Friday, August 22, 2008

HistoricalFiction.org is down

For those people who read my blog and participate at HistoricalFiction.org, you may have noticed that the site is currently down.

We are currently trying to contact the owners to find out what is going on, and as soon as we know, then we will let you all know!

Thanks

21 comments:

  1. Thanks Marg,
    I've been to the site a couple of times today and been bewildered. Then I had the brainwave of trying out a moderator's blog!

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  2. Just as long as no one comes to me looking for answers... I apparently am out of the loop... Big surprise there!

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  3. Here's the message posted by the Web host: "This account has been suspended. Either the domain has been overused, or the reseller ran out of resources."

    The domain registration itself is still current, so I'm thinking this is a bandwidth issue or possibly, a DOS attack.

    I hope it comes back up soon!

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  4. I get a different message:

    The requested URL /forums/ was not found on this server.

    Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

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  5. Marg, If you have access to the server logs or traffic data, you may be able to see the problem. It sounds like something is overloading the server. Perhaps a script gone wild?

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  6. We don't have access to anything unfortunately. I've been trying to contact the owners, but not having any luck. It is a bank holiday in the UK in Monday, so I suspect that it is down until at least Tuesday, but we will see!

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  7. Crossing fingers for Tuesday!

    I wish the owners would think of selling. The index page hadn't been changed in months and I seem to remember that was also a problem with the owners not being around to grant access.

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  8. That's exactly right. And when they won't respond to any contact it makes life very difficult.

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  9. If I remember correctly from my research yesterday, the owners have more than 100 domains. If there is a Web site associated with each one, the response time is no surprise. It's a shame as HF.org is worthy of attention. I would venture to guess it could easily be supported by advertising and even subscription fees.

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  10. How frustrating. It looks to me like the domain name expired.

    I hope it all gets cleared up!!

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  11. If it proves to have gone pear-shaped beyond recovering, perhaps we could look at starting afresh?
    I don't know what this would entail, I'm just chucking an 'in theory' suggestion into the arena. It's far too good a forum to let wither. I've really felt at home there and I miss it already! :-(

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  12. Starting afresh is something that we have been talking about, although there is so much info that would be lost. To be honest, given the lack of response that we have been getting over the last year, it is probably the most likely thing to happen.

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  13. This message means the owners haven't paid for the hosting of the website. The domain name is taken just not the hosting. I don't know what this means since they haven't been responding to anyone and if they intend to pay it at all.

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  14. The domain name doesn't expire until 09-Nov-2008. While it may mean the owners haven't paid for the Web hosting, it could mean other things. Marg, do you know who hosts the site? If it's Godaddy, the site's registrar, the message is posted for any number of technical reasons, including an overloaded server.

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  15. No idea who hosts the site I'm afraid.

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  16. Hi! RacingGreen here -

    Does Jim Westergren still own the H-F.org site? His website http://www.jimwestergren.com/about-me-jim-westergren/ states that he and his wife are moving to Bolivia in summer 2008. So, if he's still the owner, perhaps a move from Sweden to Bolivia has something to do with the status of H-F.org?

    I'd hate for the loss to be permanent since there is such a wealth of info (and so much more) on the forum. I'm interested in starting fresh though.

    Shall we all invest in our own forum?

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  17. No, he doesn't own it anymore. Hasn't done for a year or so.

    The thought of losing all that info is devestating for sure, but you know, I think that with the freedom that comes from having control of the forum ourselves, we can probably make something even stronger.

    Stay tuned for an announcement in the next couple of days.

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  18. I agree that it would be good to have a forum owned and controlled by participants.

    My husband the network admin believes that these people are hosting it now - their domain name servers match the ones used by HF.org.

    That said, the site was sold for a huge profit in '06, so I suspect the current owner wouldn't let it go cheaply. It may be more convenient and cheaper to start afresh. My $.02 anyway.

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  19. Now that second link was very interesting! Based on that price I don't think we will be buying it!

    Things are happening in the background so expect an announcement soon!

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  20. Now that second link was very interesting! Based on that price I don't think we will be buying it!

    Things are happening in the background so expect an announcement soon!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Now that second link was very interesting! Based on that price I don't think we will be buying it!

    Things are happening in the background so expect an announcement soon!

    ReplyDelete

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