What's Up With Ektoplazm?

[Richpa]

If someone wants to donate, instead of zero can put any number, that's optional feature.

[Richpa]

From Ektoplazm Facebook page:

 

 

A quick web hosting update: about three weeks after the surprise server migration a bunch of problems still haven't been sorted and there's nothing we can do but wait. The main issue causing periodic downtime is that the server will crash about once every day or two and I have to manually reset it when I get the notification. This means at minimum about half an hour of downtime and at most about eight hours (if it happens when I go to sleep, a humanly activity I still have to do now and then). I appreciate offers of help but I need to work with my host to come up with a solution compatible with the specific hosting environment they offer.

I really don't know why it's taking my host so long to sort things out. I would be open to switching hosts but can't afford to do so... and there are some complications from running such a huge and bandwidth-heavy project, namely that there's no way of knowing if a new host will honour their service agreement, something I had a bunch of trouble with in the early years of the project. The fact that my current host has been supportive over the years means I would rather hold on and stick with them if possible.

Anyway, this means the site may experience periodic downtime for the foreseeable future. If you notice anything feel free to leave me a note here but I do get email updates when something goes wrong. Thanks for your patience

P.S. I have no news about the release schedule. Everything is on hold until my finances improve. I've put out a few calls for donations but haven't come close to having my base costs covered, much less my time. Sorry folks, but there's not much I can do at the present time, though I am sure I will be able to come back to the project at a later date. I appreciate all advice and suggestions but there are really only a few things that truly help: donations (cash or bitcoin), moral support, and patience and understanding. To be honest I've got a $750 server bill coming due in two weeks (my second server is paid for three months at a time) and I haven't the slightest idea how that's going to be covered... just another thing to deal with later on.

[Basilisk]

Hey everyone, sorry I've been a bit disconnected from the community and haven't been around to answer questions. There's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes and I've been struggling to come up with the right words to explain the situation... but hope to have an official announcement up on the blog sometime soon. I really regret the delay in getting that posted; I don't like to leave anyone wondering what's going on.

 

The update copied above explains some of what's been going on with my web host (and why I'm not leaving them just yet). Nothing more to say about that except that bandwidth itself is not something I pay for.

 

I also alluded to some financial trouble that shouldn't surprise anyone. Do the math: I work on Ektoplazm full-time, don't have any other regular sources of income, incur at least $500 in expenses every month (from the site itself, never mind my cost of living), and almost always take in less than that in donations. This isn't sustainable... and it's reached the point where I have to focus my time elsewhere for a while.

 

In any case, I'll be back to work when I have the means to do so and actually, if I have the opportunity to process a few releases I'll do so, just to keep things moving. I'm just not in a good position to do so at this exact moment.

 

Often when I mention these things people chime in with advice and suggestions. I really appreciate this (and indeed, without strong community support I wouldn't have spent the last few years continuing the project) but would like to emphasize that I've been living this project for a decade. I have had very good reasons for not using BitTorrent, lowering hosting expenses, increasing advertising revenue, introducing nag screens, getting someone else to manage the current site, starting another crowdfunding campaign, charging for something that is already free, making incremental improvements to the design, chasing venture capital funding, open sourcing the redevelopment code, etc. There are only a few things that will truly help right now: donations (cash or bitcoin), moral support, and patience and understanding.

 

I'll say more on that blog post. In the meantime, I'm committed to at least keeping the current site online and I encourage everyone to rummage around the archives in search of something you may have overlooked