G'day,
I'm a sentimental fool, so, please consider this a tombstone for times gone by, and/or place for old members to hang out, assuming our host is so gracious as to accept the thread, and that others are as sentimental as I.
Back in the late 1900's there was probably some Aussie-centric newsgroups for fans of all things Apple/Mac, but newsgroups were dying due to that amazing graphical interface that Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau created called the Worldwide Web. (Just goes to show, people like images over text.)
In 2004 along came a website using the name AppleTalk Australia, offering a local slant on Apple news, as well as offering a forum where you could ask your own questions for like minded people.
I believe I first found the site in later 2004 after I "accidentally" bricked my Twentieth Anniversary Mac by trying to instal OS X. (Bad idea!) At any rate, it was great to have somewhere "local" to visit for Mac news n tricks n local comradery. No need to explain yourself if you were talking about a ranga or dissing the old caterpillar-eyebrowed moron.
Before long Apple finally paid attention, and forced the site's owner to change the name, as it was of course in copyright breach over their (long dead) AppleTalk network protocol. Thus in 2006 the site was rebadged as MacTalk Australia.
(It actually had a different logo initially, but the above was the one at/near the end, and I'm sure I have a magnet somewhere with that logo on it...)
For half a decade (which felt like longer as I was a uni student for most of it with time on my hands, and only 1 kid back then) MacTalk was a daily-visit-must, whether to discuss upcoming products, learn how to update existing ones and where to source those parts in Australia, or just to discuss whether you should eat that piece of ham you found in the back of the fridge. For those in Melbourne it even sprouted into the real world on occasion, whether it be waiting in line together for the latest iPhone, or the occasional get together. (I lived in Brisbane so didn't partake, though my social awkwardness would have precluded me from such adventures anyways...)
Then, in 2011 MacTalk was sold to a company that clearly just wanted to ghost the site. Over time the mods bailed, as the owners kept the site locked tight, and for several years it simply sat idle, until finally in early 2021 the lights went out forever.
In 2014 however when it became apparent that MacTalk was dying, some refugees set up their own news and forum site, named - wait for it:
A lot of the old gang moved over from MacTalk, although it never reached the peaks of those MacTalk days it was still great having a place to go and chat and get some quick answers when you needed them and talk about all things Apple, rant about Doctor Who or Donald Trump (well, I did at least), or get some advice.
But, the world was already moving on, with Facebook and other social media already starting to put the crimp on the very concept of internet forums. Whirlpool, DV Info, Gateworld, just to name a few, have all been drying up with fewer and fewer visitors and fewer and fewer posts.
About a month ago AppleTalk shut down.
By that point there was very little activity still going on - probably just half a dozen regular posters - certainly not worth the cost to the site owner to keep the forum alive. It was to me however effectively the last tie back to that first visit in 2004 to its predecessor, the end for one of my regular outlets for social activity.
I guess all of this is just making me feel really old! I enjoy forums because face-to-face is something I do very poorly, but taking a moment to write works so much better. But now these sites are dying, and I refuse to sign up to Facebook or Twitter on moral grounds.
Thanks to the Wayback machine for helping with this...
Let's raise a glass to the past.
cheers
cosmic
Addendum; in the case of MacRumors, I've mostly used this site in a purely "needs based" manner, if/when the Aussie sites weren't getting me answers, knowing that there was a much bigger user-base here meant I was pretty confident that someone here could answer those tricky questions, but other than a few forays into non-Apple sections of the site, mostly it's just been a necessity. I'm not sure what the site's stats are looking like; it seems that there's still a lot of activity here, so - hopefully the site will not disappear like the others have been...
2nd Addendum - New site recently launched! See below.
I'm a sentimental fool, so, please consider this a tombstone for times gone by, and/or place for old members to hang out, assuming our host is so gracious as to accept the thread, and that others are as sentimental as I.
Back in the late 1900's there was probably some Aussie-centric newsgroups for fans of all things Apple/Mac, but newsgroups were dying due to that amazing graphical interface that Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau created called the Worldwide Web. (Just goes to show, people like images over text.)
In 2004 along came a website using the name AppleTalk Australia, offering a local slant on Apple news, as well as offering a forum where you could ask your own questions for like minded people.
I believe I first found the site in later 2004 after I "accidentally" bricked my Twentieth Anniversary Mac by trying to instal OS X. (Bad idea!) At any rate, it was great to have somewhere "local" to visit for Mac news n tricks n local comradery. No need to explain yourself if you were talking about a ranga or dissing the old caterpillar-eyebrowed moron.
Before long Apple finally paid attention, and forced the site's owner to change the name, as it was of course in copyright breach over their (long dead) AppleTalk network protocol. Thus in 2006 the site was rebadged as MacTalk Australia.
For half a decade (which felt like longer as I was a uni student for most of it with time on my hands, and only 1 kid back then) MacTalk was a daily-visit-must, whether to discuss upcoming products, learn how to update existing ones and where to source those parts in Australia, or just to discuss whether you should eat that piece of ham you found in the back of the fridge. For those in Melbourne it even sprouted into the real world on occasion, whether it be waiting in line together for the latest iPhone, or the occasional get together. (I lived in Brisbane so didn't partake, though my social awkwardness would have precluded me from such adventures anyways...)
Then, in 2011 MacTalk was sold to a company that clearly just wanted to ghost the site. Over time the mods bailed, as the owners kept the site locked tight, and for several years it simply sat idle, until finally in early 2021 the lights went out forever.
In 2014 however when it became apparent that MacTalk was dying, some refugees set up their own news and forum site, named - wait for it:
But, the world was already moving on, with Facebook and other social media already starting to put the crimp on the very concept of internet forums. Whirlpool, DV Info, Gateworld, just to name a few, have all been drying up with fewer and fewer visitors and fewer and fewer posts.
About a month ago AppleTalk shut down.
By that point there was very little activity still going on - probably just half a dozen regular posters - certainly not worth the cost to the site owner to keep the forum alive. It was to me however effectively the last tie back to that first visit in 2004 to its predecessor, the end for one of my regular outlets for social activity.
I guess all of this is just making me feel really old! I enjoy forums because face-to-face is something I do very poorly, but taking a moment to write works so much better. But now these sites are dying, and I refuse to sign up to Facebook or Twitter on moral grounds.
Thanks to the Wayback machine for helping with this...
Let's raise a glass to the past.
cheers
cosmic
Addendum; in the case of MacRumors, I've mostly used this site in a purely "needs based" manner, if/when the Aussie sites weren't getting me answers, knowing that there was a much bigger user-base here meant I was pretty confident that someone here could answer those tricky questions, but other than a few forays into non-Apple sections of the site, mostly it's just been a necessity. I'm not sure what the site's stats are looking like; it seems that there's still a lot of activity here, so - hopefully the site will not disappear like the others have been...
2nd Addendum - New site recently launched! See below.
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