I have removed this list.
I had been thinking that I ought to give some reason why I decided not to maintain the page. The recent, temporary, inaccessibility of the "homepages" does suggest that Which Online is not an ideal site. On the other hand the proliferation of forums, together with the apparent reluctance of Which Online to commit to the forums, also suggests that there ought to be a place for a list and perhaps a review of forums.
Even if we are optimistic about the Which Online forums, I feel that an "Alien Corn" page and forum is not completely appropriate here - although perhaps it ought to be.
Certainly the CA doesn't seem disposed to reveal its case against forums. An it is unquestionably true that the CA now has a specific case against forums. We can see that by observing the positive way in which they were started. The change cannot have come about by accident.
I have from time to time been critical of the CA on these forums. Recently my remarks, which I believe have been justified and which I hope were civil, have attracted some hostility (and, yes, support as well). But I don't care to be told to be silent by other subscribers - although I certainly don't the mind CA staff defending the organisation.
The Alien Corn page was, of course, critical of the Which Online attitude to forums. It could also have been critical of many other forum offerings, the BBC for instance, and even one other site dear to many here and formerly here.
Also, there are just so many forums that it is hard to know how to select and present them. As I have often said, if the CA finds itself unable to continue to provide a service, then it should list and recommend replacements. I suspect that in the case of forums this is unlikely to happen.
Then again, if I look hard enough, there is likely to be a site (many sites?) somewhere that already has an extensive list of forums. Anyway, to sum up, I have felt increasingly unhappy with my interactions on these forums, and also have felt unable to maintain an "Alien Corn" which did what I wanted with the immense amount of information potentially available.
But where else? The obvious answer ought to have been:
but it isn't. It's very clear that discussion of Which Online is not welcome there. Any mention of the Consumer Association immediately attracts a diversion into any convenient topic - usually "if you don't like the CA, why don't you just cancel your subscription". But if this implies a hostility to the mention of any other forum - and I fear that it probably does - then I'm not inclined to experiment.
For reference, the associated forum is still here
For reference (and contingent on there being no more of the virtual stalking I have suffered), the original list is here