Earlier this month, long-running music website and forum Popjustice unceremoniously announced its closure after 26 years; now, fans and members have banded together to launch the new Pop Square forum.
The blunt farewell note posted on the Popjustice website reads as follows:
This message will be here like this for an hour or so, then a very similar message will be here overnight, and then a different message will be here after that. In short, though: move along, there's nothing to see here.
And in the spirit of moving along: when the forum's closure was announced, members very quickly got together and created a new place called Pop Square, so you can carry things on there if you like.
What a time, eh?
PJ x
Popjustice was launched in the year 2000 by music journalist Peter Robinson, who started his career at Smash Hits. It became a widely beloved blog for pop music discourse, known for its wry writing style and user interaction.
Fans on reddit were devastated by the news. "A forum shutting down is one thing. But for the owner to decide to shut everything down and delete everything is simply cruel, given the millions of posts across all the threads," wrote u/Fab240722.
Some theorised that the move had less to do with hosting costs or the Online Safety Act, and more to do with the founder's disdain for the community. "The announcement is very 'It's Not Me, It's You!'," said u/MercuryFalling86. "I find it odd that he created such a meaningful brand and slowly neglected it," said another, u/feelthefear96.
Shortly after the announcement, a new hub for pop music discourse launched to take its place: Pop Square, which brands itself simply as, "A pop music forum." The site is not fully open yet. The FAQs section confirms, "Once we feel confident enough that we have satisfied all the requirements for The Online Safety Act we will open registrations."
Find out more at popsquare.co
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