Didn't know there was a ToV fiasco... Just thought the project died off...
Anyways, making a rip of a site isn't hard, it's the whole backend where user account information is stored that can't be ripped, that would be a very difficult thing to copy over properly for regulars, if it could even be done...
All of that aside, I can't actually find ANY copywrite clause in the TOS saying that we can't jack what has been said here... The closest thing is that each individual person either owns, or has permission to share what they post on this website, thus negating any copywrite the site owners have of any information here aside from the obvious things... Such as the forum logo, name, color scheme and so on.
We also don't comply with GDPR, which could be a serious issue as this website does load advertisements...
techist-forums.net and techist-forums.com are both free..
With all the TLD's available now... There are plenty of TechForum names out there, and I am not sure if one could legitly copywrite the name tech forum or techforum as it's a common name.
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Either case, the site owners need to pop up, make a statement about plans going forward as to what they actually plan to do with this community. Are they going to try to revive it? Sell it? If sell, how much? How would they revive it?
Those are questions that are bugging me, and honestly, part of the reason I don't come here often is work + lack of anything happening here.