Setting aside all modesty for a moment, this is quite an important post for the forum. Please excuse the fact that I consider it important, even though it's just about me. You're going to get to learn a bit about me in the process though, which I hope you will find interesting.

I'm at University in England, studying Computer Science, and my degree is getting tough (I say getting...it's always been tough, but it's now getting important). As such, I'm no longer in a position where I have the time to make a good job of running a website as large as AU. Before I go any further, this isn't a post saying the site is going to close, quite the opposite in fact. I've basically just kept the site ticking over for the last couple of years, because I haven't had the time to do much else. Just doing the day to day stuff is now a major chunk of my life (usually 1-2 hours minimum on quiet days, up to 10 hours on busy days, plenty of late nights when things aren't working, etc.). Unfortunately, I'm not at a University where we just sit around all day like students should, so I'm doing 50-60 hours work a week as well, looking for jobs and I have other hobbies (I claim, anyway) and responsibilities.

For me right now, my exams are my main priority, and towards the end of Summer, my dissertation. It turns out that I'm not that great at Computer Science, so I have to work hard (bah..). As such, I need as much time as possible and I'm starting to find that when this website needs my attention, it's distracting me from my work and making it harder for me to relax.

Starting near the end of June I'm going to be interning in London for 9 weeks, and that'll be nine weeks where I won't have any free time and quite possibly not have an Internet connection. That happens right after my exams this year meaning I've got to decide what I'm going to do about AU in those 9 weeks right now.

So, after lots of deliberating, I've decided that I need to find someone new to run AU.com and give it the attention it deserves. I was hoping that one of the webmasters of one of the other major UFO websites would want to take over, so it'd be someone would could just slide into my shoes without any trouble, but that didn't turn out to be the case.

I'm currently talking to some people who've got a good interest in UFOs/aliens/paranormal and have plenty of experience running big forums so that I can train one of them up to be my replacement. They'll be at least as good at the job as I am, but will also have the time to drive the site forwards to be the real créme of paranormal sites on the Net.

This hasn't been an easy decision for me to make, but my life has made it so that it's a case of find a replacement or close the site, and I'm pretty sure that finding a replacement is the best option out of those two. I shall still be around (maybe forever !) and be an admin for quite a while to make any transition as smooth as possible and the site will continue to head in the same direction - it'll still be Alien-UFOs.com and it'll still be the place you enjoy coming to. There'll just be less of me, which I'm sure will be acceptable.

Sorry for how sudden this is, things have rather all caught up to me quite quickly. I'm not running off next week or anything though, so it's not really as sudden as it might sound.

OMG...Change......is.....BAD!!!1111!!!

J/K. I hope it's not to difficult too find someone to fit your shoes. For the record, I think you've created the best paranormal site on the web. I trust you'll find someone who can do your work justice.

And I know you'll be around, but I want to wish you the best of luck with your studies. Before you have to disappear get some real work done. See that you'll be making real money and driving your own Zonda in no time!

Cheers.

Thank you for your time and hard work Xander. Many people enjoy your site and forum. Best of luck with school.

Xander,

I havent been here to long, but I must tell you that this forum this community that you created is the best! I know you are not leaving just yet, but I wish you the best with your school, and whatever you do!

Godspeed, and Good luck to you!

AT

Just be sure to send us all some money after you find yourself a high-paying job

Many blessings to you Xander.

Xander...I feel like this is an omen of ill portent as I just dont see how any mere man or woman can replace a legend! But I'm sure most of us understand your decision and respect your need to step down. Good luck in all your endeavors.

Do it dude! Your exams are your priority! as its your life!

Well done for making the best site in the world! and possibly out of this world! (unless aliens have a better one?) (but.....?)

Good luck with your exams mate! and all the best!

T

Good Luck Xander

Thanks for the support and understanding guys. Turns out, quite a few people fancy taking over the site (think 50+ so far...), and there's some very exceptional people who have expressed their interest. When I've completed the mamoth task of figuring out who's best, you will be the first to know.


That's what keeps me going...

Are you giving it up for good, or just for those 9 weeks?
This makes me kinda sad, Xander.
I don't know you at all, but judging from the way you run this place and the mods you pick, I figure you must be one helluva nice guy.

Just, don't give this place to an asshole, ok?
And make them promise to keep the neonazis out like you have. I just can't stomach those forums where the neonazis like to congregate.
*shiver*

Good luck with things, Xander. June'll come and go, so will 9 weeks.. it won't seem like forever to us, maybe, but probably for you. heh, 9 months has flown by for me, and I think I might go 10. Now that's where you need to start worrying and wishing things would hurry along.. but then then they don't.. and then.. then you're just stuck with nothing to do and end up rambling on and on and on and....

Good luck!!!!

although i do not know you asides from your position, you have been very helpful and responsive to the one time i emailed you about a bug i found in these forums, I know big forums take alot of work to be well managed and perhaps your choice for a replacement is best if you cannot do the job/task!

Best of luck with your school and to whom you choose to run this community!

Wow didnt realise this site has been around that long, Well can safely say this is one of the best UFO sites ive ever found

Oh Ya, good luck in your exams

This will be me ceasing to be the admin of AU for good I'm afraid, not just those 9 weeks. I'll be around for quite a while as a functioning admin while I'm in the process of showing whoever takes over how we do things, and after that I'll be there if the new admin needs me for something, but I'll essentially just be another member.

After I'm done interning I'll be set to disappear off the face of the Earth for 10-15 years. I'll be preparing job applications for the deadlines in Autumn; then I've got my final year of college, including a large project I have to do and I'll (hopefully) have plenty of interviews for jobs. After that, when I've graduated, I'll hopefully be working crushingly long hours in London or NY for at least a decade so unfortunately, I've now come to the end of the period of my life where it's possible to run a website in my spare time. If I'm being honest, I came to the end of that time 2-3 years ago, but I took the hit to my social life and sleeping habits and kept going - the efforts of the mods here have helped enormously. You know, I've not actually been on any kind of holiday for three years? I doubt there have been five consecutive days in those three years where I haven't been working on this site. I've given it a good shot, but the time has come where I've got to make sure I get a 2.1 in my degree and then make sure I get a good job and those two things are going to require last inch of me. Rest assured, I'm going to be very upset when it's no longer 'my site'.

Im confused. Is A/U going to close for good or 9 weeks or just be taken over by another admin?

If you hand it over to someone else, They might turn out to be jerks with their little inside Clique and the site will become too annoying to post on.

How long is your A/U registry for? You want me to take control of it? I dont want to be an admin, I'll let Ben and KellyB do it, with your permission.

AU is just going to be taken over by another admin, and don't worry, I'm busting a gut to make sure it's someone good.

Rip Au

Hope the degree goes well for you xander. Your career is the important thing. However, I have enjoyed your forum alot over the years I have been visiting. It's the best of its type in my opinion.
Who knows, I might bump into you up the big smoke. I intend to get back up there myself in a month or two to do a bit of contracting (I'm a C++ programmer). Keep an eye out for a good looking fella with a bald head!