RIP FreewareBB

As many freeware followers will know by now, FreewareBB was sold recently although unfortunately it fell into the hands of people who wanted to use the good name and reputation of the site to scam and trick others. Those very tactics are the likes of which FreewareBB fought religiously against since it’s inception back in 2007, and indeed was one of the main reasons I established the site in the first place.

Strangely, the person who bought the site told me what his plans were whilst I still had partial control of FreewareBB and so I was able to send a message to all the members explaining what had happened and I also had the opportunity to put a message out on WOT (Web Of Trust) to try and discredit the site before the new owner managed to do any damage on the back of our good reputation.

At the time up until the sale of the site, the prospective new owner seemed very keen and enthusiastic to move things forward and I even offered to help out on the site the best I could, staying on the site as maybe an Admin or Moderator and helping administer the site till they were comfortable and familiar enough with the workings. Hindsight can be a wonderful thing, but looking back at the conversation I had with this person, it was clear he didn’t respond much to my offers but instead continued to ask for the files and encouraged me to double check the domain transfer was still progressing as anticipated.

Only when the domain transfer was complete did he release the auction price and tell me his plans, but by then it was too late!.

Some of you may be wondering why I sold the site or why indeed I’m telling this story. Anyone who spent any time on the site will know that a few years back we were struggling to even raise the hosting costs per month, and I had to consider closing the site down a few times. A good Samaritan then stepped in with the opportunity of free hosting, which I took, and the site lasted a while longer. However, as the site continued to take up most of my spare time and as my own personal commitments at home grew, the strain of maintaining the site and it’s good name was becoming a real problem. Eventually I realised that if I allowed the site to continue without the much needed injection of time and effort, it would likely fall into disrepute itself as more and more listings became outdated or mistakes began to be made in haste and so I offered the site up for sale in the hope someone, somewhere could dedicate more time and care than I could.

Unfortunately, the rest is history, and so, it would appear, is FreewareBB. There are still downloads available on the site and most of the forums are still up but members can no longer participate which is probably just as well as I doubt many of the post’s would have been very favourable to the new owners! As to why I’m telling this story, well, I wanted to let everyone know, especially DCT readers, because both sites had a close affinity to one another and forewarned is forearmed!!

For now, I have my hands full with personal matters, but I hope to be in a position in the very near future to become much more involved with DCT, and I thank Jim and Dave for the opportunity, but in the meantime look out for the occasional post from me and, of course, the obligatory banter between my good friend Jimbo and I.

For now, thank you sincerely to everyone who made FreewareBB what it once was and here’s to a new year with DCT.

Marko