cyBoards: A Bit of Background:
IcyBoards was founded back in 2010 out of a project I was working on in high school. Since then, IcyBoards earned a reputation for being a fast and reliable service. It's what taught me PHP when I thought it would be good to try and write my own software. I quickly discovered that wasn't the best idea and settled on MyBB.
Over the past few years, the market for forums has slowly been declining with a shift in communication going to social media sites, such as Facebook. Additionally, it has brought on new expectations, such as the need to be mobile-friendly and easily accessible from a phone. When this project went live, browsing forums on a phone wasn't even a thought yet. Sure, there were web browsing features, but they weren't really useful given the speed and cost of data at the time.
As with anything in life, we grow up and move on to bigger and better things. Life consumes every ounce of our time, whether it be school, work, kids, etc. In looking at recent activity, there have been a lot of empty promises such as adding features and plugins. Most of which were forgotten or only half-completed. It's not fair to you to continue like that, and unfortunately, I do not see it changing.
I've reached a point in life where I just don't have the time to continue. I work 40 hours per week and have all the normal daily adulting tasks that I didn't in the beginning. I have tried my best to push forward, making sure upgrades get in and support requests are answered (a HUGE thank you to the staff members who did a lot of that). But the fact is, it's enormously time consuming managing the servers, the database, the non-stop constant spam, and stressing about when the server goes down.
What's Going On?
It is with great regret that I must announce IcyBoards will be discontinuing all hosting services on July 31st, 2018. As I have promised before, IcyBoards will not sell out to another company. Effective immediately, database exports are available for free, to root users (uid=1), through your AdminCP.
Hosting Choices:
(1) You can migrate your database to a self-hosted MyBB installation. The MyBB website, community forums, and documentation can assist you if you need assistance. This option will require some basic knowledge of operating an account with web hosting, so you can upload a copy of MyBB and install the IcyBoard's database. We unfortunately can't assist you with the technical aspects of this move, but the MyBB community help forums are available if you have any general questions.
(2) You can migrate your forum to a different forum software-as-service platform/provider of your choice. We've reached out to John at
Jcink Forum Hosting, and they are one option we recommend considering. Jcink is working on developing a converter for IcyBoards that will convert the MyBB database to their upgraded Invision Power Board. Jcink has as rock-solid reputation for being one of the best in the business. I know if you choose this option, John will take great care of you.
A Few Notes:
* Only the root user can download a copy of the database.
* It is your responsibility to have your forum backed up no later than July 31st, 2018.
* If you need a copy of your post attachments (uploads), please contact me privately via PM to have it retrieved.
* If you paid for a premium subscription that is still active, please contact me for a refund on the unused time.
* We can put a redirect in place so visitors who access your IcyBoards sub-domain are forwarded to your new web address. If you need a redirect created, please ask in the
Support Forum
* GDPR still needs to be addressed. We will have an updated privacy policy as soon as possible. I want to be clear that GDPR is not the reason we are closing, but is a factor given the amount of time to manage it.
* Do not contact me with offers to buy the service. We are not selling any aspect of it.
It has been a pleasure having the opportunity to provide this service to you. Thank you for choosing IcyBoards and best wishes to you moving forward.
