The End

This site will stop working.

Dear WOTClans.com.br users, friends,

As the creator and owner of this site, I regret to inform you that I will soon be ceasing its activities, both the site and the bot. I explain below.

The main reason is that my life has changed a lot since I created the site in 2016-02. At the time, my work and family life gave me a lot of free time, time that I spent playing WoT, and then investing in the website to learn programming techniques that were new to me (in my work I am a backend developer). But my beloved youngest daughter was born, and the work has become much more intense since 2019.

Concurrent with this, my vision has worsened a lot, and even with 2 surgeries, it is uncomfortable to play on television, sitting on the sofa, due to the distances at which I can focus (I can only see well from very close up, or from a distance; between 0.5m and 5m vision it's blurry. Yes, I can wear glasses, but it's not the same for someone who had a 20/20 vision). I haven't played much WoT or any other game since 2019, except Minecraft with my little one.

During this time the website, the bot and its database became obsolete in technological and functional terms. I still can't track Cold War battles, and refactoring to include them, although not technically difficult, would take a long time.

In addition to these primary issues, there is my fear regarding legal risks. Yes, legal risks on a game statistics site! This is due to the recent implementation of the Brazilian LGPD (General Data Protection Law), which requires explicit consent from each player before their personal data can be processed. The law is draconian, with heavy fines, and vague language on what can be defined as "personal information." Some lawyers I consulted say that Game Tags are personal, others do not. And I don't want a judge to decide. Even if it's not personal data, I don't want to spend money on lawyers.

Therefore, the website, and the bot, will stop working before the next renewal period in 2024-02. It's not a question of money: fortunately, even though I live in a very poor country, I can afford USD 120/year; and I know that generous donors would help me pay, as they have done over the years.

The site's code is Open Source, it is on GitHub. If anyone wants to carry the flag, I warn you that it is heavy: obsolete technology (.Net 4.8, ASP.Net MVC) and a Sql Server database that is massive and full of complicated procedures. I do not recommend.

Thanks to the website I met a lot of people, from all over the world. We exchanged stories and played games together. With some I created friendships that will last for a long time.

I thank Wargaming, who always helped me, allowed me to use their art on my website, dedicated staff to create translations into other languages and even gave me tanks as gifts.

But most of all, I want to thank each and every one of you for your support and for making this site a success. It was a passion project of mine, and it's sad to have to end it. It's like a good book that ends: you're happy to have lived the story, but it comes to an eventual end.

A fraternal hug,

JP Negri