Bearchive .com down ?

[BillPratt]

Kranix! Look! It's Unicron!

[Lightfoot]

For me, it takes 2-3 minutes for a thread to load, and then several more minutes for it to load the avatars.

It may have improved slightly, but it's still not good enough to bother visiting, or posting there anymore unless you are incredibly dedicated.

It took about 15 minutes to look around a little, and I see that most of the forum sections haven't had new posts since the 9th or before. If this isn't fixed soon, the whole forum there won't be worth continuing. It's sad because at one time it was "the place".

[Blake Isaac Gordon]

Originally Posted by Lightfoot

... It's sad because at one time it was "the place".

I get that feeling completely. I used to love the Plume. At one time it was a great place for writers to shuffle around ideas and themes.

Now its just a place where the only activity is when the the BE Adventure gets another update.

Its weird there is a small sliver of BE content on Amazon and Smash Words so its not like this genre has completely died out. Thus I guess most of the authors are banging away in solitude.

[catfish27]

There's a BEAddventure Discord where some of the more prolific authors hang out -- link is on the Addventure main page. (The focus isn't solely BE, though, which is true of the Addventure as well, of course.)

[Underminer]

I used to be a frequent lurker there until the big crash about 15-20 years ago. After the site came back, most of the images in the message board stopped working for me. I thought it was my dinosaur computer, but after getting a new (and hella fast) rig, the problem persisted. I stopped visiting, and eventually gave up on it. It may be just me, but the community there has also diminished to a point where new sightings, media posts, stories, etc. are getting pretty spotty.

I hate to say this, but perhaps the BEArchive has outlived its usefulness.

[Blake Isaac Gordon]

Originally Posted by Underminer

I hate to say this, but perhaps the BEArchive has outlived its usefulness.

Cosign...

(I thought I had something else to add but I don't, and I think its for the best.)

[NimrodClover]

Having been at the BEA from the start I would have to say that the "usefulness" is up for debate. There have been, in general, three eras at the BEA.

The initial phase - when it was the ONLY rather comprehensive place to go, computers were slower, and the idea was more to collect and "ARCHIVE" the BE content out there. I mean, its in the name of the site! This seemed to last until the early members aged out or moved on and the nature of the internet started to provided sites with a much more interactive and "modern" feel.

The first crash - this took out much of the beginning history of the BEA and the forum which did gut much of that early feel of the place. There was some much more varied content back then. In a way it removed some of the "importance" and undermined the "archive" aspect. One should remember that the first crash was caused by the attempt to move / back-up the site in an attempt to improve the site and make it more modern.**

The latter forum and site - in more recent years and after a few other incidents the place settled into a basic chest centered soft porn site. There was just a tiny bit of actual BE and the participation was a fraction of before. There has not been much in the way of BE activity there for a long while.

I will say, that due to its long existence, it may be the closest thing to a comprehensive collection, dare we say archive, to the whole BE thing.

** There is still a theory that the first crash was precipitated by a request to have some content removed and the forum architecture did not allow for the extent of deleting and something went wrong in the process.

[DrEnlarge]

Ahem...there was a pre-archive stage that I ‘might’ have had a hand in.

[Blake Isaac Gordon]

Originally Posted by DrEnlarge

Ahem...there was a pre-archive stage that I ‘might’ have had a hand in.

Yes and that site was dope. I have fond memories of those days. I believe I even contributed to the funds to better secure the animated gifs files.

[NimrodClover]

Originally Posted by DrEnlarge

Ahem...there was a pre-archive stage that I ‘might’ have had a hand in.

That's right. Back in June of 1997, when the BEA solidified into a distinct site much of your earlier content helped form some of the core. It has been a long time since those early years and the BEA role has shifted over time as well as its focus. Back in the day, any BE content was rare and scattered. The BEA of '97 was one of the earliest "comprehensive" sites and its consolidation anchored it and probably contributed to its longevity. It is starting to look like 23 years is going to be the "run" of the BEA.

[Blake Isaac Gordon]

Originally Posted by NimrodClover

It is starting to look like 23 years is going to be the "run" of the BEA.

Sweet mercy on a whim I went over and checked the site. It looks like Pinterest now.

Do creators even still have their sections anymore?

Man o-man, this all puts things into perspective. 23 years is a long time, I'm sure many of the early adapters are in their late forties early fifties by now (like me).

Now that people have PornHub (I despise that place) I guess there is no need for BE.

[BillPratt]

Pornhub's BE content is pretty much useless, so there is still an underserved market out there. The trick is to find a way to make good, live action BE.