Last month my web hosting company apparently went out of business without telling anyone. Repeated attempts to contact them have been unsuccessful, but if you’re interested in the sordid details, a fellow refugee has documented the situation.
Apart from the drama, this is where we stand:
- I managed to back up my database a few hours before the server went down for the last time. Thanks to the tasty goodness of XAMPP, I can view Ducksnorts on my own machine and confirm that no content has been lost. I got lucky.
- Some files (mostly graphics, I suspect; still need to do a proper inventory) have gone astray. Before the advent of publishing software, when posting to Ducksnorts meant FTPing static HTML pages to the server, I was meticulous about keeping a mirror on my local machine. I’ve been lax in that area since then, and although I’m reasonably sure that I have copies of all these files, I don’t know exactly where they are. This isn’t crippling by any stretch, but it is irritating.
- I cut ties with the old host (conveniently located halfway ’round the world) and signed up with a new one, which is headquartered less than an hour from my house. I have started migrating domains, and my vanity site is already up and running. Ducksnorts, PadreBlogs, and whatever the heck else was on the old server are more complex and will take more time to restore in a new environment.
- Everything will be back online at some point, although there is still no timetable. I need to familiarize myself with the new environment and do some testing before I flip the proverbial switch. With the holidays fast approaching, I’m not sure when I’ll have time to do that. Restoring Ducksnorts is on my list of things to do, but it’s not at the top.
Until then, here’s where I’ll be:
I’ve also got contributions to two upcoming books that you should buy because they rock:
- The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 (Nov 2009)
- Graphical Player 2010 (Dec 2009)
There you go. More as it happens… whenever that might be.
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