A forum's demise...

Yesterday - without any warning to members or mods alike, the forums on Andy and Jamie Murray's sites were sadly taken down, permanently.

My daily routine generally involved using the iPad before getting myself out of bed to whizz through my email, Facebook, Twitter, and then a quick look at the night's chatter on Women's Tennis Forum, Jamie's, then Andy's forum, the Eve Online forums,Digital Spy... and lastly a quick flick through the Mortgage-Free Wannabe threads on moneysavingexpert.com.

This morning, I was done and dusted in a mere 15 minutes... luckily I still have JJ to provide pages and pages of drama!

In recent months - I have not spent much time on any of the forums, due to pressures of work, and real life; but also because ANY internet media forum gives rise to forceful personalities, shielded behind their online persona.

I have been fortunate to make some good friends in the 5 or so years I have been on the various tennis forums, but for some, this media was their only way to keep in touch.

But I feel the most sadness for those that shared their memories of seeing Andy and Jamie (in particular) in action, whose blogs have all been lost. Not everyone had set them up on external sites and so all those recorded memories seem to be lost forever. Of course people will have their own memories of watching their heroes - but half the fun, and one of the nicer elements of the forums was that people appreciated seeing photos from wherever people were all over the world at tourneys as well as the Slams.

We may never really find out why the management have taken this decision ... and perhaps it's best not to.

It looks as though those people that have formed a good solid bond are looking to set up a new forum, and I truly wish it well - and may even just dabble, keeping a morning and evening eye on the chatter ... and add that 15 or so minutes to my interweb routine...

Murraytennisforums.com - RIP!