downthetubes “Ning” Forum No More

By John Freeman on November 10, 2014

As a follower of downthetubes.net, you may also know one of the services it included was a comics forum site hosted by Ning. You may even be one of the almost 500 people who was a member.

I use the past tense because after careful consideration, taking into account much discussion of news items posted on DTT actually occurs on Facebook and Twitter, or indeed as comments on posts themselves, I have decided to close the Forum.

The plan had been to let it run until the end of November 2o14 but the ‘cycle’ of renewing the service has meant it shut down this weekend. My apologies to members for the summary execution ahead of the planned closure!

The shutdown of this Forum does not affect the ongoing operation of downthetubes and, in fact, thanks to the enthusiastic contributions of Antony Esmond, Jeremy Briggs and others we’ve actually expanded our recent coverage of British Comics! My thanks to them.

The site has always been one that has evolve since it began in 1999 and we will continue to do so.

• downthetubes does not have a Facebook presence as such but I am a member of “Facebook Comic Con” and downthetubes posts are automatically posted to the Sequentially British page there. You can also follow downthetubes on Twitter @johnfreeman_dtb

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.