NTFA Forums close on 24 May, a new version is under consideration -- posted by Groundsplitter on 16 May 2018, 15:42

As reported 9 months ago, I'm shutting down the current versions of the NTFA Forums because of the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which take effect next Friday. I have now decided to shut down the board on 24 May, the day before the new law takes effect.

However, I am now considering installing a new version of the software, and start over from scratch. It might not happen already on May 24-25, but I will try to launch it as soon as I can (I will need to make thorough adjustments to make sure that both the forum - and indeed the website as well - works as it is supposed to). When the board is relaunched, the next year will be a test run to see if there's still enough activity to keep the board online.

As for why we will be starting over from scratch instead of just transfering the current content ... too much work, unfortunately, and way too much non-GDPR-compliant "baggage". With so many inactive members there's no reasonable way to get them all to agree to the new terms and conditions, so I would likely have to spend months checking what stuff must be deleted.

NTFA Forums (the board, not the website) to close on 24 May 2018 -- posted by Groundsplitter on 25 August 2017, 12:59

An advance notice: I intend to close the NTFA Forums on 24 May 2018. The board will be removed completely, you will not be able to browse old information.

The reason is the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) from the European Union, which will take effect on 25 May. Among other things, the regulations give all individuals a stronger ownership of their own personal data, and stronger control over how it is used by others.
And while the GDPR don't directly affect the operation of forums, I have come to realize, as I'm studying the new laws in detail, that the forum and the forum software, in their current form, seriously limit my ability to fulfill my obligations to the individual users. The software lacks essential functionality for complying with potential user requests, and I would also basically have to go through every member account and every old post to make sure that we don't already have too much data on anyone, as well as send out new terms for every member to agree to, and that's way more work than it is worth - especially since there isn't much activity on the boards nowadays anyway.

Should anyone actually be interested in seeing a new version of the NTFA Forums (social media like Facebook and Twitter seems to be predominant nowadays though), please let me know in the comments. A new version would start over from scratch though.