Golden Bear's Den website is gone

[Viper]

Just tried to visit and appears it is now gone and it looks very permanent. This was the site for Golden Bear Challenge.
Any GBD members make a post in this thread so we can see who has found their way here.

[Westerner]

I was a GBD member about 20 years ago, before discovering PGA99-2000 and TruSwing.
After one site-rebuild back in the day (around 2005) I declined to re-register, but remained a lurker there. Recently, GBD was a private, register-to-read site.

Who knows. Maybe the Den owner is just late in paying his fees.

[Viper]

I was a GBD member about 20 years ago, before discovering PGA99-2000 and TruSwing.
After one site-rebuild back in the day (around 2005) I declined to re-register, but remained a lurker there. Recently, GBD was a private, register-to-read site.

Who knows. Maybe the Den owner is just late in paying his fees.

Snuffy was the site owner and passed away a while ago. The GBD members were offered to come here but nothing eventuated. It's expected they would not be keen to leave the site most of them had been at for a very long time and to be hopeful the site would just keep going. The danger after Snuffy's passing was the site would eventually disappear if no one was paying the bills. There was talk some members may be taking care of it but looks like that hasn't happened.

Shame if the GBD community is gone.

[BrianZ111]

I was sorry to hear of Snuffy's passing and was hoping someone would be able to take over their site. It looks like the domain name expired on March 8th. There's a grace period afterwards that the original owner can still renew it, if anyone is in control of his accounts. If not then it'll probably go to the highest bidder and become one of those former domain names with a bunch of ads on it. There might be a slight chance that the site wasn't popular enough for that to happen and it'll move into a state where someone can just buy it at a normal price. Next problem is recovering the content. It's entirely possible that the web hosting hasn't expired yet but has no domain name pointing to it now so it's just sitting on a server somewhere unreachable. Someone who buys the domain could try setting the nameservers back to what they were and see if the site comes back. If anyone is attempting this, let us know. Otherwise I might look into it myself.

I'm not in position with time to create a new site now but could pay for the domain name and transfer the hosting of it onto my current account if we can figure out how to save it. I'm also willing to offer up our hosting to someone who wants to create something new from scratch for the game if that's the only option.

[Galen_Golf4676]

Hello. I was one of the admins on Dave Smith's Golden Bears Den. We did recently have a discussion about adding Jack Nicklaus 6 Golden Bear Challenge to Golf Sim Clubhouse but there was no consensus on the subject. The GBD hosted the community forum, library of user-created courses, designer files and game accessories. Unfortunately the GBD's site domain expired recently, and the individual who hosts the Golden Bears Den plans on retiring soon. I am hoping the owner / admin of Golf Sim Clubhouse replies to this message on what needs to done in regards to transferring the necessary data. I can put you in touch with the owner of the web server. Thank you.

[Viper]

I'm not in position with time to create a new site now but could pay for the domain name and transfer the hosting of it onto my current account if we can figure out how to save it. I'm also willing to offer up our hosting to someone who wants to create something new from scratch for the game if that's the only option.

Wouldn’t it be best to have it all here? If we spread these old games over various websites it’ll be near impossible to generate interest for any of the games. Ultimately, I believe all the big 4 games of the past need to be represented on one site. I believe that’s the only way to generate future interest and bring people back to these games and to create communities with new players to the games.

I’m meaning the big 4 being:

PGA series
Jack Nicklaus series
Links series
Tiger Woods series

[BrianZ111]

I don't disagree Viper but the practical thing to do right now is to just put the site back up as is. Maybe there are ways to tie the sites together so that people go back and forth. We could note on it that Golf Sim Clubhouse is hosting it. Or maybe the forums could get integrated. I'm open to ideas that are easy to implement or volunteers for ideas that are harder to implement.

This site was born out of the fact that the last PGA 2000 site went down. Because I saw a future where more games were added, I went with the more generic name Golf Sim Clubhouse rather than something specific to PGA. WGC 2011 was added when its main site went down. Most recently I recognized that JNSE had no home on the internet anymore and decided to add that but it's still a work in progress and wouldn't be happening at all if Fred Hanser hadn't agreed to help out with organizing the content.

So the site's first and main purpose is to provide a place on the internet for golf games that don't have a place anymore. Secondary to that, I'd love to build a reincarnation of The Course Depot here. I don't have the time I used to now to work on this site though so it's going to take volunteers for each game added, similar to how Fred is helping with JNSE, to do it.

[BrianZ111]

Hello. I was one of the admins on Dave Smith's Golden Bears Den. We did recently have a discussion about adding Jack Nicklaus 6 Golden Bear Challenge to Golf Sim Clubhouse but there was no consensus on the subject. The GBD hosted the community forum, library of user-created courses, designer files and game accessories. Unfortunately the GBD's site domain expired recently, and the individual who hosts the Golden Bears Den plans on retiring soon. I am hoping the owner / admin of Golf Sim Clubhouse replies to this message on what needs to done in regards to transferring the necessary data. I can put you in touch with the owner of the web server. Thank you.

I've sent you an e-mail to the address in your profile.

[John A Bernard]

Sorry to have heard the our long time GBD web site has gone
I've been a menber since 2000 when JN6 arrived here in Portugal and imidiately downloaded Augusta National Course and it's Par 3 design also.
I've proudly reproduced 3 Real Portuguese Courses as i've played in them as a young kid in the 80's and 90's
.Quinta do Lago South
.Quinta do Lago North
.Vale do Lobo
I also updated existing Real Courses or tried my best
.Valderrama Golf Club
.Merion East
.Winged Foot

Hope we GBC Comunity continue our love for the Jack Nicklaus Golf Sim Game
Will continue to support the website

I'm 47 years old and live and work in Algarve Portugal

Thanks

John A Bernard

[Viper]

Sorry to have heard the our long time GBD web site has gone
I've been a menber since 2000 when JN6 arrived here in Portugal and imidiately downloaded Augusta National Course and it's Par 3 design also.
I've proudly reproduced 3 Real Portuguese Courses as i've played in them as a young kid in the 80's and 90's
.Quinta do Lago South
.Quinta do Lago North
.Vale do Lobo
I also updated existing Real Courses or tried my best
.Valderrama Golf Club
.Merion East
.Winged Foot

Hope we GBC Comunity continue our love for the Jack Nicklaus Golf Sim Game
Will continue to support the website

I'm 47 years old and live and work in Algarve Portugal

Thanks

John A Bernard

Hi John,

I've just checked through my GBC courses and see you have designed some absolute beauties!
GBC will live on as will the other golf games. Brian will be working on the forum here and it will undergo changes shortly to cater for all the old games. Files will be uploaded, I've been busy getting some things together, there is plenty to come. In the future, I will do everything possible to bring new people in. The last few days I've been messing a little with GBC, PGA 2000, Links LS plus a couple of other old golf games. It doesn't matter which one you play, the good games from the past all have their own particular strengths. They are all good. Totally love playing them!

It's great to see GBC members finding this place. Please stick around and watch things develop!