A week ago tonight

[observer]

On Mon., Feb 20th at 10:15 p.m., I received my first e-mail message that the administrator of Norfolk Community Forum had deleted the forum. (I didn’t check my email till the following morning). hectorpelizoli@gmail.com and ivan1950@kwic.com were the other 2 recipients of the same message – which was delivered 4 times.

I immediately sent an email to ivan1950, asking if he knew what had happened. No response. A couple days later, when I decided to email again, I got the message that no such email address existed. (The hector address didn’t exist the first time I tried it)

I made contact with a couple forum people whom I thought might know “Hector” in the real world – or at least have his real name and phone number – as I didn’t. No one else did either.

On the evening of the 20th, at around the time that the forum seems to have gotten deleted, I was PMing with Hector – and one other forum member. In the course of replying to both, I received a PM from a name I’d never heard of before. I sent a reply – to that name – that I was confused – and left the forum. Comparing time frames to my email notification, it would seem that the forum got deleted right after that.

Now, it’s possible that Hector had a heart attack and died immediately after deleting the forum, and his heirs then deleted his email accounts. Failing that, I have some other theories – but that’s all they are – theories!

A week ago today, the original Norfolk Community Forum died – and then Spidubic contacted me to see if I knew what was happening, and volunteered to do a “re-boot”, using the same name, so that those who might still be searching could easily find the forum that most of us were so much enjoying.

Clearly, we miss a lot of the members who haven’t found us – or are just wary of joining in; and we miss “Hector’s” internet skills. But, we’ll persevere and try to present an enjoyable venue for those that still want it.

So – now you know the rest of the story.

[kishgo]

You sound like that American guy who loves to tell Canadian stories and always ends with "and now you know the rest of the story"! Paul Harvey????

I am totally baffled by the deletion of the forum. In my opinion only, it couldn't have been an 'accident'. Perhaps one could call the deletion of one email address a virus or something, but not for all that has happened. In my opinion only, the deletion of the entire forum and the mysterious events surrounding it all makes me wonder if the acts were intentional. But WHY? Everything appeared to be in almost perfect harmony.

Any other thoughts?

I do hope some of the MIA members find this forum and join again.

[Spidubic]

Cannot be done by accident. If you click on Forum Deletion it gives you a long warning that everything will be deleted and asks you to type delete then click the delete button. At this point you get an email that has a link to delete the forum. Too many steps to be done accidentally. From what I have read no backups are kept. When a forum is deleted it is permanent, everything is gone. So hopes of getting it back are pretty much zero.

We may never know the reason for the deletion. All I know it the forum was growing and getting to the point where it was THE Norfolk forum. Great forum, great members. And then poof!

[Spidubic]

Also from what I can tell in the control panel the admin can make another member the admin and leave the forum in their hands. So if Hector was tired of the forum and wanted to step aside it looks fairly easy to allow someone else to take over. Now I suppose if admins rights for the forum were transfer to someone by Hector then they may have deleted the forum.

[kishgo]

Hmmmm.....hmmmmm, not accidental obviously, but intentional. I kind of feel like the whole thing was one big experiment with the forum members being guinea pigs.
Again...Why???? Probably we'll never know.....

[rbw]

Thanks ob., very disturbing though that the forum
was just closed,"like that", no explanation, nada..

Sure would be interesting to know the whys,
though it seems we never will..

Oh well at least with some hard work by some,
we are up and running again, for that I thank
those responcible..

Thanks spid, and whom ever else ...

[observer]

Disappointing isn't it?

Perhaps we all learned that you can't believe everything you read on the internet??? LOL

At least nobody was scammed out of money or anything like that; just maybe out of a bit of trust - or what some might call naivete?

[observer]

"and now you know the rest of the story"! Paul Harvey????

yes, story a la Paul Harvey!
Haven't heard him for a long time. Is he still broadcasting?

[kishgo]

He died a few years ago.

[observer]

He died a few years ago.

Whoops!! Insensitive of me, I guess.

RIP Paul Harvey!

[rbw]

I allways enjoyed his show while on my U.S. trips..
Useually very interesting..

[kishgo]

Observer...not insensitive. You didn't know! I loved hearing his stories and especially his deep and rich voice!

[observer]

I always enjoyed him too. ergo - the "now you know the rest of the story" line.

[retired2]

I thought his son had taken over for a while

[observer]

I thought his son had taken over for a while

Didn't know that retired. You could be right.

[Ruby Tuesday]

Nah, I think it was my Viva vagara post that caused all the problems.

Just kidding!

[observer]

Nice to have you posting - even if you are just kidding! LOL

[kishgo]

True enough. Someone should google it and report back.

[3rd Street Crew]

Maybe I'm mistaken but I seem to remember Hector saying something about a vacation in the weeks leading up to the so called " Deleting " . If he was PM Observer and another member minutes before the shut down, there must have been a subject to these PMs. Observer if a member you have never heard of sent you a PM and you where confused , was there a subject to that PM , or anything in Hector's PM related at all to " Deleting " the forum or turning the power to over to anyone , I would think you would be his first choice . The only other person I would think would be stevef , but I think where ever Hector disppeared to he took stevef with him .

[observer]

3rd Street - what we were "discussing" at the time had to do with what another member was PMing me about - about an unbelievably fast decrease in his/her "Reputation". I was conferring with Hector about the issue. I'm not excusing myself for the "confusion" - but it didn't seem really of any importance at the time.

I don't know if Hector was speaking privately with anyone else at the time or not - I just know that I was.

As for vacation - I don't recall at all hearing anything about those plans - either in the public forum - or in the private messages that we used to exchange very frequently.

But - any insight you might have - or even guesses - are OK with me!

[Spidubic]

The weird part to me is Hector's Kwic email address disappearing. Only way that could happen is he called Kwic and changed it or he cancelled his Internet with them.

[growler]

I thought his son had taken over for a while

Didn't know that retired. You could be right.

i'm not sure about him taking it over after paul's death but he did "fill in" to give his dad a break once in a while !
he was a very well educated (by life) announcer,who was trusted by many, (he was responsible for the somewhat peaceful ending of the incident involving the FBI, and the family that got shot (and some killed) in the northwestern US in the late 80's.
plus some public opinion polls named him as the most trustworthy reporter of all times (he would admit making an error,as well as actively searching out and reporting "good news stories" birthdays weddings,births,anniversery's etc)
i had my radio tuned to stations that i could hear him on every day.
i to was unaware of his death, but if still alive would be at or near 100 !

i miss hearing his reports !
RIP PAUL !

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