Dammit this is so sad.
I understand it was necessary, but still so sad. So much history....
Oh well, in a hundred years no one will care (my life philosophy).
The thread rolls on GT. The old one is not going anywhere. It's just being closed and archived. We used to only close threads at 100K previously but by then they were a total bear to use, and most users were almost relieved when the thread finally got closed and a new one opened in it's stead. It's why folks like the Reo chat thread etc started closing and creating their own threads at around 50K.
Once we get this ball rolling, and turning over threads at every 15K post, history will continue to make itself because at the end of the day it's folks like you that give us our fondest memories of this thread and that my friend is never going away.