Very good question re. "What happened to the Skype, RIP thread?"
I've no idea and it perturbs me; whilst it wasn't aviation related it was full of good gen that assisted many of the ME aviators and there is no reason that I know of for it to have been pulled. It's not parked in any forum that I have access to, I've asked the powers that be on this site if they know where it's gone & will revert to you when I get a response.
4HP