Xara-Users Shuts Down

[gwpriester]

As of June 30th Xara-Users.info is shutting down.

While not everyone was a fan of Steve Ledger, and while Steve could be overly judgemental, I can think of no one who knew more about Xara products, who was as resourceful and helpful as Steve Ledger. Steve was head moderator for TalkGraphics for many years before he left to start Xara-Users.info.

Xara-Users.info was a tremendous resource of creative solutions and work-arounds, an alternative but complimentary source of knowledge and community and had a loyal cadre of moderators and members.

I am saddened to hear this. I really am.

I wish Steve all the best and wish him well in whatever he decides to do next.

I welcome positive comments about Steve and his contributions but I DO NOT want to hear bad comments in this thread. If you are unable to find something positive to say, then please keep your thoughts to yourself.

[roly]

Hi, although I was not a registered member of Xara Users I always visited the site. I believe this is a loss for the Xara community. Steve is one of a handful of Xara gurus in my book and I wish him the very best in his future projects. His solutions and workarounds will be greatly missed.

Ciao

Roly

[zaphodeist]

Steve knows Xara products upside down & inside out. It's so sad that XU didn't get the traffic to keep it viable. I could say about ridiculously childish external politics but I won't.

Thanks for posting this Gary.

XU will actually be closing on June 30th

[Boy]

While not everyone was a fan of Steve Ledger, and while Steve could be overly judgemental, I can think of no one who knew more about Xara products, who was as resourceful and helpful as Steve Ledger.

Hear! Hear! I hope he comes back to TG if only he could keep his sternness in check! He often made valid observations here but "c'est le ton qui fait la musique." And the right tone is so important to keep this (or any) community going or else darker, hostile sentiments get stirred up too easily.

Anyway, thanks for all your help Steve and I wish you well in whatever venture you decide to undertake next!

[Acorn]

Steve knows Xara products upside down & inside out. It's so sad that XU didn't get the traffic to keep it viable. I could say about ridiculously childish external politics but I won't.
Thanks for posting this Gary.
XU will actually be closing on June 30th

I believe you moderate the board. Do you know if "closing" means it is all removed? It would seem a shame for its content to evaporate away.
Acorn

[pauland]

Yes, sad news indeed. Steve is certainly knowledgeable about Xara software and PC software in general, he has helped me in the past, privately with PC issues, as well as publicly here with Xara issues.

I'm sad to hear that traffic was too low to sustain the site.

Good call to mention it here, Gary.

[zaphodeist]

Do you know if "closing" means it is all removed? It would seem a shame for its content to evaporate away.
Acorn

Yes, at the moment all will be removed afaik Problem is, most of the archived material links back to the forum itself

[zaphodeist]

I'm sad to hear that traffic was too low to sustain the site.

There are quite a few members who don't contribute and many lurkers willing to get info without acknowledgement and joining in. There was talk of somehow restricting access to the FAQs and How-To's because of this, but obviously this would have been difficult and go against the XU ethos of being a friendly, helpful environment.

[behzad]

I wish him well. Great guy. Now life goes on and I like the fact that this forum stays the focus of all xara related discussions. One place, One location

[Acorn]

There are quite a few members who don't contribute and many lurkers willing to get info without acknowledgement and joining in. There was talk of somehow restricting access to the FAQs and How-To's because of this, but obviously this would have been difficult and go against the XU ethos of being a friendly, helpful environment.

I am a XU member but didn't contribute so I must count as a lurker. I think I visited a dozen times as I felt my niche was with TG.
TG rarely gets 5% signed in and so 95% could be viewed as lurkers but I see no fault in that; a forum is scary to jump into and if you have nothing to contribute why not benefit from the corpus of knowledge available?

I'm sure its members' contributions have been innovative and first on the block and we have all benefited.

Acorn

P.S. just had a look and XU doesn't mention TG. Ah well.