Was the 15th the last issue of JTAS?

[Willbo]

Logged in today and the Dec 29th issue of JTAS is blank.
So either the 15th was the last one or something went wrong yesterday?
figured I say something here as well as the email I sent to the web admin.

[PK]

First, let me disclaim that I have nothing to do with JTAS and very little inside knowledge about it.

That said, we at SJ Games are all on our usual two-week winter vacation from 12/19/15 to 1/3/16. Our last GURPS release of the year was on 12/17. So while I don't know if 12/15 was the last JTAS, it's certainly a reasonable possibility.

[Drifter]

from the other thread

Originally Posted by inexorableTash

Loren made a comment on FB on the 17th about finishing up one more issue before parting with SJG.

But it makes sense that the 15th was the last. The site should probably go dark tomorrow, the 1st. And in fact this sub forum will likely vanish too.

Well, maybe not until Monday when everyone gets back in the office.

[Drifter]

JTAS is gone, but I'm pleasantly surprised this forum is still here.

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by Drifter

JTAS is gone, but I'm pleasantly surprised this forum is still here.

Might just be jump lag because the X-boat message hasn't arrived yet.

[AOTA]

I don't see why the forum couldn't stay. I'm sure there are lots of Traveller boards on other forums that have never had a Traveller licence.

[SteveS]

Originally Posted by Drifter

JTAS is gone, but I'm pleasantly surprised this forum is still here.

I don't see any reason that this forum would disappear. As far as I can tell, it should qualify under the same sort of courtesy license that allows fan-created Traveller sites to be legal.

After all, if we want to discuss Dungeons and Dragons in the SG Games "roleplaying in general" section, its publishers have no right to complain about anything short of posting copyrighted materials beyond the bounds of fair use.

This forum doesn't need to go away because of the expiration of the SJ Games license to Traveller unless SJ Games decides they don't want it here any more, and even then the discussions here would still be permissible in the "roleplaying in general" section.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Might just be jump lag because the X-boat message hasn't arrived yet.

That X-boat arrives on Monday. We'll see what the orders are, and if a rag-tag group of n'er-do-wells can stop them.

The exact terms of the license between SJGames and Marc Miller would be one reason this forum goes away. Only the two companies know what that is, and even then probably only their lawyers know. And any reasonably good lawyer is not bothered with human wishes or desires.

Another reason is that SJGames already erased one Traveller forum, when they opened this one. It may have been a mistake, it may have been cheaper to do that - nobody believes game companies are swimming in cash so its understandable. The situation here is different, as the former forums where on a different server (I think), or at least separate from this forum structure. The only issue may be that this forum supports a game that belongs to someone else, made the more complicated if M. Miller publishes the GURPS books under his company, a likely event.

But if it was a legal issue I'm sure it would have been an automatic shut down on the 1st.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Drifter

Another reason is that SJGames already erased one Traveller forum, when they opened this one. It may have been a mistake, it may have been cheaper to do that

The JTAS newsgroups weren't a "forum" as such; they were a collection of NNTP groups run on a news server. As far as I know, there is NO way to import NNTP groups onto a vBulletin server, and supporting dual Traveller discussion areas didn't make any sense.

There are people out there who prefer NNTP to web forums, and I agree that NNTP offers some advantages. Unfortunately, there aren't enough of them to make supporting NNTP worth any of our time or effort.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

The JTAS newsgroups weren't a "forum" as such; they were a collection of NNTP groups run on a news server. As far as I know, there is NO way to import NNTP groups onto a vBulletin server, and supporting dual Traveller discussion areas didn't make any sense.

TbitDesign.com has a conversion tool called NNTP Gate Usenet Importer that covers the current Pyamid forums' version of vBulletin, currently sold in digital form for $0 at http://www.vb-plugins.com/usenet-importer.html