Forum Back Up - Here's what happened.....

[Series3Scott]

Sorry for the week down everybody, but you might say we had a series of things coming together for the "perfect storm".

Our internet hosting service provider (who shall remain nameless right now) suddenly and without warning shut us down, claiming we had exceeded our allowable space, and because we share a server with other clients we were also slowing everybody else down. At first we suspected those large pictures being posted.

So instead of sending us a warning email or some type of communication, advising us to get back below the allowed space size, they simply shut us down, then sent a RANSOM NOTE claiming we will now have to purchase their dedicated server package for $1,200 per year. Scratching our heads, we dug a little deeper and realized none of this made sense.

Here's what we suspect happened - our high volume of traffic on the board triggered something back at the hosting-service-company-who-shall-remain-nameless, and they realized they could hold us by the short hairs. After much protesting they reluctantly reactivated our website. There was NO FREAKIN' WAY we exceeded our purchased space allotment, and while we have good daily traffic, we're simply not clogging up the internet. We suspect this is standard practice once they realize we're more than just a mom & pop operation posting pictures of grand kids.

So, we're currently backing up everything so no data will be lost, then we'll be re-assessing our current situation with the current hosting provider who shall remain nameless.....

Then Hurricane Ike came ripping through Ohio and the citizens of Cincinnati, Dayton, and Tipp City were without power for almost 7 days. Ian Spencer had a lot of property damage and was too busy clearing large trees away to worry about fighting with the hosting service about our website issues. He put his family in a nearby hotel and started to work on his yard.

Anyway, things are getting back to normal around here, the board is back up, and I just want to thank everyone for their patience while we worked through this latest "crisis".

At least you now realize how addicted you truly were to hitting the forum every day.....

 

[the ghoul]

i am very glad things are up and running and wish the best for all that suffered from Ike...
I am a techno moron so I gotta ask;
1 Though our picture posting wasnt the cause of all of this, could it possibly be in the future?
2 when I link a picture from an image sharing site like photobucket with html code does this take up the same amount of space as the same photo uploaded directly to the site?

let me know and I will do my best to keep from adding to the problem.
also
Im glad you guys are back up. I was starting to get the shakes!!!

 

[bbonner]

forum down

Sorry about Ian's problems We all depend on it even though we don't think we do. If we as members can do something to make it better and not cause a problem for these unnamed company we should agree to do the best we can to help. Bev

 

[jmthehermit]

Well, I just emptied my attachments file in my user CP. Transferred the five pics to my webshots albums. Jeff

 

[AlpineIan]

Our current host only allows 100M... yes, 100M... of space per database regardless of the several gig of space we have for the site. Common sense would lead me to believe we could purchase more space in increments as the site grows. No. Instead they shut you down and hold you for ransom demanding that you purchase a more expensive package with a dedicated server. I didn't get the warning letter until 3 days after the site was shut down. Andy and I did some Googling and found out that this is a common practice for this host.

I still don't have an internet connection at home, so it's kinda tough for me to get started on moving things. Will try to get started at work today, but I'm pretty busy. Don't be surprised if the site get's shut down again.