Is there anything we can do to keep the forums here and alive?

You've said the problem is essentially because you're short-staffed. I don't entirely believe this to be true, but if it's the issue then why not try and solve it a better way than just giving up?

There's a slew of reasons why a forum is essential to a MMOG. I've yet to play any that did not have a central, official forum as a part of its infrastructure. Third-party ones don't cut it. New users come here to discuss and find information out in ways they wouldn't easily be able to do elsewhere.

Destroying General won't solve any problems, because the topics that would've existed in General will be moved to Scripting and SL Answers and so forth. You're going to end up having to do more moderation to keep the topics on hand than you would've had to do with a normal catch-all.

We had a forum mourning party last night in SL and we filled up the sim. This is the first event I've ever been to in-world where such a thing happened. I'm pretty shocked and surprised at how devastated I feel by this decision; I feel like SL itself is being shut down and turned off and I'm telling people goodbye as if I'm never going to see them again. The party last night was the first time I met most of the "regulars" who I've communicated with for three years back and forth. It's disheartening to lose this. I feel that I'm losing friends. I hate that the community, even the people I dislike and can't stand, will be fractured and walled off from the rest of us. We're a family. We're not meant to be regarded this way.

There are many options you can employ to deal with the problem of moderation if you wanted to sit down and think the solution out. Get more resmods and give them more power in a consensus setting. Have their terms be rotating so fresh people come in regularly. Take a page from how Wikipedia moderates crap; do you have any idea the number of edits they deal with a day, most of which are "zomg Tommy Fredericks in 6th grade likes penis"?

I feel that if you are understaffed, you decided to just throw in the towel as opposed to trying and completing a viable solution. That makes me sad; you guys had innovation once, I don't know where it went.

So I'm asking as a "regular," and I'm sure my opinion is reflected by most of the other people who write in the forums: what can we do to change your minds? PLEASE, I'm begging this of all of you. Come to us and say you want our help to fix this; you guys are hemorrhaging out your userbase because we feel more than ever that it's us verses you. You can't even begin to process the opinion-shift we'd have if you told us you wanted to work together to fix the problem. Please, Torley, Jeska, Pathfinder and everyone else: help me and everyone else to believe it when you said you want to walk hand-in-hand with us.

Edit: Since this is no reply, you can read resident opinion here if you don't want to take my word for it. Please reconsider this decision. We're asking this fervently.
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Hi Joshua--you, and certainly not only you, have done your best. I grew up here on the forums... reading my early posts (from late 2004) and the replies to them really made me feel nostalgic. To relate to what you said, too, I remember attending inworld forum parties too.

Many of your points are ones I've personally been thinking+feeling about for the long time. And of course, I've been an active poster here too. So as a person, a human being, I totally feel for *everything* that's going on... positive, negative, and the whole spectrum.

Some things sound great in words, but in actual practice, they didn't play out that way. "Get more resmods and give them more power in a consensus setting." is a perfect example of that. Why? Because of the considerable controversy and how (1) more power was actively opposed by many Resis and (2) how a consensus couldn't be reached. I got a lot of pain over splintering like that. People who will not agree, can benefit from choices--the possibilities that additional forums that do what we simply cannot (e.g., offer an unmoderated environment).

It also doesn't take into account the many who've also supported the decision to close those forums, some of which don't want to post on the forums and express their opinion because of fear of being jumped on. Including ex-regular posters. It's so hard because, of course, you never see those private communiques. And at the same time, we can't ignore those voices which aren't as vocal, but all part of our community.

It goes back and forth and to every point, there's a counterpoint. Nevertheless, we believe this is the best course of action for the here and now. Walking hand-in-hand is a journey, and along the way, scenery changes. For better, for worse, if I mess up in my job I hope you will forgive me, because I'll admit it.

Just know I am a spirit here... I will be making pilgrimages to Resident-run forums and our SLogosphere, watching as things develop. Sharing the info with my fellow Lindens. By this point, I don't have as many words to say--I've already said quite enough, so it's important to listen... I'm excited about change but in a way, does it feel like I'm moving from my childhood home to somewhere new and better, but I'll always miss where I grew up? Yeah.

Thank you.