decided to do so, losing all of that wonderful information that had been shared during its duration. Even though I haven't personally participated here, it's been of the utmost importance to keep the place going, keeping the domain renewed annually, keeping the server up and going. The software platform itself could probably use some security updates, but the cost of renewing that every year wasn't in the budget for me, sorry. And moving to the newer Xenforo platform would require a substantial rebuild to try to keep our unique look, as well, so that wasn't really an option. All that remained was for the forum to continue to be used and enjoyed, which it has been. That's payment, in my book. In any case, I can certain give out access that would allow for moderator-level access. Registrations do require administrator-level access, so I would need to have full confidence that granting that level of access would not later come back to bite anyone in the rear quarters, because they really will have access to pretty much everything that controls the forum. I don't think a moderator-level user can approve registrations, but I can still double-check to be sure. Regardless, if there is anyone the forum would like to have serve in Admin role, what I would do is create a secondary Admin account for that person to log into as needed. Or, people to log into, if the responsibility is to be shared. That way the admin role is kept separate from your active account. As for setting the forum private: again, very doable, if that is the preference of you. I need only to be asked once it has been agreed. Whomever has admin-level clearance can always set it to public at a later time, too. Keep me posted. —Timothy, a fellow Atarian (who still has his 6 or 7 1200XLs, a bunch of fully working Atari 8-bit equipment, and probably the biggest Atari library of books and references in physical form as anyone out there, lol!)
Timothy, you are a legend for keeping this forum online. We are small but mighty! We'll see what other replies and votes we get then take things forward. As long as we have your blessing
