There actually is a Discord already! I think Goom might be able to provide an invitation to it, or knows who can. As to what precisely happened to the forum, all I know for sure is that the last post before it vanished for around a year was in December of that year. A lot of folks tried to contact Richard through the last known contacts, but many of them routed through the forum's own domain, so there wasn't any luck with that for a long time. Now Richard himself is back, seems like, since he posted in the 'say you're alive' thread recently.
I've really missed message boards, too; it's wonderful to have RAF back, and I'm really hoping we can build up enough momentum with our interactions to attract more posting activity from others. Gracious, but it's good to see you. And yes, still twinkling in the Arches Cluster, which can be found right in the middle of Sagittarius.
Denmark! That's quite a change! I hope adulthood is managing to treat you decently.