Our dearest Gromph has passed away

Feels like we're on the cusp of so many cool advancements. Neuralink, CRISPR gene editing, Mars colonization, mRNA treatments, epigenetic reprogramming. Even the upcoming launch of the James Webb telescope later this year should lead to amazing imagery and a better understanding of our universe. Wish he could've been here to see all of it play out.
 
EviLore said:
Feels like we're on the cusp of so many cool advancements. Neuralink, CRISPR gene editing, Mars colonization, mRNA treatments, epigenetic reprogramming. Even the upcoming launch of the James Webb telescope later this year should lead to amazing imagery and a better understanding of our universe. Wish he could've been here to see all of it play out.
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He was the kind of guy who would really appreciate those things 😢
 
EviLore said:
With the heaviest of hearts, I regret to inform you all that NeoGAF's long-time heroic system administrator, Gromph Gromph , has passed away suddenly.

Gromph, real name Raúl, built NeoGAF's infrastructure and oversaw the technical aspects of our growth into a huge community over the course of more than a decade.

He performed the system migration from vBulletin to Xenforo in 2017-2018. Other sysadmins told me that it was physically impossible to be done in the time frame that Gromph did it, as our database is enormous, but he found a way to keep the downtime to an absolute minimum and ensure a smooth transition to our current platform with all 100+ million posts intact.

He cared about this place and was always there to ensure we were able to keep going. Gromph stuck around for the good times and the not-so-good times alike, without hesitation. I can't overstate how much of a technical challenge it was to keep the site operational on our old vB platform, which was never designed to scale to that level. But he got it done.

He was an excellent friend and a badass competitive billiards player. He even had a custom NeoGAF cue case made that he brought to tournaments.

The world is far worse off without him.

Rest in peace, Raúl.
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Rest in Peace Raúl, you were one of the pillars that kept NeoGAF running and you performed pure magic in your days.
 
Rest in peace Gromph and thank you for all the work you did for this forum. We have a thriving community here and every one is thankful for it.
 
I can't pretend to know who he is, but there's something inherently unfair in the way Death sometimes chooses, seemingly randomly, who he wants to cross the river Styx.

RIP Gromph Gromph
 
I didn't get the chance to chat with him as often as I would have liked, but every time I did it was clear how passionate and caring of a man he was. He truly loved gaming and the GAF community.

RIP, Gromph. Thank you for the fond memories.
 
Though my interaction with Gromph was very limited (unless he also was active under a different name), I am very saddened to hear about this loss. All the best wishes to his family and friends, including of course you, Evilore.
 
My condolences, Evilore.

Like many here, I didn't personally know or interact with him, but was touched by his work as an administrator.
 
Always awful when somebody good dies before their time. Live for the present GAF, you don't know if you'll be around tomorrow.

Rest in peace Gromph Gromph and my condolences to his friends and family.
 
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Never knew/interacted with him, but sounds like an awesome fella. Hope he's chilling out on a massive cloud somewhere with a nice glass of gin and tonic.
 
RIP, didn't know the guy, but respect for supporting GAF both in good and bad times and staying on for so many years.
 
Sad to read this, all those people in the background who kept GAF up down the years for E3 and all the other site killing leaks/breaks. Condolences to family, friends etc.

200.gif
 
First of all RIP. never had the chance to see his posts but he is in a better place right now.

EviLore EviLore , you said suddenly. May I ask what happened? Covid ? accident ? sickness ?

It hurts the most when unexpected death happens. you don't even get the chance to prepare yourself.
 
EviLore said:
With the heaviest of hearts, I regret to inform you all that NeoGAF's long-time heroic system administrator, Gromph Gromph , has passed away suddenly.

Gromph, real name Raúl, built NeoGAF's infrastructure and oversaw the technical aspects of our growth into a huge community over the course of more than a decade.

He performed the system migration from vBulletin to Xenforo in 2017-2018. Other sysadmins told me that it was physically impossible to be done in the time frame that Gromph did it, as our database is enormous, but he found a way to keep the downtime to an absolute minimum and ensure a smooth transition to our current platform with all 100+ million posts intact.

He cared about this place and was always there to ensure we were able to keep going. Gromph stuck around for the good times and the not-so-good times alike, without hesitation. I can't overstate how much of a technical challenge it was to keep the site operational on our old vB platform, which was never designed to scale to that level. But he got it done.

He was an excellent friend and a badass competitive billiards player. He even had a custom NeoGAF cue case made that he brought to tournaments.

The world is far worse off without him.

Rest in peace, Raúl.
Click to expand...
I hope you are in a better place now Gromph Gromph my sincere condolences to your family and friends RIP.
 
Never had a chance to speak to him directly, but I've seen and used the fruits of his labor. Condolences to friends and family.
 
Condolences to his family and friends.

I never knew him, but from the OP I can tell he really cared about GAF and put his heart and soul into making this site better for all of us.
 
Awful news. Never met him but from some interactions with him in various threads and Discord briely, he seemed to live a really chill and successful life out here in Japan. I wonder what happened...
 
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