Hello everyone,

Thank you for reading this very important announcement. After much discussion and great thought the administration team has come to a conclusion. We will be closing the Official Forums of the Galaxy Cauldron after 8 years. Instead, we will be creating a Galaxy Cauldron Discord Community. 


We are aware that this situation is not ideal for everyone, and we apologize for that. However after discussing the statistics for the forum, found in the image below, as well as personal thoughts and opinions, that it's time to retire the forums. We are saddened to see the need to do this, but we also believe that it's best to cultivate the community in a more manageable space. The forums aren't what make GC a special place, it's the people and community created here. We hope that you'll continue to participate in the community and join us on this new venture.













1. Why are the forums closing? 
A. Forums in general across the internet have been fading in popularity for a long time now, our statistics show this is also the case. As well as the costs to maintain the forums are ever increasing. We believe it's best to move to a newer and more commonly used platform. It will also be easier for the admin team to manage.


2. When are the forums closing?
A. We are looking at an early to mid September deadline for closing the forums completely. We want to make the most of the last couple months that we are open to prepare the discord and work out all the nitty gritty specifics. Once we have a set date we will be sure to share this information.


3. What's going to happen to the forums?
A. The forums will never be deleted. Forumotion does not purge inactive forums, and we have no plans to delete or change anything. We will however be closing off new member registration and opening up some of the previously private sections of the forums, such as the lounges, and guilds. We will no longer be paying for Forumotion's required package plans, meaning unfortunately there will be advertisements and the loss of the SSL certificate will force the forums back into http only. While we understand that both of these things are annoyances, the heart of the forums and the posts will not be touched.


4. What else is changing?
A. We will be changing up how ranks work, mainly through the use of bots, but will be honoring and preserving the ranks of already active GC members. Ranks will be based on a combination of time and activity. There will be Role Play section changes that will be discussed at a later date by Sailor Uranus and the RP team. The Admin team will no longer have specific duties but will rather work as a group to share administrative duties as needed. The moderator team we currently have will continue to help us oversee chats. We will be adding in and emulating many of the sections for the forums to this discord so that you can continue to discuss the same things. There will be less restrictions to usernames and icons. We will be keeping clubs around, and hopefully making it easier for members to join and participate as well as for guild leaders to put out notifications for their events.


5. What happens to my threads, my galleria, my graphics, my points, etc?
As stated above, the forums are not going anywhere, even if there is some changes with the https and advertisements. We would however like to encourage you to collect and save anything that is of value or importance to you on to your own hosting. We will not be moving over these sections to discord as it's not suited for that type of thing. We will also no longer be offering points, and current point balances will be left as is when we officially close the forums. 


6. What about site donations?
The remainder of the site donations will be going towards the fees of keeping the forums running until we close. Anything left we will try to look into a giveaway of some kind. We no longer accept donations to the forums, however we appreciate greatly any Discord server boosts, but do not expect them at all. 


7. What about the Role Play section?
Please give Sailor Uranus and the RP team time to post their information and to answer any questions you have.

Last thing! We are approaching our 8th year anniversary. We have a bunch of special ideas planned and would love to make our last celebration a HUGE one! If you want to participate, please make your way to party planners section! If you aren't a party planner, please go here: https://www.thegalaxycauldronforums.com/t14102p60-party-planner-sign-ups

This is going to be a rough adjustment. ;n;

It's a relief to know all the history and amazingness won't have to actually be deleted at least for a while...

A quick note from my side: I would like to hand out my admin stamp to all Lotus Crystal members (if you intend on saving your graphical collection) <33

I am in shock really. I always felt the forum was quite stable even though I must admit I noticed the lack of activity for the past months unlike the time I joined (which was around 3 years ago I think). This is definitely going to require lots of changes and adjustments. ;_;

Diana wrote:

A quick note from my side: I would like to hand out my admin stamp to all Lotus Crystal members (if you intend on saving your graphical collection) <33

I have most of my graphics collection already saved since I uploaded to my own host. XD Is it the stamp thats in your sig? <3 <3 <3

I hope somehow youre beautiful graphics can still be implemented in some way! I have seen some discord communities be able to use graphics with their bots (don't ask me quite how cause ive no clue xD) to make their rules/info sections look nice!

I would like to maybe come up with a nice little site to display all my goodies anyway. I'm sure theres tons of gallery templates I can find to do that. xD


Also! One question, since points will no longer be given out, will we be able to spend what points we do have? I'd like to blow mine all on sprites and stamps and stuff. xD Oooor will things just be free and up for grabs?

Brit-chan wrote:

Diana wrote:

A quick note from my side: I would like to hand out my admin stamp to all Lotus Crystal members (if you intend on saving your graphical collection) <33

I have most of my graphics collection already saved since I uploaded to my own host. XD Is it the stamp thats in your sig? <3 <3 <3

I hope somehow youre beautiful graphics can still be implemented in some way! I have seen some discord communities be able to use graphics with their bots (don't ask me quite how cause ive no clue xD) to make their rules/info sections look nice!

I would like to maybe come up with a nice little site to display all my goodies anyway. I'm sure theres tons of gallery templates I can find to do that. xD


Also! One question, since points will no longer be given out, will we be able to spend what points we do have? I'd like to blow mine all on sprites and stamps and stuff. xD Oooor will things just be free and up for grabs?

Yepp!! that's the one . And that's amazing!! I'm sure many members would love to keep their collections as well, so perhaps you don't mind sharing some templates, Brit?? <3 <3

And regarding your question: I think you still have to purchase all the goods before taking them, BUT I'M not certain if Queenie is up to letting us get the OSA-P stuff for free. However, I would let people use all of the Collectible Cards I made so far (No name adding needed/ can be added by yourself if wanted) .

Aaaand we will see if the Bot thing works?? I can still create small things in the future, just nothing 'big' anymore .

Guess this must be pretty hard for all the admins and mods that have put years of work into the forums and are devoted to them, also for the most active members of course, who have loved being around here and for Neo Queen Serenity, being the founder and all. I'm aware that a lot of anime forums on the internet don't have a lot of activity these days or have ceased to be altogether, with a lot moving to Discord. But still, I like the format of the forums much more than those of a chat, but ah well... I won't be joining everybody on Discord, as I don't use it, but best of luck with your future endeavours.

Also, I have a question. When will member registrations stop? I mean, my suggestion is that you disable them as soon as possible, cause there are already new members coming on here every day and they'll be pretty disappointed that the forum they just signed up for will be closing in 2 months and a half or so. Well, it's just a suggestion, it's not up to me to decide anything about it as I'm not an admin or mod and all. 

Also, thanks for the admin stamp, Diana! I thought I'd get one of those through the lottery, when it operated again in the future, or through an event or something and I was sort of looking forward to the events I hadn't experienced, but ah well, guess the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Anniversary it will be for me.

*wanders out of my abyss* Haven't been around much but this sounds like a decision for the best, all things considered. Will try to pop into the discord server when I have the time! <3

I kinda had a feeling this was gonna happen but didn't think it would be so soon. It's sad to see the forum shut down 

While I haven't been around for a while due to my hectic convention schedule, I am sad to see this retired. 

On the other hand, I am happy to hear that GC has a Discord channel and have now joined as I always have this open at home, on my phone or on my work tablet. Looking forward on getting caught up and back in touch with everyone via Discord. ^^

Lavender wrote:

Guess this must be pretty hard for all the admins and mods that have put years of work into the forums and are devoted to them, also for the most active members of course, who have loved being around here and for Neo Queen Serenity, being the founder and all. I'm aware that a lot of anime forums on the internet don't have a lot of activity these days or have ceased to be altogether, with a lot moving to Discord. But still, I like the format of the forums much more than those of a chat, but ah well... I won't be joining everybody on Discord, as I don't use it, but best of luck with your future endeavours.

Also, I have a question. When will member registrations stop? I mean, my suggestion is that you disable them as soon as possible, cause there are already new members coming on here every day and they'll be pretty disappointed that the forum they just signed up for will be closing in 2 months and a half or so. Well, it's just a suggestion, it's not up to me to decide anything about it as I'm not an admin or mod and all. 

Also, thanks for the admin stamp, Diana! I thought I'd get one of those through the lottery, when it operated again in the future, or through an event or something and I was sort of looking forward to the events I hadn't experienced, but ah well, guess the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Anniversary it will be for me.

Is there a reason the Anime forums have been declining?

Rose Garden Witch wrote:

Is there a reason the Anime forums have been declining?

I'm sure there's several though I believe my main guess would be the rise of social media and ease of access to them on smart phones. I'm not sure about other forum software, but forum-motion does not have the best mobile site imo and I always hated trying to post from mobile. It certainly did not keep up with technology.

Meanwhile, social media apps for Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Discord and Reddit made it easily accessible to just check from your phone and stay engaged. As the younger generations grow up, they keep up with whatever is the current social media app.

Since I've only been active mainly in the Sm fandom, in my experience, Ive noticed in general that it is more active on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Discord has made it very easy to create communities for people to join and talk with others whether its for gaming, anime, or any other topic. So I think more and more fandoms are using that as a platform.

Forums are just getting dated I guess and its easier to use the bigger more popular apps.

I know I literally just joined yesterday so this reply might seem a bit long for an almost-stranger, but I'd like to say good luck on this friends. <3 I'm sure this must be a pretty hard decision for the admins and mods, given what I've seen upon other forums shutting down... I think it makes sense to nurture the community by keeping up with the times though. I'm glad to see the genuine care put into making this community work, and I for one will definitely be joining the Discord. ^_^

Sad news.  GC has been a wonderful and safe place to visit.  There are a lot of great people here! 

Well, this is pretty sad.
I like the style of these forums, and if they are getting less popular that would be kind of depressing. Chat channels don't feel as appealing, but I'll go along to check it out, with everyone else if the community is going.
By the way, I know the forums are going to stay up, but if they are going to be mostly inactive from now, is there some way to save the threads just in case it might not be available in the future, possibly? Does the service allow the databases to be exported for storage in the Archive.org collections? Many Sailor Moon forums of the past were most likely inaccessible or lost after a while, and the crawls of the web pages only capture so much.

Darn, just when I was gathering courage to come back. 

It is a good decision: Discord is much more lively nowadays and it's much more mobile friendly than forummotion—I would know, I am posting from my mobile right now, and have lost the post in the meantime—, and I had noticed a sharp decline in activity here that didn't match up with the usual ebb and flow in the forum nor was reflected in other forums I follow. 

However, I would be lying if I said I am not gonna miss this format. It is really immersive and well crafted, and you can notice in the smallest details that this forum was created and is managed with a lot of love, attention and care. It was my beacon in the ocean of the internet when I stopped watching Sailor Moon "ironically" and realized that, hey, I really really like this thing. I want to thank everyone involved in this, from creation to moderation to just posting your love for Sailor Moon, for all the work and love poured here, for being bright stars around which other stars can gather. I hope we can still be the brightest star in the galaxy, and guide new, lost, inexperienced stars to this beautiful, joyful constellation of people!

P.S.: And a big "ganbatte!" to the RP Team. You can do it guys!!!

Aw man . I haven't been here very long, but I really liked it here and the community is great. I prefer forums over Discord as I always feel like I miss things in Discord, but I'll definitely be joining there. I've got local copies of all the images and videos I've uploaded, but I'd hate to lose the posts and feedback from everyone. I'll have to see if there's a way to save that.

Brit-chan wrote:

Diana wrote:

A quick note from my side: I would like to hand out my admin stamp to all Lotus Crystal members (if you intend on saving your graphical collection) <33

I have most of my graphics collection already saved since I uploaded to my own host. XD Is it the stamp thats in your sig? <3 <3 <3

I hope somehow youre beautiful graphics can still be implemented in some way! I have seen some discord communities be able to use graphics with their bots (don't ask me quite how cause ive no clue xD) to make their rules/info sections look nice!

I would like to maybe come up with a nice little site to display all my goodies anyway. I'm sure theres tons of gallery templates I can find to do that. xD


Also! One question, since points will no longer be given out, will we be able to spend what points we do have? I'd like to blow mine all on sprites and stamps and stuff. xD Oooor will things just be free and up for grabs?

I've been using Google Sites as a hub to collect my projects. I usually post my stuff on the relevant website/forum and then add a copy to my Google Site. That could be an option.

I know you can setup custom emoticons on Discord, but I think there may be a limit to the number. We should see about transferring some of the ones from here to there.

nm___i3bfc wrote:

Well, this is pretty sad.
I like the style of these forums, and if they are getting less popular that would be kind of depressing. Chat channels don't feel as appealing, but I'll go along to check it out, with everyone else if the community is going.
By the way, I know the forums are going to stay up, but if they are going to be mostly inactive from now, is there some way to save the threads just in case it might not be available in the future, possibly? Does the service allow the databases to be exported for storage in the Archive.org collections? Many Sailor Moon forums of the past were most likely inaccessible or lost after a wh

A database export would be a nice option if available, nice idea.

Edit:
I found this link https://discord.gg/TjKav2C. Is this where we're moving or will a new Discord server be setup?

Also, I found information on adding emoticons to Discord. The limit for custom ones is 50.

In regards to backing up and savings things, unfortunately, with the way forumotion is, they do not allow forum owners to back up their forums or have access to the databases. Back when I was an admin, it was something that was brought up at one point in time and I was quite disappointed to learn that.

That said, members like Andalusite, that have been wanting to save threads have been using the "Print this Page" option and saving PDFs which can be found by clicking the "Actions" link that is at the very top of the thread show in this screenshot.



Asides from sitting there and copying pasting stuff into a document (which would take waaaaaaay too much time imo xD) this seems to be the best way. The one good news I can think of is that since the forum will be kept up, but only read only, everyone should have sufficient time to go and save whatever threads and stuff they would like. The forums will still be readable as long as forumotion exists as a forum host service.

SelectedLime375 wrote:

I've been using Google Sites as a hub to collect my projects. I usually post my stuff on the relevant website/forum and then add a copy to my Google Site. That could be an option.

Oh I'll check out the google sites thing! I already am paying for host space through ionos for seaofserenity.net so I can always creat a subdomain and host something there, whether using wordpress or finding a premade html/css template to use. Might thinking about hitting a web developer friend and see if they have any ideas for making a nice gallery that would be easy for a web developer dummy like me. It's why I use wordpress xD

SelectedLime375 wrote:

I know you can setup custom emoticons on Discord, but I think there may be a limit to the number. We should see about transferring some of the ones from here to there.

Edit:
I found this link https://discord.gg/TjKav2C. Is this where we're moving or will a new Discord server be setup?

Also, I found information on adding emoticons to Discord. The limit for custom ones is 50.

The discord will be the same discord GC has been using for a few years now. So if thats the same invite link thats listed here then thats it!  And I know the staff is aware of the custom emotes because we have several already!  Discord recently introduce server boosting for those who have the Nitro subscription and if enough people boost the sever, you get nice perks like more emotes. ^_^

Thanks for answering all that Brit!

Rest assured we're trying to think of everything from emotes to clubs to ranks. It'll all work out in the end and we'll definitely be taking ideas and feedback at Fireside chats or in the #fireside_chat channel on discord!

In regards to where to host things, I do just want to say that you're obviously welcome to host your own things wherever you'd like, but if there's something for community use (ex. info for a club, a directory, etc) then I'd like it to be a pinned post if possible, and if not, to get it into our GC google drive just in case someone poofs - without the forums it'll be easier to lose that kind of thing. Thanks!

The graphics and theming on these forums are really nice, so if they can be transferred that would be pretty sweet!

Spoiler:

You are welcome to save whatever graphics you like! Any that are up and working will be up and working indefinitely (for as long as the hosting stays that way) but we will not be preserving or transferring any of the graphics to Discord.

We won't be archiving the site in any way - if you'd like to do so on your end you're welcome to. They will be up for as long as forumotion exists and is running.

Oh, no... This is hard to accept but I think it's for the best. I have to thank you all for the good memories spent together! They certainly won't be forgotten. I wish the admins and mods the best and only the best. Thank you for keeping the forums up for such a long time! ~<3

I know I have kinda disappeared lately (I've had to take care of some troublesome family issues), but for the year I've been here, I've always loved coming to the forums, making screenshot challenges to share, etc., etc.  I did notice the low participation, so while I'm not completely surprised, and realize the decision is for the best, I'm entirely shocked.  

I'm in the group that always preferred the forums to Discord - in fact, I hardly ever used Discord - so, I may end up disappearing just about entirely.  If I ever actually finish Sailor Moonopoly, though, I'll be sure to let you all know!  (I better get to downloading all the goodies around here...)

A big arigatou to all the admin and mods who made this wonderful year I had with the GC community possible!  And also, of course to all the other members who made that community so great.

Ouch... It's a very big announcement. And a sad new. I understand but it's difficult to read all of that. I know i am not here since 2 months (big problems...) but this forum is like a big family and i love it. I am on the discord but it's not the same thing. I read lots of but i am not participate. I will try to participate. Thank you to the team of GC for all Job. Thank you to all members too.

well that sucks i do tend to pop in and out these days. i really didnt like discord the 1st time i tried it because it was to confusing. if it was simpler to use i might consider it again