I Hope I'm Wrong - but

[Joe S (AK)]

Many of us old timers came to "the Gold forums" years ago as a way to give and then receive knowledge in our chosen passion having to do with Gold and the recovering of it. Jim Foley was one of the early miners who created a place for us to exchange mining 'stuff' (The Alaska Gold Forum) and one technique he preferred was dredging. Early on in Alaska and then, much later on the west coast.
About the same time others also started their own forums and, among those early forum owners, was a miner who stood above others (figuratively and literally). That gent, was Leonard Lepper, from the Denver area, who had started "Golddredger.com" with his emphasis also on dredging.
LEONARD quickly became a well known forum provider and his forum was mentioned and recommended by Jim to me. (Jim Foley and I had been friends for a long, long time). LEONARD and I quickly became friends and whenever I could I would meet with him during my infrequent trips through the Denver area. Over the years either LEONARD or I would call and spend an hour or so just BSing on the phone and over time we were very comfortable sharing 'things' about mining and also Alaska (LEONARD 'rode out the 27 March, '64 Good Friday Earthquake while stationed with the Air Force At Elmendorf AFB).
So over the years LEONARD and I shared 'stuff, usually through emails and late night phone calls. Then one day I realized that it had been much too long since I had heard from LEONARD and so I called, and called, and called - and then, finally, I got through.
After a few minutes it came out that his participation on the forum had suddenly stopped due to an increasing ""... memory problem ..."
Of course we both understood that "the elephant was now firmly standing in the room" and yet we pushed through it until the end of the call.
I mention all this because I would 'hit' the Goldgold every day to hope that one of the old regulars would post something. Then, a couple of weeks ago the site URL showed having "503 Service Unavailable" difficulties which I hoped was just some sort of connection glitch. The situation still has not changed and even though participation had been almost non-existant, well, I was still hoping.
And so - if anyone has heard something could you PM me here or even post any news?

Thanks, Joe

[Geowizard]

Joe,

I too, corresponded with Leonard. We had a common interest in Electronics. His website was a repository of knowledge on the subject. In my last contact, now, years ago, I attempted to generate continued discussion by email on one of his passions, the "Teeny" microcontroller. His response was an unexpected, absent minded disconnect on the subject. I often think about past members and ask myself, "Where have they all gone?".

- Geowizard