Hi all,
I have decided to look into a new host for Lemmings Forums (and related sites) for a couple of reasons.
The first one is that I have noticed that several other comparable hosting providers (reputable ones, not dodgy no-names) provide comparable service at around half the price. While they lack some of the advanced features of DigitalOcean, these advanced features are ones that I don't actually use (some of them I don't even know what they're used for beyond vague concepts) and the sites will be fine without. Thus, by switching, I can either cut the costs, or alternatively, get a much more powerful server for the same cost.
The second is that, while I realise it's impossible to 100% avoid, especially while remaining practical, I wish to minimize any spending that funds the US (which in practice means don't buy services from US companies, as they pay tax to the US government). Moving away from a US-based host is a step towards this goal. The reasons for this are outside the scope of subjects we would usually discuss on this site, but I'm also sure you all can guess exactly what they are. It's most likely I'll go with a Europe-based option instead (partly due to most of the site's userbase being in Europe or the UK, so it makes sense to have the server located there too), but there's also one NZ-based option I've been looking at too, and I'm also open to Australian options if any good ones come up.
To avoid doubt: This does NOT mean US-based users are no longer welcome here. American people are not the problem, and are not in any way a "target" of this action. If you are welcome here today, you are still welcome here after the move (assuming you don't suddenly start spamming the forum between now and then or anything like that, of course). Nor will anyone be banned for not following the same course of action themself - this is what I am choosing to do, and I am sharing it in order to explain how it will affect the site; that's all.
No final decisions on who the new host will be or when we'll move have been made at this stage, but I tend to move pretty fast once I've decided on something, so don't be surprised if it happens within the week.
In terms of impact on site use: You can expect a small amount of downtime, but that's it. As this will be a 100% planned move, unlike the last one that occurred due to problems with the server, it should go a lot more smoothly than the last one. This also means that for a significant portion of the move, instead of the site being completely down, it should be able to remain online in "read-only" mode.