Wizards of the Coast Community Website Timeline

2001
TSR Message boards shut down. New forums set up at WotC's website. Old data lost.

2007
Last published issue of the print version of Dragon Magazine is released by Paizo. The lisence is reverted to WotC who launch a online versions of Dragon and Dungeon untill 2013.

2007
WotC acquires the Gleemax Software. The Gleemax platform promises to provide services similar to early social media platforms like Myspace. Unfortunately this software turns out to be a disappointment to WotC.

WotC announces D&D Insider (DDI). This platform is to include 4E character generators, subscruption to Dragon and Dungeon Magazine and other services. DDI ends its support in 2014.

2008
Gleemax officially shut down. The forums and DDI are moved to the Community.wizards.com website.

WotC announces that all the Other Worlds Forums, except for the currently supported settings would be merged into a single forum. This decision is later reversed, but by then many users have already left for The Piazza and other forums.

2013
Last issue of the online Dragon Magazine is published.

Active community member Mark "Wrecan" Monack passed away April 21st. Missed by many in the community and outside it.


2014
WotC announces that DDI and the Magazines will no longer be supported to subscribers.

Website rewamped for D&D 5th Edition. Alot of information is lost from groups and blogs section of the community site.

New  "Wizards Account" launched allowing a single account for logging into Insider, D&D, MtG etc. The new system allowed merging previous accounts. However it also had quite strict requirements for passwords and a more complicated process for password recovery.

2015
February: Mailinglists are shut down and archives for the mailinglists of each setting.

October: Entire WotC community Website shut down on Oct 29th (announced). Fans rush to try to preserve some of the lore from the discussion forums.


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Comments:
Having invested 3600+ posts into this website I have to say I am saddened by this decision.  That being said, the last years seem to represent a series of failures in terms of maintaining a successful community. I still think it is a mistake by WotC not to run a forum of their own on their website. At the very least I would have liked to see the old forums preserved as an archive for future reference. I am thankful that they at least give us a decent time window to preserve the most vital information on other sites.


If you catch any errors or can provide any additional information that ought to be included here, please let me know in the comments below.


Although I think my readers are above this, "WotC is evil" type comments have no place here.

-Havard