Everything comes to an end : Closing down EFH

[Mr Q]

Hi everyone,

After 19 years of running EaglesFlyingHigh, it's now time for it to come to an end.

Thankyou to all the people, here today and over the years who have made this site what it has been over the last two decades. Without EFH's following, present and past, this site would not have been the labour of love that it has been for many years.

EaglesFlyingHigh filled a niche in the Internet market back in 2003 when it was formed from a group of people fleeing (then) continual technical faults and flaws on the Bigfooty forums, but that niche no longer exists, and there are many places where people can discuss any topic you want. EFH harkens back to a nicer, more gentle age in social media, where people were actually encouraged to be nice to one another, and generally as a result were nice to one another and again, I thank the many users of EFH for making my job as easy as possible. Yes, even you, "Total Package" if you see this.

The flood of posts EFH got at its height has reduced to barely a trickle as social media moves on - not always in a good way - and the number of visitors now seems to be a tiny number of long term posters hanging on, but the costs of keeping things running have gone the other way, and I can no longer devote the time to maintaining and managing the site. Where once an outage would cause me to drop everything and fix it, I now don't have the time for that to happen. My world is a very different place coming in to 2023 than it was in March 2004!

There's been a few memorable times in that period - good and bad
- The 06 and 18 premierships of course
- The spoon in 09
- The Great Judd Meltdown when he walked out
- Coming back from 54 points down at Kardinia (in 06 - still our last win there!)
- The Great Benny Cousins Saga
- Annilhilating the reigning premiers in our debut Perth Stadium season

And many many more

I have created a Facebook group to continue EaglesFlyingHigh's legacy at https://www.facebook.com/groups/934383184607707.

EFH will remain running for a while so people have a chance to see this post of course, but it won't be past the start of the season proper (when I'll redirect it to the above FB page)

If you're looking for me personally, I'm found on Mastodon at https://aus.social/@electricrabbit (though I don't talk much about footy there).

[For those interested, here's a link to the first thread on the forums back in 2004: https://www.eaglesflyinghigh.com/forum/ ... hp?f=2&t=2]

[jourgo]

Cheers Q - thanks for providing this place for as long as you did. I'm sure it was no picnic at times!

All the best to you & yours, and to everyone I've ever conversed with on here over many a year. Take care of yourselves, and each other, and UP THE MIGHTY EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jourgo - signing off.

[woodywoodpecker]

Many thanks mate

Have loved reading and sometimes posting. At its heightThe chat here was as good as any sports forum!

Congrats

[Peter_Melesso_Fanclub]

I still think the message board format is well suited to sports discussion, but clearly I'm in the small minority.

This was a great meeting place for a long time. Big thanks for all the work you did to make it happen, Mr Q.

Thanks for the conversations & the memories, everyone. Oh, and have happy new year!

West Coast Eagles 1986 -> forever

[Mr Q]

I still think the message board format is well suited to sports discussion, but clearly I'm in the small minority.

I think it would still work just fine, but if not enough people are using the site, I really can't justify the costs of keeping it running indefinitely.

I know a Facebook group is not a real substitute, but it doesn't cost me anything, and it would still allow for open discussion. I'll see if enough people want to use it.

[Peter_Melesso_Fanclub]

I still think the message board format is well suited to sports discussion, but clearly I'm in the small minority.

I think it would still work just fine, but if not enough people are using the site, I really can't justify the costs of keeping it running indefinitely.

Yeah, I totally get that.

My meaning maybe wasn't clear. I was trying to say that these types of message boards in general have become a lot less popular over the last 5 years or so. (I'm on several for various sports & interests and they're all noticeably less busy now). Most people have moved to other forms of social media for their online sports interactions.
Personally I like the format of these boards for maintaining ongoing conversations. It shits all over Facebook & especially Twitter for that. But clearly I'm in the minority because here I still am while most others have left this format behind.

[MelbourneBased]

Thanks Mr Q.

I have learnt a lot from this forum.

Unfortunately I must be in the dinosaur category that does not need audio messaging , videos, cartoons and real time responses to be able to participate and to learn.

It is a credit to you and your moderators that the forum was conducive to banter and insightful replies and never adversarial.

I learnt a lot and I will surely miss it especially as I ponder the rebuild (or was last two year just a dream).

Thankyou for your time, effort and money.

[GoTheRoos]

Rather strangely, I had a thought today "I wonder if that EFH site is still around?" after who knows how many years since I visited (9 years since posting, but I have probably visited since). Saw the recent posts on the home page were all pretty much months old, but the site was still here.

I signed up because I had a few friends who were on here, more to just have a 'local' Perth message board rather than specifically for AFL chat as most other boards I posted on were international. But basically all message boards I frequented have long since died, maybe only 1 or 2 which are still active, plus not being in my early 20s and spending hours posting - although when there was no social media I guess more time was devoted to message boards. I was shocked to see I had over 1000 posts here haha.

Even if I haven't been on here for yonks, thanks for your efforts Q, it takes a lot to run a site like this independently and it was a buzzing place in its heyday.

[Wombat]

I was always more of an avid reader than a poster.
I will miss the banter and the insights from various posters, I haven't managed to find something that comes close to EFH.

Thanks for all the hard yards Mr Q!

[jourgo]

Hey Y'all.

I have a parting thought - already having said my goodbyes to all you good people and given Q a round of well deserved kudos - from everything I've seen so far of Reuben Ginbey, I think we've managed to grab someone quite special here. Watch him closely - he's the goods!

Much love to you & yours. Jourgo out .... again!

[Pinion King]

All good things come to an end.

I've tried other places recently like the WCE subreddit, but I haven't found somewhere as good as here.

It's been an absolute pleasure to spend all these years on here and make 5630 posts.

Kudos to Mr Q for giving us a place to rant, argue, celebrate and banter over our team.

[Mr Q]

As of today, all forums except the main West Coast Eagles board are read-only.

[penrith eagle]

Thank You Mr Q

Its been a pleasure good luck to you in the future

thank you for running the site

[Voice of Reason]

Thanks Q
Just came here in the third quarter.
You’ve done an outstanding job for a long time.
Best

[Jack Sidious]

Thanks Mr Q for everything.

I had been keeping an eye on the site but it had been closed for a few months. I guess I’d been less geared up for footy considering the clubs poor state in recent times. B

I’ve been a quiet not so rigorous poster but a constant reader. I have loved this site since joining originally in 2005. The debates, information and camaraderie has been exceptional. I have many fond memories to look back on. I’m glad you have arranged a substitute in the form a fb page, most certainly better than nothing so I will keep an eye there.

True gratitude to you Q and all the other moderators and posters. Well done and thanks

Patrick