I might have not understood properly, but I think Sean is saying that by deleting the forums, all of old DIS might have to go too, which would include articles and reviews etc. This would obviously be a shame (people might also be using the articles they wrote for CV purposes etc), but I guess if the Community are fine with that then ok. Do think Sean’s feelings re 20 years of his work should be taken into account before making this decision too though (not suggesting that anyone is ignoring Sean’s feelings btw).
Totally agree that if the old forums can be deleted, without removing the old site entirely and without it causing loss of revenue to Sean (or if it did, the community accept that they would have to make up the shortfall), this would seem like the best solution.