Forums to be closed

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If you’re asking if the comments and threads will remain, they’ve answered no. Everything here will be gone.
 
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(I gave this thread a brief overview, so I might have skipped over my answer). Why is the forums closing? I understand budget restrictions and the weird year of 2020, but are there any factors that caused the budget restrictions? Was it over the years that this has occurred, is it because Catholic Answers struggles with selling products, is it because Catholic websites generally don’t receive much funding, so side projects are too expensive?

Of course, people will speculate that “it’s due to CAF losing its Catholicity and being too soft with the Faith and the Pope”, but where is the proof for anything?

I would love some insight, if you could, please.
 
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The forum initially helped me in coming back to the faith that was over 10 years ago it was helpful in those early years even though I have come back regularly I don’t usually post much but I saw a lot of arguing etc which was disappointing, what remains when this forum closes ie the rest of CA is as good as ever and will continue to be a source I would just like to thank the CA people ( sad to see the prayer forum go for a couple of my friends who benefited from quite a few prayers said there).
 
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Gorgias said:
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JSRG:
This is annoying. There is a lot of useful information in the forums, and a complete removal loses all of it.

Would it really be particularly expensive to keep them available in read-only form? I don’t know anything about costs of webhosting but I have to imagine it would cut down the cost significantly.
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There would be the same cost in resources to keep it up on the web as there is to host it now, right? (Albeit without user participation, so the only savings would be in employee salary.)
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If nothing else, the cost would drop considerably because an archived forum would receive substantially less traffic. The only people who would visit it then would be those who are trying to search the forums for past information or discussions.

And that is indeed a very useful feature. I’ll be honest, I’ve probably gotten a lot more usage out of Catholic Answers Forums in searching for past discussions than I have in actually participating in discussions. I have been legitimately surprised at some of the obscure information I have been able to find here that I can’t find elsewhere; much of this, undoubtedly, comes from how long they’ve been around. A complete removal takes away that ability.

While I doubt they’ll change their mind about shutting it down in terms of not letting people post anymore, I hope they will change their mind about deleting it entirely and will instead keep an archive available in some format or another. Maybe if enough people ask them to do that, they’ll change their mind on that. Certainly it can’t hurt to ask them.
 
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AlNg said:
Does anyone use typewriters anymore? Computer word processing is so much easier especially if you have to correct mistakes.
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Tom Hanks does! (famous actor, and for good reason)

My husband read Writers’ Digest, and apparently quite a few writers still use typewriters because they are forced to THINK before they WRITE.

Interesting.

There are several large cities in the U.S. that have “poetry groups” who will sit in parks and create a personalized poem for anyone who stops and contributes a few dollars (usually they charge $5). Of course, the COVID pandemic has probably ended all this, like it’s ended almost everything else.

But during the Good Times in our country, these “instant poets” used typewriters, and typed out your poem on a cute card and handed it to you within a very short time. Great souvenir if you’re visiting the city, or just a nice little pick-me-up if you live/work in that city.

My husband has attended several “type-ins”–people come together to create a “book”, and they use typewriters. At the one in our city, my husband ended up being a helper monkey–showing people (mainly teens) who had never used a typewriter what all the keys do, changing ribbons, helping people set margins, insert paper, etc. The book that was produced was a eclectic but charming piece–and they gave my husband the original artwork that was used for the cover as a “thank-you” for his two days (around 12 hours each!) of hard work! He loved it.

My husband and I are booked to do a “type-in” at one of the Autumn Festivals in Northern Illinois in 2021 (if COVID-19 is under control by then–the Festival was cancelled this year). Since the Festival will be 50 years old, we thought that a Type In would be a perfect way to “look back”, since when the Festival first started 50 years ago, the computer didn’t exist, and all the articles about the event were typed on a typewriter and published in the newspapers!

We’ve heard over and over again that children love typewriters. When I was in physical therapy after my knee replacement, one of the therapists told me that they had given their children a typewriter and they loved it–they loved the noise that it makes when they type! They eventually outgrew it, but they still have it around!
 
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po18guy said:
Well, there was a marked change when Mr. Keating retired and sold - I’m guessing, CA to others.
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No. Nonprofits aren’t bought and sold. CA is still run by the same people. The current president, Christopher Check, was a staff apologist when Mr. Keating was president. Mr. Check did an excellent audio book on the Battle of Lepanto back in the day, I think CA still sells it.

Edit: yes they do, and it is on sale.
 
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Peeps said:
We’ve heard over and over again that children love typewriters. When I was in physical therapy after my knee replacement, one of the therapists told me that they had given their children a typewriter and they loved it–they loved the noise that it makes when they type! They eventually outgrew it, but they still have it around!
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ALL kids love typewriters!

My little cousin (I was 17 when she was born, she’s now 42) loved to type on my electric when her mother would bring her to visit. And my son went through a phase where he couldn’t get enough of an old manual typewriter that I still have around (got at Goodwill or someplace similar).
adamhovey1988 said:
(Seriously, I found a book at 2nd and Charles with an intact floppy for “How to use Microsoft office”, from 1994).
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My son loves that place! We found several Game Boy cartridges there.
 
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MarysLurker said:
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HomeschoolDad:
ALL kids love typewriters!
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Can you recommend a good small one for a 4 year old? Thanks.
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I’m not sure there are any manufacturers making new ones. Seems to me there may be one in Japan, I’d have to look it up. Ours is an old Royal portable, kind of an eggshell blue, it is buried under junk here, otherwise I’d post a picture.

It looks similar to this one:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
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Well, I hate to hear it. Farewell to the site, and I hope its owners are committed to selling the domain name only to some halfway-worthy successors.
 
MarysLurker said:
Can you recommend a good small one for a 4 year old? Thanks.
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My husband said to look for a manual Smith Corona 5 or 6 series.

Good places to look–Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, EBayLocal.

Best to buy as close to home as possible. Do not buy a typewriter that has to be shipped to your home–shipping a typewriter is really tricky, and unless your seller does a stellar job of wrapping and packaging it, it will arrive at your house with broken parts and probably will have to be junked, or if you are handy, you can fix it.
There are a few typewriter repair shops in the country, but just not worth it unless there’s one in your city or close to where you live. So buy it from someone close enough to your home that you can drive over, try it out–ALWAYS try it out first!–and then take it home.

Sometimes you can get a good deal at local vintage/antique shops, but often, they tend to be pricey. You can always try making an offer, or wait it out until there is a sale at the shop (which there might be during the Christmas gift-buying season). Just make sure the typewriter is in stellar condition.

5 and 6 Series were made to be stored in a case, so it would be an advantage to buy one with a case.

5 and 6 Series are generally easy to work on, and built like tanks! They come in several colors–gray and brown are most common.

Be really really cautious about any musty smells! We have several “ol’ stinkies” residing in our garage! We can’t bring them into the houes because the smell is overpowering. My husband has tried several methods to get rid of the smell, but so far, no luck with some of these machines.

My husband said it should cost under $100, but you can probably get a good one for $50. Don’t try to go too cheap–your child will not enjoy working with a typewriter that doesn’t work smoothly. Better to spend a little extra and get one in great condition.

No good typewriter is being manufactured anymore. Don’t fall for the “We Are Memory Keepers” piece of junk that Michael’s sells. It’s worthless.

If you want a true “child’s typewriter,” there is a toy typewriter called “Tom Thumb” that has been around for decades. We have a really good one that we paid $30 for. But keep in mind that it’s a TOY–it is meant for little ones to “pretend to be like Mommy and Daddy.” Your child is not going to want use this toy typewriter when they get older!
These Tom Thumbs (and there are some other toy typewriters; e.g., Marxriter) are mainly valued as collectibles now–they are really cute!

Hope all this is helpful!
 
MarysLurker said:
Can you recommend a good small one for a 4 year old? Thanks.
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One more thing, MarysLurker–a little sneaky, but worth a try.

Bring your adorable little one with you when you go to pick up the typewriter. It’s possible that when the seller sees those big eyes and sweet little grin, they might just decide to cut the price down, or even give it to the child for free!! Typewriter lovers are like that–they want to pass Typewriter Love to the next generation.

Now if it’s just someone who was cleaning out their grandma’s house, and found the typewriter in the attic and now they just want to get rid of it for a price–well, they probably won’t be charmed into lowering the price–but they might!

But don’t pay any more that $100–some sellers think their item is worth a fortune because “Tom Hanks owns one just like this”-- and he probably does. Big deal. Tom Hanks is rich.
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
I want a rotary phone and I just might have to put that on my christmas list haha! I’m a dinosaur who still has a landline 🙂
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If I’d known that 6 months ago I’d have given you our old rotary phone from the house. Black but it still worked!
 
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