This really is sad news as this forum has been a reliable hub for the Space Marine hobby community and recently they have even opened the forum to other forces due to allies etc. To me this is a community that should be saved.
I have made a donation and urge any who have used these boards to do the same. Here is there statement:
On Friday 12th the Bolter & Chainsword appeared to suffer a hard drive failure, replacement drives were purchased but failed to remirror correctly when added to the server. Eventually after much testing it was discovered the server hardware was causing the problem and it appears we will need to purchase a new server. Given the age of the server (10yrs - it was installed in 2003) this was expected to some degree and we have some funds from previous donation drives saved for this.However the timing for this event is not good, Brother Argos who pays for the B&C and is also the technical admin has for the last 6-9 months been fighting severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy, had numerous operations on his eyes and unfortunately has lost a significant amount of his sight. We had hoped he would be recovered enough after his last operation to help us move to the planned new server, however given the timing of the current scenario this will not happen.We have found a technical resource, who can rebuild and move the B&C to a new home, however this will be chargable. As it currently stands the Bolter & Chainsword needs to raise around $800 - $1000 in addition to the funds we currently have put by to make this happen.Brother Argos has funded the B&C to the tune of $18,000 dollars over the last 10 years, so that we could all enjoy our community, he is not in a position given his illness to rescue us now.It is your community, if you wish it to survive you need to raise around a $1000, if we raise more it will all help get a better server for our new home.As and when we get more information you can find us at Our Facebook page we will also update this holding page.Remember the words of Roboute Guilliman Primarch of the Ultramarines - "to admit defeat is to blaspheme against the Emperor"
Donations can be made to donations@bolterandchainsword.com or go direct to http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/ and see for yourself.
- Martok