AHS Forum Status
 

Hello everyone-

I wanted to update you all on the forum. As a lot of you already know, I don't have access to paying for the server, nor do I really have contact with Zef. As far as I'm aware, the server is paid for until October this year, but it's up to him whether he continues paying for it after that and I don't really have the means to reach out consistently to make sure.

I've been trying to back-up a few things, but it all has to be manual and I haven't realistically had the time to do it all. I want to ask for everyone to make sure to save what they find precious from the forum in the next few weeks to make sure they don't lose any old posts or downloads they want.

If anyone wants to repost downloads, old scans, or anything else as a back-up, I can offer this forum I have had hanging around - it has a few things on it already, but unfortunately most of what I've saved is still on my harddrive. Work has been incredibly busy for me and while I've had a few volunteers to help me test the other forum, I want to reach out here in case anyone also wants to take advantage of backing up their data. At the moment, I'm mostly worried about our Downloads forum and the magazine interviews in the Celebrity News area, as well as the TA posts from 2010 - everything prior to that should be backed up, including lyric translations. Also, nothing from the Other Artists forums has been backed up at all.


I'm sorry I don't have better news, and I do hope AHS lasts as it is past this October, but I don't want to take that for granted anymore.

The link for the very very rough back-up is here: https://ahsforum.flarum.cloud/. Any help or ideas for alternatives is very welcome. I'll also be cross-posting this in the downloads forum for visibility.

:heart

is there a way to pay for the server ourselves? or it has to be Zef who does the payment thing?

oh no if this site goes down for good it's definitely end of an era :weep

thank you for letting us know koumori—I never knew I had to consider the possibility of AHS discontinuing. I've been here since 2005 so it's definitely been a constant in my life. I hope this site can be saved!

Hope we can do something, I cannot imagine AHS being closed for good :(

Do you have access to the vbulletin admin interface? If so, you should be able to backup the entire database and import it into a new instance of vbulletin (even if it's a newer version, since this is so outdated).

It should be a pretty straightforward process, I think (unless the import runs into issues) - but I haven't worked with forum admins in a longgggg time.

https://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/...atabase_backup

https://forum.vbulletin.com/forum/vb...-8-11-to-5-4-4

This is one of the most active JPOP forum on the net so I hope this forum will continue for a long time!

Thank you for the update

Thanks for letting us know. <3 Whatever happens, I've had a lot of fun here and am grateful for this place and all your hard work.

Not sure if this has been discussed in the past, but if someone could manage to contact him, would it not be possible to transfer the server account ownership (or at least share the server payment information) so that this risk doesn't come up every year?

Also, just in case all of us need to communicate should the forum go down, can the Discord become public? (or if I could have an invite now :P)

I hope he chooses to continue it :(

It’s been such a regular part of my life for so long.
I’d also be more than happy to donate money if it came to that!

Is there no way to at least have a change of ownership since it has always been like an uncertain kinda thing as to when the forum would be renewed? Anyways, if in case it does go down, I can at least share you guys some of the ripped tracks saved on my cloud drive as a link should there would be a need of a backup download links?

I think people should also join the AHS Facebook group so if the forum goes down, we can keep talking about Ayu and other j-artists/bands we like over there. :)

I hope we can find a way, this forum had been part of my life for so long now..

I'd be more than happy to contribute to maintain this server.

I was never accepted on that group lol

Any updates from Zef? If not I can definitely help with setting up a new environment for us (I work as a dev)

My membership request to the AHS FB group has been pending for about 1 year now :/ I really wish I could be in the group, but I just can't get in :dead

As the one who works with Facebook, I suggest that we shouldn't use Fanpage/ group on FB as the new environment because FB has many policies that can make our group deactive immediately.
I prefer another forum for more friendly features, can someone set up the new forum first?
We will inform and ask the members move to the new forum from now on.
If this forum stop working, we can set up the data later.

I’m in the process of scraping all the data right now and porting them to a new environment

Awesome! Thanks for your work, if we can help in any way please let us know!

Thank you for your efforts!

I am not really an active poster anymore, but if it turned out the forum has to close or something, don't leave me behind lol Send me some email of post about it in the facebook group, so I can see :D

If there is a new forum in development I'd be more than happy to contribute, like we can chip in donations to keep it running. This community is too important for me to lose :(

my friend what happened with the new forum backup project?

I mostly lurk now, but it would be awful if AHS was gone. :(

Is that forum for posting material only? Can we discuss there same as here?

I rarely post, but I always like to come read once or twice a week about ayu stuff, and I would like to stay aware of what's going on with our beloved Ayu.

We have one more month of this forum?

Is there a link for the discord?

Yes, here it is!

If anyone has problems accessing the server through the link, please send a DM to me or Koumori.

And for those who are unfamiliar with Discord: please note that we will need to verify that you're a member of AHS before giving you access to the entire server. It might take a few minutes (or hours) depending on the staff's availability, but we'll get to you ASAP! :yes

Ocotber first... and it's still here... should I rejoice T__T

Since none of us have any idea about when (or if) the forum will go down, I highly suggest everyone saves things that are important to them. I imagine AHS is as important to most people as it is for me since there are posts here from when I was a literal teenager and I wouldn't want those to be lost forever.

So go through your stuff and make sure you save anything that you might want to keep for posterity.

And just to respond to some comments regarding a Facebook group: I don't think it's very viable since Facebook isn't most people's favorite platform as of late. Also, many fans wouldn't want to use their accounts full of personal information in there (at least I wouldn't).

I suggest people join the AHS Discord server for any updates. Even if you're a lurker and never say anything, that's where most of the conversations about Ayu and other Asian artists are happening. Also, the link will be unavailable to people once the forum goes down (unless you save it), so it's better to do it now before we lose contact with one another.

AHS, I love you. :heart

Been here since 2005 and I can’t imagine it going away.
I remember being in middle school and signing up on our school computers because I didn’t have a computer or internet back in the day.

Gonna miss you AHS. This forum has been a mainstay in my life since 2008 (got locked out of my first account lol). The comfort of this site has accompanied me through so many phases in my life, almost all the important ones. Thanks to every single person who contributed to making it what it was - from mods to members.

I don’t even know where to begin with AHS. There was actually another ayumi forum at first that I preferred to this one. AHS was my backup. But that one went belly-up and thereafter AHS became my bread an butter.

This forum — the news I gathered from it, the discoveries I made because of it, and the expressions of myself I was afforded by it — there are no words.

This space is a manifestation of my mind. I’m sure it is for all of us. The posts we silently read in our heads. The conversations we’ve all partaken in. All withIN us.
It’s SURREAL.

oh man. I've been here since 2004 (got locked out of my first account), I was a high school student and now I'm doing my doctorate. AHS has been a constant in my life. ayu's was my first fandom and people here really taught me a lot to navigate access to all these content I wouldn't have otherwise known.

I'm just going to say that I'm going to miss coming here. I'm not in a position to download so many of the things I would want to save, and that makes me sadder. thank you for people who have shared and uploaded their collection, especially for the benefit of people who may not be able to afford buying them, like me.

thank you AHS Forum!

NOT SO FAST! Scraping all the data right now and stay tuned for the new AHS

Although i'm mostly reading all of the news of Ayu, i really gonna miss this community where we could share opinions and the love of Ayu. I really hope this is not the end of AHS.

It's important special place that impacted my life a lot. Nothing will replace this forum.

I'm currently having a hard time putting my emotions, so I apologize if this isn't my most well-writtwn post:

I truly hope that AHS will be able to stay. I haven't been on here for nearly as long as most people have but this place has become so important to me over the years. This forum is the one place where I could talk about Ayu to people who love her just as much. This is the place where I was able to learn so much about Ayu by going through old threads or talking to other users. I made friends here that I would have never met otherwise.

I remember how odd (and sometimes scary) it felt when I joined the forum, since pretty much everybody was an adult already. Yet I was able to 'find my place' here thanks to you guys. In a way, this forum has been a part of my personal growth over the past 5 years too. I sure as hell have said a lot of awkward things a couple of years ago, but I wouldn't want to trade this experience.
AHS is simply such an important piece of my life... When I joined, I was still far away from graduating and now I'm in my final year. Most of you have been here for much longer than that, so I can only begin to imagine how others feel about the possibility of AHS going down forever.

If this is really it, then I just want to say thank you to everybody who made this forum what it is. I'm glad I got to experience being a part of AHS for a couple of years – it's been a fun ride. :heart

AHS was the 4th english ayu forum I found when I discovered her during the CAROLS era in 2004 (after Ayunite!, Tokyo Nights and Ayumi Hamasaki Network, all dead ages ago), many memories come when browsing my posts/threads, it would truly be tragic to lose such an important database...

While I'm not as active as I used to be, ayu is still my #1 artist and I never miss a chance to attend her tours when I'm in Japan or support her (#team-ayu). I truly hope for a mirrorcle to happen that can save this forum, as I'm not planning on moving to discord or any other forum after that (team-ayu messages will stay my only source).

Big thanks to the staff for doing their best to keep this forum alive all these years, I know by experience it's not easy... :)

Thank you. Please make it work! Do you have the URL yet?

^Thank you SO SO much!!!

I remember first coming only for the downloads in 2008 but slowly posting time to time within the forum starting with NEXT LEVEL era and remembered how excited everyone was when her albums would get released :heart (except maybe Sunrise/Sunset, I remember quite some rage regarding her covers :laugh )

Also the A WORLD IS ONE book that happened just before RnRC and we were closer to Ayu more than before and knowing how kind she was to fans (hugging them and such) was the most surreal feeling ever. I was 15 when I joined AHS and Ayu's music and this community was my little escape when school wasn't so great, I will cherish this forum and hopefully the data can be saved or this forum will not go down just yet :heart

It is so sad see ending of this forum.Still there is hope for new format.

Thanks a lot for all the effort that You, DavidChaiLatte and others put into this matter. It's hugely appreciated. Looking forward to what the future brings :)

Thanks all my goodness!

We will discover in the future the person who ia renewing AHS domain is... Ayu herself! j/k

We have one more year! That’s great news but I do hope that is here to stay for good ❤️

Really great news to hear amidst the separate but unrelated AHS and JPopsuki issues ongoing at the same time. But I think we need a new AHS, one that is ready for the future (possibly including HTTPS support as well).

Is a newer version of vBulletin - or change to another forum software - in the works?

Awesome news, thanks for the update! Made my week, honestly.

Such great news!

It at least gives the people involved more time to create a new AHS.
It’s unfortunate that we’d have to abandon this one, but the yearly uncertainty is rather frustrating… the person paying has absolutely zero interest in communication, which is very weird lol.

ONE MORE YEAR YEAHH, Muchas gracias

I'm happy that AHS will be up and running for another year. I was already getting mentally ready for this place to be gone forever as well so the news about the renewal are a pleasant surprise. :heart

I will, of course, join AHS 2.0. when it's finished, too. Hopefully the link will be posted here too though and not exclusively on Discord because I don’t use that. I'm happy enough with Twitter and Facebook personally.

Thanks a lot!! =))

What a great news <3

Hopefully AHS will stay for good. Been here since 2009, when i was still in high school :(
Thank you all AHS admins for all the hardwork <3

Yay!! Such great news!! :banana1

I remember how AYUNITE! disappeared and it was very very sad because I felt like I spent forever there, I was a teenager and time felt different. I was like 12 when I joined it and then it disappeared when I was 18. I remember I didn't like AHS that much when I joined it (sorry!) because I was really attached to AYUNITE! And now it's been 10 years since I joined the forum. I even met some forum members on ayu's concerts. aww precious memories :heart I hope it stays active forever! or at least for extra 10 years.

Thank you for all your efforts, guys!! We really appreciate it :heart

I just noticed that I can't enter JPOPsuki anymore D:

Edit: It's working again ^O^

Yukari, Ayunite was my go-to as well!!

Eventually I found no “original” news (meaning, it was all credited to people on AHS) was being posted there, so I just found myself migrating here haha. But I remember liking the smaller community aspect that it had. AHS was extremely active at the time and I felt a little lost at the beginning.

That's such great news! can't wait to see what the new forum will look like, I love AHS s much!

@Koumori thank you so much for your efforts! :luv2
Everyone still loves AHS, even tho we aren't all as active as we used to be back in the day... guess it's normal as we all got older and have to work and/or have started families :)

I know that Zef probably has a lot on his plate, as I know that he got married to one of the members and has started a family of his own. Shame that the two fo them aren't on FB anymore so we can't contact them directly to deal with everything here.
I know that both of them really loved this forum so I hope that they won't let it all go away!

well hello there fellow ex-AYUNITER! :D

was your nickname the same there?

I've just checked the web archives of AYUNITE! and found a lot of familiar nicknames :D