This is a message I was not looking forward to write someday, but I guess it had to come.

Quote:

Myst & URU Obsession will shut down on December 31

We have an announcement to make - we're going to keep it brief:

It's been a great honor for us to run this site for all of you, but as all things must eventually end, so the time has come for UO to end as well. After 10 years of being online in various forms, starting with Mudpie Obsession, the forum will officially shut down on New Year's Eve. All of us at URU Obsession's Staff would like to thank you all for being part of this project - without you UO would have never been such a big part of the Myst community.

Perhaps someday we will meet again, someplace else.
-The Staff

Original announcement

I don't have much to add. It's not lightly that we have taken this decision, but after 10 years and seeing how activity is dwindling down (both at UO, and in the community in general) we figure it's the right thing to do. If anything we'd hate to see the forum become a desert town. Thus the forum will close its doors at the end of december.

Sophia and cannot believe what has happened to Myst and the community, to hear a cornerstone such as URU Obsession is turning off the lights for good is a real shocker.

All we can say, is a big thanks for the wonderful forum you have given us all these years. Sophia and Murray

While I was never a member of UO, I have a certain sentiment to what they did over the years. That said, this is a good thing in the long run; less forums can bring more players together too. All we need to do now is archive the forum. Maybe with it archived we won't lose that much of the history stored there.

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TOC#60089 DI#132103 MOULa is

Trekluver wrote:

While I was never a member of UO, I have a certain sentiment to what they did over the years. That said, this is a good thing in the long run; less forums can bring more players together too. All we need to do now is archive the forum. Maybe with it archived we won't lose that much of the history stored there.

I was a member, but I didn't visit much. It will be sad. Yes, please archive.

I'll echo TrekLuver's and Rik's sentiments for archiving. The "Cavern Today" archives at UO, as well as the Guild of Cartographers' forum, and the puzzles that The Hidden ran in 2006... it would be a shame if those treasures, among the many others tucked away within UO's volumes, were all lost.

I also hold hope open that the rest of UO's files and image database, which were never restored because the website software to host them could not be recreated, could also be provided to an archivist who might piece them back together again.

[Edit - Fixed, dyslexic acronyms, thanks JW]

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MOULa 26838 | Prologue Video Project: On Hold pending Minkata support
Visit rel.to to explore Myst, Uru, and D'ni communities!

Last edited by Marten on Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:33 am; edited 1 time in total

I started the archive: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://uruobsession.com/forum/index.php/index

To get the whole site archived it will take several very diligent people working hard for a couple days/weeks. If you've never used the wayback machine before, all you do it click on each link you want archived directly from the page I linked here. Clicking on a link will immediately take a snapshot of the pages' current state. The only thing it does not archive are imbedded pictures and pictures in spoilers. I guess any you guys want to keep you'll just have to download them. Also, it would be a good idea to archive any web site links linked in any posts (Do that by clicking on those links). That way anybody can see the site/sites in it's original condition, all the way up to the 31st. Good luck guys.

[EDIT] To help out, I archived the entire help section . http://liveweb.archive.org/http://uruobsession.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=help
There's still a bunch to archive though. Maybe if one forum section was assigned per person?

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TOC#60089 DI#132103 MOULa is

In each case of Marten using "OU," I know he meant "UO."

There was some discussion earlier this year of hosting a public UO (Uru Obsession) archive at OU (OpenUru.org). I communicated with Aloys who was looking into ways to provide an archive, but there were complications and no doubt permissions required from others. I don't know the specific complications, but if they involve hosting of Cyan assets, we can work with that. OpenUru.org is not just about Open Source Uru, but about an open place for any projects or things related to Myst/Uru. OU remains receptive to providing storage for a public archive of UO materials, where its content can remain accessible to everyone - perhaps even for UO's resurrection at some later date.


Edit: I'll add a personal perspective on Uru Obsession. A long, long time ago, probably early 2005 during Until Uru, but before I first registered an account on any Cyan, Myst or Uru fan website, I was very interested in finding more about the game and what happened to it. I had actually purchased it during Uru Live beta, but it shut down before I could try to sign up. The first place I found, before I first registered on the DRC site, was Uru Obession. The first thread I found was about Pepsi. It was a very, very long and still active thread, and maybe there was more than one, but I read them through because I had never seen such a sense of community online since the dial-up BBS communities of the 1980s. So despite the sad occasion, that was really my first meaningful and positive impression of UO and the Uru family. I would not want to see that lost.

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OpenUru.org: An Uru Project Resource Site : Twitter : Perfect Speed Is Being There.

Trekluver wrote:

I started the archive: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://uruobsession.com/forum/index.php/index

To get the whole site archived it will take several very diligent people working hard for a couple days/weeks. If you've never used the wayback machine before, all you do it click on each link you want archived directly from the page I linked here. Clicking on a link will immediately take a snapshot of the pages' current state. The only thing it does not archive are imbedded pictures and pictures in spoilers. I guess any you guys want to keep you'll just have to download them. Also, it would be a good idea to archive any web site links linked in any posts (Do that by clicking on those links). That way anybody can see the site/sites in it's original condition, all the way up to the 31st. Good luck guys.

[EDIT] To help out, I archived the entire help section . http://liveweb.archive.org/http://uruobsession.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=help
There's still a bunch to archive though. Maybe if one forum section was assigned per person?

Thanks for doing this. I'm glad it's being archived. It would have been a shame to see all the history be lost.

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MOUL KI# 10281985
MOULa KI# 1492059

Fear is the mind-killer

This was a great idea, dearest Trekluver, to initiate this archiving process ...

I always appreciated the wayback machine as an unbelievable amazing service,
but I never knew how it actually worked ... So, I've tried it out now and I'm sooo
impressed how you only have to click all the links and thus preserving this whole
treasure chest and very valuable Myst/Uru resource ...

Yeah, having had the advantage to be one of the first and by chance (there are 'no coincidences' lol),
maybe intuitively started with the 'Cavern Today' section where I'm ready with the small 2010 section
and the whole '2003-2004 Prologue Archives' and I'm going to work my way through the
'2006-2008 MO:UL Archives' within the next days as this will take a little longer ...

Yah, so, I committed myself to preserve the 'Cavern Today' department ... Everybody else feeling
so inclined to contribute to this project, please, choose now, as long as there is a free choice haha ...

It IS tragical, almost unbelievable to see one of those mighty cornerstones of this worldwide URU/Myst
community and all further forums and meeting places etc. going down now, but it is nonetheless a good
choice to bid it's farewell in a grateful and dignified way ...

Many thanks to all who kept this up and running and alive to this day and through all the weirdness and
ups and downs and against all odds in all those years ... Kudos! and Blessings to you ... Take care all ...

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janaba MOULa KI #154268, Minkata KI #4525 , Gehn KI # 16392, TOC KI # 86963
MO:ULa is

This was my home base for many years, it was where I did my research, made friends, played games. Mafia was always fun and exciting and the PotS era was extraordinary. So many people working together, Sheldon leading us on a wonderful goose chase, what fun we had. When I finally decided to re-enter the cavern there was only one Hood I wanted to be a part of, UO. Thank you to all at UO for the wonderful memories and friendships. RIP

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Thanks for the kind words guys, I requested the site to be listed for full archiving on dmox.org directory here: http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Chats_and_Forums/

The problem is is will take two weeks to be approved and it will be longer still for the wayback machine to do a full site sweep. So I think it should be a two part approach. Continue the private archiving that's going on and work on archiving it on the wayback machine. This way the private archive will be the most up to date (All the way until the end). I will handle archiving the Tech and Services Center on the wayback machine. One more thing, it appears site search is restricted to users only. This needs to be removed for the archiving process. If someone can contact a site admin about this that would be great. It would be cool to have certain search queries archived (like "Myst," "Riven," "Uru," "Wallpaper," and "DRC") but doing so would require search for anonymous users too.

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TOC#60089 DI#132103 MOULa is

Already said by others, but... Sad news...

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UO was the first Uru forum I ever registered on, even before the DRC site, and it was my happy home for several years. It wa also the first 'hood that I ever joined. I made many friends through the forum, often meeting people there before ever seeing them in Cavern! The Hidden's puzzles were one of the highlights, and brought good friends like Linkin Imp and GingerDiva. While I haven't logged in there for (probably) a couple years, and so add to the responsibility for it's decline, it was a wonderful community for the time I was there.

All things move on, but thanks for the memories.

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When the information that UO would probably close came up the first time I archived most of what I consider the important GoC threads. There are some handy archiving links at the bottom of the pages. Entire threads can be downloaded.

It would be nice to get a backup of the entire database.

I haven't decided what I'll do with the archived threads. I am considering redoing the GoC site and providing an archive of the GoC stuff. But, I have so many fun things to do, plus learning more Blender...

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Nalates - GoC - 418 - MOULagain: Nal KI#00 083 543, Nalates 111451 - Second Life: Nalates Urriah
Guild of Cartographers