News 10:00am PT Monday
Yippee!!!!!
Looks like I have DWG board and the Tea Room up and running. And it looks like it doesn't matter if you use the "www." in the address or not.
Now that I know how to do it (just had to find out whether Perl's %ENV hash would tell me the absolute path to the directory--it did, then write a quick program so I could get that variable...) I should be bringing the other boards up through the day.
8:00pm PT Saturday
I have a feeling that I'm seeing the old server, or my FTP program is going to the old server. I am making changes of the scripts, without any actual changes appearing on the board. I'm gonna have to wait a bit and see if things settle down.
7:40pm PT Saturday
I think the DWG board is working, but only if you use the "www" in the web address: "www.austen.com", not just "austen.com"
6:50pm PT Saturday
Looks like the server move has begun again. I can't get into most of the site at the moment--including at least one simple HTML page. I can't even connect using my file transfer program.
Currently known to be working: The DWG board -- the "www." doesn't matter.
Library (though with the alternate universe problem)
I want to have one page which, hopefully, will be working throughout the troubles ahead, and for now, this one will be stable.
So, if you can't find anything that works, come here for news and links.
What's happening (General)?
The computers that host everything with a web address beginning:
http://austen.com are getting a new hard drive. The tech-heads tried doing this last week, but there were so many problems, they went back to the old one. That's not an option past this weekend, so we are going to lose the site for a while again.
On a parallel track, I've decided that this host is no longer cheap, and his unreliability—which has been there from the start—has finally made me decide to find a new host.
"But don't we already have a different host?" the more observant of you will note. What are TheDWG.com and Janeites.com for if not to be a back-up host?
That's all true. That's why I set up TheDWG and Janeites to begin with, but those sites aren't working right either! (People who have been around for a while: doesn't it seem that my brilliant plan to make sure we are with two hosting companies in order to make sure that we don't lose the whole site simultaneously never works! It seems every time we have trouble with one, we have trouble with the other at the same time.)
TheDWG and Janeites aren't properly running our boards—remember the alternate universes? So switching everything to that hosting company is a no-go. Their tech support basically brushed me off. (They recently were acquired by another company, and the service went downhill fast.)
So, I'm buying a new account at a third hosting company. As soon as that account becomes active, I'll work to set up a board or two there, then begin transferring the archives over.
Things are going to be chaotic for a while, as things get moved. The new account is at what may or may not be a temporary URL: jausten.com.
The Future:
One thing to note, this website's name and its web address have always been the same: "Austen.com", but if we are leaving the http://austen.com address, we should really look for a new name too. I'd like a name that isn't a web address and am open to suggestions. Something like Jane Net, or Janeites. Something pretty short and easy to fit on a logo :)