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PLEASE READ: JHL to say goodbye

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toddg:
Greetings JH Lifers,

We're writing to announce that this website will be closing down on December 31st.

This forum has just passed its 14th birthday.  Our tongue-in-cheek explanation for why the site was founded has always been that the community needed more space to debate the imminent arrival of its first Starbucks.  The first real post on the site was about an upcoming meeting of the Western Jackson Heights Alliance.  Since then, we've traveled together through a lot of civic activism, political flame wars, complaints about everything, excitement about new restaurants, endless announcements about flea markets.  We've also seen some of our active members pass away, including community leaders Betsy Guthrie (ECG), Tom Lowenhaupt (Tom Lowenhaupt), and Jose Peralta (joseperalta).  It has also been a great place for people to reconnect: our longest active thread has been "Any long time Jackson Heights residents out there?"  and we ended up creating an entire sub-board for people who wanted to share memories of days past in the neighborhood.

At this point in time, it feels that there are more options than ever for discussing community issues online, and that the time for a site like this has largely faded.  The activity level on the site is much smaller than it was at its peak, and it's a constant struggle to squash bot accounts and delete spam before it can take over the site.  So rather than abandon it to the weeds for a declining active readership, we've decided it is time to close up shop.

Please use this thread to share your thoughts on JH Life, recommendations for other places for the community to congregate online, or (dare we suggest?) make arrangements to meet up in person!  If there are threads that people found helpful for information gathering, such as contractors, plumbers, we recommend finding those now before the site shuts down.

In celebration of our upcoming retirement, "The Last Word" thread  has been unlocked and awoken from its slumber.

Many thanks to all who have made this site possible.  This has been a labor of love for our administrator merm, and our moderators Shelby2. toddg, Chuckster, and JHMNY.  We are especially grateful to all of you, the participants in this experimental community, for contributing to its success and vitality over the years.  Thank you.

Warm regards,
The Jackson Heights Life Team
merm, Shelby2, toddg, JHMNY

lalochezia:
Firstly I'd like to thank everyone who ran this site. It was a real service and much appreciated.

That being said, I'm really sad about this and wish you would reconsider - or see if other people would be willing to run the site.

 Oldschool message boards are one of the few relics of the open, non-monetized, non-advertising-soaked,  non-infowar, non-algorithm fueled,  quirky user-generated internet. And they are to be lauded.

Today's social media options DO NOT replace them; I know of no equivalents that aren't on Facebook (spits!), reddit, insta, twitter etc.

abcdefghijk:
Thanks JHL.

It's been an immense learning curve on this forum. Much appreciated.

Yes, I can see that it's probably time for far more voices to be heard...and I am aware of Facebook sites with a plethora of opinions...

So, your hard work is much recognized with gratitude.

Only the best to you.

Bel84:
Really sorry to see this site closing down. I relied on it often for restaurant recommendations and news about the nabe.

I agree with lalochezia that it would be great if you would reconsider or if there are others out there willing to take the

helm. I don't know how I originally found you guys and I wonder if the reason visits are down is because people new to

JH don't even know it exists. Anyway, thanks for all the work you put into it over the years.

hum@njukebox1:
This is sad.   :(

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