One of the most historically active stop motion communities is going through a big change. Created by Anthony Scott, stopmotionanimation.com was always the place to go for advice or to promote your own projects. There was also a handbook for beginners, helpful links, a gallery and even a shop at one time. A truly friendly place where someone always had the answer to your question.
Anthony has been a big supporter of the stop motion community for nearly 25 years with the creation of his popular message boards. As a skilled animator, he is very well known in the industry. He's worked with Art Clokey on the original Gumby series, the Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline and many more. If you've seen any modern stop motion feature, chances are you've seen his handiwork. His website has always been about spreading his passion for the art in service to others.
In surprising news, Anthony sent this message out and also posted it on the front of his website:
"StopMotionAnimation.com in its current form, on the Ning platform, will be shutting down on 09/28/24. Be assured that I will be looking into other uses for the site. Since 1999, this website has been an important keystone in the Stop Motion Community. Thank you all for your participation over the years!"
A bit shocked, I asked if he would be creating a replacement message board going forward. I also asked Anthony if he would continue his popular animation Jams. Most may already know, but the Jams allowed anyone to participate by contributing animation and helping one another out. He replied:
"I have no immediate plans for the site. The Ning platform and its support has been going downhill. I am keeping the domain and I will put up a temporary page with all the Jams listed for everyone to access until another update to the site is ready."
Does this mean it is the ultimate end of the message boards? I don't want to speculate what "other uses" means, however I'm hopeful the change will be positive! Ning has had a lot of turmoil and mis-management for years which likely lead to his decision to leave them. When he completes the next iteration of his site, I'll post about those changes here in the news.
If you're worried that the current site will disappear for good, it is partially archived on the Internet Archive. There are still some snapshots where you can read past forum posts after the year 2017, but earlier ones may not work:
*UPDATE: It has been confirmed that sadly the famous message boards will not be coming back.
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