As you likely know, Popular Front Studios Inc in Minneapolis MN was closed down early in November, (for more on this see HERE).  Yesterday, SnowDays vanished from the web, and today the main site 'popularfront.com' followed suite.  When one tries to view it, they currently get the following message:

I've been getting letters inquiring about this, but unfortunately I have little to no information to report about it.  I thought I would make this page though, as it's easier than trying to answer a bunch of individual emails ;)  From the little information we DO have, I don't think this is necessarily cause for alarm.

First off, I would like to remind everyone about what 'CODEGUY' mentioned at the Flickr Group, (see HERE). He mentioned that "Laurence", (who is one of the original founders of Popular Front) was optimistic about KEEPING SnowDays alive through all this.  'CG' did also mention that he thought it would be running until the end of the month, but personally, I think that the opportunity may have risen for them to move SnowDays to its new server location earlier than originally planned, and that's why it is down earlier.  Remember, the HUGE X-mas rush is upon us, and I should think they'd want to have SnowDays up and running again ASAP for these seasonal flakers.

The last message CODEGUY left was 5 days ago.  He mentioned he thought he'd be hearing something from Laurence in a few days.  --- It would appear that he did!

Frankly, I do not know what happened to the advertising agency itself.  I do not know for certain if the company went bankrupt and into receivership, or if the owners voluntarily closed their doors due to lack of business.  It sounds as though the "assets" of the company are going "elsewhere" though, so take what you will out of that.

As far as "assets" are concerned, I do not know if this just means physical things, such as computers, chairs, desks, and property, or if it also means "cyber" things such as web addresses (popularfront.com) and programs, (SnowDays).  Your guess is as good as mine!

Assuming SnowDays IS coming back online, (and I'm doing just that), where will it be?  Will we find it at the same address, (snowdays.popularfront.com), or will it be somewhere else?  Well, this all depends on how Popular Front closed their doors I suppose.  I wouldn't be surprised either way, it MAY still be at that location, or it may have an entirely new web address, we'll just have to wait and see.

To begin with, I'm pretty sure SnowDays will look pretty much identical to the way it looked when it went down, (if not eXactly the same).  One thing I'm pretty sure we'll see in a hurry is that the Popular Front brand will disappear.  I also think that IF SnowDays DOES return, we're going to see some BIG changes to the site.  I won't mention what those changes might be, but I have heard some 'rumors' in the past.  (Don't worry, from what I've heard, they'd be GOOD changes!).  ;)

So now we wait, (like we have any other choice!).  Code Guy mentioned he would let us all know something when time allowed for it.  Keep checking back at the Flickr Group to see what he says, and if you'd like to leave your own thoughts there, just sign up as a member and do so!

SnowDays going down BEFORE popularfront.com did is a GOOD sign, I think.  It shows that someone is meticulously working in the background, (instead of someone just "pulling the plug" on everything at once!).

Try not to worry, I think there is a VERY GOOD CHANCE that SnowDays will be back again SOON!

"X"
11/23/11