I don't know what they're planning but I said from the very beginning, since the announcement, that I'll be surprised if it actually closes. We'll see.
My guess is that there are negotiations ongoing either internally within Amazon or with a third party about selling DPR, and DPR management aren't allowed to share any actual details until the negotiations are finished.
Not a bad guess. Still, that would have started only after the initial closure announcement (so an external party that wasn’t privy to the internal mid-January announcement). A messy process that has damaged the site
Yes, even if DPR will successfully continue operations, many people have moved on due to the mess and won't come back anymore. That on top of shrinkage due to market changes and somewhat aging audience is a problematic combination. They'll need to figure out how to draw in new users somehow.
If they have sold it, it will be interesting to see what emphasis the new owners put on forums as opposed to whatever else they may have purchased it for.
But if it rises like Lazarus, will there be an amnesty for all the people they sandboxed or banned in the the so called "last days" when a lot of moderation scores were settled or people got nicked for posting about other sites or for making comments about the running of DPR forums here and elsewhere. It seems lots of people cannot post there anymore, unless of course the do a name changing act.
Yesbutno. While I mostly visited the forum, I also regularly checked the news and read articles that interested me. As a business proposition that part may be viable