FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[FMF Forum]

On a day like today, 19 years ago, I set out to create something I never imagined could grow so much. When we have a child, we never know how they’ll turn out—and in this case… it turned out glorious!

You’ll see below this message a long text that I kindly ask you to read carefully, because now that both FMFs (twins but not identical, as the two forums are quite different) have reached adulthood, the time has come to seriously think about their future. And that’s exactly what I / we, the administrators, have been doing over the past year.

First, we looked for the best possible godparent (the mim Museum). Then we had to prepare the two forums entry into higher education (migrating from phpBB2 to formats compatible with the most recent versions of PHP and Linux). And to make sure everything was well secured, we also had to think about their “retirement plan” (the Fundació Mineralògica Fabre).
And now, dear mineralnaut, we’re almost there! In one or two years, our lovely twins will have the future we’ve been lovingly preparing for them.
I won’t go on much longer. The text below explains everything. Read it and you’ll understand why we’ve been standing strong for so many years… and why we believe we’ll keep bugging you for many more!



Jordi Fabre________________________________________________________________________

FMF Administrators

19 years have passed since the creation of this forum. The 2024–2025 period marks a very special year, both because of the changes — some already known and others, very important, that will be explained in this post — and because of the numbers and achievements reached, which demonstrate the good health FMF currently enjoys.

The total number of visits since its creation has been 162,997,393; in the last year 2024–2025 (from August 7 to August 6), the number of visits has been 42,017,633, and 1,941 posts and 159 new topics have been published (an average of 3,1 topics per week).
It is striking how some of the historical topics have a so large number of views, such as, for example:

Presentation of new members - Reference Thread (9,411,382views)

Collection of Fiebre Verde (3,658,141 views)

Collection of Michael Shaw (3,074,296views)

These numbers encourage all of us administrators to keep going, despite the considerable work involved in moderating a forums like this and maintaining its current standards of respect and quality. That level has been possible thanks to the continuous daily work of Jordi and all the administrators who have worked to manage the forums — and, of course, thanks to the many forum members who have shared their knowledge, questions, and curiosity to learn and teach, which is the essence of the forums. Some of those administrators had to step down for various reasons, but we want to express our deepest gratitude to each and every one of them.

We are also greatly encouraged by the support and recognition from the mim Museum in Beirut (Lebanon), which this year took the form of a collaboration agreement described in this post: mim Museum supports FMF!. We are grateful to Salim Eddé and the entire museum team for sharing their wonderful collection with us: The MIM Museum in Beirut, Lebanon, of which we already have more than 2,200 high-quality photographs available on FMF, also visible in their Gallery.

And a key point worth remembering. We mustn’t forget the great technical work done by Joan Fabre, who managed to keep alive and running a website built with phpBB (an open-source forum system written in PHP). The original packages have been customized and adapted to FMF’s needs over these 19 years. Due to lack of time, it was not possible to update to a more modern version of PHP, and as a result, the software currently used by FMF is obsolete. It is likely that in the not-too-distant future, platforms will stop supporting this technology.
Unfortunately, given his current personal and professional situation, Joan cannot carry out the migration FMF now needs. At this point, we want to thank Joan for a job well done over so many years and for his dedication — not always recognized by the forum members — to the internal workings of the forum, which often go unnoticed when everything works well. As is often the case, the least visible and most difficult work is the least appreciated. Once again, our thanks to Joan.

But… starting July 1, David Espinar from the company OKA, https://oka.es, has joined the FMF team. He will be in charge of migrating FMF’s software to a more modern, stable, and maintainable version that can run on updated Linux servers. He will try to preserve and adapt the special functionalities developed over the last 19 years, ensuring that the spirit, content, and essential functioning of the forums is not lost. He will also be responsible for ongoing maintenance and future improvements. During this transitional period, he will have Joan’s technical support. The migration is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. Throughout the entire transition, the forums will remain open and operating normally, with minimal disruption to users.
Welcome, David, to the FMF team! The challenge is not small — but it’s very exciting.

And now, let’s talk about what should ‘consolidate’ all this:
For some time now, the administrators, led by Jordi Fabre, have been discussing how we could ensure the continuity of FMF. Finally, it has been decided to create a foundation, the Fundació Mineralògica Fabre (name in Catalan chosen by the administrators), based in Barcelona, which will have under its umbrella: FMF (Foro de Mineralogía Formativa) and MVM (Museo Virtual de Minerales), and their English-language counterparts: FMF (Friends of Minerals Forum) and MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum). This foundation is currently being established, and we will keep you informed as the project progresses.

It is because of all this that, with the support of the mim Museum, an internally renewed Forum, the current administrators (and those to come in the future), those who post or ask questions, the trust of our readers, and the creation of the Fundació Mineralògica Fabre, we are convinced that the forum will remain alive and active for many more years to come.

________________________________________________________________________

And now, after such serious matters, we offer you a little pastime. We’ve searched among the first posts published on the Forum and found a few that we thought were representative.
We invite you to travel back in time and read some of the first contributions from forum members, back in 2006:

Opinions about Mineralogical Record's Article

How to find the best specimen

Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today

[Roy Starkey]

Thanks Jordi, and everybody who has played a part in FMF, and will continue to do so going forwards.

Onwards and upwards!

Best wishes

Roy

Here is a nice miniature from my collection.
Pyromorphite and plumbogummite. Roughton Gill Mine, Cumbria. RES2140.181. Dimensions 40 x 30 x 20 mm

[Jordi Fabre]

Charming miniature!

Thanks Roy!!