Scifilm.org shuts down

[onionhead]

My work schedule the past couple of years has limited my personal trvels on the internet to just a few sites a night, and Scifilm.org and this site have been two of my few frequent stops on the web, places to call home and to gab with folk with a common interest.  It is sad to see Gerry Carpenter hang up his webmaster cloak--the site hosted a great review section and a flamer-proof (for the most part) discussion board frequented by a number of the posters here at Badmovies.org.  I wish Gerry the best.

[Gerry]

Thanks for the kind words and wishes, onionhead.  Even Batman eventually retired.

The secret to a flame-proof message board?  Asbestos underwear.

[Menard]

Check your e-mail Gerry.


The rumor I heard was that you were going to be spending more time on the pageant circuit.

[Ash]

So Gerry...
If you don't mind me asking.

Why exactly are you shutting your site down?

[Gerry]

Yes, Menard, I have pageants lined up all through the summer.

Ash, there are lots of reasons I could give, but mostly it just comes down to the fact that it's the right thing to do. I always promised myself that if it stopped being fun, I would stop doing it, and it's not been fun for quite a while now.

[Ash]

and it's not been fun for quite a while now.

Why is that?

[Jordan]

Sorry to see you go Gerry. Sci-Film was also a frequent stop of mine on the web. I'll keep a link up to the site in memorium!

Ash, I myself thought of throwing in the towel months ago. I was trying to get the Vault back up to snuff and writing monthly for Rogue Cinema and I just snapped one night. I declared that the end was nigh for my site and I attempted to bow out of the Rogue Reviewers (which I started back in 2002).

While this event may have been the result of an early mid-life crisis, I think it was more because writing had stopped being fun. It felt like I was slaving away on a job, rather than doing something I enjoyed, and I just wanted a break. So, I quit writing for Rogue Cinema and most, if not all of the pressure, was gone. (Coupled with a case of writer's burnout, it wasn't too shocking when I finally hit the roof.)

In any case, good luck Gerry, your site will be missed! (Out of curiosity: Is this a full departure from any type of writing or webmastery, or will you be working on some other projects that may have suffered do to your constant work on Sci-Film?)

[Gerry]

Ash, see Jordan's reply.  Burn out happens to some quicker than others.  Honestly I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did.

Jordan, I think I'll probably hang out as a fan for a while, but I may eventually dive into the fray again.  It will likely be in a different form.  I'm always looking to do something new.  Maybe I'll invent the Supernet and dwarf Bill Gates with my billions!

[Andrew]

Hearing that Scifilm.org is going away makes me very sad.  I already spoke with Gerry about it, because the site has been an amazing place and is a great resource.  No matter what, thank you for all the work over the years. 

[nshumate]

Now I feel bad for not having known.

(Trying to ignore all the commentary about bowing out when it stops being fun.  That way lies madness...)

[Gerry]

Just announced it yesterday, Nathan, so you're not too far behind the curve.

[nshumate]

Nevertheless.  I should have felt the tremor in the Force.

So what's the plan for the site as it stands?  Send it down the memory hole?  Leave it standing, embalmed in a natural posture?

[Shadow]

This is very sad.

Thanks for all the hard work. Your efforts were a definite inspiration.

[CheezeFlixz]

For the love of Gorga .... leave it up at the very least. I haven't read it all yet!!! I get my precious little time to read reviews and watch movies in the warmer months.

[JaseSF]

While I'm not surprised at Gerry's decision (Scifilm had been hanging on by something of a thread for quite a time), I have to say I'm terribly sad to see Scifilm, which felt like home to me, go. I do hope eventually to either find or create a new home for the TV Files project (and the Best of Series, not to mention several movie reviews) I was involved with over there elsewhere on the Web [Anyone else who contributed TV Files I hope considers that their own property to do with as they should so desire]. It won't be for a while yet that the TV Files continue whatever the case as I have pressing personal and professional issues in my own life to work out at the moment so I'll probably be around less online over the next few months, maybe more, at least.  And of course I should add a note of thanks to Gerry for all his tremendous hard work and dedication to the site over the last six years. Between my TV Files and Dave's Movie of the Day, that was a tremendous, tremendous amount of archiving not to mention the site's many movie reviews and other output.