If you can see this page - Vintage Radio is finally back. Whilst it'll be easy to get excited about this, and I am a bit, I just want to let everyone know that the site is yet to be fully tested on the new server and there WILL be things that do not yet work, such as the password retrieval service and one or two other non-core features. I will fix these as I run through all the necessary testing There is no need to comment with things that aren't working - I am expecting that due to the different file structure that there will be things I need to tweak.
The other big issue, and it was the issue that started the downtime in the first place, is that the former webhost corrupted the database during a server migration and left it to me to repair all the damage. The trick is, I do not know how well I did with it. Whilst there are backups, these do not contain the most recent months of comments so if I went back to one of my own backups, there'd be a loss of some of the content - something I want to avoid. Several of the site files were also damaged. Did the webhost fess up and offer to assist? No they didn't. So using my own special brand of nomenclature - they can GGF.
So-called Australian companies that maintain a local sales office and leave the rest to offshore teams aren't worth their salt in my opinion. There is no ownership of problems, no decent service and plenty of language barriers both on the phone and via e-mail. In general, the service stinks and it is a shame that people have to resort to doing things themselves to get anything working properly. There are definite downsides to globalisation.
As for the site itself, including the forums, unless there is a big issue preventing people logging in and posting comments, it is back to normal for the time being. DOwn the track I will try and devote some time to getting the Wanted and For Sale forum back up and running. When that happens there will be a few new rules - I do not want to see a return to what occurred before I switched that forum off and I will be resolute about the results of any attempt to do so.
Lastly, much of the temporary content posted on the home page will be carried over to the Special Projects forum when time permits, including Fred's home brews. Again, please do not post comments that highlight non=working functions. One thing that I've learned (and I hope that those who doubted me when I have said it previously have also learned) is that when I say that time is in short supply - believe it! It's true. Work commitments, particularly of late, keep me busy and when I get home I spend the few hours I have to relax away from computers. I've also shifted house since the site went down and having done this more times than I care to recall, it is getting harder to do as the years progress. The unfortunate thing about possessing a large radio collection is that every radio has to shift house with me and for obvious reasons, I cannot out-source that to a removalist.
It is probably also pertinent to mention that as a result of shifting the site, my e-mail is not yet up and running again. This will occur some time this week and I will make an announcement once this has been done.