After much consideration, I have made the difficult decision to retire the Wellesnet Message Board.
The forum was once a vibrant hub for Orson Welles enthusiasts — offering in-depth discussions, rare insights, and a sense of community that helped define Wellesnet in its early years. However, as online habits have shifted and social media platforms have become the primary space for discussion, participation in the message board has significantly declined. In recent months, activity dropped to just a handful of posts, and the board had become increasingly difficult to maintain. The aging software was no longer compatible with newer site infrastructure and, unfortunately, contributed greatly to repeated site crashes.
While I understand that this may be disappointing to some of our long-time visitors, I believe this change will ultimately strengthen Wellesnet’s overall performance and allow us to focus on what it does best — sharing news, rare content, and thoughtful commentary on the life and work of Orson Welles. Those doing research can view old message board posts via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20250516002244/https://wellesnet.com/phpbb2/
I invite everyone to continue the conversation on our Facebook page and other social media platforms, where engagement remains strong and active. Thank you to all who contributed to the message board over the years. Your passion and insights helped make it a remarkable resource.
– Ray Kelly