fretmeister

Hamster forum has gone. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/18/hamster-forum-local-residents-websites-shut-down-new-laws/?ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first Hamster forum and local residents’ websites shut down by new internet laws Scope and scale of Online Safety Act likened to China’s ‘great firewall’ as small websites struggle to comply James TitcombTechnology Editor 18 March 2025 2:09pm GMT Dozens of small internet forums have blocked British users or shut down as new online safety laws come into effect, with one comparing the new regime to a British version of China’s “great firewall”. Several smaller community-led sites have stopped operating or restricted services, blaming new illegal harms duties enforced by Ofcom from Monday. They range from a hamster owners’ forum, a local group for residents of the Oxfordshire town of Charlbury, and a large cycling forum. The hosts of the lemmy.zip forum, hosted in Finland, blocked users from the UK accessing the site, saying the measures “pave the way for a UK-controlled version of the ‘great firewall’”. The great firewall refers to the strict controls imposed by Chinese internet authorities, which restrict Western sites such as Google, Facebook and Wikipedia in the country and is seen as a model of online censorship. Britain’s Online Safety Act, a sprawling set of new internet laws, include measures to prevent children from seeing abusive content, age verification for adult websites, criminalising cyber-flashing and deepfakes, and cracking down on harmful misinformation. Under the illegal harms duties that came into force on Monday, sites must complete risk assessments detailing how they deal with illegal material and implement safety measures to deal with the risk. The Act allows Ofcom to fine websites £18m or 10pc of their turnover. The regulator has pledged to prioritise larger sites, which are more at risk of spreading harmful content to a large number of users. “We’re not setting out to penalise small, low-risk services trying to comply in good faith, and will only take action where it is proportionate and appropriate,” a spokesman said. “We’re initially prioritising the compliance of sites and apps that may present particular risks of harm from illegal content due to their size or nature – for example because they have a large number of users in the UK, or because their users may risk encountering some of the most harmful forms of online content and conduct.” ‘The home of all things hamstery’ However, many smaller internet forums have said they are not willing to deal with the compliance, or shoulder the theoretical financial burden of the new laws. “While this forum has always been perfectly safe, we were unable to meet [the compliance requirements of the Act],” wrote the operators of The Hamster Forum, which describes itself as “the home of all things hamstery”. Richard Fairhurst, the administrator of the “Charlbury in the Cotswolds” forum, wrote that the Act was “a huge issue for small sites, both in terms of the hoops that site admins have to jump through, and potential liability”. “Running a small forum is much harder than it was when I started doing this almost 25 years ago,” he wrote on the site. The site has remained open but closed a debate board where people discussed off-topic issues. Mr Fairhurst, who has run the forum since 2001, told The Telegraph: “By putting all these burdens on the small sites its going to push people away from these small locally run British-owned sites and towards the American giants.” Bike Radar, the forum of the cycling magazine, shut down on Monday blaming “continually rising operational costs” without mentioning the Act specifically. The site has millions of posts. The Green Living Forum, which was set up in the early 2000s and had more than 470,000 posts, has also closed down, with the site’s administrator saying they were not willing to be liable for fines. The host of lemmy.zip, a forum for sharing links, said he would block UK-based internet addresses from accessing the site. “These measures pave the way for a UK-controlled version of the ‘great firewall,’ granting the government the ability to block or fine websites at will under broad, undefined, and constantly shifting terms of what is considered ‘harmful’ content, a message on the site said. The UK-based administrator of the site, who did not want to be named, said: “If I was living in any other country I’d be ignoring this, but because of this personal risk I can’t. I can’t deal with the possibility of an £18m fine for something I can’t guarantee I can comply with.” Ofcom defends regulation Ofcom has said that for small sites, the costs of complying “are likely to be negligible or in the small thousands at most”. Digital rights campaigners the Open Rights Group (ORG) said Ofcom should exempt smaller sites from enforcement. “The Online Safety Act places onerous duties on small websites and blogs that may lead them to close or geoblock UK users rather than risk penalties,” the ORG’s James Baker said. “The closure of small sites will not keep children safe but will benefit bigger sites, including Facebook and X, who are laying waste to content moderation on their platforms. “There is a simple solution – the Secretary of State can exempt small, safe websites from onerous Online Safety duties, and protect plurality online.”

Update: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yljn2vkn1o Looks like age checks are going to be unavoidable. Presumably that means quite a bit of additional GDPR compliance and record keeping by forums.

I have 2 paulownia basses already. I don't mind dinks. I now fancy a ray / sterling type without the weight!

Can any of you fine people suggest where I might be able to get a paulownia body? In an ideal world it would be EBMM Sterling shaped, but a J shape without pickup routs would do if I can't find a Sterling one. ta

Are you just a simple tailor by any chance? [/DS9]

I didn't think the duty attracted Vat? Ah well - makes the comparison with Andertons even worse then.

That's my view too. I've had a few bargains buying from Japan - but always for used items that were impossible to find in the UK or just over-priced.

It was about that in 1990/1 as well. I came back with a new wardrobe of jeans and trainers.

So $800 is (at the exact moment) £597.82. Shipping from the USA would be in the region of $100, so that's another £74.73. But might be as much as $200 (£149.49) Using the lower sum that's £672.55 that is subject to vat at 20% being £134.51 = £807.06. Then there's 3.5% duty on the guitar bit as well - another £20.92 Running total is £827.98 + about £13 for the courier admin fee. So £840.98 delivered to a UK buyer assuming the lower end shipping fee. So there could be a saving of about £77.45 compared to Andertons if it sneaks though without getting pinged by customs, and about £100 more than Andertons if it gets caught. I've had small stuff get through, but never anything as big as an instrument. I'm not sure whether Fender UK would deal with any warranty problems for a personal import or not. I'm guessing not.

I never measure when I do a set up. Every bass needs something different so I always do it by feel alone.

I bought it on here from @hooky_lowdown about 3 years ago as I just wanted to try a shortie. I swapped the pickup to an Aguilar with a loom made by our own @KiOgon as the stock controls were really just on/off. It neck dived a bit so I swapped the tuners for Hipshot Ultralights. It’s a cheap bass but the basic quality and build is more than good enough to warrant spending on those swaps. I love it! I liked it so much I found another one for roundwounds. I thought the bridge string spacing would be a bit tight but I’ve discovered I much prefer it for everything other than slap, and I don’t do a lot of that.

Bit of Stevie Wonder, the arrangement from the film “Sing” Moises app to remove the original bass. Tone by Line 6 HX Stomp

That’s where I saw them too!

I was fortunate enough to see them live. Fantastic performance by all.

Ed Friedland famously has La Bella’s that are over 20 years old.

yes, although maybe the noble.

Mark Bass Vintage preamp has an excellent versatile tone right out of the box. Flat on the EQ and with the “old” option engaged and it sounds thick but defined, useful if many genres. I’m spending my afternoon trying to program my HX Stomp to match it!

That does look very cool!

They annoying bit is that my eldest is at uni doing aerospace engineering and as part of the Avionics bit she's spending a lot of time in their skills lab assembling / soldering circuits using traditional components to test things before using Surface Mount stuff. Over the last few years I have sent her 3 pedal kits that I reckon she could bang out in about 10 mins each and she hasn't done any of them! But when she asks for money apparently I'm supposed to respond within 30 seconds! Bloody kids!

If I knew how to solder without burning myself I'd be having a Basstortion clone already! In a sensible enclosure of course.

Tier 2 breach incoming. I have some recording to do on guitar and it needs fuzz. My collection of fuzz pedals is very small and is mostly cheap clones / inspired by stuff and I can't get them sounding how I need. So - Walrus Audio Eons 5 State Fuzz should be here on Saturday. I could pretend that I'd never use it on bass but I think we all know I'd at least give it a try, so it looks like I'm out. I lasted longer than I thought!

No recent posts on Twitter. Last one appears to be in March 2024.

ah damnit. RIP Sam.