I don't know where to start, I'm so sorry to say:

Malcolm has passed away. I finally traced and made contact with his next door neighbour but one. Malcolm went downhill very quickly and passed a couple of months ago. I knew his cancer had returned, but was not aware of its severity.

I have no more details as the neighbour I talked to was in hospital herself and has no contact details for any of Malcolm's relatives.

I am sure this will come as just a big a shock to so many who have appreciated Malcolm's dedication to this forum for so long.

The neighbour has said her husband will put a note through the door for the relatives to make contact but whether we can gain access to the forum I do not know.

What do we do people?

We try and gain control of the forum but would need death notices etc. or we can let the forum pass with him shortly. I am prepared to contact the hosting company but the long term does not lie with me at the age of 75.

Opinions please

Chris

Devastating news about Malcolm, may he rest in peace.
I did not know him well enough to write his obituary, and let's face it, an obituary SHOULD be written, as he has kept this website live for many years
Meanwhile, thank you for doing the investigatory work Chris, very much appreciated. I am no I.T expert, so I wouldn't know where to start. Also, at 70 years, it should not rest with me either.
However, I sincerely hope that there can be a way forward, if anyone with the necessary I.T. skills think they can handle this, then perhaps Chris is the man to approach to start with.

Very sorry and sad to hear of Malcolm's demise.

Terrible news and second the above with all due respects ... just sent you a PM Nick and have been chatting with Chris ... rgds

Very sad. RIP Malcolm.

Note sent to Malcolm's neighbour for posting through his door for his family.

Contact request message left on his phone.

Contact made with the domain registrant company support re transfer.

I have offered to pay the small bill to give us more time.

Asked the Domain registrants whether they are also the web hosting company and, if so, could they remove the known malware link.

Many thanks for passing on this sad, sad news to us all Chris. I came onto this forum when the previous TT forum folded and Malcolm's patient and considered monitoring of 'our' forum was always greatly appreciated. I did try other forums but, for me, this was/is the best. Malcolm will be sorely missed by those of us who recognised the selfless contribution he made to the TT Website Forum for the benefit of all.
Will it, should it continue? I sincerely hope so but, sadly, it seems we're all 'of an age' now, myself included. So to allow this forum to continue, we need a younger IT competent TT/MGP, road racing believer to take over. Many will view this thread and perhaps a new selfless, patient and considered volunteer will be one of them. Let's hope so!
In the meantime and it's a little late I know, but many, many thanks Malcolm for all you've done to connect us all together on a topic that binds us together.
God Bless,
Andrew

So sad to hear this news. Thoughts and prayers are with family and friends.
RIP Malcolm.

Sorry to read this, terrible news. Malcolm was only ever words on a computer screen but i feel like I've lost a pal. Forums have real people at the back of the keyboards and we all share the same interests and passions

Unfortunately, I'm a tech dinosaur so actually doing anything worthwhile will be beyond me but I'm happy to contribute via paypal to help keep the forum and Malcolms memory alive.

I too came here after the demise of the iomtt forum and found this place great to use and contained a lot of the old names i were used to.

I sincerely hope this forum continues, as much for Malcolms memory as the content.

Rest in peace Malcolm, you will be missed and not forgotten.

R.I.P. Malcolm.
I know the job of running a forum is a difficult one, these days if someone posts something defamatory the owner can be ultimately deemed responsible I believe, so Malcom kept a tight ship.
I hope the forum can be kept going, but I'm afraid I know very little about it, illustrated by my total lack of knowledge about the "riskware warning" thread!!
I just keep on going!

I presume that, come the 12th, the TTwebsite name will become available & one of us could attempt to buy it?
I'll have a go, to secure it. I've seen "godaddy" will allocate someone to do this for you at a cost of £50 odd!
Maybe there's a secret way to be first in the queue?

Wonderful post H2pots, sums up my feelings exactly, never met Malcolm either but feel like I've lost a close friend.

DomainCheap are the registrants and they have referred me to their risk management department, I am waiting to hear back.

We were lucky that Malcolm still lived at the address I found on an old Joey Dunlop registration from many years ago and that his next door neighbour but one has an on-line business. At least we have concrete info to work on.

Do not spend anything elsewhere as I can keep the site alive for now via NameCheap for less then £10 until start of 2023. When domains become available there are squatters who grab them and ransom them back, so better to prevent expiration.

Most important is access to remove the tracker link. It is 'mostly harmless' for now but the script it runs on the Nigerian website could be substituted for worse. Whatever, do not acknowledge ANY external messages generated on the forum, just close any external popup links. I recommend paying for Malwarebytes for security on PC's. Others may know better out there now but is has saved me a few times.

I have asked when Malcolm passed but have yet to find out, i think there may have been a logon after his passing so maybe the family have the credentials.

I have a long professional programming background but have been retired for twenty years so have no knowledge of the MyBB language (or much else now!!), but should be able to remove the tracker if I can get access. The version of MyBB almost certainly needs updating as the loophole has been closed.

It may be best to let me run with this for now and then find a new owner. I have owned a tightly run Proboards forum elsewhere for nearly twenty years and would be happy to assist in the initial running of the forum, but it cannot be left with me at my age as you could be in the same boat all too soon.

If there is anyone  with more knowledge I will be happy to hand over all the info I have found and take a step back as I will be fumbling in the dark with some of this.

From BD's info I can see that there are about twenty provisional members awaiting authorisation, .

I have registered with 'Between The Hedges' to see what is going on there but they have only ten members and no recent new ones. Amongst the ten is at least one banned member form this forum.

Chris

So sad to read this. I to came here from the old iomtt forum & hope someone / somehow can keep it going, after all Malcolms hard work in the past.
R.I.P. Malcolm.

Requested a copy of Malcolm's death certificate from Lancashire C.C. - cost £11

I'll post a running total of all expenditure for those who have kindly offered to chip in.

Requested advice on the script link from MyBB forum.

NameCheap account set up in my name and $10 deposited to cover the renewal of the forum address. Third party request sent to their support as required.



Info from MyBB forum on the dodgy script:

Quote:Once you have ACP access, if you go to Templates & Style > Templates > Search/Replace > search for new2sportnews, you should find the templates that contain the script and can remove it.

Good work Chris, and THANK YOU for the work that you have put in. I am happy to contribute to any (reasonable) costs.
However, once you starting talking Templates & Style, I had no idea what you were talking about!!

(06-09-2022, 01:59 PM)Splashdown Wrote: Good work Chris, and THANK YOU for the work that you have put in. I am happy to contribute to any (reasonable) costs.
However, once you starting talking Templates & Style, I had no idea what you were talking about!!

I'm with Nick there, templates are what you use for making mounting brackets, & style is what we have while riding motorbikes!

Many thanks, you've done some sterling work Chris. I'll happily contribute to any costs too.

(06-09-2022, 01:51 PM)Chris_Sav Wrote: NameCheap account set up in my name and $10 deposited to cover the renewal of the forum address. Third party request sent to their support as required.



Info from MyBB forum on the dodgy script:

Pm waiting for you pal

Thanks guys,

Very little cost thus far, so no worries.

I'll establish the annual costs if we get control and we can fund that.

Thanks Chris, also happy to contribute to costs

Bombshell incoming!!

Malcolm was not the owner of TTWebsite and now we meet that nice Mr GDPR.

A Steve Dawson is listed as site designer and I have sent an email to whom I think that might be.

Third party renewal is underway but at the cost of another $5, minor problem!