ScoutLink’s public chat and gaming services will be unavailable throughout October 2026, including during JOTA-JOTI.
This is a temporary decision. ScoutLink is not closing.
Every year, JOTA-JOTI brings thousands of Scouts and Guides together online. Providing a safe and well-moderated environment at that scale requires significant support across our volunteer teams, including moderation, training, volunteer coordination and technical operations.
Following a careful review of our preparations for 2026, ScoutLink Council has decided that we will not open our services to the general public during October this year.
Safety has always been central to ScoutLink. We believe the responsible decision is to only provide our services when we are confident that we can support them to the standard that young people, leaders and our wider Scouting community should expect from us.
This decision is not the responsibility of any one person or team. ScoutLink is run entirely by volunteers, and delivering JOTA-JOTI requires people from across the organisation working together.
What does this mean for October?
Public access to ScoutLink’s IRC/Webchat and Minecraft services will be unavailable throughout October 2026. This includes the JOTA-JOTI weekend of 16–18 October 2026. JOTA-JOTI itself is still taking place as normal, and there are many other activities available through the official JOTA-JOTI programme.
You can find out more and take part in JOTA-JOTI at jotajoti.info.
Thank you to our volunteers
We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time to ScoutLink, both throughout the year and during previous JOTA-JOTI events.
If you had planned to volunteer with us this October, we encourage you to explore other opportunities to support JOTA-JOTI and Scouting during the event.
Looking ahead to 2027
Work on ScoutLink continues.
We will use the months ahead to strengthen our teams, improve how knowledge and responsibilities are shared, and prepare ScoutLink to play its part in JOTA-JOTI 2027.
If you would like to help ScoutLink prepare for the future, please get in touch with us. Whether you have experience in moderation, technology, media, training, volunteer coordination or another area, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Thank you for your understanding and for continuing to support ScoutLink.
Yours in Scouting,
ScoutLink Council & Team