Dastardly Disaster Debriefing

[Andrea]

So most of you are probably wondering where the heck we have been or what in the world happened. I am going to post here the email updates I sent out to those few members whose email addresses I had access to. In the next few days I am going to find a way to download everyone's email address so I have a way to contact you if anything like this ever happens again. Keep in mind that when the site is down, our email is also down, so I had to rely on my personal email and my Paypal contacts (which they apparently only keep for about a year).

[Andrea]

Email #1

Quote:Hi all,

I have sent this to everyone I have an email for. We went down around 3:30 eastern this morning. I had just been talking to Max and knew he was getting ready to do the nightly backup. It always goes down for a couple minutes when he does it, so I wasn't worried. However, I went to go online a couple hours later and we were still down. I skyped Max, but he wasn't there. He got my message around 6:30 eastern and said he would contact support. I haven't heard back from him, so I decided to contact Eggyak myself. I couldn't get in to our member area because I can't remember the password. I requested a reset, but they send it to email and of course our email is down, too. I decided to try live chat, but you can't get into live chat without signing in. So, I decided to call them. This is where it really gets disturbing. I called the only number I can find for them, which is the one prominently displayed on their website. There is an extremely short message that the phone is not in service and no new number is given.

I am really worried that they have skipped town or something. A new company bought them a couple months ago and things have not been the same. Now this. I have instructed Max to get us back up ASAP, but then to start looking for another host. Thank goodness that Max makes backups every night. If we can never get ahold of Eggyak again, we won't have lost anything. Still, this is really bad. We are paid up with them through August 3 and I would like to be able to move to a new host by then.

In the meantime, I will keep you updated through email. If you have emails for any members, please contact them and let them know what is going on. If you want, forward this email to them. And ask them to spread the word, too, please. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this is just temporary with Eggyak.

Thanks,
Andrea

[Andrea]

Email #2, later that same day.

Quote:Hi all,

Some of you might not have received the earlier email. I have been searching out emails all day off and on. This basically confirms my fears from earlier. I was able to track down one of the tech guys who had helped us at Eggyak. He confirms that the company has probably closed up shop without notice. He and the rest of the staff were all fired when the company was bought out in May. He still gets several calls a week with complaints. From what he has heard and seen, the people who bought the company are scam artists. His best advice is to take our back-ups and go elsewhere. He could only recommend one company, his new employer. He is only allowed to recommend one company because they are his employer. The company is jaguarpc.com. He says they are pricey, but have been around 15 years and are reliable.

Fortunately, Max has been making backups every single night, so we won't have lost anything. He will find us a new company. In the meantime, I am trying to find someone who will share hosting with us as a temporary measure. We will need to put up at least $70 - $100 in advance to get set up with a new host. As embarrassing as this is to say, that is going to be difficult for me right now. I've been slammed with medical bills the last two months. When August 3rd comes around, I'll have it covered. I don't want OET to be down that long. So, in the event I can't find anyone to host us for free until then, if you are so inclined and can afford it, please send $10 or so our way. You can go to Paypal and send it to andrea@oldelmtree.com or andreastu1360@yahoo.com.

As I said before, if you have the email addresses for other members, please pass the word along to them, and ask them to do the same. Feel free to forward this email if you'd like. I don't want people thinking we've just disappeared. We didn't disappear, our hosting company did. I have to laugh to keep from screaming. I am steaming mad about this. Please hang in there with us. We will get up again as soon as possible and I will keep updating you, unless you tell me you don't want the updates.

Thanks,
Andrea

[Andrea]

Email #3, the next day, Wednesday.

Quote:Hi everyone,

First I want to let you know that we have made progress! We have enough money for the first month of hosting, and depending where we go, at least part of the second. Thank you so much for donating! You guys are great.

Now we need to figure out where to move. Obviously we don't want this to happen again, so we are being extra careful picking out a host. Max is doing most of the work on that. Saracat's husband, Mr. Saracat, has offered to let us host there for a month, or maybe longterm. Max will be emailing him with details of our usage. If we aren't too resource intensive for his operation, we could stay there permanently. So, everything depends on how many resources we will eat up, and how close Max is to finding a host. We did get some suggestions from some of you, and we are looking into them. Thanks! One way or another, I think we should be back up by tomorrow night. However, there is something called "propagating through the web" which I don't really understand. What it means is that once we are all up and running, it could take up to 24 hours for some of you to be able to access OET. It depends on where you live, and different areas come online at different times.

I can't wait to get back up. I really miss feeling connected to all of you, and our other members whose email addresses I can't access because the site is down. Again, if you know anyone else's email address, please keep them informed.

Thanks,
Andrea

[Andrea]

Email #4, 3:15 a.m. Friday morning (Thursday night).

Quote:Hi everyone,

Good news here. We found a hosting company that seems very reliable. They are in Canada. The name of the host is myhosting.com and they have been in business since 1997. They are owned by Softcom. They offer customizable packages which is great for us. Because of the interactive nature of our site, we need a lot of RAM, disproportionate to our other needs. By having a customized package, we don't have to sign up for more disc space and bandwidth than we need. The price at myhosting was excellent and when we sign up for the yearly package next month after I get paid we will be able to use a discount code for 20% off, bringing it down to $320 a year. This will be great. We can pay this yearly amount and then not have to worry about a monthly bill for hosting.

Now, it will take about a whole day or day and a half for everything to get uploaded. Our database is huge. After that we get into the whole "propagate through the internet" thing, so some of you will be able to get online as soon as Saturday afternoon, and for others it might be as late as Sunday evening.

Sunday evening I will send out a mass email to all our members to let them know that we are back. Then I will try to find a way to download all the email addresses in case anything ever happens again like this. I wish I could have updated everyone, but I only had email addresses on my home computer for some of you, and email addresses in the OET Paypal account for some.

I am so glad this nightmare is nearly over. I have felt so much at loose ends without having Old Elm Tree to keep me connected. I really appreciate your patience.

Thanks,
Andrea

Note: I am waiting for Max to give me the go ahead before sending out the email. The last thing I want to do is accidentally knock us offline again!

[Andrea]

Email #5, a few minutes ago.

Quote:We are back up, but we are still "propagating through the internet." You may not be able to reach the site through your bookmarks or the usual url, but you can reach it by typing this into your url if your regular bookmark doesn't work:

http://216.224.181.64/~oldelmtr/

I'm going to start a thread in Q & A About the Nuts and Bolts called "Dastardly Disaster Debriefing" where you can post any problems you have noticed since we came back up. No matter how much it seems that we shouldn't have any, there is always something.

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! for being so patient, sticking by us and giving ideas and donations. You are all wonderful!

Andrea

In summary, tell everyone you know that Eggyak's new owners are scumsucking bottom dwellers and no one should ever do business with them again! They disconnected their phone, disabled their instant chat, closed the customers' forums, and are not responding to any tickets. They have just up and disappeared, with who knows how much customer money.


Now, please let us know all the problems you notice so that we can get them straightened out.

So far I'm noticing that we seem to have lost about 3 days worth of posts. That really doesn't make sense to me because Max had just backed us up literally a few minutes before we crashed. Maybe he can do something about it.

The other thing I'm noticing, and this happens every time we change hosts, is that most or all avatars have gone missing. Please upload your avatars again. I like for all the pretty pictures to be displayed! If you don't have your own personal avatar, come over here and I'll tell you a secret. Before we were so rudely interrupted, I had collected a beautiful set of new avatars and was in the process of getting them all resized to give to Max to upload. So, you might want to wait a few days.

I sincerely hope that absence has made your heart grow fonder. It certainly has mine. In addition to all this craziness this past week, I had my phone go down and then Yahoo locked me out of my email for no reason yesterday. On top of that, I couldn't come here and kvetch with all my friends. I really missed all you guys! I'm so sorry this happened. When we went with Eggyak they had a great reputation and they gave us great customer service and tech support until they were bought out. I sure hope this never happens again to us.

[waiting for hope]

I'm noticing the NPA banner from the top is missing, just showing an X. And the spell check isn't working ....

I missed everyone too!

[ima_sinnic]

Hooray, you're back!
I was getting worried

[Andrea]

(07-29-2012 05:38 PM)ima_sinnic Wrote:  Hooray, you're back!
I was getting worried

Me too! I was worrying about everyone worrying. I missed you!

[mattd76]

Couldn't get in for a few days and was also concerned. I searched for an answer online, but couldn't find one. Hope you solve the server issues. Thanks for not making this a tiered membership site.