[April Fool] Facebook acquisition notice

Xyon

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My fellow Orbinauts,

As a result of the increasing costs of operating the forum and its ancillary services, we have looked far and wide for additional support to maintain our service to you. We've long prided ourselves on being advert-free since the beginning, but this has left a sizable gap in our revenue that we haven't quite been able to fill. In order to bridge this chasm, we have had to look to private investment as a means of keeping the forum afloat. Of the many offers on the table, we have opted to align very closely with Facebook, which as some of you may know is a small social media website which does run a negligible amount of advertising as a revenue source.

In our talks with Facebook, they have been very clear and optimistic about the future of the platform, maintaining our ability to offer a safe space for space flight enthusiasts, as well as the go-to site for information about new Orbiter releases. Our exciting rebranding process is almost complete, and we can't wait to reveal the new and improved "Timeline" user interface, coming to your system within a few weeks whether you want it or not. In addition, Facebook Orbiter Forum will implant several cookies on your device, which we are assured will only follow your activity whilst you are engaging with the Facebook platform, or any site with a Facebook share button. Several staff members from Facebook have assured us that this user tracking is essential for the system to operate properly and that routine data harvesting is just a facet of 21st Century life.

You will begin to see advertising operating on the system as Facebook Orbiter Forum seeks to recoup its investment using its primary revenue-gathering approach. The adverts will slowly begin to tailor themselves to your unique preferences and desires, using information gathered from your forum posts, your profile, your private messages, your emails, and anything spoken aloud or consciously thought whilst engaged with the Facebook Orbiter Forum site.

Finally, the senior forum staff are all retiring as of this notice, to go sit on a beach somewhere warm and sip cocktails while enjoying the investment portfolio Facebook have tendered to make all this possible. It has been a pleasure to be your forum administrative team, and we wish your new overlords every success in monetising the absolute maximum from every facet of your lives from this moment on.

Best wishes, and see ya suckers,

Your former OF team.
 

Face

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Is our contact there Mrs. April Jokey, first PR officer of Facebook? Had some run-ins with her before, not the best kind of person, to be honest.
 

jedidia

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Gorram, I told you to give me a call if you need more money! ? (In all seriousness, though, that offer still stands. I have no idea how you're looking for the next year).
 

Sbb1413

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I don't know whether it is a 4-1 joke, but all I say that I can't financially help Orbiter Forum.
 

dbeachy1

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I don't know whether it is a 4-1 joke, but all I say that I can't financially help Orbiter Forum.

It was posted on April 1st, and it's an April Fools joke. The forum is doing fine financially (although the donation widget isn't working), so no need to worry. :)
 

n72.75

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This was a good one.
 

Thinker55

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Well done, though! It was clear to me that it had to be satire, but it was beautifully executed.
 

n72.75

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Really worried to see Facebook picking Orbiter now its open sourced. Not sure what the future of this simulator holds.
That's pretty far down my list of things I'm worried about right now. Lots of large wealthy organizations have always had the ability and resources to develop something like this, but yet it's those of us who do it for free and share our code, that actually do it. That should tell you something.

Also, can we tag this thread as [2021 April Fool's]? Probably not the best thing to see if you're visiting the forum for the first time, having just heard about the move to open source.

It was a darn good April Fool's joke though...
 
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