Hatrack, for the interested few

[Papa Moose]

Don't know if there's a whole lot of overlap any more between pweb and Hatrack, but for those who do hang at Hatrack on occasion you may have noticed that the forums have been down for a while. There was a security problem somehow related to the forums, and it allowed people to use Hatrack's servers to send out spam. The forums have closed temporarily, and will be replaced with new software (current plan is Simple Machine Forums, but until it goes live I wouldn't count any chickens).

The old threads and registration information are probably not going to be transferred over. Likely, the old threads will be made available in an archived form for a time, then removed completely after a while. Sadly, this will probably include the landmarks, so if any of you were around long enough ago to have written one or read one you remember fondly, you should be able to make yourself a copy. That goes for any other thread, too, I suppose.

When it reopens, people can re-register. We'll attempt to ensure that former members will be able to retain their old screennames, as long as they register in a reasonable period of time (definition of "reasonable" not yet determined). We will probably allow changes in registration dates and possibly post counts, because some people are concerned with such things.

If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them as I can. Once the forum is live, I'll provide a link here, though it should be reachable through the main page once it's up.

--Pop

[Oliver Dale]

Thanks for the update Pop.

*stickies*

[Rei]

Thanks, Papa. I've been wondering what was going to happen over there. When the new software gets up and running and you post the link, will you also post a link to the archives so that I may make a copy of the landmark I have archived there?

[zeroguy]

Pardon my ignorance and curiosity, but what is a landmark on Hatrack?

[Mich]

Of additional note, FrescoPix is also down. Not that anyone cares. Pretty just me and Rayne and couple other newbs over there, now.

[steph]

Thanks, Pop. I have kept informed through sake, but it's nice to see something on pweb, too!

[Jayelle]

Aww. Poor Hatrackers. You can huddle here like we huddled there when pweb was down.

[Virlomi]

Wow, it'd be a shame to lose those monstrous post counts...

A landmark thread on Hatrack (correct me if I'm wrong) is a tradition where once a member reaches a significant post count number or length of time, they write some variation of a life story thread, sharing about their life and history. Every member handles it differently, but it's a way to give the rest of the community a glimpse into who you are. Or at least that's how I've seen them. Afterward they're archived in a special read-only forum. I think it's a really cool thing... I wish we had something like it here.

[Rei]

I've been doing my part to inspire such a tradition here

[Jebus]

Because what we need is PWebbers talking about themselves more.

[Papa Moose]

It's back up for now. More info to follow.

Edit in more info: They were able to separate the phishing from the forum and block it. However, they'll be moving to the new software for other reasons -- after they move to a new server. I have no idea what the timeframe is for that. And I haven't heard back about the other forums yet, but I'd assume they can get those back up for now as well. Hatrack, of course, was their first priority. *smile*

--Pop

[zeroguy]

Because what we need is PWebbers talking about themselves more.

Some of them, yes, actually. And it's not like you're going to shut up the others easily, anyway.

[Dr. Mobius]

I'm pretty sure everyone's already heard my story at least once. Most have heard it more. And I kinda doubt anyone wants to hear it again.

[Papa Moose]

Forums at Ornery and Nauvoo are back, along with the far less visited Strongverse. Fresco is still down, though I know not why. Taleswapper and Starshine & Shadows never had working forums as far as I know.

It's possible that because Fresco was using a much older version of UBB it had more security concerns and won't be returning as soon (if at all) in its current form. That's just speculation, though. A couple years ago it was implied that Taleswapper would be taking the place of Fresco, but not a whole heck of a lot seems to be happening at either site, so who knows.

--Pop