Kboards Kindleboards and Writers’ Cafe Refugees

Alessandra Kelley

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Pretty sure I've been on AW a lot longer than Kboards, but somehow I ended up spending most of my time over there since I took up writing again.

I used to follow the never-ending PA thread here. THAT I remember.

Wow. Just checked and the PA thread is STILL going. Never-ending is right.

Welcome back. I’m really sorry about what happened to Kindleboards.
 

Jason

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I'd never heard of Kindleboards, but am assuming from my quick Google search that it was a forum that has been shut down...?
 

Larry M

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I'd never heard of Kindleboards, but am assuming from my quick Google search that it was a forum that has been shut down...?

No, it's still operating. However, it appears that they are under new ownership, and the Terms of Service policy has changed, not for the better. Members are quite upset at the new policy.
 
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veinglory

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I think the new terms of service could have been worked out, and even not having people opt into them, but then some of the new owner, VerticalScope's, staff waded in acting in a questionable manner.
 
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Jason

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Ahhhh...

Vertical Scope took ownership of a jeep forum I used to participate in...

note the tense :)
 

AW Admin

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Ahhhh...

Vertical Scope took ownership of a jeep forum I used to participate in...

note the tense :)

Yep. I've seen this before. VS wants to co-opt the site's Google juice.

There is a great, vibrant community at Kboards, with some stellar moderation. I'm hoping that the mods and members can find another platform; I'd look at ProBoards, first, since they don't have to worry about creating an entire technical infrastructure off the bat.
 
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Jason

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Yep - that's all VS wants is the juice, they couldn't care less about the community that made it grow to that point.
 

newbaku

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I joined AW in mid-2010, but it's been a long time since I rocked or rolled here. Very thoughtful of y'all to make a gesture of welcome to Cafe refugees. :)
 

Old Hack

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I've caught up with what's happened over there. So very sad. It was such a useful, positive place before. I do hope the community finds itself a new home.
 

Denevius

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This situation has popped up in my FB newsfeed through some of the writers I’m friends with. I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other, but one thing I find interesting is how a forum for writing that seems as big as Kboards was wasn’t on my radar. Until this scandal broke out, I’ve never even heard of it.
 

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This situation has popped up in my FB newsfeed through some of the writers I’m friends with. I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other, but one thing I find interesting is how a forum for writing that seems as big as Kboards was wasn’t on my radar. Until this scandal broke out, I’ve never even heard of it.

It's a really tight community, nonetheless; it began when the Kindle was very new; it was originally primarily about using the Kindle and finding and reading ebooks; it evolved, with the birth of Amazon's Kindle self-publishing options, into, primarily, a place for writers interested in self-publishing on Kindle. It's been a really helpful and supportive community for a lot of self-publishers.

And I mourn a little whenever an established, beloved online community, writer-and-reader oriented or not, takes a hit. It's a big Internet; variety is better.
 

swvaughn

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Wow, my login still works. Haven't been to this board in so long (I was on Kboards mostly). Nice to see so many familiar faces still posting here. :)
 

MercyMe

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Hi all. Another Cafe refugee. I still check in there. I check in with Writer's Sanctum and now I've returned to AW after years of lurking in the Self-Publishing thread. Thanks, AW for the warm welcome.