Yesterday I received the following email:
We have made the difficult decision to close down VirtualTourist.com. On Feb 27th 2017 the site will be wrapping up operations. We wanted to let you know this now so that you have a chance to save any personal content and obtain contact details for other members you’d like to stay in touch with. After the closure all user data will be deleted.
Over the last 18 years, 1.3M members have shared 3.7M photos and posted 1.8M travel tips on 73k destinations! Your contributions to our online community are very much appreciated and we hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we have! We hope that the friendships you have made through VT continue on for many more years to come.
You’ll still be able to find all the great destination information we’ve amassed over the years plus much, much more atwww.SmarterTravel.com. And to continue the conversations from our forums we recommend www.tripadvisor.com/ForumHome.
Thank you for being a valued member of the VirtualTourist community.
Safe travels,
The VT teamI can't say that it was a total surprise, as usage has been declining, but a huge amount of effort has been made over the past year or two by staff and members to move the content onto a new code base so that it is up to date with modern web standards. The staff, who have always been really good about responding to members' queries and letting us know what was going on, were simply laid off with no warning.
Virtual Tourist was a place where members could write their own pages, itineraries and travelogues, as well as the tips or reviews of specific attractions, hotels, restaurants that are so dear to Trip Advisor. There was also an excellent travel advice forum, and a social side with a 'Miscellaneous' online forum and real world VT meets.
When I think about the amount of time I have spent building tips and pages, and doing site admin, I could weep. I'm now busy trying to retrieve what I can from the shipwreck, and will post some of it here.
It's sad indeed and amazing to see how members are affected! But the beautiful memories and friends will stay forever, despite the lack of technology!
ReplyDeleteHi I'm VTer angiebabe ...yes could weep is the word, am in avoidance mode still in case we get told it's going to be kept afterall! Have you just used copy and paste to move what you've moved so far?
ReplyDeleteXinjiang is pretty much my fave province in China but there are many fave places with so many beauty spots with diverse landscapes and beautiful old villages and sweet interesting people and history all over the country. Decided in a few days notice to go back last October instead of India and included a 3 day visit to a friend of mine from our year or so in Xian together now living in Urumqi, and glad to have added that to the month.
Good to see your blog thanks
Yes, I used copy/paste for the text. The photos I still have on my laptop (and cloud). I haven't got very far though.
DeleteYes, it is sad!
ReplyDeleteVT-Member nepalgoods