Hi all,
we’re reaching the end of the co-existence period of the old forum software hosted at forum.openstreetmap.org and this new platform, so it’s time for an update on the current status and what happens next.
First, thank you all for populating the subcategories in the #communities section. Activity on the new site has sharply increased over the past month and it’s great to have so many conversations going on!
Our plan now is to switch off write access to forum.openstreetmap.org, and to migrate existing content. This will involve roughly the following steps:
- Make forum.openstreetmap.org read-only. This is the first step and will happen in the near future, so please do not rely on the continued ability to have discussions on the old platform even though it is still technically functional at the time we’re publishing this update.
- Import the existing posts and threads into the temporary #migration category of this site using a script. (It is possible that this will involve a maintenance downtime of this platform. If this is the case, it will be communicated in advance.)
- Redirect existing
forum.openstreetmap.org/...URLs to the content’s new location. - Move imported content from the #migration category to its correct location, e.g. a local community category. This will be done manually by members of the @forums-governance team.
Now, originally this update was meant to include a precise timeline for these steps. Unfortunately, and contrary to our initial plans, development of the script required to execute the import is not yet complete. We will post additional information as soon as we get a new update or estimate from @Firefishy. We’re sorry for this transition not being as smooth as intended. 
Nevertheless, we hope you’ll enjoy your discussions on this new site while we’re working on completing the migration process. Please continue using the #site-feedback category to point out issues with this new software platform and request additional categories as needed.