The end of LTD

[Corinna]

Dear LTD members and fellow Dusty fans,

I’m so sorry to have to tell you that the LTD forum will shut down at the end of the year.

The reason is that the platform we’re on, phpBB, needs a technical upgrade that will remove features at the core of LTD's identity -- the purple look of the page, as well as vital features like posting pictures and videos, leaving us with a shell that would require a lot of doctoring before resembling anything we recognise. (What concerns the purple look, I’m not sure if it’s at all possible to get back.) The dwindling number of posts these days don’t justify the amount of work involved.

Not upgrading is, unfortunately, not an option, since it makes us vulnerable for hackers.

Please feel free to download any photos and posts you find valuable.

News about flower arrangements on Dusty’s marker, donations, and cat sponsoring will be published on our Facebook and Twitter pages instead. If you don’t do social media, you can see updates on www.dustyspringfield.org.uk. The website will remain unaffected.

Thanks especially to Carole G. and Cas who will continue to manage LTD’s Facebook and Twitter pages, and to John Harding, who will take care of LTD’s funds even in the future. Big hug!!!

And, of course, a great big THANK YOU to each and every one of LTD’s members for your love and enthusiasm, and for each and every single post during the 13 years LTD existed. Dusty fans are the best!

Your loving admin,
Corinna xx

[boztiggs]

This fills me with all kinds of emotions, guilt being number one, for letting social media take over and neglecting this wonderful forum, from which I gained so much knowledge, and so many lasting friendships over the years. It was always my "go to" place for everything, if I had a question, or something to show off, or wanted a laugh. I think of nancy, and of brian, and rob, and others who we have lost, and I feel their loss all over again. I will be forever grateful to LTD for so many things. I would like to thank you Corinna, and all the other admins for the work that you have put in to making my dusty fandom come alive, and stay alive. I don't know what else to say, I feel so terribly sad

Love and thanks

Neil xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[wally]

I think that NEIL has said it all and although I am a regular user of social media, I am saddened that the Forum and LTD will be gone.

Thankyou so much to all involved that have developed and maintained the site over the years

[neonouille]

I'm a member of LTD since November 1st, 2008 (I will always remember the date!) but I agree that life changes with technology, even though I tried to visit the forum at least once a day. Since LTD is not as active as it was in the past (it's in part my fault), I understand your decision, Corinna.

I would like to thank everyone who has been part of LTD over the years. You all gave me a lot of good moments, laughters, comfort, joy, security and a nice feeling of being a member of an open-minded and caring family.

I'll never forget LTD's forum. It will stay in my heart and in my mind as long as I live.

Thank you again Corinna for all your hard work.

[daydreamer]

Having been here from the very beginning, it's been sad to see how little the forum has been used in the past few years, the format isn't as quick or instant as social media pages and it's hard to compete. Like Neil and others, I've made so many friends through this site and it'll always be part of my Dusty life.

[humboldt]

Sad but fully understandable. Times change but of course Dusty's legacy will live forever. Thanks Cor and the rest of my friends on what was the best Dusty site ever. Goodbye from my bears and I.

[Lucy]

Sorry to hear of the passing of LTD.. Sadly I’ve been one of those lapsed members that hasn’t been on of late mainly due to social media I have to admit.. but, I won’t forget they fact that it was this site that re- introduced me to Dusty and for that I’ll be eternally grateful..
Thank you Corinna and the team for all the work you’ve done over the years..

[Cas19]

I was sad to hear this too. Ltd was my Dusty World for such a lot of years. Thank you to everyone who made it a happy place to be.

Casxx

[Cardiff Bluesgirl]

Im just so sad to lose this lovely forum. There seems to be nothing but loss in my world at the moment, its devastating.
I dont have any other Dusty outlet as i dont support facebook etc.
I suppose this was inevitable as it was abandoned by all the regulars whose posts i loved seeing.
We have met and lost some great Dusty folk and i cant believe it wont be here anymore.
Thanks to everyone involved and for the friends made on here, its been a joy to belong .
Dusty rules.

[Cas19]

Lynns asked me to put a message on for her.


IT'S CERTAINLY THE END OF AN ERA. IT WAS WITHOUT DOUBT, THE ORIGINAL AND BEST.XXX

[Kathy]

Like many others LTD has been an important part of my Dusty fandom. At one time it was my privilege to be a moderator on this site and I have made many friends here (I see many of them here on this topic giving their goodbyes). I'd like to thank the moderators and others who have worked so hard to make this site the "go to" place for Dusty fans for so long. I loved LTD's internationalism with fans from all around the world making this site their Dusty home. I also loved the charities that LTD supported at different times throughout it's 13 years.

Some older fans may remember the Wildlife Sanctuary in California which we supported at one time and adopted a panther. This was a favourite charity of Dusty's, but sadly it is in the throes of closing down now as Martine, having faced terrible bush fires over a few years cannot comply with new regulations for keeping the saved animals. She is taking this year (2019) to find good homes for all the rescued animals and place them in appropriate facilities across the United States and then will close the Wildlife Sanctuary for good. This represents the end of another era that has links to Dusty!

Fans on LTD have done not only a lot of remembering of Dusty Springfield, but a lot of good has been accomplished by LTD fans in Dusty's name. This is something which each Dusty fan should be proud. Although the old adage goes "all good things come to an end" it is lovely to see that the flower fund, and the facebook and twitter sites will carry on as places for Dusty Fans to visit and share.

Let's share a Dusty Christmas on this site and send LTD off in style after 13 amazing years.

[karen]

As everyone has said it will be really sad to see the end of LTD , we all made such lovely Dusty friends on here , and yes things have changed with Social Media .. thanks to all who contributed with all the work involved , and to Cor for putting so much effort into it through the years ..
Karen x

[darren2722]

From a purely selfish point of view, I'm completely devastated. Was hoping it was some cruel April Fools Day joke, but sadly when I woke up it was not too be. I learnt so much from Dusty from this site (and still do). Its the best Dusty encyclopedia out there and more comprehensive and knowledgeable than all the books and articles written about Dusty, and all in one place too.

There's been some amazing people I've met here cyber-wise over the last eight years. Dusty people are the best as Corinna says. Brian, Nancy and Rob were something special and their passing's were a huge detriment to this awesome site. I still think there was and is room for Dusty sites like this both on the Web and on Social Media, but this was the place to go for a real in-depth look at Dusty and not just a quick fix.

Many Thanks to all the Admins, Moderators and members for making Lets Talk Dusty the place to be.

Thank You for letting us Talk Dusty Corinna.

[Dustymike]

There is nothing more to say that has not already been said, very, very sad.
I have been a member for about 10 years and will dearly miss my daily fix of Dusty pics ..................thanks so much Caz X
May I just add my sincere thanks to all who have kept this site going and wish them all the best from an old life long Dusty fan.
Mike XXX

[donellac]

I am also very sad to know that this is the end of Let's Talk Dusty.

It's been a blast!

I can echo the thoughts of everyone who has posted here about this ending.

A big thank you to all of the team who have kept LTD going. Special thanks to Cas and Cor.

Does this mean that everything in the website will be gone? There is so much valuable Dusty info here. Will it still exist as an archive?

Donella x

[trek007]

I too am obviously sad to see this site close.
I have made many friends through the site and have loved Talking Dusty.
Thanks to Cor for all the work she has put into LTD. To Cas for her daily posts and also Liz and Darren and all the Moderators.
Most of my other thoughts have already been said by other Dusty members.
It's been a roller coaster ride especially when we had very active members such as Brian and Rob.

[Clive]

I am very sorry LTD is ending. I feel grateful to have been a part of it and to get to know such lovely people.

I often felt logging into LTD was like closing the door on problems and worries for a while.

[Cas19]

There is nothing more to say that has not already been said, very, very sad.
I have been a member for about 10 years and will dearly miss my daily fix of Dusty pics ..................thanks so much Caz X
May I just add my sincere thanks to all who have kept this site going and wish them all the best from an old life long Dusty fan.
Mike XXX

Thank you Mike xxx

[Corinna]

Thank you for all your lovely sentiments! Let me tell you that this was a difficult decision, and I'm sad too.

Sadly, I can't find a sensible way to preserve threads. Images somehow aren't saved in pdf threads, and saving only text doesn't make much sense.

Unfortunately, the forum will "break", i.e. become unavailable, after our web host will make a necessary technical update after the New Year, that's why a 'read-only' forum isn't an option. I wish I had better news.

[daydreamer]

Thanks Cor, that the forum can't be archived is a real bummer, so many times I'll search for some Dusty related fact and Google points me in the direction of LTD. I often find long forgotten posts that I'd made myself, complete with the info I'm looking for The photos can likely be found all over the internet now but the words that we've all typed in over the years are even more precious.

[Corinna]

Carole - So, what you say is that a text-only archive still would make sense? This is what the threads would look like. Not terribly appealing. But Google would still index them, so they would come up in a search.

If I can get help making the pdf's, I'd be willing to make a website with our archives. Any volunteers?

[darren2722]

Count me in Cor. I need a crash course in this sort of thing, but nothing ventured...

[donellac]

Hi Cor,

Let me know what needs doing. I am happy to roll up my sleeves. This resource is just too precious to lose!

XX

[Corinna]

That’s fabulous, Darren and Donella, thank you!!! We could actually pull this off!

Let’s come up with a work plan. I believe the sections that will be the most interesting information-wise are You set my dreams to music, Don’t forget about me, and Getting it right.

Let’s divide them up between us three, it's one section for each. I’ll let you choose first :D

Then, we’ll save the interesting threads as pdf’s. It’s easy. Choose the printer button in the top right hand corner to get a pdf view. On a pc, you push Ctrl+P, and choose “Save to PDF” as destination. Create or choose a map where you can easily retrieve all the Dusty threads, and choose “Save”. That’s all!

Does that sound manageable?

[donellac]

Okay then, I have done some test saves. It seems straightforward. I will name the folder with the anme of the thread and the sub folder with the name of the topic.

I will go for You Set My Dreams to Music

I take it that we should select out from within a thread the topics we think are most relevant.

Let me know if I have got that right.

Dx

[darren2722]

Thanks Cor. That makes things less complicated. Like Donella. I had a quick try-out and it seems to be simple enough even for me. Just have to sort my filing system out. I'll go for Don't Forget About Me. x

[Corinna]

Good you don't find it too complicated. Save only the threads you think are interesting. No need to make a complicated mapping system. Just put them all in one map on your computer, and simply use the file name suggested. When you're done, I'll give you instructions on how to upload the files to my server. (That's easy, too, I promise!)

I'll tackle Getting it right then.

Thank you so much, Donella and Darren!!

[daydreamer]

Well done you lot!! Even reading your instructions I'm still all at sea It will be brilliant if past threads can still be found in searches, thank you

[pat.dunham]

Sad that LTD will not be with us from 2020. The forum has become part of my daily routine for the last seven years.
Thanks to all, but especially to the "3 Cs". We can all look forward to the rescuers, Cor, Donella and Darren, whom I'm confident will keep so many memories alive for us. x<3

[dustydimensions]

Thanks to all who's made LTD the way it is. (I refuse to use perfect tense!) Though I joined far too late it's very nice to read some worthy Dusty Infos that accelerated my appreciation for her more and interact with a few people here.

I'm not a perfect candidate to propose it but an independent Dusty encyclopedia webpage should be set up to the point where it matches the calibre of the contributors' relaying information for LTD (eg excerpts of Dusty in media/newspapers, master tape whereabouts, reconstructed Dusty biography and good old "what kinda music she digs and her favourite foods....", allsorts - provided it should have a good foundation of sourcing citation Harvard style and it's not just a random user babbling).

I could not say it any better than the preceding posts, so adieu to all until then, but adieu not!!!! As in the good ole troublemaker Twitter, I see the name of LTD that's doing a classy job keeping the spirit of LTD and of course the namesake herself; less is more.

[Sweetbaby]

Very sad news. Thanks upon thanks to the people who've kept this forum going for so long - the admin team and the members who've posted here. I'll certainly keep an eye on the website.