I don't remember exactly what sparked the decision. I know I had discovered Zetaboards and was intrigued by its more modern look and feel and feature options that Invisionfree didn't have, but I can't help but feel that's far too simple a reason. It may have had something to do with the fact that we'd been in closed-off seclusion for about a year and a half following some "hacking" attempts, and I wanted to reopen the place to the public and get a fresh start.
Or maybe I really was just drawn in by the shiny promises of new software and fancy themes and options. We may never know. Regardless, the decision was made and a new forum was created, with the Invisionfree forum turning into a read-only archive.
In hindsight, I may have been too hasty with this move. The fact that everyone had to re-register a new account and start over (I don't remember if conversion services existed back then and I just didn't want to do it, or what) didn't sit well with everyone, and several members didn't return for quite a while - if at all. The fact that I copied over everyone's existing post counts from Invisionfree also seemed to contradict the idea of a 'fresh start', as the active users ranks were basically untouched.
The change made for a rocky start, and the remaining 4 and a half months of 2008 were rather uneventful. Still, here are a handful of memorable moments from the time.
For the former half of 2008 prior to the move, see here.