Gallifrey Base and the DWFuture

Outpost Gallifrey

By Shaun Lyon

With our impending closure at Outpost Gallifrey and the Doctor Who Forum, we wanted to share some recent developments in the online world of fandom...

Today is the grand opening of Gallifrey Base, the de factosuccessor to the Doctor Who Forum. While a brand new community in its own right, Gallifrey Base is created and administered by Steve Hill, who has served as DWF's senior forum administrator for the past several years, and features many of the recent staff members of our Forum here. Everything that made the DWF so successful with many users -- new and classic episode discussions, DVD discussions, the "Enlightenment" section, the 'real world' discussion sections, and so forth -- are duplicated in Gallifrey Base... with the added bonus of a "fresh start" to everything. As of August 1, the doctorwhoforum.com URL will redirect from our own Forum to the new Gallifrey Base forum.

(Please note: if you're trying to get to Gallifrey Base and are unsuccessful - due to DNS switchover, the way the Internet looks things up - then CLICK HERE instead for the next 24 hours or so. Likewise, if Gallifrey Base sends you an "Activation Required" email and your links don't work, click here to confirm. Again, these issues are natural for new sites and will be sorted out automatically within the next 12 hours or so...)

Also getting ready for opening is the newest incarnation of The Doctor Who News Page, which will be affiliated with Gallifrey Base. The entire current news team at the News Page here at Outpost Gallifrey has moved over to a blog-style news page which will also be adding some new team members and will be kept up to date with all the latest. Benjamin Elliott's popular "This Week in Doctor Who" column will continue there as well, and some new features are being installed, including aggregate RSS feeds from other popular Doctor Who news sites, to keep you fully updated on the worlds ofDoctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. As soon as the new News Page is ready for launch, within the next few weeks, doctorwhonews.com will point there (it currently points to the news page here).

Gallifrey Base is also subsuming a very popular part of the Outpost Gallifrey archive that was discontinued some time ago, but is being resumed and will be fully updated shortly after launch: the entire contents of OG's Doctor Who Episode Guide, complete with its library of indexed and searchable database (actors, crew members, and so forth). Many have relied heavily on the Episode Guide in the past, and we're happy to announce that the Gallifrey Base team has decided to include this as part of their website... and it will be fully public (i.e. no forum registration required).

Meanwhile, as previously announced, on August 1 the entire gallifreyone.com website will consist of the webspace for the Gallifrey One conventions, our popular North American Doctor Who conventions every February here in Los Angeles. Gallifrey Base will assume the role of the convention's official discussion board (with a thread in GB's conventions section) alongside our sister convention, ChicagoTARDIS, as well as discussions on many other worldwide convention events. Look for updates to the Gallifrey 2010 convention -- featuring Peter Davison as our first announced guest -- very soon.

Finally... now that the dust has settled over the announcement of the closure of Outpost Gallifrey and, most especially, the Doctor Who Forum, we are delighted that not only has Gallifrey Base been started, but many people have started some new and fun communities and sites, and some other long time discussion forum have received an influx of new members. We encourage everyone to try both Gallifrey Base and the new Doctor Who News Page, as well as some of the other sites with forum communities that Outpost Gallifrey heartily recommends, as follows:

Doctor Who Online, a long-time friendly rival of Outpost Gallifrey, with its own thriving community featuring many special guests

Kasterborous, with a fantastic magazine-like news section and a pleasant forum community

Outpost Doctor Who, a brand new community begun by DWF members that's already going strong

Planet Kembel, formerly the Ian Levine Doctor Who Discussion Forum

Outpost Wrinkly, a small community of friendly DWF folks

The Leisure Hive, a new community of fans created from the DWF adult section (and still adults only, please!)

The Big Finish Forums, an official discussion site for the Big Finish Doctor Who audios

The Whoniverse, a nice information resource with its own discussion forum

There are many others, but these are a good start and all great places to find vast numbers of fellow fans online.

We will have more information for you before the official close of this site and forum, as our community moves on to new adventures!